66 days until i get on a plane and spend five weeks in Argentina. when you say 66 it sounds like a lot, but it’s not really. just about two months. wow. wonder what i’ll pack?

last weekend i was thinking about the trip, and where else i would want to go for five weeks. i came to the conclusion that Spain and New Zealand are other places i’d like to go and take a good amount of time to travel around. let’s see, if i go to Chile & Antarctica next year then i suppose Spain would be 2013 and New Zealand 2014, or vice versa. i have no idea what i will be doing this December let alone 2013, so i don’t think i’ll start planning those trips quite yet.

i took a look at my Argentina tour itinerary and one of the spots i’m going to visit is the Iguazu Falls (Iguazu means big water).

you can visit the falls from the Argentina side and the Brazil side, which i will do. it’s such a powerful looking piece of nature, and the photos i’ve seen are amazing. it was short-listed as a candidate to be one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation.

i think this site visit will be the perfect way to start my travel through Argentina.

photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

well, it seems that to get to Antarctica from South America is a) costly and b) doesn’t happen year round.

the trips i have found are about $3000-$4000 and they happen between November and March. i have a sneaking suspicion that i won’t be able to get to Antarctica on this particular trip. but, i did see that there are flights from Chile so maybe 2012 holds a trip to Chile with an Antarctic diversion?

see how it is, i haven’t even gone on the five week Argentina trip and i’m already looking at what i can do next year……

image courtesy of worldtravels.com

that trip in high school was my last international trip for a very long time. i mean a VERY long time. i guess during the college years i was busy getting an education and working……and yes, there was a little partying thrown in for good measure. i really didn’t do much traveling at all.

there was one Honolulu trip for spring break, but i don’t think that counts. Hawaii is very tropical and there were drinks with umbrellas, but it wasn’t international. sadly i spent too much time in the sun my first day of that Honolulu trip and got a horrible sun rash. i had to stay indoors for the next three days, which was pretty much the whole trip. i did make good friends with all of the hotel bartenders though, and when you’re a broke college student that is a great perk!

i can hardly believe i’m saying this, but after the whirlwind Europe excursion, my next big trip was 12 years later.

photo courtesy of photobucket.com

most of my vacations were spent visiting Lake Tahoe. my family has a house in South Shore and i went there for the majority of school vacations and random weekends throughout the year. occasionally i had the opportunity to visit other places with my parents. trips to Disneyland, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo were a few of the favorites. then there were the “convention” trips. my Dad belonged to an organization that had twice yearly conferences, and sometimes i was able to attend the summer trips. although i don’t remember which hotels we stayed at, i do have fond memories of big fancy swimming pools in the Ozarks and Scottsdale.

someone said to me, “you go on so many cool trips and you take a lot of great photos, you should really post your travel experiences somewhere.”

while the part about cool trips and photos is true, i wasn’t sold on the posting them somewhere idea. first off, does anyone care where i’ve been, and do they want to see the pictures? i think not. secondly, what makes me think what i have to say about a place is blog-worthy? lastly, i don’t consider myself a writer, and it’s hard to start a blog when you don’t have a passion for writing or posting.

so why do it? that is the million dollar question.

i guess i’m doing it for selfish reasons. somewhere i can post fun pictures and comments about my travels. an electronic travel journal if you will.
i figure if people stumble across the blog and don’t like it, they don’t have to read it, and who knows, maybe some little tidbit of information i post will be a nugget of gold for someone. i doubt that will be the case, but you never know.