Monday, November 06, 2006
Things are moving along nicely and having paid in full for our flights, our itinerary is now set in stone. (Although the small change fee of ten euro would nicely unset the plan from said stone) There have been some amendments to the schedule due to the realisation that the originally planned bus journey from La Paz to Rio De Janeiro would take 60 hours! Nigs to that. To counter this we have booked a flight from Lima to Sao Paolo and from there it's only a hop, skip and a jump up to Rio.
Speaking of Rio, there seems to be a bit of a problem getting accommodation there during Carnaval. I had heard that accommodation needs to be booked well in advance and I took this to mean 3 months. Sadly, I was very much mistaken! The only accommodation left in Rio it seems is 5 star hotel rooms. Hardly appropriate for two budget travellers. And so the hunt for a roof over our heads in Rio is on. If anybody knows of anyone who would be willing to put up a couple of savoury travellers in Rio for 4-6 nights please let me know! The dates are 17th Feb - 23rd Feb.
Additional problems have arisen in the form of trying to get Chinese and Vietnamese visas. The Chinese one was all sorted - or so we thought. When I went to the embassy to pick our passports up, the dates were wrong. When I tried to get them changed, I was told the dates we required the visas for were too far away to get the visas now. And so our travel plans now include a morning in the Chinese consulate in Sydney. A similar problem with the Vitenamese visas. They can only be purchase a maximum of six months in advance. As we are going there in June, we can't apply till December. I don't know about anyone else but I'm slightly wary of sending my passport off to the Vietnamese embassy in London 3 weeks before a 7 month round the world trip and during the Christmas post. And so, at some stage on our travels, we will have to make a house call to some kinf of Vietnamese governmental establishment.
An interesting observation courtesy of Ms. Yeats: We will be in Easter Island only two days after Easter Sunday. It's almost worth amending the entire trip plans just to be in Easter Island for Easter! Our updated travel plans are now set out below. If anybody feels like meeting up with us at any stage, get on the blower!
Red = South America
Green = Australia
Blue = Asia
Friday 29th December - Dublin to Madrid - Depart 06:20, Arrive 09:50
Friday 29th December - Madrid to Quito, Ecuador - Depart 12:10, Arrive 16:10
Spending New Year's eve on the Equator at Ecuador. Childhood dream number 1! Let's hope they have crazy golf. Trekking overland through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia. Then making our way back up the west coast of Peru to Lima.
Saturday 17th February - Lima to Sao Paulo - Depart 00:50, Arrive 08:40
From Sao Paulo we make our way to Rio De Janeiro for Carnaval. Staying there for roughly 6 nights then it's off to Buenos Aires via Iguazu Falls where I'm sure there'll be many a fine steak to be had.
Thursday 8th March - Buenos Aires to Ushuaia - Depart 15:35, Arrive 19:15
Living the dream in Ushuaia for 5 days - The southernmost city in the world!
Wednesday 14th March - Ushuaia to Santiago - Depart 16:50, Arrive 22:05
Bumming up and down Chile for 4 weeks
Tuesday 10th April - Santiago to Easter Island
Saturday 14th April - Easter Island to Santiago - Depart 12:50, Arrive 19:35
Saturday 14th April - Santiago to Sydney (via Auckland) - Depart 22:55, Arrive 07:05 (On Monday 16th April!!!)
Saturday 21st April - Sydney to Melbourne - Depart 11:30, Arrive 13:00
Thursday 26th April - Melbourne to Alice Springs - Depart 08:25, Arrive 10:45
Sunday 29th April - Alice Springs to Brisbane - Depart 11:15, Arrive 14:35
Travelling overland up to the Great Barrier Reef for some diving and chilling on the beaches.
Wednesday 9th May - Brisbane to Sydney - Depart 13:15, Arrive 14:45
Saturday 12th May - Sydney to Shanghai (via Sydney) - Depart 09:20, Arrive 18:05 (Next day!)
Trekking from Shanghai to Beijing for two weeks. Hopefully meeting up with Zhao Dan in his city of Shen Yang.
Monday 28th May - Beijing to Hong Kong - Depart 07:50, Arrive 11:20
Friday 1st June - Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh - Depart 16:20, Arrive 17:50
Trekking from Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok via Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand
Tuesday 31st July - Bangkok to London (Heathrow) - Depart 00:45, Arrive 07:00
Tuesday 31st July - London (Heathrow) to Dublin - Depart 09:05, Arrive 10:20 (sniff)
Speaking of Rio, there seems to be a bit of a problem getting accommodation there during Carnaval. I had heard that accommodation needs to be booked well in advance and I took this to mean 3 months. Sadly, I was very much mistaken! The only accommodation left in Rio it seems is 5 star hotel rooms. Hardly appropriate for two budget travellers. And so the hunt for a roof over our heads in Rio is on. If anybody knows of anyone who would be willing to put up a couple of savoury travellers in Rio for 4-6 nights please let me know! The dates are 17th Feb - 23rd Feb.
Additional problems have arisen in the form of trying to get Chinese and Vietnamese visas. The Chinese one was all sorted - or so we thought. When I went to the embassy to pick our passports up, the dates were wrong. When I tried to get them changed, I was told the dates we required the visas for were too far away to get the visas now. And so our travel plans now include a morning in the Chinese consulate in Sydney. A similar problem with the Vitenamese visas. They can only be purchase a maximum of six months in advance. As we are going there in June, we can't apply till December. I don't know about anyone else but I'm slightly wary of sending my passport off to the Vietnamese embassy in London 3 weeks before a 7 month round the world trip and during the Christmas post. And so, at some stage on our travels, we will have to make a house call to some kinf of Vietnamese governmental establishment.
An interesting observation courtesy of Ms. Yeats: We will be in Easter Island only two days after Easter Sunday. It's almost worth amending the entire trip plans just to be in Easter Island for Easter! Our updated travel plans are now set out below. If anybody feels like meeting up with us at any stage, get on the blower!
Red = South America
Green = Australia
Blue = Asia
Friday 29th December - Dublin to Madrid - Depart 06:20, Arrive 09:50
Friday 29th December - Madrid to Quito, Ecuador - Depart 12:10, Arrive 16:10
Spending New Year's eve on the Equator at Ecuador. Childhood dream number 1! Let's hope they have crazy golf. Trekking overland through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia. Then making our way back up the west coast of Peru to Lima.
Saturday 17th February - Lima to Sao Paulo - Depart 00:50, Arrive 08:40
From Sao Paulo we make our way to Rio De Janeiro for Carnaval. Staying there for roughly 6 nights then it's off to Buenos Aires via Iguazu Falls where I'm sure there'll be many a fine steak to be had.
Thursday 8th March - Buenos Aires to Ushuaia - Depart 15:35, Arrive 19:15
Living the dream in Ushuaia for 5 days - The southernmost city in the world!
Wednesday 14th March - Ushuaia to Santiago - Depart 16:50, Arrive 22:05
Bumming up and down Chile for 4 weeks
Tuesday 10th April - Santiago to Easter Island
Saturday 14th April - Easter Island to Santiago - Depart 12:50, Arrive 19:35
Saturday 14th April - Santiago to Sydney (via Auckland) - Depart 22:55, Arrive 07:05 (On Monday 16th April!!!)
Saturday 21st April - Sydney to Melbourne - Depart 11:30, Arrive 13:00
Thursday 26th April - Melbourne to Alice Springs - Depart 08:25, Arrive 10:45
Sunday 29th April - Alice Springs to Brisbane - Depart 11:15, Arrive 14:35
Travelling overland up to the Great Barrier Reef for some diving and chilling on the beaches.
Wednesday 9th May - Brisbane to Sydney - Depart 13:15, Arrive 14:45
Saturday 12th May - Sydney to Shanghai (via Sydney) - Depart 09:20, Arrive 18:05 (Next day!)
Trekking from Shanghai to Beijing for two weeks. Hopefully meeting up with Zhao Dan in his city of Shen Yang.
Monday 28th May - Beijing to Hong Kong - Depart 07:50, Arrive 11:20
Friday 1st June - Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh - Depart 16:20, Arrive 17:50
Trekking from Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok via Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand
Tuesday 31st July - Bangkok to London (Heathrow) - Depart 00:45, Arrive 07:00
Tuesday 31st July - London (Heathrow) to Dublin - Depart 09:05, Arrive 10:20 (sniff)
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