After a whirlwind three months in Europe, we headed back to the United States to visit family and celebrate Sara’s brother’s wedding. The first week back was full of projects preparing for the wedding at our family home in western Pennsylvania. Everything came together perfectly with a stunning wedding celebrating a beautiful couple.

The Farm

Once the wedding excitement ended, we headed to eastern Pennsylvania to visit my family before getting back on the road. Our days were already packed to ensure we saw everyone in the surrounding area. Because we had not yet booked anything for our final leg in South America, it was becoming very easy to think about staying home surrounded by family instead of getting back on the road. But we both knew if we didn’t finish our original plan, we would regret not meeting that goal. During our drives across Pennsylvania between visits, we began to discuss our options which helped get us back into the mood.

Planning where to go

South America is a huge continent full of everything imaginable. There are large deserts, high mountains, party cities, island beaches and endless jungles. Traveling by land takes a long time because of the poor infrastructure and the huge distances involved. After touring South East Asia (which is much smaller then South America) mainly by busses and after being burned out traveling so quickly across Europe, we decided to fly to four of five destinations and spend a few weeks in each place. I also wanted to go to places where we could do fun activities like kiteboarding, scuba diving and hiking which are all things I missed while running around Europe. There were two places we already knew we wanted to reach; the Galapagos off the coast of Ecuador and Machu Picchu in Peru. With the help of the book “1000 Places to see before you Die” by Patricia Schultz and by previously talking with other travelers, we finally narrowed our list down to also stop at Bolivia and Bonaire (Dutch Caribbean).

Planning how to get there

Trying to find affordable air fare was our next challenge. Because we booked all other legs on an around-the-world ticket with Oneworld, we started there. They offer a single continent pass which we assumed would be similar. Unfortunately, Oneworld’s website is outdated and vague so we needed to call an airline for information. After a call to American Airlines (which took longer than it should have because Oneworld has the incorrect phone number listed), we learned that it was much more restrictive and didn’t seem to offer much of a discount. After several hours of looking for flights, Sara remembered learning about a company who specialized in these types of trips, AirTreks, so we sent a request with our proposed itinerary (she had read about them in “How to Travel the World on $50 a day” by Matt Kepnes). Justin from AirTreks called us a few hours later and was incredibly helpful in completing the puzzle for us. By the next evening, we had confirmed tickets departing Philadelphia just two days later!

Final South American itinerary

Our flight plan starts in Quito, Ecuador where we will spend a few days and hopefully find a last minute cruise in the Galapagos. From Quito, we fly to Lima, Peru for a month with the main activity being exploring Machu Picchu. Then on to Bolivia to see the salt flats and finishing up in Bonaire for relaxing and scuba diving.
Here we go again!

Note on Europe posts

Unfortunately, our fast pace in Europe did not allow for much time to tend to this website. Rather than living in the past, we will set aside our last month in Europe for now and post that information when we complete our travels in South America. Thanks for understanding!