FFS

I should go to sleep. Am at least in bed. As noted earlier I seem to be on a very late cycle at the moment anyway and as long as I can get up in the morning (it can't be worse than the previous morning) a lack of sleep is probably good for the flight.

Did a bit of research (2 minutes with Google) last night into electronic travel guides and paid £11.89 for the electronic copy (PDF, yay) of Lonely Planet's Argentina guide tonight. That's about the same as the printed copy but given there's VAT on electronic books it's not an unreasonable price. Have decided I will therefore ditch the chunky 'South America on a shoestring' guide book (which is also at least 2 years out of date). Am taking a 'technical' (smallish, though) paperback now as well as my chosen semi-disposable book, Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure, despite planning to only take one non-travel guide book, but I think that's probably a net weight advantage and for obscure reasons am keen to have the 'technical' book with me.

I figure I can read the electronic guide book on my netbook if I lose the phone and if I have my netbook stolen it means I've had the bag stolen so the paper guidebook would be lost anyway. I suppose there is a slim chance I will be in a situation where having the paper book would help, but I doubt it's going to be critical. (The book does cover all South America, but a guidebook is not essential, I will probably not leave Argentina and if I do I can always buy an electronic book for the relevant country.) Of course it's less convenient to browse in hotel rooms but I suspect having it with me at all times will make the electronic copy vastly more useful on the whole.

Have read DGGA many times but it's entertaining enough and as comedy travel writing seems a good travel companion. It's also likely to be a good swap or bookcrossing book and having read it so often, if I do give it away I am less likely to want to buy another copy later. It's also probably common enough that I can get another copy for under three quid secondhand from amazon (and I think this one was secondhand anyway).

Must admit - and no, I haven't had any more alcohol since the previous entry - I am feeling pretty upbeat at the moment. I can virtually guarantee I won't when I wake up in seven or eight hours, but I never do.

I really do need to make a point, at least once during the trip, of getting up earlyish (8-9) and going out for breakfast. The novelty alone would probably make it a worthwhile experience.

Anyway, to sleep...

PS Switched to my 'travel' PAYG SIM. Annoyingly, every time I do so - I have tried it a few times over the last few days - my phone fails to log onto my Google accounts, even though here in my flat I am using the same wifi connection. I can't see why this should happen unless it's done deliberately on some kind of security grounds. I am taking my regular contract SIM this time (bit worried I will lose it and someone will run up a big bill before I notice and cancel it, but I want the option to slip it in and check for texts from eg my accountants if I get windy) but this will certainly discourage me from switching more than necessary. I am using their two-factor authentication so I need to provide new one-time passwords each time, which is the real annoyance - in the old scheme where I'd just type in the single fixed password, it would merely be a minor nuisance that it needs the passwords re-entering when I switch SIMs. Still.

Really to sleep now...