Late last month, my buddy Jeff and I pulled the trigger on another three week international adventure. After getting bit by the travel bug following our SE Asia trip, I want to travel internationally once a year if possible.  That being the case, the decision to take the trip required no arm-twisting on Jeff’s part. As we kicked around the idea of “Jeff and Doug, v2.0″, the candidates were quickly whittled down to Spain, Czech Republic and South America (more specifically Argentina & Brazil). Knowing that we would be traveling during the same time frame as last year, we settled on South America since southern hemisphere means Summer time.  When it is cold and dreary in DC, the southern hemisphere is where you want to be.

Unlike last time where I contributed very little to the pre-departure planning aside from squaring away our travel visas, I am trying to put in much more effort to ease the burden on Jeff. He has lamented before how difficult it is to plan travel outside of the US and now that I have had a chance to experience it first hand, I am able to better appreciate all of the work he put into last year’s trip.

As we sit just 10 days from departure, much of the trip at the moment is still very much unplanned which has the Type A side of my personality a bit stressed. Travel visas have been handled, we have our round-trip flights into Rio and back home from Buenos Aires booked and an apartment in Rio through New Year’s, but that’s about it. Jeff is close to pulling the trigger on a tour/hotel combo package in Salvador, and I am slowly becoming an expert on Patagonia tour packages but many details remain to be nailed down.

Current draft itinerary is as follows:

• Rio de Janeiro: Dec 28 – Jan 1
• Salvador: Jan 1-3
• Iguazu Falls (Brazil Side): Jan 3-4
• Iguazu Falls (Argentina Side): Jan 4-5
• Buenos Aires: Jan 5-9
• Cordoba: Jan 9-11
• El Calafate (Patagonia): Jan 11-14
• Ushuaia (Patagonia): Jan 14-16

At the moment it seems like the Argentina portion will change a bit but only in the order of the destinations.  Flights between some cities seem to be selling out fast or are ridiculously expensive.

I will be very curious to see how this trip differs from our SE Asia adventure. I remember very clearly how well that trip went and how everything just seemed to work out. Whether that was dumb luck, the result an easy-going approach by Jeff and I, or a combination of the both, I do not know but I hope I come away from this trip with the same feeling. Stay tuned here for updates throughout the trip.