15 Jan 0159 Tried out the new smartphone on the bus over to Skegness. I left it powered off overnight and even so it dropped from 100% to 84% charge, which isn't reassuring. On the other hand, I got nearly three hours of screen-on time from it on the bus - it died before journey's end, but I was deliberately testing it right down to nothing, and it didn't exhibit any sudden sharp drop in percentage battery level at the end, the percentage just drifted downwards. I was feeling super negative about it when I saw that 100%->84% while off thing and even started to wonder if I should return it (I have a 14 day return period, and I could *possibly* argue for a postage-free refund if the description didn't say the battery was terrible), but having seen it acquit itself so relatively well during the bus trip I am feeling a bit better about it. Definitely blowing hot and cold and I do feel *mildly* played here, but a) just goes to show I should not have left it so late before saying "fuck it, I'm going to have to start bidding higher than I'd like on auctions or just accept I need to buy a buy-it-now one at a higher than ideal price", so I wouldn't have been quite as under time pressure as I am now. In reality I'm probably going to put up with it/it isn't so bad that it is really a case of "putting up", but we'll see how things go over next few days of playing with it.
16 Jan 0045 Just e-mailed Bogotá ho(s)tel to see if they can offer me their COP25,000 pick-up service from the airport. This is a bit under £6 at current exchange rates, I don't know if I'm obliged to tip the driver. It feels a bit excessive but if I'm looking (trusting the hotel's possibly deliberately inflated prices?) at 15-20k for a taxi from the airport I arrange myself the extra splurge is only 5-10k which is 1-2 quid, roughly. And I am likely to be (irrationally) exhausted and edgy after the flight; if they can offer me this service, fuck it, I'll take it. I'll probably still be concerned the driver won't be there to pick me up, but as long as I do a little bit of research into how to get my own taxi in the (unlikely?) event this falls through, it should make the outbound journey a lot less stressful. According to the hotel a public bus is practically free, but really I don't think I should be faffing with this under the circumstances, so the fair base price for comparison here is with the public taxi taken from the airport, not with the bus.
17 Jan 0037 Hotel replied when I woke up today, should all be sorted; I've connected with them on WhatsApp (apparently the airport has free wifi, and with luck I should have mobile data on my UK "travel" SIM anyway) and need to message when I'm at immigration, but should all be good. I still need to (but haven't) research how to handle the taxis myself in case this falls through but I've been a bit slack about that so far. Am fairly pleased for having got this sorted anyway.
18 Jan 0034 Done bit of shopping for trip today, some other preparation seems to be dragging out. My visit to parents pre-trip is drawing to a close and perhaps making me a bit more antsy. I need to look into the airport transfer in Cartagena and (related) arrange the meeting details with the owner since as already ranted about it's not actually a proper hotel with a 24h desk. This isn't super urgent but really shouldn't be left too much longer. I can be a bit more relaxed about the airport transfer hotel-airport when I leave Bogota to fly to Cartagena, the hotel I'm staying in will arrange a taxi and since it's pick-up from the hotel and I'll have had a day or two to look into things that's not too stressful.
I need to remind myself - probably already said this - the trip is supposed to be fun. Ideally I'd be bouncing off the walls with excitement about it right now, like a kid the night before Christmas. I am sort of looking forward to it but it's mingled with a lot of dread and pseudo-anxiety. I need now and also during the trip to avoid putting pressure on myself and making myself feel shit because I'm not living up to some kind of hyper-social fantasy vision of "travel" peddled to gap year students and which even 90% of them probably don't experience in reality.
I probably already said this but I am wondering if I should make it a rule (or at least a guidline) that I'm super cautious about safety when I'm in-between accommodation and therefore have my main bag with me. I obviously don't want to get mugged, but I can and probably should be "un-paranoid but not stupid" on a day to day basis by contrast with those in-between accommodation journeys, which have much greater potential to seriously fuck the trip up.
20 Jan 1311 Just remembered to "star" the two hotels I've booked so far on Google Maps; may not be necessary, but may well be helpful. I have offline maps downloaded so this might provide some kind of emergency fallback.
1426 Just re-reading some old blog entries, I am reminded that I deliberately decided not to take advantage of the Jack's Flight Club sale a week or two ago, but since they kind of hinted that their sales come round every 6-7 months, I *might* gamble on taking up any offer in approximately six months time, and then I could possibly take advantage of a cheap deal to book a flight for "next January" some time in advance.
Incidentally the weather here in London and up in Skegness, while not exactly tropical, has been really pretty pleasant - quite sunny and lacking any really biting winds. So I haven't "missed out" (or failed to miss out, really) by ending up here in the UK until 23rd instead of flying around the 18th.
2354 Forced myself to have a quick poke on the web re Cartagena airport transfers. https://medellinguru.com/cartagena-airport/ looks pretty authoritative; obviously a good Colombia site to bear in mind despite its name. If that's to be believed, taxis at Cartagena airport are a no-fuss business with a fixed fare (just need to make sure you ask the fare before you leave), and apparently Uber is also an option. For the yellow taxis, you go to a booth and get a ticket which shows the fixed fare which you hand to the driver - some other poking on the web suggests there may be touts who might try to intercept you, but it doesn't sound *too* stressful.
I may well see if my accommodation offers a transfer service (especially given this need to arrange a check in time), but I wanted to check the general options first both to make an informed decision and to have some fallback information if I do get an accommodation transfer and it falls through.
Ah no, a different page on that site says Uber are exiting Colombia on 31st January, so I'll just assume they're completey out - even if they stil exist when I'm at Cartagena airport, I assume there won't be many drivers offering their services.
Looking at Bogota, medellinguru says no trouble with taxis at the airport there in his experience, although they are metered. There is also a Transmilenio service which *might* be an option to get to the airport for my flight to Bogota, *if* (and it is a complete speculation) there is a Transmilenio stop near my hotel.
A very quick poke on the web re tipping suggests that 10% will often be suggested on restaurant menus, I don't need to tip taxi drivers but rounding the fare up might be appropriate. I don't necessarily want to be super tight, but I don't want to spunk cash round left right and centre either, as always.
MG also says that a lot of taxi drivers seem to drive pretty crazily. But hey, if I have to take a taxi I have to take a taxi. No idea if you can take them on the street in general, I'm only looking at the airport issue here.
21 Jan 1438 I've had an e-mail from Air Europa saying check in is open. Oddly nervy about doing it - is there any reason to hold off? I've already got my seats. I'll probably do it fairly soon though, then if my seats aren't right I have more time to call and complain.
I had thought before and reading something (very casual browsing for a few mins) on MG site about being mugged - possibly if I've zipped my pockets up and tucked the zip into the little pouch for it (which presumably exists precisely to make it hard to casually open the pocket) a mugger might think I'm resisting as I fight to get my pocket open and that might make things worse. (To judge from the MG report, and other things I've heard, the actual mugging is a very quick experience.) Maybe something to bear in mind, obviously there's a tradeoff here against pickpockets. Or perhaps with practice I will be able to open the zips even with the zip tucked away without any real struggle, though IIRC that didn't happen to me on previous trip wearing the same style of trousers.
1518 OK, checked in online, all very low fuss as you'd expect really. Seat numbers match those shown when I paid to choose my seats. Opted to get boarding pass via e-mail so I will have it GMail app on my phone if necessary, though going to print a couple of copies of course as well as stash it in Dropbox.
1606 I'm going to put some credit on my Three "travel" SIM; there's no point going right down to the wire on this, and if I hit problems this gives me time to e.g. go out to a supermarket tomorrow and buy a new SIM.
Because the 4GB data allowance is relatively generous compared to what I had last time (1GB), I'm going to experimentally *not* set the "restrict background data" option. I will set a usage alert on 500MB and a hard limit of 1GB to stop this running away with my entire allowance by accident. This is currently on the HTC, I suspect I may end up leaving the Three SIM in the Priv back in my hotel room once I'm actually out there and try to buy a local SIM to carry around in the HTC on a day-to-day basis, but this will do for now. (I think it mostly depends if I can get a local SIM with a half-decent data plan; I don't really need the ability to make phone calls, especially not to Colombian numbers which is all a Colombian SIM would be cheap for. Something like the "free unlimited WhatsApp" deals I saw in Argentina would probably be good enough to make me buy a local SIM, but as I say I really would like at least some general data.)
A *very* quick poke on the web turns up https://toomanyadapters.com/buying-sim-card-colombia/, which is "only" a year old and suggests a) some small SIM places may be selling blocked stolen SIM cards so ideally go to a Claro shop or a kiosk in an Oxxo b) I could get a Claro card for a negligible one-off cost plus COP15000 (about £3.50) for 500MB to use within a week and free use of WhatsApp (including WhatsApp calls). That's not terrible, although I think it could be annoying if I'm having to top up (both from a hassle and expense POV) every week even if I haven't used the 500MB. Obviously 500MB isn't loads, but back at my hotel I've either got wifi or my 4GB Three PAYG SIM; this 500MB would just be for e-mail when I'm sitting having a coffee etc or maybe some very light web surfing (though I intend to try to avoid sitting around looking at my phone, a bit like my enforced experiment in BA at end of previous trip). But this is at least acceptable. And it's vaguely possible that the free WhatsApp use lasts for more than a week too.
1705 OK, forced myself to e-mail (via booking.com) the Cartagena accommodation regarding pickup; I wrote it in Spanish, what the hell. Let's see what they say, but at least I got this out of the way.
2346 Right, I'm having a beer or two or three. I don't want to be up too late to make the most of my last day but I think I'm *mostly* sorted out. I've spent the evening sort-of packing; I've been over my list, I've checked everything and mulled a bit (not conclusively) over how to pack the new bag instead of the old one. I *haven't* put everything into the bag yet; I figure I'm probably going to want to double-check some stuff tomorrow and it would be a waste of time to go packing stuff in where it's hard to get at.
22 Jan 0229 I had looked before (when I booked flight, IIRC) but checking again now, it looks like I can get the DLR or overground+tube to London Bridge distressingly early on Thursday morning and then get a Thameslink (Southern services are completely missing, for some reason) down to Gatwick from there with a train every 10 mins. So I probably *won't* go buy a train ticket tomorrow, if everything is going to plan and the trains aren't fucked a 10 min delay is not going to matter, and if the trains are fucked then it won't help me to be lumbered with a useless pre-bought train ticket for trains that are fucked.
0520 Not pissed but probably up a bit late. Meh. I am randomly thinking that if, for example, I spend the first day or two in Colombia (Bogotá) on a mini-quest to buy a local SIM, that's fine. I'm in no rush. I have no overarching goal I need to achieve. If that mini-quest involves a long walk or a bus or a taxi to a shop. that is an experience, it isn't autobiography material (probably), but it may well give me some memories that will stick more than visiting the Cheese Museum in Cartagena, it's - to repeat myself - absolutely fine. Sometimes having a goal (however ultimately unimportant, even in personal terms, never mind the overarching dynamic of human history) can add interest to an experience in a way that absolutely undirected "meh, see what happens" lacks.
0535 FFS, bed. I might as well say that while I'm hardly embarking on a voyage into the unknown, there *is* naturally something mildly disconcerting about departing familiar and comfortable-verging-on-luxurious surroundings to travel into the *personally* unknown and unfamiliar. I don't say this to claim - as if I had an audience to claim anything from anyway - any massive status as an adventurer, just jotting the observation down. I am sort of looking forward to the trip but also a bit edgy in various ways. TBH, modulo the odd 6am wakig up to a two minute bout of intense homesickness which disappears once I go back to sleep, I'll probably feel more excited/upbeat about the trip once I've actually arrived in Colombia (especially once I arrive in Cartagena and have a presumably-secure-and-acceptably-comfortable base for a week) than I do right now. (I say homesickness; while it doesn't literally manifest as an "I wish I were back home" feeling, instead being a kind of more all-encompassing feeling of despair at the unfeeling nature of the universe [I joke, but only in degree], I am assuming that 6am feeling is what is commonly called "homesickness". Then again, while what I just wrote seems fair enough, I do also genuinely have an *impression* that homesickness is something someone would get as a kind of ongoing all-the-time feeling about missing home, which is completely different. Who knows? Anyway, I can actually hear some birds tweeting so given I need to be up early on Thursday and am probably already up too late I definitely need to be moving towards bed.)
1334 Unsurprisingly felt *mildly* hungover and reluctant to get up this morning. I got up maybe 1230. So much for an early start. In some ways it doesn't matter, having a nice night in and a mostly relaxed lie in are things I can't do tomorrow and to a lesser extent "shouldn't" do too often during the trip. It's also not as though I seem to have a huge amount of stuff I must do today. Feeling a bit jittery but I think it's general pre-trip nerves not specifically related to getting up late and thus being short on time today. The early start tomorrow really isn't great - not only because it means getting up and doing the last minute bits of prep like turning the water off before going out under slightly crappy cicumstances, but also because it means tonight is "squeezed" and I can't feel free to stay up til 2am re-packing if I want - but it really couldn't be helped, I had enough trouble choosing decent-ish cheap-ish flights as it was.
I've had a super brief reply from the Cartagena accommodation, they just say "this is the address" and have confirmed there is a sign with their name in the street. No mention of "we will be there for several hours after your flight gets in"; I guess I just have to hope it will be OK, logically it should, it's just that booking.com has that "schedule your arrival time" button to click and a popup which says something to the effect that this is not exactly a hotel and therefore there isn't a front desk which is always manned. Having a quick look on Google Street View, the (2017) photo shows a building with scaffolding in the spot and no obvious evidence of the place, but it's probably new-ish. After the initial shock of the run-down look from the scaffolding etc (on both sides of the street), the area doesn't look too shabby and of course I will be arriving in broad daylight, and there is also a small cafe just along the street (which even has a "zona wifi" sign) so a) I probably need to not hurry myself out of the cab/let the taxi driver hurry me out if we haven't actually identified the property b) I can go camp out in the cafe while I try to communicate with the hosts if there is some kind of fuckup c) it's probably going to be fine.
1819 Had a Spanish lesson (first for a couple of weeks) which might help with tomorrow. Cooking dinner now. Feeling a bit jittery but not too bad.
2213 Packing. Liquids bag weighs 873g!
2250 Just finished packing. Three weighings of pack on luggage scale agree it weighs 6.9kg, including approx 400ml of water in a 500ml bottle. A bit of an increase over the 5.5kg I measured after the pack the other day! This is also a bit disappointing given my old bag as I headed out to Guatemala apparently weighed 7.1kg, though I do have approx 0.4kg of water extra in today's weighing, so it's more like 7.1kg vs 6.5kg. Pre-South America 2019 blog post says 8kg but that includes 0.5kg of fruit & nuts which I'm not including today (they're in my fleece pockets and I'm wearing that), so 7.5kg then, although it doesn't include any water so a fairer comparison weight with my 6.9kg would be 7.9kg.
I haven't succumbed to the temptation to pack stuff which isn't on my list. I *do* have 2x50ml bottles of sunblock and 2x100ml? bottles of insect repellent, which is maybe mildly OTT but hardly excessive.
Weighed the water bottle, 413g so my estimate was pretty much bang on.
I am taking the waterproof overtrousers and shell jacket; they were included in the 5.5kg pack too. I honestly don't know if I'll need them but there's enough prospect of *some* kind of trekking that it seems prudent to take them, and while a bit bulky they don't weigh all that much.
Looking (quickly) at the that pre-South America 2019 blog post, I think I'd have been pretty happy with a 6.9kg weight back then. The new bag has a nominal weight of 506g, the old one 1.59kg so if everything else is exactly the same I should be 1.1kg lighter, and that's pretty much what I'm seeing.
2317 Nearly forgot I have a bag with leftover foreign currency, but I just checked it and I don't have any Colombian notes anyway. Not going to take any other currencies, I don't *anticipate* leaving Colombia and while I could take my IIRC £40 worth of Peruvian soles I think I'd rather leave them here.
16 Jan 0045 Just e-mailed Bogotá ho(s)tel to see if they can offer me their COP25,000 pick-up service from the airport. This is a bit under £6 at current exchange rates, I don't know if I'm obliged to tip the driver. It feels a bit excessive but if I'm looking (trusting the hotel's possibly deliberately inflated prices?) at 15-20k for a taxi from the airport I arrange myself the extra splurge is only 5-10k which is 1-2 quid, roughly. And I am likely to be (irrationally) exhausted and edgy after the flight; if they can offer me this service, fuck it, I'll take it. I'll probably still be concerned the driver won't be there to pick me up, but as long as I do a little bit of research into how to get my own taxi in the (unlikely?) event this falls through, it should make the outbound journey a lot less stressful. According to the hotel a public bus is practically free, but really I don't think I should be faffing with this under the circumstances, so the fair base price for comparison here is with the public taxi taken from the airport, not with the bus.
17 Jan 0037 Hotel replied when I woke up today, should all be sorted; I've connected with them on WhatsApp (apparently the airport has free wifi, and with luck I should have mobile data on my UK "travel" SIM anyway) and need to message when I'm at immigration, but should all be good. I still need to (but haven't) research how to handle the taxis myself in case this falls through but I've been a bit slack about that so far. Am fairly pleased for having got this sorted anyway.
18 Jan 0034 Done bit of shopping for trip today, some other preparation seems to be dragging out. My visit to parents pre-trip is drawing to a close and perhaps making me a bit more antsy. I need to look into the airport transfer in Cartagena and (related) arrange the meeting details with the owner since as already ranted about it's not actually a proper hotel with a 24h desk. This isn't super urgent but really shouldn't be left too much longer. I can be a bit more relaxed about the airport transfer hotel-airport when I leave Bogota to fly to Cartagena, the hotel I'm staying in will arrange a taxi and since it's pick-up from the hotel and I'll have had a day or two to look into things that's not too stressful.
I need to remind myself - probably already said this - the trip is supposed to be fun. Ideally I'd be bouncing off the walls with excitement about it right now, like a kid the night before Christmas. I am sort of looking forward to it but it's mingled with a lot of dread and pseudo-anxiety. I need now and also during the trip to avoid putting pressure on myself and making myself feel shit because I'm not living up to some kind of hyper-social fantasy vision of "travel" peddled to gap year students and which even 90% of them probably don't experience in reality.
I probably already said this but I am wondering if I should make it a rule (or at least a guidline) that I'm super cautious about safety when I'm in-between accommodation and therefore have my main bag with me. I obviously don't want to get mugged, but I can and probably should be "un-paranoid but not stupid" on a day to day basis by contrast with those in-between accommodation journeys, which have much greater potential to seriously fuck the trip up.
20 Jan 1311 Just remembered to "star" the two hotels I've booked so far on Google Maps; may not be necessary, but may well be helpful. I have offline maps downloaded so this might provide some kind of emergency fallback.
1426 Just re-reading some old blog entries, I am reminded that I deliberately decided not to take advantage of the Jack's Flight Club sale a week or two ago, but since they kind of hinted that their sales come round every 6-7 months, I *might* gamble on taking up any offer in approximately six months time, and then I could possibly take advantage of a cheap deal to book a flight for "next January" some time in advance.
Incidentally the weather here in London and up in Skegness, while not exactly tropical, has been really pretty pleasant - quite sunny and lacking any really biting winds. So I haven't "missed out" (or failed to miss out, really) by ending up here in the UK until 23rd instead of flying around the 18th.
2354 Forced myself to have a quick poke on the web re Cartagena airport transfers. https://medellinguru.com/cartagena-airport/ looks pretty authoritative; obviously a good Colombia site to bear in mind despite its name. If that's to be believed, taxis at Cartagena airport are a no-fuss business with a fixed fare (just need to make sure you ask the fare before you leave), and apparently Uber is also an option. For the yellow taxis, you go to a booth and get a ticket which shows the fixed fare which you hand to the driver - some other poking on the web suggests there may be touts who might try to intercept you, but it doesn't sound *too* stressful.
I may well see if my accommodation offers a transfer service (especially given this need to arrange a check in time), but I wanted to check the general options first both to make an informed decision and to have some fallback information if I do get an accommodation transfer and it falls through.
Ah no, a different page on that site says Uber are exiting Colombia on 31st January, so I'll just assume they're completey out - even if they stil exist when I'm at Cartagena airport, I assume there won't be many drivers offering their services.
Looking at Bogota, medellinguru says no trouble with taxis at the airport there in his experience, although they are metered. There is also a Transmilenio service which *might* be an option to get to the airport for my flight to Bogota, *if* (and it is a complete speculation) there is a Transmilenio stop near my hotel.
A very quick poke on the web re tipping suggests that 10% will often be suggested on restaurant menus, I don't need to tip taxi drivers but rounding the fare up might be appropriate. I don't necessarily want to be super tight, but I don't want to spunk cash round left right and centre either, as always.
MG also says that a lot of taxi drivers seem to drive pretty crazily. But hey, if I have to take a taxi I have to take a taxi. No idea if you can take them on the street in general, I'm only looking at the airport issue here.
21 Jan 1438 I've had an e-mail from Air Europa saying check in is open. Oddly nervy about doing it - is there any reason to hold off? I've already got my seats. I'll probably do it fairly soon though, then if my seats aren't right I have more time to call and complain.
I had thought before and reading something (very casual browsing for a few mins) on MG site about being mugged - possibly if I've zipped my pockets up and tucked the zip into the little pouch for it (which presumably exists precisely to make it hard to casually open the pocket) a mugger might think I'm resisting as I fight to get my pocket open and that might make things worse. (To judge from the MG report, and other things I've heard, the actual mugging is a very quick experience.) Maybe something to bear in mind, obviously there's a tradeoff here against pickpockets. Or perhaps with practice I will be able to open the zips even with the zip tucked away without any real struggle, though IIRC that didn't happen to me on previous trip wearing the same style of trousers.
1518 OK, checked in online, all very low fuss as you'd expect really. Seat numbers match those shown when I paid to choose my seats. Opted to get boarding pass via e-mail so I will have it GMail app on my phone if necessary, though going to print a couple of copies of course as well as stash it in Dropbox.
1606 I'm going to put some credit on my Three "travel" SIM; there's no point going right down to the wire on this, and if I hit problems this gives me time to e.g. go out to a supermarket tomorrow and buy a new SIM.
Because the 4GB data allowance is relatively generous compared to what I had last time (1GB), I'm going to experimentally *not* set the "restrict background data" option. I will set a usage alert on 500MB and a hard limit of 1GB to stop this running away with my entire allowance by accident. This is currently on the HTC, I suspect I may end up leaving the Three SIM in the Priv back in my hotel room once I'm actually out there and try to buy a local SIM to carry around in the HTC on a day-to-day basis, but this will do for now. (I think it mostly depends if I can get a local SIM with a half-decent data plan; I don't really need the ability to make phone calls, especially not to Colombian numbers which is all a Colombian SIM would be cheap for. Something like the "free unlimited WhatsApp" deals I saw in Argentina would probably be good enough to make me buy a local SIM, but as I say I really would like at least some general data.)
A *very* quick poke on the web turns up https://toomanyadapters.com/buying-sim-card-colombia/, which is "only" a year old and suggests a) some small SIM places may be selling blocked stolen SIM cards so ideally go to a Claro shop or a kiosk in an Oxxo b) I could get a Claro card for a negligible one-off cost plus COP15000 (about £3.50) for 500MB to use within a week and free use of WhatsApp (including WhatsApp calls). That's not terrible, although I think it could be annoying if I'm having to top up (both from a hassle and expense POV) every week even if I haven't used the 500MB. Obviously 500MB isn't loads, but back at my hotel I've either got wifi or my 4GB Three PAYG SIM; this 500MB would just be for e-mail when I'm sitting having a coffee etc or maybe some very light web surfing (though I intend to try to avoid sitting around looking at my phone, a bit like my enforced experiment in BA at end of previous trip). But this is at least acceptable. And it's vaguely possible that the free WhatsApp use lasts for more than a week too.
1705 OK, forced myself to e-mail (via booking.com) the Cartagena accommodation regarding pickup; I wrote it in Spanish, what the hell. Let's see what they say, but at least I got this out of the way.
2346 Right, I'm having a beer or two or three. I don't want to be up too late to make the most of my last day but I think I'm *mostly* sorted out. I've spent the evening sort-of packing; I've been over my list, I've checked everything and mulled a bit (not conclusively) over how to pack the new bag instead of the old one. I *haven't* put everything into the bag yet; I figure I'm probably going to want to double-check some stuff tomorrow and it would be a waste of time to go packing stuff in where it's hard to get at.
22 Jan 0229 I had looked before (when I booked flight, IIRC) but checking again now, it looks like I can get the DLR or overground+tube to London Bridge distressingly early on Thursday morning and then get a Thameslink (Southern services are completely missing, for some reason) down to Gatwick from there with a train every 10 mins. So I probably *won't* go buy a train ticket tomorrow, if everything is going to plan and the trains aren't fucked a 10 min delay is not going to matter, and if the trains are fucked then it won't help me to be lumbered with a useless pre-bought train ticket for trains that are fucked.
0520 Not pissed but probably up a bit late. Meh. I am randomly thinking that if, for example, I spend the first day or two in Colombia (Bogotá) on a mini-quest to buy a local SIM, that's fine. I'm in no rush. I have no overarching goal I need to achieve. If that mini-quest involves a long walk or a bus or a taxi to a shop. that is an experience, it isn't autobiography material (probably), but it may well give me some memories that will stick more than visiting the Cheese Museum in Cartagena, it's - to repeat myself - absolutely fine. Sometimes having a goal (however ultimately unimportant, even in personal terms, never mind the overarching dynamic of human history) can add interest to an experience in a way that absolutely undirected "meh, see what happens" lacks.
0535 FFS, bed. I might as well say that while I'm hardly embarking on a voyage into the unknown, there *is* naturally something mildly disconcerting about departing familiar and comfortable-verging-on-luxurious surroundings to travel into the *personally* unknown and unfamiliar. I don't say this to claim - as if I had an audience to claim anything from anyway - any massive status as an adventurer, just jotting the observation down. I am sort of looking forward to the trip but also a bit edgy in various ways. TBH, modulo the odd 6am wakig up to a two minute bout of intense homesickness which disappears once I go back to sleep, I'll probably feel more excited/upbeat about the trip once I've actually arrived in Colombia (especially once I arrive in Cartagena and have a presumably-secure-and-acceptably-comfortable base for a week) than I do right now. (I say homesickness; while it doesn't literally manifest as an "I wish I were back home" feeling, instead being a kind of more all-encompassing feeling of despair at the unfeeling nature of the universe [I joke, but only in degree], I am assuming that 6am feeling is what is commonly called "homesickness". Then again, while what I just wrote seems fair enough, I do also genuinely have an *impression* that homesickness is something someone would get as a kind of ongoing all-the-time feeling about missing home, which is completely different. Who knows? Anyway, I can actually hear some birds tweeting so given I need to be up early on Thursday and am probably already up too late I definitely need to be moving towards bed.)
1334 Unsurprisingly felt *mildly* hungover and reluctant to get up this morning. I got up maybe 1230. So much for an early start. In some ways it doesn't matter, having a nice night in and a mostly relaxed lie in are things I can't do tomorrow and to a lesser extent "shouldn't" do too often during the trip. It's also not as though I seem to have a huge amount of stuff I must do today. Feeling a bit jittery but I think it's general pre-trip nerves not specifically related to getting up late and thus being short on time today. The early start tomorrow really isn't great - not only because it means getting up and doing the last minute bits of prep like turning the water off before going out under slightly crappy cicumstances, but also because it means tonight is "squeezed" and I can't feel free to stay up til 2am re-packing if I want - but it really couldn't be helped, I had enough trouble choosing decent-ish cheap-ish flights as it was.
I've had a super brief reply from the Cartagena accommodation, they just say "this is the address" and have confirmed there is a sign with their name in the street. No mention of "we will be there for several hours after your flight gets in"; I guess I just have to hope it will be OK, logically it should, it's just that booking.com has that "schedule your arrival time" button to click and a popup which says something to the effect that this is not exactly a hotel and therefore there isn't a front desk which is always manned. Having a quick look on Google Street View, the (2017) photo shows a building with scaffolding in the spot and no obvious evidence of the place, but it's probably new-ish. After the initial shock of the run-down look from the scaffolding etc (on both sides of the street), the area doesn't look too shabby and of course I will be arriving in broad daylight, and there is also a small cafe just along the street (which even has a "zona wifi" sign) so a) I probably need to not hurry myself out of the cab/let the taxi driver hurry me out if we haven't actually identified the property b) I can go camp out in the cafe while I try to communicate with the hosts if there is some kind of fuckup c) it's probably going to be fine.
1819 Had a Spanish lesson (first for a couple of weeks) which might help with tomorrow. Cooking dinner now. Feeling a bit jittery but not too bad.
2213 Packing. Liquids bag weighs 873g!
2250 Just finished packing. Three weighings of pack on luggage scale agree it weighs 6.9kg, including approx 400ml of water in a 500ml bottle. A bit of an increase over the 5.5kg I measured after the pack the other day! This is also a bit disappointing given my old bag as I headed out to Guatemala apparently weighed 7.1kg, though I do have approx 0.4kg of water extra in today's weighing, so it's more like 7.1kg vs 6.5kg. Pre-South America 2019 blog post says 8kg but that includes 0.5kg of fruit & nuts which I'm not including today (they're in my fleece pockets and I'm wearing that), so 7.5kg then, although it doesn't include any water so a fairer comparison weight with my 6.9kg would be 7.9kg.
I haven't succumbed to the temptation to pack stuff which isn't on my list. I *do* have 2x50ml bottles of sunblock and 2x100ml? bottles of insect repellent, which is maybe mildly OTT but hardly excessive.
Weighed the water bottle, 413g so my estimate was pretty much bang on.
I am taking the waterproof overtrousers and shell jacket; they were included in the 5.5kg pack too. I honestly don't know if I'll need them but there's enough prospect of *some* kind of trekking that it seems prudent to take them, and while a bit bulky they don't weigh all that much.
Looking (quickly) at the that pre-South America 2019 blog post, I think I'd have been pretty happy with a 6.9kg weight back then. The new bag has a nominal weight of 506g, the old one 1.59kg so if everything else is exactly the same I should be 1.1kg lighter, and that's pretty much what I'm seeing.
2317 Nearly forgot I have a bag with leftover foreign currency, but I just checked it and I don't have any Colombian notes anyway. Not going to take any other currencies, I don't *anticipate* leaving Colombia and while I could take my IIRC £40 worth of Peruvian soles I think I'd rather leave them here.
2339 Having re-checked the transport situation, I think I essentially need to be leaving the flat at 6am. I'm sure I'm not going to get to sleep all that early but I do need to go to bed in the next couple of hours; I think I need to be up at 5:30 absolute latest and more like 5am really to give myself a bit of time to check things and not be doing everything in a blind panic. I don't feel *too* jittery; really I am just focussing on arriving safely in my Bogotá hotel and if all goes well that shouldn't involve anything more stressful than security, customs and using a cash machine at the airport over there (I'll have to ask whoever is collecting me to wait while I do that, but since they won't get any money otherwise I guess that will be OK - though if there is a cash machine before immigration I might well use it, despite my normal concerns that such a machine might be extra-rip-offy).
23 Jan 0044 Should be in bed really. I'm going to have a bath first, so I'll send this now before I forget. Don't feel too bad, though expect to feel pretty shitty when alarms go off at 5am.
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