A childhood dream. Actually, why not? The harm of reading adventure books in childhood. A sudden nocturnal epiphany. Why not? Frantic search for flights and hotels. And currency? We're finally off!
It all started with a dream. In my childhood, I read about adventures and travels. Jules Verne - The Children of Captain Grant - the mysterious Australia, the Maori of New Zealand, Patagonia. Eighty Days Around the World. In the evening, I watched the funny movie based on the book on TV. I didn't feel like sleeping and asked myself: "If in the 19th century you can travel the world in 80 days with a train, a balloon, and a ship, then in how many days can you travel around the world in the 21st century?"
The answer can be received in front of the computer, and despite the late hour, I sat down to check. I opened the site esky.com and started. The first place I wanted to visit was Nepal. My other childhood dream is to see the Himalayas. The site recommended Qatar Airways to me. From Nepal, of course, to Australia, to the journey of Captain Grant's children. The site recommended AirAsia to me. From Australia to New Zealand, from there to Argentina. But in South America, I would also like to visit Rio de Janeiro. For the trip from Australia via New Zealand, the site recommended New Zealand Airlines, and in South America - LATAM. From America to Europe, the recommendation was for Condor.
Beautiful dreams at midnight, when I noticed that, in fact, the price of tickets for the randomly chosen time is less than 2000 euros. Again, I made the calculation, choosing approximately a convenient season and dates. Indeed, it turned out that way. My childhood dream could have come true with a flight under 2000 euros? Amazed, I immediately sent my discovery via Viber to my travel companion in recent years. It was 2 a.m. I didn't expect it, but at 2 hours and 5 minutes, I received an answer - let's go!
A dream is a dream, but such a trip requires serious planning. These are countries on different continents, with different currencies and visas. Different seasons, different clothes. And how long will it take to make the trip real? Can we afford a vacation? Everything had to be carefully calculated. After researching the flights in advance, it was time to find hotels at a good price. AirBNB did not exist and of course, Booking.com. Moreover, as regular travelers, we enjoyed discounts. Of course, we had previously studied the issue of visas. For Nepal, the visa was obtained at the airport in Kathmandu, and for Australia via the Internet. We didn't need visas for the other places. Taking into account that it is also good to look around those countries that we will visit, we bought the main plane tickets for the overseas flights.
One recommendation: Use esky.com to find out which companies fly to your destination. But buy the tickets on the website of the company itself. You may find unexpected promotions or, with a small change, a better price. For example, checking Condor we found a promotion for only a 1-day difference, the opportunity to go home in business class, paying only 200 euros extra per ticket. Trust me, for a 10-hour flight this is very important.
We booked the main hotels we needed for the trip and asked ourselves, "What are we going to do there?" Jules Verne did not give us an answer, and we started searching the Internet for interesting attractions in different places. Naturally, this changed the initial plan. For Nepal, we learned that we would be closer to the Himalayas if we were in Pokhara. If we fly from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro, we will miss Iguazu Falls. Since we had not purchased domestic flight tickets, we could change the plan. We changed the reservation for Kathmandu, added Pokhara, but the decision for Iguazu was not so easy.
Iguazu Falls is located on the border of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. From Buenos Aires, we could fly to either Puerto Iguazú in Argentina or Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil. The price to the first destination was 80 dollars, and to the second, 320. Conversely, if we fly from Foz do Iguaçu to Rio, the price will be 80 dollars, and if we fly from Puerto Iguazu to Rio - 320. We decided that we will fly to Puerto Iguazu, and to Rio de Janeiro from Foz do Iguaçu. If we have to, we will cross the border on foot
We used Viator to search for places of interest and attractions. But once we found an attraction, we checked to see if a local company offered it. For example, a walking tour of Buenos Aires was offered free of charge by the municipality, and our guide was a student volunteer. For the must-see attractions, we still used Viator.
So, the visas are ready, we bought different currencies, and we had tickets and reservations. One recommendation - be sure to bring a credit card because you don't know if you need to buy a ticket for an additional flight or make an unexpected hotel reservation.
The description of this journey does not come full circle. Simply as citizens of the European Union, it is like intercity transport.
And here comes the day! With minimal luggage, we arrived in Doha, where we had a 12-hour layover and where the real adventure began
To be continued!
