Things I Learned on My Travels in Bueos Aires and South America

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1. Get a SUBU card, it works for the Metro in Buenos Aires, the bus and the train. You also pay less with the SUBU card. You only need one card for a family because you only swipe the card when you enter the Metro then you pass the card back. You can add money to the card at kiosks found all over the city.

2. Bring tissue or toilet paper with you. No more needs to be said.

3. Study Spanish before you travel, you will need it even in the big City. If not take lessons when you arrive.

4. Rent a bike and enjoy the parks.

5. Carry a notebook, take notes such as the address of the restaurant you are going to, the name of the wine you enjoyed. Your shopping list or whatever. The first week I made notes and after a week my backpack was full of notes that I was looking through them to find the correct note. I bought a note book about 3 inches by 3 inches. (picture attached)

6. If you have a iPhone, have it unlocked while at home, buy a new sim card for the phone when you get here and you can add money to the phone at the same kiosks that you use to add money to the SUBU card. You do not need a data plan. The service will subtract money from the phone when you call or use data. We used the phone a lot for directions and YELP for resturant recommendation.

7. If you brought your iPhone then bring small speakers. We have wifi in our room and we listen to music through our speakers. (pictures attached)

8. Bring two bags to carry with you everywhere you go. They are useful when grocery shopping and to carry things. Bring the kind that fold or roll up small. ( picture attached) The shopkkeepers always gave me a smile when I brought out my own bag.

9. Bring a small travel backpack or small travel purse. I did bring a regular size backpack but the small one was great to carry every day. I included a picture of my backpack next to my full size backpack and a picture of Rachel's travel purse.

10. If you want to watch something special on TV but it is in Spanish, facetime or Skype with someone from home who will put their iPad or laptop near the TV and then turn the sound off of your TV. We watched the Golen Globes this way. Thanks Chris Hoins!

11. To save money eat empanadas, they are about one US dollar a piece. We visted several in our neighborhood and tried one at each to find the best empanada in our neighborhood.

12. I brought a iPad 2 mini and a keyboard. The keyboard made it so easly to type my blog. So glad I brought it.

13. Take notes as to two ways to get to wherever you are going. More than one bus line or bus and Metro. We would head out to take the Metro and the Metro was closed so we would end up on the bus.

14. Buy a GUIA"T" book, it tells you which bus to take. You can get a large one that covers all of Buenos Aires or a small one that covers the Central part which is all we needed. We were luck because our apartment came with one.

15. Bring a cable lock. When you are in a bus station or a busy restaurant with your luggage, lock all your bags together. If you get distracted a thief would have a hard time dragging all your bags at once.

16. Bring suitcase locks. Lock your bag when traveling and when you leave your bags in your hotel room.

17. Bring a SteriPEN if your will be traveling in areas where you cannot drink the water. it is very easy to use, put it in a glass of water and it turns on, stir it and in about 48 sections it turns itself off when the water is safe to drink. It is about four inches long and very light.



We are only at the end of month 1 of our trip. If you have learned something you can share please let me know.

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Comments

[Tiffany]

back to basic
I like the suggestion of bringing a paper notebook. I got so use to keeping everything in my tablet, but sometimes it's not a good ideas to use the tablet in some unsafe area.