They got back to me very promptly this morning, I replied to confirm and it doesn't seem they need a credit card to reserve the room. This makes me a tiny bit nervous as I never feel things are properly confirmed unless money is firmly on the line, but I'm sure it will be fine.
Oh, everyone says it's very cold down in the southern bit of Chile. I really hope it's not that bad, I don't have any super-cold weather gear with me and I really don't want to have to spend loads of money on some fancy stuff when I get down there which I'll just have to throw away (as I don't have the space to lug that kind of thing around). I guess I'll see what it like in Punta Arenas when I get there and see what it's like. It's not as if I'm planning on going for long walks in the middle of nowhere.
Showing posts with label plans preparation chile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plans preparation chile. Show all posts
Monday, 1 February 2010
More stuff booked
I just booked a room at Hostal Lili-Patagonico's in Puerto Natales for three nights (Thursday 4th-Saturday 6th February). I'm really pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone as - gasp - I'm sharing a bathroom.
That means I will travel from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales on the Thursday, have two full days there (the hotel runs a bus tour of Torres del Paine, so fingers crossed I can get that bugger dealt with once and for all), then travel back down to Punta Arenas on Sunday where I already have a hotel booked for the days before and after the Puerto Williams trip.
I had a quick look on the web and Bus Sur run about 5 buses a day between Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, so fingers crossed I should have no trouble getting between the two.
That means that apart from a gap covering Tuesday and Wednesday night this week, when I need a hotel in Punta Arenas, I am now sorted until I fly back to Santiago on Tuesday 16th February. I may well try to get an apartment in this block again for a couple of nights, but I won't book yet as I might feel the need to get on with the rest of the trip ASAP instead of hanging around here.
I have just e-mailed the Ilaia hotel in Punta Arenas to see if they have a room; they are extremely well rated on tripadvisor.com although are frankly a bit hippyish, by the sounds of it, as you can see on the web site. Still, it'll be interesting. If they don't get back to me tomorrow I will just have to book something via expedia.co.uk, but I thought I'd give them a chance first.
That means I will travel from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales on the Thursday, have two full days there (the hotel runs a bus tour of Torres del Paine, so fingers crossed I can get that bugger dealt with once and for all), then travel back down to Punta Arenas on Sunday where I already have a hotel booked for the days before and after the Puerto Williams trip.
I had a quick look on the web and Bus Sur run about 5 buses a day between Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, so fingers crossed I should have no trouble getting between the two.
That means that apart from a gap covering Tuesday and Wednesday night this week, when I need a hotel in Punta Arenas, I am now sorted until I fly back to Santiago on Tuesday 16th February. I may well try to get an apartment in this block again for a couple of nights, but I won't book yet as I might feel the need to get on with the rest of the trip ASAP instead of hanging around here.
I have just e-mailed the Ilaia hotel in Punta Arenas to see if they have a room; they are extremely well rated on tripadvisor.com although are frankly a bit hippyish, by the sounds of it, as you can see on the web site. Still, it'll be interesting. If they don't get back to me tomorrow I will just have to book something via expedia.co.uk, but I thought I'd give them a chance first.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Ferry booked, all going fairly well
I got an e-mail from the ferry company who provide the service from Puerto Williams to Punta Arenas. The woman who has been dealing with me seems very helpful and appears to understand my Spanish, which is nice. I now have a reserved seat on the ferry of Saturday 13th February. I need to be on board before 5pm the day before and pay then. I have e-mailed to say thanks and to ask what day it arrives so I can be sure to book a hotel in Punta Arenas that day, as I expect I'll be a bit zonked after sleeping in a seat for 3 or so days. Also ideally I will book the same hotel in Punta Arenas before I leave and then I can leave most of my stuff in storage at the hotel.
No response from the hotel booking people about the hotel in Puerto Williams, I hope they'll get back to me tomorrow so I can book the flight out and have that bit of the trip resolved.
I think I will need to have internet access when I'm in Brazil to resolve these things, especially if I do decide to try to go to Easter Island almost as soon as I arrive in Chile. The Rio hotel has free wi-fi but I don't know about the Sao Paulo hotel, so I may have to venture out to an internet cafe.
Was out with a couple of mates tonight and I might see them tomorrow night as well. That will be cool but I'll also be kind of glad to get started and stop all this business of seeing people for a 'last' time.
Still, so far so good. Fingers crossed for a response from the hotel tomorrow before I leave the UK... Check-out at the flat at midday tomorrow and then maybe coffee with some people afterwards. I should go to bed now but I'm sure I won't.
No response from the hotel booking people about the hotel in Puerto Williams, I hope they'll get back to me tomorrow so I can book the flight out and have that bit of the trip resolved.
I think I will need to have internet access when I'm in Brazil to resolve these things, especially if I do decide to try to go to Easter Island almost as soon as I arrive in Chile. The Rio hotel has free wi-fi but I don't know about the Sao Paulo hotel, so I may have to venture out to an internet cafe.
Was out with a couple of mates tonight and I might see them tomorrow night as well. That will be cool but I'll also be kind of glad to get started and stop all this business of seeing people for a 'last' time.
Still, so far so good. Fingers crossed for a response from the hotel tomorrow before I leave the UK... Check-out at the flat at midday tomorrow and then maybe coffee with some people afterwards. I should go to bed now but I'm sure I won't.
Monday, 11 January 2010
This really isn't so bad...
So OK, I'm having it easy. I'm in the UK and I'm in London. But this is my first night properly away from home and it's all going swimmingly. Despite not working when I tried it hurriedly before going out, the free wi-fi at the hotel is working a treat now (first time, no idea what went wrong earlier). I'm pleased with myself in two different ways:
- geekily, I am transferring some music from my PC back in Skegness on to my MP3 player here thanks to the magic of the internet
- less geekily, I just e-mailed the ferry company to reserve a seat on the Puerto Williams-Punta Arenas ferry the week after the week they are carrying gas (i.e. for the trip of 13th February) and I e-mailed the decent-ish looking hotel in Puerto Williams to see if they have a room for the few days prior to that.
If the ferry and the hotel come through I still need to manage to get out to Puerto Williams, but I am hoping/assuming I can book a flight from Puerto Williams without too much difficulty - there's one a day, which isn't much but beats the ferry in terms of frequency. That just leaves the time between arriving in Santiago and flying from Punta Arenas to be dealt with.
The timing is a bit awkward as I will have about 8 days between arriving in Santiago and wanting to be in Punta Arenas. The raw journey time by bus is about 42 hours, so while it's almost certainly possible to bus it I doubt it would be much fun. I could fly down as I originally intended, but then I might spend too much time in Southern Chile by the time I've done the Puerto Williams trip and got the bus back up to Santiago via one or two other places.
I am going to see what happens with getting the Puerto Williams trip booked and then make the call, as that is one of the things I now want to do quite badly, even though I hadn't any plans to go there a month ago. I'm certainly keener to do that than the Tores del Paine-in-the-arse national park. (Sorry, had to make that joke sooner or later.)
I am thinking that maybe I could do the trip to Easter Island from Santiago before going down there, instead of doing it when I return to Santiago from Southern Chile. That would transfer some time from the later part of the trip to the earlier part, so to speak, and compensate for the fact that I'm doing the Puerto Williams trip a week later than I had originally planned.
Fingers crossed anyway. If everything goes as well as today, I'm laughing...
Oh, I might as well note that I asked another friend with vaguely relevant experience about 'valuables in the back with me' vs 'valuables in the boot with the big suitcase' in 'dangerous' places like Rio and Sao Paulo. She unhesitatingly said 'valuables in the back with me' (but as discretely as possible, of course). So if I remember correctly, that's 2-0 on friends' opinions for valuables in the back. Coincidentally, that is the plan I originally favoured, so I just hope my memory hasn't been selective. :-)
- geekily, I am transferring some music from my PC back in Skegness on to my MP3 player here thanks to the magic of the internet
- less geekily, I just e-mailed the ferry company to reserve a seat on the Puerto Williams-Punta Arenas ferry the week after the week they are carrying gas (i.e. for the trip of 13th February) and I e-mailed the decent-ish looking hotel in Puerto Williams to see if they have a room for the few days prior to that.
If the ferry and the hotel come through I still need to manage to get out to Puerto Williams, but I am hoping/assuming I can book a flight from Puerto Williams without too much difficulty - there's one a day, which isn't much but beats the ferry in terms of frequency. That just leaves the time between arriving in Santiago and flying from Punta Arenas to be dealt with.
The timing is a bit awkward as I will have about 8 days between arriving in Santiago and wanting to be in Punta Arenas. The raw journey time by bus is about 42 hours, so while it's almost certainly possible to bus it I doubt it would be much fun. I could fly down as I originally intended, but then I might spend too much time in Southern Chile by the time I've done the Puerto Williams trip and got the bus back up to Santiago via one or two other places.
I am going to see what happens with getting the Puerto Williams trip booked and then make the call, as that is one of the things I now want to do quite badly, even though I hadn't any plans to go there a month ago. I'm certainly keener to do that than the Tores del Paine-in-the-arse national park. (Sorry, had to make that joke sooner or later.)
I am thinking that maybe I could do the trip to Easter Island from Santiago before going down there, instead of doing it when I return to Santiago from Southern Chile. That would transfer some time from the later part of the trip to the earlier part, so to speak, and compensate for the fact that I'm doing the Puerto Williams trip a week later than I had originally planned.
Fingers crossed anyway. If everything goes as well as today, I'm laughing...
Oh, I might as well note that I asked another friend with vaguely relevant experience about 'valuables in the back with me' vs 'valuables in the boot with the big suitcase' in 'dangerous' places like Rio and Sao Paulo. She unhesitatingly said 'valuables in the back with me' (but as discretely as possible, of course). So if I remember correctly, that's 2-0 on friends' opinions for valuables in the back. Coincidentally, that is the plan I originally favoured, so I just hope my memory hasn't been selective. :-)
Friday, 8 January 2010
Alas
I just got an e-mail from the ferry company, they are doing a gas run that weekend so no passenger service. Sigh. Bit of a pisser in the grand scheme of things but at least I know early, I guess I need to think things through and rearrange stuff.
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