Visas Anyone?

So we get our 30 bags to the airport in 2 vehicles- a suburban and a taho.  We got a lot of strange looks and made it to the check in counter when we were asked if anybody had Visas.  Well, we had already done our homework (not to mention that Geoff had already been there 30 times in the last 90 days and knew the system inside and out) and we knew that Visas are only issued at the airport there in Santiago.  They don't send out Visas any other way.

"No, we don't have Visas.  They are not required and won't issue them until we get to the Santiago airport" says Geoff- or something like that.
Delta says - or something like it- "You won't be allowed onto the plane without them."

The bottom line- Delta didn't have proof that we were returning within 90 days (the allowed time to visit without Visas) and we had to have Visas in order to even board the plane or pay upwords of $20,000 in fines.

My question- how are we supposed to get Visas for Delta so we can board the plane when the only way to get them is to arrive at the Santiago airport and get them there???

The solution?  Delta had to change our return dates.
The problem?  Delta mistakenly labeled our 4 kids as unaccompanied minors.  Because of this they rearranged all of our seating and put us in the very last row of seats on the plane.  Hmmm- from Geoff's frequent flyer status we were able to upgarde our seats for economy comfort which put us in seats with more room and closer to the front of the plane.

I think Geoff was seeing RED!  MAD

THEN--- at the end of our flight as we "docked" the stewardess walked down the aisle and told our kids to stay put.  She was going to escort them to their next departing gate.
Geoff and I looked at each other like....what????
We told them we were their parents and asked if we could have our kids back.

That was the first leg of our trip.

We arrived in Atlanta with no further issues.
Our plane to Santiago was delayed for 1.5 hours from hurricane Sandy.  We ended up leaving Atlanta at midnight. Thank goodness for economy comfort.  Well, actually, thank goodness for Geoff's frequent flyer status which got us better seats!

We arrived in Santiago at about 10:30 the next morning.  The next issue was trying to find a vehicle large enough for all of our bags.  We ended up storing some of our bags at the airport overnight until our next flight to La Serena the next day.  That flight was simple and easy- 1 hour to La Serena.  The only issue, again, was trying to find a vehicle large enough for our 30 bags and 6 people.  It was kindof ridiculous and wow did we get the looks!  We ended up renting 2 trucks.  That seemed like a good solution.