As many of you will know, I had booked off five weeks from work – though I had no real solid plan as to what to do in my travels (bar knowing I was not going to be in England all that time).

After a look around the ‘must see’ places, I had to exclude off Bhutan, China, Russia and many others due to visa requirements. Visas are easy enough to get, on the proviso that you have time. Though unfortunately I was looking to book a flight/itenary for 7 days time.

I’ve been to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand etc so Australasia didn’t really appeal to much. I had considered mainland Europe, on the inter-rail pass but then the weather might not have been as nice as I was looking for.

North America didn’t really appeal – it’s very vast and I’m not sure where I would have started either.

Therefore Central and South America stuck out, the predominant language in the region is Spanish (bar Portuguese in Brazil). My spanish may have been poor, but at least it would make communication a bit easier.

I had seen some lovely Pyramids of the Sun and Moon mentioned as a must see for Mexico, and therefore I booked a flight to Mexico city for the 5th of October. Therefore planning had been completed, I still had no idea exactly where I would be going, (country or locale wise).

In future blog posts I’ll be regaling tales for the countries and places I visited. Where did I visit? Well here is the finished itenary:

-Birmingham : Frankfurt
-Frankfurt: Mexico City
-Mexico City : Panama
-Panama : Quito, Ecuador
-Quito : Banos, Ecuador
-Banos : Cotopaxi, Ecuador
-Cotopaxi : Quito
-Quito : Lima, Peru
-Lima : Cusco, Peru
-Cusco : Aqua Calientes, Peru
-Agua Calientes : Cusco
-Cusco : Copacabana, Bolivia
-Copacabana : La Paz, Bolivia
-La Paz : Santa Cruz, Bolivia
-Santa Cruz : Sao Paulo, Brazil
-Sao Paulo : Frankfurt
-Frankfurt : Birmingham

The data joys must stop, I’m taking a break away from it all.  In true explorer style, I’m not quite sure where I will be.  I organised the first leg just 7 days before I go.

Starts:

Monday 5th October:  Birmingham – > Mexico City

Hit list:

• Belize – Cay Caulker
• Costa Rica
• Panama – It’s got a big canal right?
• Ecuador – Quito’s Old Town / Galapagos Isles
• Peru – Machu Picchu
• Chile – Easter Island

These are just some ideas, my research books are coming – and no doubt I’ll see where the world takes me.  I’d like to hit more countries in Central America, but there is talk of avoiding Honduras and those surrounding it – I’ll be watching what the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office say.

So where else should I be looking to go in Central/South America?

Edit 1: OK – Just struck off some central locations, and going to skip straight into South America I think.  Bolivia is being mentioned, but so many choices!

Edit 2: Choices keep changing, if I can’t get to Easter Island I’ll probably head down into Argentina – Perhaps patagonia way?