Travel Planning: Water vs Land

When we decided to take this year off of cruising to "land travel," it was in part to take a break from the stress (read: weather) you meet as full-time cruisers. When cruising, we of course had some places and people that we wanted to see, but weather always had a >51% say in what we actually did! Anyone who has cruised for even a few weeks knows that time is devoted every day to studying the weather forecast, the charts, where your buddies are, where you can get a slip if you need one, where to pick up parts, and figuring out when/where to pump out/fill up/dump trash...it's not all cocktails and sunsets! And sometimes the weather can be more than a nuisance--it can be downright terrifying. 

Wind, waves, rain, and rainbows! Riding out a front in an exposed anchorage with fantastic holding in the Exumas, Bahamas.

So now that we are firmly in land-travel mode, how are we doing? Well, I certainly don't check the weather as often! Now our time is spent pouring over calendars, tour reviews, tour comparisons, travel mode options, neighborhood reviews, talking to fellow travelers, etc. It's still a lot of planning, but I feel like time and money are the drivers now whereas weather used to dominate. For example, I spent almost 2 hours this weekend trying to book a "promotional" rate on an airline that would have had us all flying for $400USD. I entered in ALL of our family's info multiple times only to have the promotional rate be "no longer available" and after several rounds of that I FINALLY secured suitable flights for $800USD for the family. That was a crusher! But with four travelers we really do spend time carefully comparing options since "only $20 more" on a tour adds up to $80 for us (which is like two nights of nice lodging for the whole family here) so it's worth the effort. This weekend after getting some tips from some girls we met in a hot spring (yep, that's a totally normal statement now), we made the decision to walk away from a $1300USD, 9-hour trip by plane and instead go for a $300USD, 33-hour bus trip (including 20 hours on a posh bus!) for our move from Peru to Chile. We have the time, so why not save the money and try something new? If we hate it, we'll just drink less wine and go back to booking flights (don't tell Frank that I said that!).

The "Travel Agents" enjoying the fruits of some of their labors in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

We are making this journey with a mix of week-long to month-long lodgings, with a few weeks of "do all the touristy" stuff mixed in here and there. We will probably learn quite a few lessons as we go!

~Jo, Nomadic Momma