Almost There

Our trip to South America will begin on 12 December 2006. We'll start in Ecuador with the Tucan Explorer tour which will journey through Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil before finishing in Rio de Janeiro. There, we'll meet up with Rio Rhythmics's Rio Carnival Tour. After a few more days in Rio, we'll fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina and on to Ushuaia to embark on our Classic Antarctica cruise before returning to Brisbane.

Not all has gone to plan so far: the Antarctica Cruise Operator double booked his vessel, and we were forced to delay that leg of our tour. Of course we had already booked and paid for our internal and international flights by that stage, so those had to be rescheduled. Unfortunately, Varig airlines had gone bust since our domestic tickets had been issued, and our flights ticketed on Varig paper could not be changed as Aerolineas Argentinas wisely refused to accept them.

Fortunately, our wonderful STA Travel agent Mark got our Varig tickets refunded (albeit after several months) and booked us flights cheaper than the ones we had purchased initially. Tucan Travel agreed to pay for our accommodation in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires to cover the delay, and the Antarctica Cruise Operator has promised us upgrades worth AUD1300/pp to B Cabins so we'll have the luxury of being able to look out port holes to the main deck!

Now that we've been vaccinated, had our mail put on hold, gym memberships frozen and bills paid in advance, we're almost ready to leave. That I haven't fully detailed our itinerary does make me nervous, but the fact that so many others have winged it and survived does provide some relief. I'm not fooling anyone, am I? We all know my anal self is not going to be satisfied until I have everything mapped out.