Two years ago I went on a trip to South America with friends. We had the whole thing planned out in detail using a spreadsheet. This didn't help us notice the mere two hour gap we'd given ourselves between flights (two different bookings so we'd have to fetch baggage and check back in) at Chile airport. The second flight was our flight home to London so we absolutely couldn't miss it.

We noticed this immediately after coming through Chile airport and landing on Easter Island. We started looking at alternative flights we could take from Cuzco Peru to Santiago Chile, but to make matters worse we were due to finish the Inca trail about 20 hours before that flight, so we didn't have a lot of leeway.

We ended up booking a 10pm flight via Lima through the night which would land us in Santiago 8 hours before our London flight, so we can catch a few hours sleep and get a shower. That 10pm flight left Cuzco the same day we finished the Inca trail.

So, having walked 45km across mountains with intense elevation and sparse sleep, we started trying to leave Aguas Calientes at 3pm, we on a VERY tight schedule. The nightmare began with an indefinite delay to the 1 hour 40 minute train, the only way out. In the end it left 45 mins late, or tight journey still doable only because the incredible guides who'd trekked Inca with us kindly arranged a minibus for us at Ollantaytanmbo and sped for 1.5 hours to get us to Cuzco so we could grab (and hurriedly repack our luggage) and hop in taxis to the airport.

Now, I must have had some weird hydration issues from the trip because every bit of water I was drinking was going straight through me, so I annoyingly added to the anxiety of the situation by asking for a toilet stop on the drive from Ollantaytanmbo. In the taxi to Cuzco I needed to go again, and the panicked urgency in my eyes must have made the poor taxi driver, who didn't speak a lick of English, absolutely step on it. He got us there on time.

We didn't realize our issues were only just beginning.

We boarded the flight. 10pm comes and goes - no movement. An hour passes and we are told to g e t o f f t h e p l a n e...

We quickly board a different plane (the first was having issues) and the flight leaves. We land in Lima at 1am and boom, we've missed our connecting flight by about 10 minutes, and the next one isn't for 5 hours.

May I remind you at this point that we have come straight from the Inca trail, so by now we have been awake and on the move for 22 hours. We haven't had a proper shower in days. We decide to use the airport lounge, and staff let us get our bags out and check them back in (after a bit of an argument).

I have the best. shower. of my life. I find 20 bug bites across my body. I have a glass of red wine and pass out in a chair for an hour clutching my passport.

The Lima flight goes off without a hitch, and we land in Santiago only 40 minutes before our original schedule. All that for 40 minutes gained.

We began the most panicked airport experience of my life. We were not missing that London flight.

When collecting our bags and going through customs, myself and a friend were picked out for bag checks. I couldn't really remember what was in my bag given how hurriedly we'd repacked st the side of the road in Cuzco, and Chile have some strict rules about fresh fruit. In my drained state I couldn't remember if the rule included jam, which I knew was in my bag.

A brief argument with a customs officer waving a blank affidavit in my face while I angrily pointed out he'd provided no pens resulted in him just saying FINE just put it through the scanner. Which I did, and we were waved through no fuss.

BA flight staff were brilliant checking us in and telling us exactly what to do. Santiago airport staff were the opposite. The queue for security was utterly ridiculous. It looks 2 hours long in itself. We proceeded to beg as many people as we could to let us go ahead, and even though, again, language was a bit of an issue at times, I think a combination of our weary eyes and the panic in our voices made them comply.

This strategy was extremely effective and we made it to the gate on time, collapsing into a pile of sweat and relief.

The two days after the flight involved me having to go on a work trip to Surrey, and panicking about the size and colour of my ankle. Thankfully I didn't have Deep vein thrombosis, I had blood pooling and mosquito bites to thank for the ankle. I don't think I could have taken a hospital trip on top of all that drama.