And so it begins…

Embark

Panic 

Imagine
Countdown

It is now just one week until my departure date and I don’t think that the reality of what I am about to embark on has hit me fully yet. I’m traveling around pretty much all of South America for the next seven months, and I definitely feel that at this stage I should be panicking or stressing, or in some way gibbering over how under-prepared I am. Instead I’m currently exuding a fabulous air of calm and nonchalance - shur I do this kind of thing all the time like. Yea right!

Right now I’m imagining: no more work (yay!), no long dreary winter nights (birrr!), heck - no winter full stop (woo-hoo!), no Munster home games (grrr!), no Taytos (gulp!), no going to see the anxiously awaited The Hobbit in the cinema (boo!), no Christmas at home with the entire family (that’s going to be a very difficult first!), no Heineken Cup final on home soil in the Aviva (for feck sake!). Instead I’m content to trade all the plush creature comforts of home for half a year of untold adventure, a 20kg backpack, overlanding with 21 like-minded travelers and visiting oodles of scenic places that up until now I have only dared to dream about.

The proposed route is as follows:

WK 01 TO 07: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay

WK 08 TO 14: Brazil

WK 15 TO 17: Venezuela

WK 18 TO 19: Colombia

WK 20 TO 21: Ecuador & Galapagos Islands

WK 22 TO 24: Peru

WK 25 TO 26: Bolivia

WK 27 TO 28: Uruguay & return to Argentina

 

T minus seven days and counting….