Category Archives: Travel Planning

South America Round 2: Argentina!

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We’re going to Argentina!  We’ve been wanting to go back to South America ever since we got back from Peru, and we’re finally able to make it happen this year.  We’ve booked our flights into and out of Argentina and one of our hotels but other than that, nothing is set in stone.  That doesn’t mean we haven’t been thinking and planning, though!  We have a very good idea of things to do and places to stay, but just haven’t finalized or booked anything yet.

We have about 2 weeks in Argentina, and here is the high-level plan:

Map of Argentina - Itinerary

So, we’re starting up north in Iguazú Falls, and I’ve already booked the Sheraton Iguazú Resort & Spa, which is actually inside the national park.  It worked out great for us because I was able to book free nights (16,000 starpoints/night), and we will hopefully be some of the first people in the park both days.  The rate includes a free buffet breakfast (comparable rate for booking 3-4 months out would be $264-$330 USD, depending on whether you wanted the flexibility to cancel and pay upon arrival).  We’ll fly in on a Friday, and spend Saturday on the Brazilian side and Sunday on the Argentine side before flying down to Patagonia on Monday.

We are planning to spend about one week in Argentine Patagonia, splitting time between El Calafate and El Chaltén.  I can’t wait to see the glaciers, go hiking, and explore the southern part of Argentina. We haven’t quite figured out the split between the two cities, but we are leaning toward 3 nights in El Calafate and 4 nights in El Chaltén.  We plan to take a one-day cruise in El Calafate, as well as trek across one of the glaciers, Perito Moreno.  In El Chaltén we plan to hike several day hikes, weather permitting.  Just for fun, here’s a view of the glaciers that we will (hopefully) see on our cruise in El Calafate:

Glaciers from MarPatag Cruise

This picture is from the MarPatag site, which is one of the companies we are considering for the cruise.  They have two-night cruise that looks very luxurious and has been tempting us, but right now we’re sticking with the full-day cruise because it’s more practical (and a lot more cost effective).

Our last stop will be in (and around) Buenos Aires.  Right now we are looking to spend 5 nights there and fly out late on Saturday night.  One of my good friends just spent 3 months in South America and she advised us not to spend too much time in Buenos Aires.  However, we plan to do a couple of all day side trips, so I’m hoping that we won’t be bored after only 5 days and nights.  Plus, our research so far gave us a lot of good ideas for activities to do in Buenos Aires, so I’m confident we’ll enjoy our time here.

That’s all we have for now – since we do like to plan ahead, I’m sure we will be booking some things (like our activities in El Calafate and any day trips from Buenos Aires), but we’ll try to leave in some flexibility in case we change our minds once we are down there.  I’m looking forward to our second trip to South America!

Swiss Rail Pass Evaluation: Extensive Benefits Justify Price

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Swiss PassOur upcoming journey to Switzerland will be our first Europe trip since our first international trip together in 2009 in which buying a rail pass makes sense relative to purchasing individual tickets.  In our last train-intensive trip to Europe (Portugal/Spain 2012), we actually determined that planning ahead and buying tickets directly from the operator lead to greater savings than a rail pass.  This same rule applies to our planned travel in Germany and Austria during this trip, however the comprehensive benefits of the Swiss Rail Pass make it the clear choice for funding our transit within Switzerland.

The Swiss Pass is different from the passes offered by Eurail that are the standard in most countries.  Although Eurail offers regional or global passes that include Switzerland, the Swiss Pass, with its associated benefits, is only available from Swiss Travel System.  Also unlike the Eurail passes, the Swiss Pass offers free fare on local transit options, free admission to many of Switzerland’s best museums and attractions (link to master list), and free rides on many of the mountain cablecars and railroads.  Our first analysis, without considering these benefits, indicated individual tickets would actually be very comparable to a pass at around 305 CHF for our total train travel cost in Switzerland (cost of a 3-day flexi pass, 20 CHF shipping, and one ticket not included on the pass vs. 5 individual rail tickets and Mt. Rigi Majestic Round Trip).

Once we started looking at are other planned activities in Switzerland, however, we began to realize the benefit of the Swiss Pass.  The “flexi pass” we originally evaluated (which does not require the pass days to be consecutive), only offers the benefits on travel days.  Most of our planned activities will not occur on the same days we travel, so to take advantage of the Swiss Pass benefits, we needed to instead evaluate buying a normal 8-day Swiss Pass, which would cover travel and activities for our entire stay in Switzerland.  For a couple, this pass costs 365 CHF per traveler (including the 10% saver discount and 20 CHF total shipping for 2 passes).  Here are the expected benefits we expect to accrue with the pass per person (organized from largest value to smallest):

With this list, we value the Swiss Pass at 437.90 CHF, giving us 73 CHF relative to the individual cost.  Not spectacular savings, but combined with the convenience of avoiding ticket lines, it is a clear choice for us.  We really like how Swiss Travel Systems has put together a product that integrates sightseeing priorities, train travel, and local transit.

For others, its important to do an analysis to understand the value of a pass, and perhaps more importantly, whether a flexi pass or regular pass works best for their situation.  It is possible a multi-country Eurail pass makes more sense, if the sightseeing priorities don’t provide enough savings, and there are also other passes available that give you half price on train travel that may be worth consideration.

Last-Minute Getaway: North of the Border

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After tentative Super Bowl weekend plans fell through, our 3-day weekend was suddenly cleared. And while we love spending long weekends at home to relax and catch up, we’ve been home every weekend this month (albeit with guests) and we’re ready to get out of Bakersfield.

We were open to anywhere we could drive or fly (plus driving time to the airport) to in about 5 hours or less. Mexico was promising, but in the end we decided to go north of the border, to Vancouver!

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Just ordered this book yesterday – Amazon Prime has been very good to us, especially with Sunday deliveries by Amazon!

All we’ve done so far is book our flights from LA to Vancouver on Thursday night (returning Sunday). So now the fun begins! We hope to have our hotel booked in the last couple of days, as well as figure out which activities we’re interested in and where we’d like to eat.

This is my biggest last minute trip, and it’s something I’ve longed to do. It’s much easier to be spontaneous with our long weekends, so I’m looking forward to seeing how next weekend pans out!

When in Rome….Where to Stay?

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We’re fortunate that we don’t have a tight budget for our Italian adventure, but that doesn’t mean I want to splurge on hotels for no reason.  I’ve been particularly surprised by the higher-priced hotels in Rome — yes, there are cheaper options, but I have a specific area in mind and am looking for a certain something in the hotel we choose.

After a bit of research, we found that the Campo de Fiori/Pantheon/Piazza Navona area is the place to stay.  While we’ve found some very promising prospects, we have not found anything that makes us say “wow.”  Capturing the trade-offs with each option is key, and we will eventually make a decision.  Location is the main constraint in the search.  Since we plan to be out and about most of the time, I am less concerned with the actual room and amenities than I normally would be for a stay.

Residenza Canali

The nonrefundable rate for the lowest level room (standard double) is just under €100 per night.  However, we’re looking at either the double room with terrace or junior suite with terrace, since the price is still within our “budget.”  The nonrefundable rates for those rooms are €336 and €380, respectively (if we choose the “long stay” discount, it’s €378 and €427).

Honeymoon Suite, Residenza Canali, Rome, Italy

While the rooms aren’t anything special, the location is great: it’s located just steps away from Piazza Navona (where the annual Christmas Market will be set up!).  And since it’s not right on the square, we should be able to stay away from the crowds, if we desire.

Albergo Cesàri

Rooftop Terrace, Albergo Cesari, Rome, Italy

Again with this hotel, the location is a huge plus: it’s located off of Piazza della Rotonda on a less crowded side street.  It’s still in our preferred area.  The rooms are not upgraded and some of them are described as being “cozy and comfortable, “but the rooftop terrace is a major win, such as those at https://www.conservatories-near-me.co.uk/orangery/.” Also, breakfast is served on the terrace, and at 6 p.m., the bar opens up.

The cost is €378/386 total (depending on the type of room – I’m not sure what the difference is, though).  There are also more expensive rooms extra room, but that’s not something we need in Rome!

So do we choose the hotel with the private terrace, or the one with the shared rooftop terrace (and bar)?  And does it matter whether or not we have a terrace if it ends up raining the entire time?  I’m still debating whether one location is superior to the other (they are fairly close – only a 9 minute walk, according to Google Maps).

We’ll give it another month or so (and keep checking to make sure there’s availability) before booking, and maybe even later if we go with Residenza Canoli and opt for the nonrefundable rate.  However, it seems we can’t go wrong with either of these hotels!

One Week in Peru: itinerary overview

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As of last week, our flights to Peru are officially booked!  We’ve been thinking about and discussing potential plans for Peru, so it didn’t take us long to lock down a high-level itinerary for our week in this South American country.

Machu Picchu (picture from the Machu Picchu wikipedia article)

Getting there: After our international flight into Lima (with a short layover in Panama), we will be boarding another plane for an hour and 20 minute flight into Cusco (or Cuzco).  From there we will take a taxi (that we booked via https://www.miramarspeedcircuit.com/find-car-rental-accepts-cash/ site) to and from the Sacred Valley.  Luckily the taxi transfers aren’t too expensive (we are paying $45-$50 for the hour and a half drive).

Deciding where to stay: Ryan quickly decided on Ollantaytambo as our base for the time spent in the Sacred Valley (including a day trip to Machu Picchu).  Our only real options were Ollantaytambo, Urubamba, Cusco, or Aguas Calientes.  Ollantaytambo and Urubamba are in the Sacred Valley and the train to Machu Picchu stops in both towns.  For us, Ollantaytambo seemed like a better option because there are actually ruins in the town, whereas Urubamba doesn’t have much in the town itself.  We decided that Cusco and Aguas Calientes were too far away for the exploring we plan to do within the Sacred Valley.  Also, Cusco sits at a much higher elevation, so it is recommended to spend a few nights in the Sacred Valley before spending time in Cusco.  Other than the first stop, we will spend 2 nights in Cusco and end up at in Lima for a few nights before heading home.

Sacred Valley, Peru, South America

The Sacred Valley, Peru (picture taken from wikipedia)

The breakdown by city:  We will be staying in Peru for a total of 9 nights and have decided to split our time between the three cities mentioned above: Ollantaytambo, Cusco, and Lima.

Ollantaytambo – 4 nights

  • Arriving: around 5:30pm at the Cusco Airport, and then taking a taxi (~an hour and a half) to Ollantaytambo
  • What to Do: get settled in the first night, explore the ruins in Ollantaytambo the second day, go on a private tour of the Sacred Valley, including the Pisac market, on the third day (we still have to schedule this), and finally explore Machu Picchu on our fourth and final day in the valley.
  • Leaving: fairly early in the morning, by taxi, to Cusco

Cusco – 2 nights

  • Arriving: fairly early (by lunchtime)
  • What to Do: touring the city, including Plaza de Armas (see picture below), and exploring nearby Inca ruins, potentially including Sacsayhuamán and Q’enko.  Cusco  becomes lively at night, so at the very least, drinks in the town center are a must!
  • Leaving: taking a mid-late morning flight to Lima (we haven’t booked this yet, but we will likely leave sometime between 9:30 and 11:00am)
Plaza de Armas, Cusco at Night
Plaza de Armas, Cusco at night (picture taken from wikipedia)

Lima – 3 nights

  • Arriving: at the Lima airport, between 11:00am and 12:30pm
  • What to Do: eat (I can’t wait for the food here, specifically the ceviche), visit the Museo Larco, and explore the neighborhoods
  • Leaving: 7am flight back to LAX, which gets us back a little after 4pm

Originally, a one week trip in Peru seemed like plenty of time, but now that we’ve done a bit more research, we wish we were staying longer (this always happens).  I know Ryan was a bit upset that we cut Lake Titicaca from the itinerary (and especially upset that we would no longer be taking the Andean Explorer from Cusco to Lake Titicaca), but our finalized itinerary will give us time to enjoy the cities we will be staying in, hopefully without feeling rushed.

We’ve spent the most time focusing on the first part of our trip (in and around Ollantaytambo), but we have about two more months to continue to research and make plans for activities so that we can make the most out of Peru!