Patiently Waiting (without the patience)
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2011
1
23
Trip End
Jun 22, 2011
Where I stayed
Home, Barossa Valley
Nuriootpa, South Australia, Australia
Sunday, May 30, 2010
So how did this tour come about? From what I recall we were simply discussing the numerous places we both still wanted to go and South America was WAY up there on both of our lists so we said "oh well we may as well do it then". Little did I know that a few months later we would actually be planning our "trip of a lifetime!" We began with listing the places we wanted to go and then working on everything between those places. This then turned into me going straight to the travel agent and asking for as many brochures on trips in South America. Countless nights spent on the internet led me to Tucan Travel. Not only are they on the cheaper end of the scale but they also appealed to my age range and include a lot of the places we wanted to see. Takes the hassle out of having to get to places by yourself. And there were plenty of awesome reviews for Tucan online so after careful discussion we decided on a tour - Pacific to Atlantic 2 (Rio de Janeiro to Quito). It's a 69 nights/70 days tour that includes some amazing places like Iguaza Falls, La Paz, Lima and, of course, the Inca Trail/Macchu Picchu. We wondered whether we could truly handle being on a tour for so long but if we can do 46 days in Europe then why couldn't we do 70 days in South America?? We are stealth after all. From here we decided that since we're all the way over there we might as well do Mexico as well. So after countless amounts of research (anyone starting to think we're both a bit overly organised?) we came up with an Intrepid tour that starts in Mexico City and ends in Playa del Carmen (approx. 45 min from Cancun). This tour is only 15 days...we chose a shorter one because of costs mainly. So now we are at the point where we've sent our itinerary to our trusty travel agent Jess (AKA Queenie - who also happens to be one of the amazing friends we made on our Contiki tour...Connnnntiki Mob!!). Because we have planned too far ahead of flight schedules we can't get a quote until the end of June, start of July so it's a patience game until then. I have just come up with an idea that we should definitely head somewhere for our four days we have between tours and after much research have decided on Cozumel - it's a small island off the Playa del Carmen coast - but I have to see what my stealth sister says because it's her trip too so of course she gets a choice in the matter! I am BEYOND excited because I get to spend time in my favourite place in the world - New York - at the end of our trip before we fly back to reality. I can't explain why but it is just a phenomenal place and I hope to be able to live there one day.
Anyway, for now this is all. Time to play the waiting game while I continue to research and send countless emails back and forth with my stealth sister planning this trip down to the wire. Everyday we are that one step closer...
