Last week, LATAM Airlines unveiled the first of some 200 retrofitted aircraft it will refurbish over the next two years. To cover the development, I flew to Lima to take part in the festivities.

I have been to South America before, on a high school trip. On that trip we did lots of touristy things, like touring Buenos Aires, visiting the Argentine side of Igúazu Falls and taking tango lessons. Aside from being there for work, this trip was different.

To start, I flew in business class. The service and comfort level was unparalleled. After a quick dinner and drink, I had the seat in its full lie-back position and was settled in for the night.

The hotel for the event was in walking distance of the airport, so upon landing, I grabbed my luggage and set off to check in. My flight landed at 7 a.m., so it was impossible to check in until later. To kill time, I walked around the immediate vicinity of the hotel, about six miles, before returning.

That night we went to Astrid y Gastón for a multi-course dinner from one of Latin America’s best chefs.

The actual event began with a reception with breakfast before the media took part in the inaugural flight on the newly retrofitted aircraft, tracing an airplane in the skies south of Lima.

After the day’s events, the journalists covering the reveal were welcomed to a media room at the hotel where we were able to work until our flights later that night. My midnight flight brought me in to Miami in the morning, where I had a layover before my flight to New York.

— Erich Martin, assistant editor