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While packing for this trip to Rio, I thought: Hmmmm, maybe I should stuff a pair of clean boxers in my carry-on bag, just in case.

Well, that “just in case” hit. My checked bags remain in Miami, and I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have arrived Wednesday for the 2016 Games.

While in the air from O’Hare to Miami Tuesday, I read about Russian tennis players Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova, both of whom got stuck in Montreal, unable to get to Miami for their connections to Rio.

And then it happened to me. Storms in South Florida forced us to land in Orlando. While we waited on the tarmac in Miami FOR AN HOUR for a gate to open, I spoke to an American Airlines rep who delivered this sorry news: If I didn’t make it out Tuesday night, I’d have to wait until Sunday – and fly from Miami to the city of Brasilia to Rio.

My connecting flight was gone, but American had one more yet to depart. The storm knocked out the Miami airport’s Skytrain system, so I booked it to Gate D25 in search of a Hail Mary.

The scene at the gate was chaotic. A passenger would hand the gate agent a passport or boarding pass, and he or she would take a page from “Meet the Parents” – typing furiously for minutes, it seemed.

Finally I asked if there were any vacant seats. “No,” came the response, “we’re oversold and asking for volunteers.”

Still I asked to be put on the standby list and – somehow, some way – I was eventually handed a boarding pass with seat 21D. An aisle, no less. We took off at about 2 a.m.

From the moment we touched down in Rio, eight hours later, everything was an absolute breeze. Brazil gets ripped for its infrastructure, but there were no lines anywhere, and I got through immigration in about the time it takes to get a Coke from a vending machine.

The three-lane highway from the airport to the Main Press Center was like Rio itself – a picture of extremes.

Cars in the two right lanes crawled along while our bus did 60 in the Olympic-designated lane. On the drive in, you notice fenced-in mini-soccer fields and favelas with small, seemingly temporary buildings stacked on top of one another.

A McDonald’s ad was also an eye-catcher: TRIPLO TASTY.

You know you’ve arrived in Barra, home to both the Olympic village and our hotel, when you spot an upscale shopping mall. This is not the vibrant and somewhat dangerous Rio you picture. They call this area the United States of Barra.

Also during the drive, you notice colorful banners with the official slogan for the Rio Games: “A new world.”

These are the first Olympics to be held in South America, and they start with Friday’s Opening Ceremonies.

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Perhaps my bags will arrive before the Olympic flame.

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Twitter @TeddyGreenstein