A place to write

Time flies. In 6 weeks we will be back in London. Before we left, we noted down a list of things we’d want to do and achieve on this trip. Not just places we’d want to see but things we’d want to: 

• learn (e.g. improve our surfing),
• experience (e.g. Spending 6 months together in a van and meeting people we don’t usually come across in our London life) and, 
• do (e.g. Spend more time reading books, meditating etc)

But with 8 weeks to go we realised we had to make some choices as to where we’d go, how much time we’d spend there etc. Cusco or the Bolivian salt flats? The Amazon or Easter Island? More surfing or more trekking?

This has led us to create a list of things that we have had to skip. On this trip. Here’s where we got to and where we’d probably start next time we are thinking of taking a holiday. 

1. Antarctica. Would have blown our budget and seen us return to the UK 4 months too soon but it’s definitely on the list 
2. Galapagos. Again, expensive and something we keep telling ourselves we can easily do when older 
3. Amazon. Up until yesterday the plan was to go to Iquitos and spend a week on a river boat in the Amazon. Unfortunately, Iquitos flooded and the other option in Peru, Manu, was as expensive as the Galapagos (but a bargain compared to Antarctica) 
4. Bolivian Salt Flats. This was skipped in favour of Cusco though we might, might, be able to visit the salt flats as we drive south to Santiago 
5. Equador, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil. There’s clearly a need for a northern Latin America tour 
6. Fly fishing. Andy’s finally come to terms with the fact that he did not get to try this out 
7. Carnival. I had this vision of us spending carnival at a remote village somewhere but we spent Carnival on different continents  

This is by no means a list of complaints. We have seen, done and experienced a whole host of different, surprising, exciting, disappointing, hilarious things. But there’s only so much we can squeeze into 6 months.