£1 loan payments, orangutans and learning it doesn't all happen overnight...

shrimpy_80

Hi Beccie! I made it to the end - wow! Your travel plans sound amazing, I would definitely read your blog

With ebay - have you sent an invoice? I never used to as it felt a bit rude but I think some people wait for them. Or a polite email, maybe say you're going away and want to get it posted before you go?

archersluck

Hi Beccie, found your diary
Anything you'd like to know in particular about south america? I will say now that Rio Carnival is everything I ever wanted and a million times more!

Kepp

shrimpy_80 wrote: »

Hi Beccie! I made it to the end - wow! Your travel plans sound amazing, I would definitely read your blog

With ebay - have you sent an invoice? I never used to as it felt a bit rude but I think some people wait for them. Or a polite email, maybe say you're going away and want to get it posted before you go?

Hi Shrimpy! Wow, can't believe you read the whole thing!

I did, and I messaged them. Then I got their contact details and texted them At which point they paid! I do feel rude but then think it's rude that they haven't paid when they should as I have to wait for that and then fit in getting to the post office, so I do it anyway!

archersluck wrote: »

Hi Beccie, found your diary
Anything you'd like to know in particular about south america? I will say now that Rio Carnival is everything I ever wanted and a million times more!

Hi Archers Anything at all really, I know that's not helpful! It's just that although I've travelled a lot it's mainly been based around volunteer work so the only place I've backpacked is Europe. After any ideas of places that would be good to go, interesting things to see. Also, did you plan it all before you went or was it fairly easy to sort things once you were there?

Kepp

So, at work till lunchtime today and then off till Tuesday :jDon't even have any pub shifts planned, must be the longest time off I've had for ages

OH is going up to his brothers in London this afternoon till tomorrow so I'm hoping to really crack on with some eBay while he's not around to distract me

I have a long walk planned again with my brother for Saturday, hoping it's warmer than last week!

Other than that nothing planned at all, will have to get thinking

archersluck

beccie wrote: »

Hi Archers Anything at all really, I know that's not helpful! It's just that although I've travelled a lot it's mainly been based around volunteer work so the only place I've backpacked is Europe. After any ideas of places that would be good to go, interesting things to see. Also, did you plan it all before you went or was it fairly easy to sort things once you were there?

The only thing we planned was our first 4 nights accommodation in Rio, as it's so busy at carnival time. I'd made enquiries into things like Spanish lessons before hand but booked all buses/accommodation as we went. Used websites like Hostelworld quite a bit, not always for booking as think there's a fee but for reviews. Everywhere the Lonely Guide recommended sucked! Wifi is almost everywhere, loads of public parks etc have it.

Brazil was fun, not speaking any Portuguese didn't really help, meals are MASSIVE! Meat, rice, chips, beans, salad all on one plate. Igauzu Falls are really nice. Carnival was expensive but worth it, street parties were also great.

Argentina was an odd one, I was sure it would be my favourite place but it has some weird cultural quirks! It's often impossible to eat before 10pm, packs of stray dogs everywhere, would be very hard if you were a veggie! Liked Buenos Aires, try the free tours. Mendoza is nice. Would have loved to go down to Patagonia but didn't have enough cash. You generally get fed on buses. I wanted to find Guacho Cowboys but it was all a bit touristy fake.

Chile - Only went to San Pedro de Atacama, felt like we finally rejoined the backpacker circuit there. Sand boarding and star gazing were amazing! If you get the very long, daytime only, bus from Argentina then take extra food and water. Also try to a acclimatise slowly at a few cities on the Argentinian border as lots of people get altitude sickness on the bus. Not fun!

Bolivia - Probably my favourite, so much to do. Much more of an indigenous population. The Uyuni salt flats are great, Potosi Mines tour, Horseriding in Tupiza, Dinosaur Footprints in Salta, death road cycling in La Paz. We did the Amazon by flying from La Paz to Rurrenabaque as the bus is a nightmare. We debated for ages about whether to go on a more expensive tour and did so which meant we got a 6 hour boat transfer, eco lodge camp, 5 members of staff, all meals, 3 nights, just for the 2 of us for £130 each. Going to sleep listening to the rainforest is incredible Bolivia is really cheap, bout £3 for a hostel, £1 for a set meal. Transport is not so comfortable, the rainy season will wash roads away, strikes and protests can shut cities down - you have to be quite laid back.

Peru - Less hostels, more motel style rooms. My boyfriend had already been before, we were ill, skint and had left a bit too much time to fill. Machu Pichu is brilliant, book ahead if you want to do the Inca Trail. Nazca lines are good, Ica Pisco wineries tour is fun but the place is a dump, only time we encountered any crime. Tiny lagoon town outside of Ica called Huacachina is a little bit of heaven, touristy but beautiful. We fled there and spent a week recovering from illnesses and sunbathing. Lima is nice, water fountains park is lovely.

And that was all we had time for! Central America is meant to be very cheap but it's so massive you can't do everything. Met loads of lovely Canadians, Germans, Dutch, Israelis, not so many Brits - those that we around were either giant packs of the very spoken types or lovely hippies. Sorry for the mammoth post!

poddle911

Archers, that sounds amazing! It's weird that you expect certain parts to be your faves, but the reality is always different.

We're just about to book four weeks in Central America - it's the absolute longest we can take at the moment, but it feels like we're hardly going to scratch the surface! We'll give it a darn good go though

Kepp

Archers - thank you sooooo much That's exactly the sort of thing I was after, loads of ideas. Sounds like you had a fantastic time

I already had Bolivia on the list for the salt flats, have wanted to do those for years, but that's about as far as I'd got so will be showing your post to OH and see what we can plan

Poddle - your plans sound great too When are you going?

Kepp

83 eBay listings done over the weekend, phew! That's the last listings I'll do now otherwise they'll finish too close to me going to Africa.

My birthday isn't till this Thursday but we went out on Saturday for it. We went to Go Ape during the day which was lots of fun and we were so lucky to have a gorgeous day of sunshine. Then plenty of drinks in the evening. And my brother made me one of those awesome rainbow layer cakes

mrsb83_2

Wow Beccie you've made such awesome progress! Nearly DF and a truck load of amazing plans for the future. Me and my DH finally bought our new house and September 2010 and £24k of debt seems like a lifetime ago.

I don't really use MSE any more so I'd love it if you'd PM me your blog address if you do decide to start one documenting your travels.

Best of luck for the future!

Kepp

Thanks MrsB

Lovely to hear how things are going so well for you and that you're enjoying your DF life, will defnitely PM you the blog address when its set up