I'm a money whore.

Things are looking up for me now, so I can jump on Tara's positive thinking bandwagon.

Turns out I did mess up with my medical insurance and I will have to pay for the operation myself, but the good news is that EDS have asked me to extend my contract till the end of June. I didn't really want to, but that extra time will pretty much pay for it. What I won't do for money...

I'm all moved in with Jontie, or as Robbie and I are now calling him, Juantie. It's not such a long story, please feel free to ask me about it any time. It went more smoothly than I thought it would, and I have thrown away or sold most of the stuff I don't need and don't want to keep. It's made me quite a bit of drinking money, which is coming in handy over my birthday week. Yes, I get a week.

As Tara mentioned, we had our first Spanish lesson on Monday. It was loads of fun and I think we're going to be fluent in a year or two.

I had a fantastic birthday on Tuesday. Spent the entire day on Dave's boat out from Maraetai. Dave, Andrew (don't tell the boss he was there...) and I went diving in the morning, and then Anna joined us later for fishing. Lots of beer was had, but not too many fish were caught. Funny that.

Tara couldn't make it on my birthday, but she came over last night with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, which we polished off pretty quickly. Unfortunately she had to leave before the crayfish from Tuesday could be put in the pot and et. YUM!

Tonight is the big birthday bash, and a good time will be had by all if I have to force it on them. I think I may warn work that I probably won't be in tomorrow.

nellV is a year older!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NELL!

Today is Nells birthday. I wish her an awesome day and an even better year.
The International Women of Mayhem dont age gracefully ... check it out at the birthday party on Thursday.

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~Chili Davis

espanol 101

we had our first spanish lesson tonight with tatiana from chile.
i cant roll my r's yet but we can count and we know the alphabet!
we have another lesson next week and i'd just like to apologise in advance for all the bad spanish we will be speaking for the next little while.

we've booked another two hour session for next week - as long as we keep doing our homework we will be fine.

the land of the incas

Fact file
Date: 1438 AD - 1533 AD
Area: South America

• The Inca Empire was an empire centered in what is now Peru from 1438 AD - 1533 AD.
• The Inca conquered a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges.
  
• The last Inca emperor was killed on orders of Francisco Pizarro, marking the beginning of Spanish rule.
• The empire was divided into four suyus - whose corners met at 'Navel of the World', now the modern-day Peru.
• The official language of the empire was Quechua, although over seven hundred local languages were spoken.
  
• The Inca leadership encouraged the worship of their gods, the foremost of which was Inti, the sun god.
• The Inca people originated in the Cuzco area, and under the command of Pachacuti, they began an expansion.
  
• Pachacuti sent out spies who reported on political organization, military might and wealth of people of surrounding regions.
  
• Pachacuti's son Tupac Inca expanded the kingdom north in 1463 until Pachacuti's death in 1471.
• Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro conquered the region in 1526 and brought the Inca empire to an end in 1572.

06 october - 20 october
i have been reading a little about the incas and in particular one mans journey to machu picchu.
we intend on hanging around in lima for a couple of days and then spending the rest on a trail of our own. from lima down to ica and nazca and then over to cuzco to go to macchu picchu. we're going on to bolivia after peru so we will then go down to puno.

its not going to be dry season but it shouldnt be too wet - possibly mostly misty. it should mean that the weather forms an awesome backdrop for the inca ruins. pure natural beauty!

lima
see the site museum, the Inca's temple of the sun ,the chosen women and sun virgin's temple as well as the Pachacamac temple.
hostel adventures house - twin double room - $8us per night

ica

nazca
i had never heard of the nazca lines until this evening. i guess the benefit of having rather a sore back is that i get to spend time on my backside - researching.
nazca lines and culture

cuzco
the administrative, political and military center of the incan empire, and from here we can take the Hiram Bingham train to Macchu Picchu. He was the man who discovered this amazing site.
cuzco accomodation.

puno
drive to Copacabana and visit the remote towns of Juli and Pomata on the way before boarding the hydrofoil to the Sun Island where, according to legend, the first Inca appeared.

put on a happy face

.. 73 days and counting ..

so we've been a little blue lately. and things havent been going quite to plan.

but guess what?
we're off on holiday and we dont have to work at least for 6 months!!
so today i have decided to put on my best window licker grin and not let anything else get me down. and i'm not going to let nell get upset either.

ready now ! taxi !!

I have issues too...

...and mine come in threes.

1.
I have to pack up all my belongings by Saturday to move into Jontie's house. Not such a problem except that I only have one more night to do it all in - being such a busy person and all.
I bought a whole lot of plastic wheely bins at the warehouse yesterday for Tara and I to pack our stuff into, but I've already used up most of them!
And I haven't even started on the clothes yet...

2.
I have a minor surgical procedure I have to undergo before we leave on holiday. Only it turns out I am blonde. I messed up my health insurance by not paying for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But it was a rough time for me in September and it all just got away from me. Now I am pleading my case with upper management to see if they will keep my policy open and let me back pay them, and get the procedure payed for by them.
Fingers crossed. This is $7000 that will come in handy in Galapagos.

3.
...
hold on.
...
I know there's another one in here somewhere...
umm....
Maybe I'm so upset I can't think of it just now.
I'll get back to you.

issue number four: who will take care of the pussy

75 days to go .. and counting down.

karate man was going to house and cat sit. but thats fallen through.
dont care about the stuff - have plans to sell most of it and store a little.

but whos going to look after my puddy tat? i dont think anyone quite understands what my cat means to me.
and i'm not so good at asking for help and i think this is a pretty big ask. i'd be calling and emailing all the time to find out if hes ok and happy. i'd make a huge pain in the ass of myself!!!
and then theres the worry of what if they didnt give him back to me. i'd cry.

i've called the pet motel in new plymouth. and they will look after him for me. $1200.00 for the whole time that i am away. so hes off on his own holiday the week before i move out of my place.p.s. really not happy and very very disappointed.

countdown .. 76 days remaining ..

its getting closer and closer!!! i cant believe its only 76 days to go!

we went out shopping today and got our thermals and some merino to keep us warm and cool and non stinky.
and we bought cells for our packs to make everything easy to find and keep organised. i'm a bit anal like that. the packing cells rock!! in my large one, i have all my shirts - tshirts, tank tops and shirts. i got a couple of waterproof ones for my camera charger and torch etc and they squirrel away nicely into my pack.

i've also decided to name my pack.
seeing as me and the big old bastard are going to be spending a lot of time together, hes gotta be cute.
so everyone - meet vin. no no i changed my mind. ryan. mmmm!
oh yeah!!

Got cold, will bitch.

I'm sitting on my couch, under a duvet at seven on a Saturday night, my friends are either out for the night having fun or away for the weekend diving. Either way, I hate them all for not suffering here with me.
Suffering?
Like starving children in Africa?
No, no. Much worse.
There are all sorts of fluids streaming from the various orifices in my head, none of them natural, all of them sticky.
Yuk! I'm a mess.
Aside from the fact that I am heart-achingly lonely, I am glad there is no one around to see me like this.
I'm on the sixth movie of the day, and the second roll of toilet paper, which is being used as a cheap substitute for soft, sensitive nose tissues because I am too sick to leave the house.
Oh woe is me!
I have to go now, all this self pity is hard work and I've just sneezed on the keyboard...

the trip!

now that all the bookings are done - here is the trip in red and the drive that we are taking with nells family in orange.

We're going to visit Denny Crane...

I know it may be a bit overkill, but Tara and I are absolutely rearing to go.
So I went ahead and booked our train from New York to Boston.

It was a lot more expensive than I thought it would be, but we get "large, comfortable seats" so that makes up for it. $116 for both of us to get from Penn station to Boston South Station with Amtrak.

I just hope that's the right station.
And I also hope Junior - our friend in Boston - get's back to us soon to let us know he will be there and we have a room to stay in.

Ka-ching!!

I was also put in charge of booking the hotel for Las Vegas. Fantastic...
Thought it would take hours, but I found something in about 5 minutes.
I found double double room at the MGM Grand for only US$75 per night.

What can a flashpacker say when confronted with that?
YES!! YES!! YES!!

something to remember us by.

we also sent the email today.

with the final date and the promises of a leaving bash.

and pleads for funds and things off our list of things to buy.
if you buy us a present, we'll send you photos and emails. promise.

so ... friday 3rd august.
you'll get an email and a location if you've been invited!

I Love New York!

I was in charge of booking the hotel for our stay in New York. In hindsight, this was probably not the best idea in the world because I am a little fussy.
I found a fantastic place - The Belvedere Hotel - right smack in the middle of everything we want to see.

I'm almost certain this is the same hotel I stayed in with my mother so many years ago, but I can't for the life of me remember.
It's costing us a little more than we originally budgeted - around US$230 a night - but it is so worth it, and we're not backpackers afterall... We each get a double bed to sleep on!
The room, a deluxe double double, is on special for the time we will be staying there. What more could two flashpackers ask for?

Let's go right round baby!

We visited with Susie, our fabulous travel agent, again today to settle our RTW tickets.
We changed one date that was incorrect and decide we would organise the Galapagos tickets ourselves.
After taking an educated guess at the taxes we would have to pay, Susie gave us our quote: NZ$6400
Sounds like a lot, but it's less than we thought it was going to be.
This is going to take us from Auckland - London - NY - around the US - South America - around South America - Auckland.
And Susie is going to make sure we get the best seats on all the flights.

It's very exciting to start paying for things. Makes it all seem so much more real!

mendoza!

Mendoza - Argentina (23 November - 8 December)

This is the part of the trip I am most looking forward to.
Not just because this is where we are going to be spending my birthday!

I've just found out that everyone stops for lunch. and then takes a siesta.
I think I can adopt that custom pretty quickly!

Mendoza is the adventure capital of Argentina and we are planning on spending around 2 weeks here.
The 4x4 tours look like loads of fun and one of them includes steak for lunch!
There are several really good horse treks in the area, and funnily enough, they include steak and wine for lunch.
I've even read reports of thermal hot pools up in the mountains. perfect on those not so warm days.

I'd like to go into Godoy Cruz, one of the important cities in the Mendoza province.
I've read a bit about the bazaars in this town.

Must sees are Puente del Inca, a stone bridge over the Río Mendoza and one of Argentina's natural wonders and Cristo Redentor - erected to mark the border dispute between Argentina and Chile, the statue of Christ the Redeemer at 13200 ft (4000 m) is open only when the road is open.

issue number three : spring cleaning and a garage sale

i had been hoping that my master plan would work out. but things dont seem to be going my way today.

dan, dan, karate man was going to sublet my place and look after napoleon and all my stuff.

but the bugger has gone and bought property!
obviously unable to pay both rental and a mortgage, he will still take care of napoleon but i need to give up my house. oh well its just an apartment (like the best place i have ever had!)

i am telling myself that i was going to buy a place when i got home, and that i needed new furiture anyway - all in order to make myself feel better. it may even work out cheaper in the long run.

now to find storage for what i decide to keep - and to start selling off my stuff (trademe or a garage sale .... either as long as they collect it!)

self storage in auckland
around 1.5/2m x 3m should be enough.
:: kiwiselfstorage - ellerslie (sent an email for a quote)
:: ezistore (filled in the online form but the size calculator seems to think i have a lot of stuff!)
:: national mini storage (2m x 3m = $140.00 per month)
:: guardian self storage (unit is 3m x 3m - filled in the form for a quote)

Car rental in the UK

Since we're such flashpackers, we have decided that we don't bus around first world countries, we drive.
So when we leave London we'll be leaving in style, well in a cheap rental vehicle anyway.
I always used 1-car-1 rentals when I lived in London. I never had a problem with them and all my research always pointed them out as the cheapest option.
Why look any further?

Spanish lessons anyone?

Listening to Spanish lessons on my ipod just doesn't seem to be cutting it. Every time I listen to the lessons it's like the first time.
So Spanish tutor it is.
Since Tara and I are such social butterflies, we'll need someone who can fit in with us on a weekly basis rather than stick to a rigid schedule.
I found quite a few private tutors on http://www.findatutor.co.nz/ and sent out an e-mail to some of them. I'll wait till I hear back from a few more before I start making my demands.
In no time at all we will be able to fluently answer my favorite Spanish question: "Que ora es?"

paris for moms birthday

i've just been talking to my bro (ewi lives in london) and he is organising a couple of days in paris for moms birthday.

nell and i arrive in london on the 6th of august and moms birthday is the next day.
nell is not coming but i am really looking forward to it!

time to brush up on my schoolgirl french.

je ne comprends pas!
voulez-vous repetez sil vous plait?

hanging out in new orleans

31 august, 1 september and flying to florida on the 2nd of september 2007.

we are staying in the french quarter - right in the middle of the french quarter (maison st. charles) and we are going to be there over friday and saturday nights! great planning nell.

yayyyyyy!! i loved new orleans when i was there in may/june 2005. its going to be interesting to see what has changed after hurricane katrina.

the travel doctor

while nell is trying to arrange some private spanish tuition, i'm supposed to be getting us booked in to have all our vaccinations.

what vaccinations we are going to need;

• Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG). Transmission of hepatitis A virus can occur through direct person-to-person contact; through exposure to contaminated water, ice, or shellfish harvested in contaminated water; or from fruits, vegetables, or other foods that are eaten uncooked and that were contaminated during harvesting or subsequent handling.
  
• Hepatitis B, especially if you might be exposed to blood or body fluids (for example, health-care workers), have sexual contact with the local population, or be exposed through medical treatment. Hepatitis B vaccine is now recommended for all infants and for children ages 11–12 years who did not receive the series as infants.
• Malaria: your risk of malaria may be high in these countries, including some cities. See your health care provider for a prescription antimalarial drug. For details concerning risk and preventive medications, see Malaria Information for Travelers to Tropical South America.
• Rabies, if you might have extensive unprotected outdoor exposure in rural areas, such as might occur during camping, hiking, or bicycling, or engaging in certain occupational activities.
• Typhoid vaccine. Typhoid fever can be contracted through contaminated drinking water or food, or by eating food or drinking beverages that have been handled by a person who is infected. Large outbreaks are most often related to fecal contamination of water supplies or foods sold by street vendors.
• Yellow fever, a viral disease that occurs primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America, is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes. The virus is also present in Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. Yellow fever vaccination is recommended for travelers to endemic areas and may be required to cross certain international borders (For country specific requirements, see Yellow Fever Vaccine Requirements and Information on Malaria Risk and Prophylaxis, by Country.). Vaccination should be given 10 days before travel and at 10 year intervals if there is on-going risk.
• As needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria and measles.

10 days in the galapagos

getting to the galapagos and organising 10 days there is not proving too hard.

we can fly onto san cristobal and then catch a transfer boat (private boats are about 30-40 each way) or fly straight on to baltra and get a transfer on to santa cruz and into the main town of puerto ayora.

there is a 5 day, 4 night dive trip which looks good. or we can do 2 dives a day with equipment rental. wish the kiwi dollar would go up against the US!

diving tour ITINERARY
DAY 1: CHARLES DARWIN RESEARCH STATION
Hotel Lobo de Mar.
Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station, see Giant Tortoises.
Afternoon Scuba Equipment check at the Dive Shop.

DAY 2: GORDON ROCKS AND MOSQUERA
Breakfast and Boat ride to Gordon Rocks (or Plazas island for beginners) for a extraordinary dive.
Gordon rocks is an extinct volcano with dramatic landscape.
Surface interval and Boat ride to Mosquera, it is an underwater cliff.
Sea lions, marine turtles, rays and sharks.
Hammerheads from July to December.

DAY 3: SEYMOUR NORTH AND DAPHNE MINOR
Transfer by car to Itabaca Channel.
Boat ride to Seymour (cliff and current) and Daphne Minor (wall dive).
Two great dives with chances of seeing sea horses, mantas, rays, turtles and sharks.
Hammerheads from July to December.

DAY 4: SEYMOUR NORTH AND GORDON ROCKS
Transfer by car to Itabaca Channel.
Boat ride to Seymour and Gordon Rocks.
Two great dives with chances of seeing mantas, rays, turtles and hammerhead sharks.

travel insurance quotations

you know, i'm the kind of girl who will pay a lot for something that i dont really need (but want sooooo bad) but when it comes to insurance, i really dont like paying much for it.
if something does happen, i'm generally covered. if something doesnt happen, shouldnt i get some of my money back?

oh and besides looking for travel insurance quotes, i found out that we will be away for 173 days.

we're going to have to keep a watch on the safetravel site too - some wont cover us if we are in countries that have travel advisory against all non-essential travel or all travel full stop! so we have to keep an eye on colombia, ecuador, bolivia and peru.

southern cross -- $ 539.00
1cover -- $ 487.50
columbus direct -- $ 697.50 (includes diving) -- $ 558.00 (without diving)
aa travel -- $ 776.00 (with u.s) -- $ 527.00 (no cover for the u.s)
travel insurance direct -- $ 568.00
state insurance -- $ 554.00
flybuys insurance -- $ 554.00

why is it more expensive to spend time in the united states!?

colombia

colombia is the first country that i have started doing a little research on - mainly because everyone warns me about the crime and corruption and drugs. ok - sounds fair to be careful but i was wondering if it was going to be as bad as people make out.
if nell and i stick together i think we should be fine. being safe when travelling means taking personal precautions and using some common sense!

seeing as i dont really want to lug my library around with me (and i have had tonsilitis so i'm under house arrest), i armed myself with a few books and some websites and decided to use my blog like a little travel-to-do list. by the power of labels, i can use these pages later and leave most of the books at home. crap i am smart!

bogota arrival date: 06 september 2007 (4-5 days)

so it seems that it might be a little wet (in terms of weather) when we fly into bogota.
we fly in on the 6th but head to cartagena the next day. we do go back though - after about 6 days.

bogota is also at an altitude of 8640 feet (2600 metres). hope i dont get altitude sickness!
this also means that i need to make sure i have a good raincoat and good walking shoes. and probably loads and loads of socks. and a cover for my pack and day pack.

being the capital city, there should be some pretty interesting things to see and do, and there are about 6 times the number of people as compared to auckland.

there seems to be some good places to stay in the la candelaria zone. this is the old centre of the town.
http://www.platypusbogota.com/services.php

what do i want to experience here?
music
soccer (football)
gold (the museo del oro)
bookshops
churches
food
dancing
the cable car to the top of cerro de monserrate
.. and i want to go to a bullfight! (but i think we are there at the wrong time)

outside of bogota - i really want to see the salt cathedral at zipaquira (should go in the mornings).

cartagena arrival date: 07 september 2007 (5 days)

slightly nearer the equator, and without the altitude to cool the temperatures, it should be warmer once we get to cartagena.
we are going to fly in from bogota - with the short schedule we have given ourselves, it does seem the best way. means we get a little extra time to go to other towns along the coast such as santa marta.

what do i want to experience here?
pirates
music
more food!
the parque nacional tairona looks like a bit of me. i've been reading that the beaches in this area are gorgeous. and i am definitely a beach girl.

there is supposed to be some really good diving here too - and along the coast to the west. and the water is 28 degrees. i love warm water!
i'm not sure if we are going to have enough time to do any but i've found a couple of operators that look ok.
http://www.divingplanet.org/buceoencartagena_ING.htm
http://www.poseidondivecenter.com/england/england.htm
http://www.bandadiveshop.com/e_salidas.php

issue number two

ipod is not quite doing what i want.

i bought the camera connector when i was in melbourne. the plan was to take that, ipod and camera (with base) so we can load all our photos on to the disk and not have to worry about running out of memory cards for all the photos.

well the photo import worked ok. but when i went to play some music tracks, ipod skipped them all and never played a single one.
i got home and connected ipod to laptop. i removed the folder that had been created from importing nells photos and i ran a sync as well. now ipod plays fine.

needs some more testing as i am hoping this wont happen when i am half way around the world away from laptop.

current capacity 80gb - 24gb music, 1gb movies, 4gb photos

around the world in many days

this 6 to 7 month trip requires a bit of planning.

i need an equipment list, to learn spanish, and to start praying that all my gear is going to fit in my pack.

i also need to ensure that my house is going to be looked after and that my cat will be alive when i get home.

i always work better from a list.

items (purchased so far):
canon exilm z-1000 camera + charger
ipod (80gb) + charger + camera connection for importing and storing photos
sony ericsson w850 + charger (for emergencies)

items (to be purchased):
updated lonely planet guide for south america
thermals! gotta keep the booty warm

other things to do:
1. accountant for tax requirements whilst away
2. sublet agreement on my apartment
3. storage unit for my car
4. organise diving trip in the galapagos