It has been one hell of a trip. An adventure the whole way thru. You can plan so much for a trip, but it’s always those strange occurrences that happen that makes traveling such an adrenaline rush… Where will be the next Bolo and Latinstylez adventure? Here’s a hint: somewhere warm, in Asia, beaches, and culture… If you thought Southeast Asia, you guessed right… All subject to change though!

Now back to the border story…. We were in Cordoba, Argentina sad to leave but we had to go… Def would like to spend more time in this city. It has a lot to offer including a young vibrant college aged population. Perfect for sarging

This border crossing we hoped would be simple… We had to make a stop in Resistencia before heading to the Paraguay border. We already got our visa. We had to wait in a long line in Buenos Aires to do it, but we did. It also cost us 65 bucks…

Border Crossing

Preliminaries:

Get the bus ticket the day before. Well, that never got done. We forgot to bring our passports then when we went back I forgot to bring for the second time. Not only that we got into this huge fat guys cad who took us for a ride. I mean for a ride that ended up costing us 20 pesos and a trip to the ghetto. Who knew what this guy had planned, but it was a ride in the shady part of town…

¨Este no es el lugar adonde que tenemos que ir señor.¨ I told the cab driver. He looked surprised look at the number on the business card for the hotel again and said he made a mistake. ¨Ustedes estan en un lugar peligroso ahora.¨ Well why the hell would you take us there in the first place cab driver. Ahh what a headache 20 pesos later we were back and I got my passport for the bus ride.

But before that happened, I had to get change because the banks here only dispense 100 peso bills per transaction. Cabs don’t usually carry this amount and I don’t trust them. As we are walking out, Bolo says something to me in English. Uh ok a cop comes around the corner and asks for our documents. ¨Dammit¨I think to myself. We are stuck there waiting as they call it in. I was making sure they were legit cops as I have heard in South America there can be pretend cops who try to steal from you…

They call us in and we are good to go… Thank goodness! One more thing to do get the bus ticket. We show up to the bus station and had the bum who opened the door for us his 1 cent peso and head inside. But to find out something horrible… Our bus office was close… Until tomorrow! What a day is all I can say… Words can´t describe it… I am so tired right now my eyes feel like they are going to fall asleep!

The bus ride would run from 12 in the afternoon till 6 in the morning. We wanted to go the whole way through. No stopping overnight… Here we come!

Bus Ride:

Everything was smooth sailing the next day to Paraguay… The bus was non stop with only one stop near the border of Argentina. My main concern was the border after our problem in the Huaquillas border I did not know what to expect. Well, it was smooth sailing… Everything went well and I exchanged cash and it wasn’t counterfeit!

Total bus time: 20 hrs

Dead tired…

Wanna know what I thought about Paraguay? Next post to come!!

This website will help you out.

http://www.onebag.com/

2.Make sure you documents are in order- Your documents will be your life line.

a)Make sure your passport is not about to expire- Obvious isn’t it? Still you’d be surprised by the number of people who forget to do this. One time my friend and I were going to travel to China and what do you know? His passport had already expired. When did we find out about this? AT THE AIRPORT! Needless to say I wasn’t a happy camper.

Some countries check if your passport is about to expire in 30-60 days. Make sure you do not fall in this category. If you do,make sure to apply for a passport as soon as possible prior to your departure.

b)Look into the visa for your country – Different places require different visas. Sometimes a visa can take months to get. You don’t want your travel plans interrupted because of this. Call the local embassy for more information.

c) Scan and email to yourself all important documents – It’s smart to make copies of your passport, insurance, dipolma, drivers license, etc. It’s even smarter to scan them and then e-mail them to yourself. So even if you lose everything, as long as you can access the internet,you’ll have access to all your relevant documents.

Now you may ask why you should scan your college diploma? Well, you never know if you’ll fall in love with a country and want to live there for an extended period of time. Having a copy of your diploma saves you the hassle of having to get someone email it to you. This goes double for any and all documents that you may need on your travels.

3. Research where you are going- If you plan to do a lot of traveling, research the areas you will be traveling to. Make sure to have a good bit of information on where you are going. If they speak a different language and customs, try to learn as much about them prior to
departure.

Recently, a friend traveled to Venezuela without doing his research. Turns out the current president, Hugo Chavez had changed the official currency exchange rate, meaning that my friend got ripped off every time he drew money out of an ATM. If he had done his research, he would have known to take US dollars with him and to exchange it in the black market.

a)Making calls – Can you take the cell phone you already have and just buy a SIM card? Or do you have to buy a new phone? You may consider getting a phone that works in many countries then make calls using Wifi.

This site will give you more info:

http://www.lifenomadic.com/2008/how-to-be-an-international-phone-nomad.html

b)Electric outlets – Make sure you have the right plug for electrical outlets. Also, look into the voltages. I blew up a $200 electric tooth brush because I’m a moron. Turns out that Korea uses 220 volts instead of 110.

c)Do you need a return ticket? – some countries will not allow you to enter without a return ticket.Make sure to have a return ticket. Google is your friend for finding out this information.

d)Also, Lonely Planet travel guides will help you. I’m the type who likes to go to a new destination with no real plan and just play it by ear. Regardless, travel guides will save you alot of headaches by telling you where to stay and what to do.

4. Budget your trip- Budget your expenses and how much you will be spending on your trip. It is good to do a budget so you don’t over extend yourself. Be careful when traveling with others. Getting into arguments about money leads to everyone being pissed. Be sure to discuss how you will share the expenses. Keep track of the money split and write it down.

5. Speak the language- Even a couple of phrases will help. Some places you’ll find an abundant amount of English speakers, usually the younger people around universities. Other times, you’ll be completely screwed.

6. Renew all your cards- If you plan to travel for an extended period of time, then try to renew all your credit cards, licenses, etc. Most credit card companies won’t deliver your card internationally. So you’ll have to get a friend to mail your new credit card to your new address (if you’re there long enough). That means you’ll be dealing with other countries mail service. And believe me, this can be a real pain.

7. Travel Insurance- This one is going to be a personal choice. I’ve heard nightmare stories about travelers getting into accidents and having no way to pay for it. Personally, I’ve never traveled with insurance and have had no problems…so far…Make your own decision. This is a good place to look up information about travel insurance.

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=travel+insurance

8. Be safe- It pays to be secure. Invest in money belts, mini locks, travelers checks, and exomesh.

a)Money belts – When I first arrived in Colombia, one of the locals told me not to take out my  wallet. Smart idea. Another smart idea is to buy a money belt, then put your important documents and the majority of your money into it. If someone robs you at gun point then you can just hand them whatever is in your pockets. Hopefully they won’t tell you to get buck nekkid.

b)Mini locks – Use these to lock your zippers shut. If you’re traveling on a budget then chances are you’ll be sharing rooms with other travelers. Most travelers you meet will be cool. Others you’ll want to kick in the junk. And then there’s the SOBs who will take your stuff. The mini lock is the first line of defense against this. This way you’ll know no one rooted through your bags.

c)Exomesh – Your back pack ain’t going nowhere with the exomesh deployed. Exomesh is basically a wire net that you wrap around your luggage and secure it to something that does move. If someone wants to steel my back pack then they gotta saw through the radiator first.

http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php is a great place to buy an exomesh and secure travel gear in general.

d)Travelers checks – Travelers check can be your emergency back up if you should happen to lose all your money and credit cards. If you’re staying in one place for some time, then keep your travelers checks stashed there. The beauty about travelers checks is even if you lose them, you can call up the bank that issued them and get them replaced.

Further travel tips:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/tips_1232.html