Anyway as promised, I'm sharing with you my South America itinerary. I like to call myself well-prepared, others call it mild OCD. Whatever you want to call it, here is my itinerary spreadsheet. I do one of these for every overseas trip I take. It actually de-stresses me to have all this planned and locked in before I leave the country (I am not one for "lets just work out where we are going to sleep once we arrive in the country". No sirree. I would rather NOT leave the country).
In the first column I have weeks, second column I have dates, third column I've got average min and max temperatures which helps me when I'm packing. The rest of it should be self-explanatory. I've also got a spreadsheet for financials to keep a tally of how much everything is costing and also a checklist to make sure I've got all bases covered (visas, cash and vaccinations).
Things I am most looking forward to:
- Lake Titicaca - last minute inclusion on the advice of a friend who has been. We're catching an overnight luxury bus (for a whole $29) which has wide leather seats that recline to almost horizontal, a free meal, and an air (land?) hostess on board
- Machu Picchu - thankfully catching a train up there but will hike a little bit when we get up there
- Iguazu Falls - from both the Brazilian and Argentinian sides are apparently much more amazing than Niagara Falls which I thought was a huuuuge let-down
- Ipanema and Copacabana beaches - nuff said
Only 51 days left people!!
