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Published: March 5th 2014
We have been planning to visit South America for quite some time. Years ago Linda's brother visited Machu Picchu and raved about it. As it is the only continent, other than Antarctica, that we have never visited it is about time that we go. As retirees, we have a pretty flexible schedule. We wanted to go when the weather was good (no rain and fog obscuring Machu Picchu) and the tourists few (no crowds and lower prices), which meant May, September or October according to our Travelblog research. We originally targeted mid-Sep to mid-Oct of this year.
I mostly use frequent flyer miles for my travels, usually reserving 330 days in advance to ensure the availability of seats using the fewest miles. But last fall I didn't have enough miles for two round trips, so waited until this last month to book, checking every day for available seats. I now have enough miles for two round trips, but on different airlines. Linda does NOT like to travel by herself. Fortunately, United and American allow booking one way flights so one round trip equals two one way.
Finding two one way flights for this coming fall from Denver to Lima and then return from La Paz proved problematic, involving 30,000 miles or more per one way ticket. So I looked for the April/May time frame and today, for the first time in a month, I found two one way tickets on American Airlines from Denver to Lima on 30 April for 15,000 miles each...I booked them immediately!
I quickly had to find a way back from La Paz about two weeks later. I only had 55,000 miles with United. Everything to Denver involved at least 30,000 miles each. But in looking at the routes, where most flights transited through Bogota, Columbia, Panama City, Panama, and Mexico City, Mexico, a light turned on in the dark recesses of my brain...maybe we could break the trip up with a stop in Mexico where we could then catch an inexpensive flight on a discount airline back to Denver. And maybe I could pick a city other than Mexico City. I checked the miles required and seat availability from La Paz to several cities in Mexico, and the cost of tickets from those cities to Denver. There were seats from La Paz to most Mexican destinations on most days for 20,000 miles each.
The question was where to take the breaks and for how long...Mexico City with the Teotihuacan pyramids or Cancun with Tulum, Chichen Itza, and the beaches. The discount airlines prices were about the same from each city to Denver, so with Linda's approval, I booked two tickets via Bogota and Panama City to Cancun.
We had a choice how to spend 8 hours en route...four hours in each city or a short transit in one and a whole day in the other. So we picked an hour in Bogota and eight hours in Panama City...enough time to see the Panama Canal and the Casco Viejo (the old town). The flights were booked, also immediately. What would we do without the internet!
So Plan B resulted in us saving a total of 50,000 frequent flyer miles; and with just the added cost of flying one way from Cancun to Denver (~$220/person), we can spend a day in Panama City, Panama, and four full days in Cancun. At least Spring Break is over with and low season brings great hotel prices. We get to explore both the Inca and Mayan civilizations! This is almost as good a travel deal as
Maisondubonheur finds.
As neither Linda nor I speak Spanish (I tried but keep mixing up Spanish with my French and German), and we didn't want to put up with the scams, the time to arrange logistics (taxi, bus, train, and air transportation, hotels, day tours, etc.), the dangerous areas, the border crossing issues, etc. we decided to book our time in Peru and Bolivia with a tour agency. We will see Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca in Peru; Copacabana, the Island of the Sun, and La Paz, Bolivia; then Panama City, Panama, Cancun and the Mayan temples on the Yucatan, Mexico...all in two weeks! This calls for very efficient and hopefully effective travel plan! This will be our first extended tour in my sixty four years of traveling, so await my blogs to see if it turns out ok.
Last year I published a "planning" blog,
Planning my Silk Road and Baltics RTW, before my RTW trip along the Silk Road to China, Uzbekistan, and the Baltics. The blog was intended to be an example of how I plan trips as many first time Travelbloggers ask how one goes about planning a trip. This is another blog in that same vein, but with different challenges. This one emphasizes being prepared to make quick decisions after exploring many not so obvious alternatives to find the most cost effective way to travel without sacrificing quality. Fortunately, I don't have to wait six weeks for visas as I did last year. But I still hate to pay $135 for a visa to Bolivia!
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aspiringnomad
Jason
Nice plan
I like the way your mind works. I spend many an hour (usually at work) making such calculations, juggling destinations and cost. Even with the tour you will be covering a lot of ground in that time. Having said that it is certainly doable, though altitude could be a slight concern. $135 for a visa is unfortunately the price you pay for being American. Reciprocity fees also apply to Chile and Brazil, so South America can prove expense if you are from the US. You made the right choice picking Yucatan over Mexico City. Look forward to your trip.