The Journey
Of course once you have decided to go there is the second question - where ?
I considered overlanding to the Far East, through Europe and North Africa, finishing up in Kathmandu. I thought about going straight down through the centre of Africa and finishing at Cape Town. Finally I settled on the Americas. The route I worked out was in sections. The first section was from New York to Los Angeles. Along the way I would be seeing Niagara Falls, Chicago, Yellowstone, Yosemite and San Francisco.
A flight up to Anchorage would get me to the start of the second section. This was to take me through Canada, half a dozen National Parks in the North West United States, Las Vegas, the Sonora Desert and eventually down as far as Mexico City.
After a few days rest in the worlds most populous city I would be moving on again, down through Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
Another short flight would bring me into Columbia at Cartagena and then my next section would begin - through Columbia to Quito in Ecuador. At Quito I would have four weeks break - the longest period on the trip that I would spend in one place.
The penultimate section was to be from Quito down through Peru, Bolivia and Chile to Santiago taking in the magnificent Machu Pichhu and the unbelievable Uyuni Salt Flats en route. Finally I would travel all the way down the the tip of South America and Tierra del Fuego before returning up the opposite coast to Rio de Janeiro in time for the Carnival.
This last section would include both the Moreno Glacier and the stunning Iguassu Falls.
I was the travel agents dream customer. I walked in with a printed itinary for a nine month trip listing dates, companies and costs and said
"Book that !"
Most of the trip worked out as planned. The leg through Columbia was cancelled because of trouble with drug traficking gangs in the South so that I flew from Cartagena to Quito and had seven weeks there instead of four but otherwise everything went to plan perfectly.
I set off on the 7th June 1999 and finally arrived back home on 11th March 2000 having covered the best part of 25,000 miles.
I considered overlanding to the Far East, through Europe and North Africa, finishing up in Kathmandu. I thought about going straight down through the centre of Africa and finishing at Cape Town. Finally I settled on the Americas. The route I worked out was in sections. The first section was from New York to Los Angeles. Along the way I would be seeing Niagara Falls, Chicago, Yellowstone, Yosemite and San Francisco.
A flight up to Anchorage would get me to the start of the second section. This was to take me through Canada, half a dozen National Parks in the North West United States, Las Vegas, the Sonora Desert and eventually down as far as Mexico City.
After a few days rest in the worlds most populous city I would be moving on again, down through Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
Another short flight would bring me into Columbia at Cartagena and then my next section would begin - through Columbia to Quito in Ecuador. At Quito I would have four weeks break - the longest period on the trip that I would spend in one place.
The penultimate section was to be from Quito down through Peru, Bolivia and Chile to Santiago taking in the magnificent Machu Pichhu and the unbelievable Uyuni Salt Flats en route. Finally I would travel all the way down the the tip of South America and Tierra del Fuego before returning up the opposite coast to Rio de Janeiro in time for the Carnival.
This last section would include both the Moreno Glacier and the stunning Iguassu Falls.
I was the travel agents dream customer. I walked in with a printed itinary for a nine month trip listing dates, companies and costs and said
"Book that !"
Most of the trip worked out as planned. The leg through Columbia was cancelled because of trouble with drug traficking gangs in the South so that I flew from Cartagena to Quito and had seven weeks there instead of four but otherwise everything went to plan perfectly.
I set off on the 7th June 1999 and finally arrived back home on 11th March 2000 having covered the best part of 25,000 miles.
