Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

As of 1:45 this afternoon I'm on vacation.  That's not to say I'm entirely relaxed, however.  Planning a 3 to 4 week vacation turns out to be more work than anticipated, not that I'm complaining.  I actually love the planning process with all the possibilities and excitement it generates.  Packing, on the other hand, leaves much to be desired.  Since this is not just a quick 3 day hop to mom and dad's, where Target is only a 10 minute drive away should I happen to want nail polish remover, I'm having to put more effort into the packing part.  It's a long time to be gone but I don't want to overpack either, particularlly since I'll need to bring heavy/bulky cold weather clothing.

We've fleshed out an itinerary that will be heavily dependant on flight loads and our own whims but looks like it will start in Buenos Aires and move over to Colonia and Montevideo, Uruguay before returning to BA.  From there we'll jump up to see Iguazu Falls then start making our way down to Mendoza and/or Cordoba and then on to Bariloche and the Argentine Lake District.  There we hope to cross over to Chile, check out their Lake District and continue on to the Puerto Montt and Chiloe area, from which we'll hop down to Punta Arenas and do some Patagonian sightseeing.  After that we'll probably come up to Santiago and check out that surrounding area and maybe jump up to San Pedro de Atacama and back to Santiago to catch a flight back to the states.  If there's still time and budget left, maybe we'll squeeze in another trip.  We'll already be packed after all.

It's all subject to change, however, with so many factors out of our control, so it'll be interesting to see how it'll pan out.  We generally wing it like this on vacation but a trip of this length and detailed itinerary will be a first for us.  It's all really exciting and slightly overwhelming.  But as long as we'll get to be together and away from work for one month we know it'll be a great time no matter what.

Thursday morning we head out and we don't go back to work until October.  We'll plan to stay in contact via email a few times throughout the trip.  Can't wait to see what this month has in store for us!