Tag: Trip Posts

I left Koh Samui in the afternoon on Friday and made my way down to the Maenom ferry dock. I booked a high speed catamaran with Lomprayah. They actually had a deal going on where they would include a pick-up at your hotel, so that worked out great. They give you a 20 minute window where you need to wait in front of your hotel, and eventually a shuttlebus picks you up and takes you down to the ferry. We actually were there with plenty of time to spare, but I suspect that’s deliberate since they have their own restaurant and store there, and there’s not much else to do. The ferry to Koh Tao took around two hours, with a brief stop over in Koh Phangan. I whipped out my laptop for most of the trip and did some work, but they actually had a small TV at the […]

I have less than a month to go before I return everything to my storage locker and hit the open skies again. Last time I departed I headed south and ended up in Argentina. This time I’m flying west and hitting a little island off the coast of Thailand called Ko Samui One of the aspects discussed in the book Vagabonding that seemed was relavant to me this summer was the concept of reintegration. The author claims in the book that after an extended trip it becomes difficult to find a way to fit yourself back into your old life. That was definitely the case for me this time around, and lately I’ve felt like I’ve been stuck in a bit of limbo. Given that I’m living out in a new area of Vancouver and that the majority of my belongings are still in storage, I imagine feeling a bit […]

Six months ago I was sitting back in my apartment in Chilliwack trying to figure out where the first destination on my big adventure would take me. I immediately thought of the Caribbean, since it was an area I had been to many times and I was familiar with. Since the goal of my trip was to also work while exploring the world, that meant wherever I ended up would have to have decent access to the internet. That took Cuba off the list, as well as most small towns. I was actually homing in on the Dominican Republic when, out of boredom, I started thumbing through The 4-Hour Workweek, a popular book on vagabonding and extended vacations, once again. In the book, Tim Ferris discusses his love of Argentina, and in particular, the City of Buenos Aires. Often described as “The Paris of South America”, Buenos Aires is a […]

Last weekend I flew up to Puerto Iguazu to check out some of the most impressive waterfalls in the world, Iguazu Falls. Here is a breakdown of my visit to Iguazu Falls in South America. Flight From Buenos Aires To Puerto Iguazu I booked a flight on LAN airlines from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu. Round trip airfare on the weekend is roughly $380 CAD, but thanks to some points on my credit card I managed to get about $300 off, ultimately costing me only $80 or so. Unlike most international flights, domestic flights within Argentina usually leave from the Aeroparque Jorge Newbury, which is a small airport in Northern Palermo. It was a 30 ($7 CAD) peso cab ride from my apartment to the airport, and took about 10 or fifteen minutes. Checking in was a breeze, and the line-ups were basically non-existant. Everyone at the counters speaks english, […]

This is my last blog entry until next week most likely. Friday afternoon I’m packing up some of my stuff and getting on a plane to Puerto Iguazu, a small city right on the edge of some of the nicest waterfalls in the world, Iguazu Falls. This will be my first real trip from Buenos Aires, and the first time getting on a plane again since I arrived. To say that I’m looking forward to this trip would be an understatement. Ever since I saw my first photo of the falls a few months ago, I’ve been anxiously awaiting my chance to see them. So this weekend I’ll finally get my chance. Iguazu Falls is located in northern Argentina, right on the border of Brazil. You can see the approximate location in the map on the left. I’m catching a plane around 3:30pm Argentina time and flying for a little […]

Well, I just did it – I booked a trip to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern most city on the entire planet. I was originally going to go to Machu Picchu during that time slot, but once I learned that the southern most Irish pub in the world was in Ushuaia and that St. Patrick’s Day would align with the day I arrived, the decision became easy. As you can see from the above map, Ushuaia is about as far south as you can get on the planet, other than Antarctica of course. In fact, many of the ships that go to Antarctica leave from Ushuaia. If I had more time, I would consider making the journey there, but I’m content on this trip simply to enjoy Ushuaia. To save a bit of cash I’ll be staying in the Antarctica Hostel. I picked the Antarctica Hostel because it has stellar reviews […]

About a week ago, Gus, Russ and I were talking about how we would all like to visit Uruguay at some point on our adventure. There are two options that most people consider: a trip to Colonia, or a trip to Montevideo. Due to time constraints, most people end up taking the trip to Colonia, since it’s not very far from Buenos Aires. Getting to Montevideo takes more time, and is generally more expensive, so most people choose not to do it. Since it is the capital of Uruguay, we decided that it was the place that we wanted to visit the most. The ferry company that handles transportation from Buenos Aires to Montevideo is called Buquebus (pronounced “Bu-kay-bus”). It turns out that they were offering a Day Tour of Montevideo for only 640 pesos (around $160 CAD), so we decided to do that. The fee included the ferry in […]

Today is December 4th, which means at around 9am exactly 30 days from now I’ll be aboard a plane slowly climbing out of Vancouver airport and heading towards Houston. I have a six hour layover in Houston airport, after which I’ll be boarding an evening 10.5 hour flight for Buenos Aires, Argentina, arriving around 9am in the morning there. So, a full 24 hours of traveling from airport to airport. This last month has been quite stressful. It’s one thing to move from one apartment to another, but a different experience entirely moving from one apartment to no-where. Instead of transferring items such as tenant insurance, I am instead cancelling them, and the procedures are generally more involved. Same for cable, hydro, car insurance, etc. The one thing I would have done differently is that I probably would have rented a U-haul truck and tried to get most of the […]

Today marks the two week mark before I’m officially homeless. It’s the first big milestone for my adventure, and I’m looking forward to finally hitting that point. I have about 80% of my apartment boxed up, with only the kitchen to go. I’ll slowly box up the remainder this week, and hopefully start transferring everything into storage next weekend. Tomorrow my landlord is bringing some people over to look at the place and hopefully rent it out. He hasn’t seen the apartment in about six months, so hopefully he doesn’t find anything wrong with it. I’m counting on getting my full damage deposit back to put as a deposit for my place in Buenos Aires, so I’m going out of my way to make sure there’s no fault when I’m out of here. That’s why I’m also paying for house cleaners to come on the 29th and do one final […]

For the most part, I’ll be spending the majority of my time in Argentina around the city of Buenos Aires. While there, I plan to sample as much culture as possible, and hopefully spend some of my down time getting private Spanish lessons. Near the end of my time in Argentina though, I’m hoping to take a week or two off and actually do a bit of exploring around the country. One of the attractions I’ve been told to not miss is Iguazu Falls, which is located right on border between Brazil and Argentina. It’s quite the trek from Buenos Aires to the border of Brazil, and I’ll probably have to take an overnight bus trip to get there. But I’ve been told it’s a sight that everyone should go out of their way to see, and I think it would be a fun adventure to travel there and spend […]