Extended trip to South America - planning?!

[AmericasTorturedBrow]

DH and I have wrangled the last year over a pipe dream extended trip which turned into a year in South America, then he got cold feet about boring life stuff like jobs, money eye but we've compromised on 3months. Not sure when yet as it totally depends on work and we need a few years to save up for it - but we need to be gone and back by the time DS is 10 (6 years time) so realistically time frame is about 4-5yrs

We won't bother with any major planning (aside from opening a savings account now to put a little each month) but this is my favorite part, the getting excited, strain to research in the name of budgeting

Anyone done an extended trip? Where do you start? DC will be roughly 6 and 9 when we go, neither of us has been anywhere in South America

Hi
We spent 8months in South America a few years ago pre dcs. It was fab we often talk about it and look back with fond memories. We kept a blog of our travels I can pm you if you are interested.

As you have time I would learn some conversational spanish if you don't know it already. Lonely planet was a good source of info. Dont rush your ti me there the distances can be huge better to spend more time in less places then trying to see it all. Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions

Would love to read your blog!

I did Spanish at school til 16 and as we live in LA currently DS is learning Spanish and I'm going back to conversational classes, one of the main reasons we've chosen South America is because of the language....so maybe we should at least stick to Spanish speaking countries even though I'm desperate to go to Brazil in 2016

It sounds wonderful. my only thought is that, unless you rent, you'll have to give some thought about insuring your house. We got cover for 60 day's absence from Tesco's, but that was the maximum I could find without paying extortionate fees. It wasn't acceptable for my children to come and house sit either, the policy holder has to be in situ. Also, watch pout about talking about your trip on Facebook. Some insurance companies have refused to pay up on break ins, saying the owner has effectively advertised their absence.

We'd be planning it between moves - our flat in UK is already rented out and we ourselves rent in the US, but good tip

We had a long holiday in Venezuela. it was fantastic. would suggest you buy some lonely planet guides to look through and work out what you really want to see and do. you need to sort out things like what jabs you will need and give some serious thought to anti malarials due to the effects on some people both of short and long term usage. would definitely suggest you all learn Spanish and consider buying a car rather than renting and then just selling it as you leave - better long term bet ime. With the 9yrold make sure you have the secondary school transfer bit sorted out - most education auth. let you do it by e mail. good luck pm me if you want more details

Sounds brilliant! I live in Colombia, if I can help PM me. Would chime in with everyone else and say please do learn as much Spanish as you can, you'll find English speakers few and far between, especially as you move out from the major centres.

Thorntree forum is a really good resource, too.

Have pm'd you

Yeah I love thorn tree, spend far too much time on there!

Spanish learning is a def, DS is learning, DD about to start an Spanish immersion preschool and I need to brush up on my school girl Spanish.

Colombia is high on my list, I have a good friend from Bogota who's mum has already offered to babysit

Sounds fab. I've been saving up a couple of years and planning a 5 week trip to South America next summer. It'll be me and my DD who will be 12.

You sound like you'll have a bit more time on your hands but I've decided to limit the time spent travelling. When I was young free and single I'd have thought nothing of 10 / 20 hr bus journeys through the Andes but with DD I have decided to fly any journey longer than approx 6 hrs by bus. I've also decided on a minimum of 5 days per location, so not one night then another day travelling, then another new hostel.

I'd love to hear how your plans progress.

And Cocochops i'd love to read your blog too please!

Oh, great thread! Marking my place

Bash, amazing that you live in Colombia (it's on my list).

My son and his girlfriend flew to Panama yesterday and will be flying back from Colombia....

P.s. I love Thorn Tree too!

Yeah we've decided on a log trip so we can take our time - DC will be roughly 5 and 8 so we'll spend prob a min of a week in place. I suppose countries form the main starting point? For me, def Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru....but then there's Chile, Guyana, too many!

Maybe we should choose 3 countries, one per month?

We visited Rio for five nights and then flew to Iguassa and stayed on the Argentian side for five nights last Easter and had a fab trip. The DC were 11 and 13. If you are planning to go Brazil definitely learn some basic Portuguese as very few people spoke English. Rio was very expensive and Argentina was good value. We also spent a morning in Paraguay which was an experience!