I have just finished the packing for my 6 week tour of South America and to get myself into blog mode, I thought it’s time I jotted down a few pre-trip notes.
Firstly, where am I heading?
I have ditched my preferred way of travelling this time, i.e. travelling alone and having complete freedom of itinerary, meeting people along the way. For this trip, given the fact I am spanning multiple countries in one trip, I opted for a group travel with Tucan Travel. There’ll be a group of maximum 16 people who I think will be together for the whole 30 days.
I am going 5 days prior to the group tour starting, so I have time to chill in Lima before meeting up with all the group. When the group tour starts, it is 30 days spanning 5 countries (Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil). I have also booked a few days at the end in Rio to make sure I get all the sights in and some more time to chill on the beaches before it is back to work. This trip is odd for me in the sense I have already signed an extension to go back to the client I am with now, so there won’t be any extended holiday when I get back.
The highlight of the trip is likely to be the 4 day Inca Trail Trek to see the historic Machu Picchu and that has been the most pain to pack for. Packing hiking boots has really limited my space in my backpack, so given all the random things I like to buy when I am away, I suspect I will be ditching these boots the minute I return from the trail. Other highlights of the trip should be Lake Titicaca, Iguazú Falls, Uyuni Salt Flats and the amazing cities of Buenos Aires and Rio.
I chose this tour because there is a lot of free time and days to do what you like, so it shouldn’t be too restrictive and 1 hour to do this, and 1 hour to do that. I am really hoping I can squeeze in this jumbo bungee in Cusco but it will depend on when we arrive back after the Inca Trail. I am desperate for my first bungee to be somewhere spectacular, but if I fail then I will probably make it my mission to do New Zealand next.
This trip isn’t really a peasant one, most of the places are hotels, the Inca Trail is obviously campsite and I think it’s 2 of the 30 nights in a hostel. I’ve also chosen the flyer so we’re taking lots of flights between countries to maximise the time I have there.
With all the stuff I have packed, I am again worried about how I am going to get all the weird and wonderful stuff I buy on my travels home, but if I managed to get that massive Thailand mask with hair back and the 6 storey pagoda from Japan, then I am sure I will manage!
I’ll be posting periodically as usual so keep up with my travels on here. Hopefully, everybody on the trip will be decent people so I won’t have to come on here for a whinge!
Before all this though, there is the small matter of a 4 hour drive to Burnley Away for the weekend and then 4 hours back. It was not the brightest of moves by me, but I haven’t been to Turf Moor and I need my fix of The Arsenal before I head off.
