I Have Liftoff!

I've titled this post as a tribute to the fact my first stop on "My Misguided Travels" is visiting my friend Ray who works in NASA. Yes, its true, I've eventually got around to booking my flights. I shelled out a cool €1,350 yesterday and bought my tickets. Considering the amount of miles I'm actually doing (22,000 miles or 35,200 km), its actually an excellent price. So on the off chance you care, here are my flight details should you chose to stalk me!

I'm flying out at the crack of dawn Wednesday 4th May from Cork to London Heathrow. I've a few hours to burn there before I get on a plane to Washington DC. I have a short lay-over there, before I get on another flight to Orlando. I'll stay in Melbourne, Florida for 4 days before I fly out of Orlando to Buenos Aires (through Miami) on Sunday evening. I'll arrive in Buenos Aires early on Monday morning, May 9th. From there I'm making my way to Brazil, Bolivia, back into Argentina and into Santiago, Chile. From there I'm flying back to Miami on 12th June arriving in at the ridiculuous hour of 5:17AM on June 13th. I'm staying in Miami for 3 days and will be hanging around with Ashley, and hopefully another friend Shannon until I leave for San Francisco on the evening of June 16th. I'm staying in San Fran for 10 days before I fly back to Cork via London Heathrow.

I'm also trying to book an internal flight within South America, but it ain't easy. I want to save myself an 17/18 hour bus journey from Buenos Aires to Foz de Iguazu, which is the town right next to the Iguazu Falls and fly there. There is a direct flight with TAM Airlines, a Brazilian airline, but due to a currency protection law or something, you have to have a Brazilian credit card. The bus costs US$20 and takes 17/18 hours, while the flight takes 3 hours and costs about €90. I can book the flight with TAM's London ticket office, but its something like £150! I reckon I'll fly as there will be plenty of other long bus journeys elsewhere.

So far, with the flights I've booked, I'll be airborne for 2 full days! The plus side is that I'll rack up some savage airmiles! I'm heading back to the doctor on Friday for yet more vaccinations which is always fun! I think I need to take the finger out though, I still have to plan my trip a little more!