The Z writes...
Hey! Welcome to our little info-packet for out-of-towners coming into San Francisco for our wedding party – or actually any of our friends who want info/advice about how to have the best possible time in San Francisco.
There are a metric shit-tonne of places to stay in San Francisco. Here are some of the better options…
Mandarin Oriental San Francisco ($600+) Read the rest of this entry »
The Z writes...
This has always been perplexing to me: airlines offer a completely over-inflated cost to travel 1-way, yet if you just add on a return ticket (which you don’t plan to use at all), the price drops.
I’m planning to go overground, by bus/train/4×4 from Buenos Aires all the way up to Lima for about a month, and then I need to fly back down to Buenos Aires to gather up all my stuff and use the rest of my return ticket from here to San Francisco. So I only need a one-way flight from Lima back down to Buenos Aires. So, as a good little consumer, I went to find a flight on the LAN site, and discovered this absurd price:
Seriously?????!?!?!
What exactly do the airlines think you’re going to do as a customer? See the $1300 fare and accept that that must just be the price of flying?
So, I tried seeing what the cost was for round-trip, and was pleasantly surprised to find I could have the same flight (plus an extra return fare I won’t be using) for only $372.
A quarter the price for a 2-way ticket? Okay...
So… LAN – you can suck it. I’ll take my ticket for $375 one-way to Buenos Aires and then I might just need to “cancel” my return to Lima.
Silly airlines – when will you ever learn!??!?!
The Z writes...
Haje, Catherine, and I (Ziah) decided that as part of our tour of the wonderful wilderness of Patagonia, we should definitely spend as much time as possible in the Torres del Paine National Park. We wanted to get a feel for all the parts of the park and see some of the highlights, but avoid too many other tourists and also avoid the parts of the park that were recently damaged in the fire.
We found a company that offers guided treks through the park via Swoop Patagonia, which is UK based company that helps people plan their trips in Patagonia. They put us in contact with Dittmar Adventures, and then Laura from Dittmar Adventures helped us to plan out the following itinerary: Read the rest of this entry »
The H writes...
Okay, we’re about to start our 5-night tour of Torres del Paine, in Chile. Cycling, boating, and walking in mountains? Oh dear, this might end badly. At least we have a good guide!
Back on Friday – see you later!
The H writes...
We diverted our trip from Puerto Natales in Chile straight on to Puerto Natales, to get a closer look at the base camp of most of the world’s Antarctic expeditions – and, of course, to go take a look at the Magellan Penguins on Magdalena Island.
To take us out to the island, we did our research and decided to go with a company called Solo Expeditiones, who do speedboat trips to the Magdalena Island, with a detour to look at some sea lions on the way back after an hour ogling penguins.
The H writes...
So, we are off to the southern tip of south America this week, to go to Patagonia. Apparently it is one of the most beautiful nature reserves in the world. Can’t wait, and bringing tons of memory cards with me. Awesome!
The H writes...
So, after more than 100 days, Ziah and I figured that it was high time we went to see a real Tango show. Or rather; Ziah was celebrating her 33-and-a-third (a third of the way to a hundred! That’s certainly worth a party…) birthday, and I decided to drag her along.
After a fair bit of research, I landed on Piazzolla tango; they’re an up-market outfit, with supposedly some of the best tango to be seen in Buenos Aires. So, I e-mailed them, and received a response back, in ‘english’. Or rather, I suppose that was meant to be, because it mostly seemed like it should have been in English. Nonetheless, I shouldn’t complain: His ‘English’ towered head and shoulders above my ‘Spanish’. Read the rest of this entry »
The H writes...
Only in Argentina: A small parcel containing 8 Triggertrap cables manufactured in China, with a total value of US$20, has attracted US$25.61 worth of ‘import taxes’.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that’s a 128% import tax. As you can appreciate, I’m very happy about this.
Yay.
The H writes...
One of the great things about living in Argentina, is that practically everyone delivers everything. You can go to the supermarket, fill up your trolly, and then get them to deliver it to your house. The ice-cream shop delivers. The coffee shop on the corner delivers. The laundry people will come pick up your dirty textiles, wash them, and bring them back to you all neatly folded etc. I’m pretty sure you could ask the local hair salon to bring their scissors and cut your hair at hour house, if you so preferred.
The one bump in the road where I am concerned, is that my Castellano is not really solid enough to do any of that over the phone, which is why Buenos Aires Delivery is such a fantastic service. It’s a website that has translated the menus of a load of local restaurants and cafes (and, of course, ice-cream shops!), making it easy to order whatever my little heart desires, all in English. As a bonus feature, when you hover over the menu item, it shows the name and description in Spanish, so it’s a nifty way to learn a few extra words, too. Read the rest of this entry »
The H writes...
So yesterday Ziah and I decided to go explore the sound end of Buenos Aires a little bit. We had a look around the barrio of Boca, including the rather charming (if ridiculously tourist-ridden) Caminito.
Anyway, when we were done walking around there, we figured we’d walk through to a restaurant Ziah knew of, named El Obrero. It seemed like an easy enough route, and we didn’t mind a 20-minute walk in the sunshine.
That is, until we made it about half-way, Read the rest of this entry »
The H writes...
Hey! So, I’ve been in Buenos Aires for about a week and a half or so (or is that two and a half weeks? Time flies…) and we’ve just moved house to our second temporary pad. The first accomodation was the one Ziah found for us to stay in whilst we were flat-hunting. The great news is that we’ve found a lovely, lovely loft apartment on the corner of Costa Rica and Uriarte, but the bad news is that someone is already living there… Until the beginning of December. So we decided to stay somewhere else for a month. We found a pad on Las Heras, which will tide us over nicely.
Is it pretty? Well, allow me to share with you; a video tour! Read the rest of this entry »
The H writes...
So, it’s finally happened, I’ve manage to move myself from the UK on a semi-permanent basis. I’ve only been here for a few days, but it’s been days filled with impressions, that’s for certain.
We’ve been exploring the a couple of the local Parillas (barbecue steak restaurants), we’ve enjoyed some fantastic local wines (including a particularly memorable Malbec called Sur, which, without being particularly sweet, managed to taste like cherry juice, without a trace of tannins. In a good way. Read the rest of this entry »
The H writes...
So, after 10 years in England, it’s time for me to skip on to a new place. The lovely Z is going to be working on an animated feature film, and I’m going to be writing a stack of books.
Today, one of my best friends sent me an article about How to Live Like a Rock Star (or Tango Star) in Buenos Aires, written by the illustrious Tim Ferriss, the guy behind the ‘four hour work week’ thing. It’s easily one of the most compelling pieces I’ve read about Buenos Aires so far, and it doesn’t slow my excitement about the place one bit. Read the rest of this entry »
The H writes...
So we’ve returned to London for now. Freshly installed in our new flat, we’re looking to stick around here for six months, before our adventures continue into the great big world. Where? I’d love to tell you, but I don’t think we know yet. But don’t worry, when we figure it out, you’ll be first to know.
On the bright side, they let Ziah back into the country (that’s a lovely separate story, but I’ll leave that one for Ziah to tell), and for now, summertime in London sounds pretty swell – and the view from our new pad is pretty swell: Read the rest of this entry »
The Z writes...
Ranty McRantson
Noted here for if/when we make it to New York – and for anyone else who might go to New York at some point, needing some tasty pizza.
Awesome. Read the rest of this entry »
Haje has completed 93 dives and has spent a total of 69 h 57 min under water
Ziah has made 82 dives and has been under water a total of 55 h 10 min!
