South America planning

I’ve finally figured out what’s next after Canada, as we head straight to South America on a four and a half month trip!

We will be setting off from Cartagena in Columbia on 2nd October and finishing in Rio in Brazil around the 9th February (just in time for the Rio carnival!).

You can see where we are going and on what dates on the Where are we going? page.

The map above isn’t something I have created, it’s a map that has been provided to me by the company that I have booked my South America tour with.

It’s been a tough decision to book a tour rather than going alone, but there’s several reasons for it:

• South America is one of the hardest places to travel (especially solo) in the world. You don’t have the standard backpacking routes that Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asia all have. Plus I don’t know any Spanish.
• While over four months is a lot of time, it’s not a huge amount of time to navigate a continent, especially when there are barriers to transport and communication. By doing a tour, those barriers are removed.
• Quite frankly, I am getting frustrated by planning my travels. It’s fun when there is loads of information to digest and the routes through the countries are easy, but this isn’t the case here.
• I’m also getting a bit lazy with being outgoing when I arrive at hostels so that I appear nice and friendly to people. I think I am definitely getting to the stage where I need a break from travelling to get excited about doing this kind of thing again.
• A friend that I met and travelled with in Australia is doing the same tour (although only to Chile), and has convinced me to join!

We’ve also got a random day in the US, in Los Angeles, where I have a 14 hour gap between flights so intend to explore. We have scrapped any more time in the US, and also Mexico, in order to get as much time as possible in South America, as it’s unlikely I’ll ever go there again.

Booking this tour takes me to February, and it’s got me thinking about the end of this adventure, which I think I’ll be ready for at that point. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll get a job then…