29 Nov I should probably start writing in here again. I had been intermittently looking at flights and trying to find something cheap and suitable during the last month or so. As I've probably said before, I really didn't want to fly via the US or Canada because of visa issues (e.g. I book a flight with a transit, then apply for a visa and get knocked back for some random reason) and that made it inconvenient to reach a lot of places in Central America straight from the UK. (Flight search websites generally make it relatively tedious to avoid the US/Canada when searching, which doesn't help.) BA have their direct Costa Rica flights but I got a bit of a feeling they're cut back compared to last year and they are (and were, to be fair) pretty expensive.
I was (and still am) a bit broadly edgy new coronavirus or similar restrictions will be brought in suddenly, but I told myself that I can't really let this put me off. As far as I can tell from miscellaneous online research and talking to my Spanish teacher, in day-to-day life coronavirus is not a big concern any more (just as it isn't in the UK) and I can only hope there isn't going to be a flare up of restrictions. This aspect of things does make me more reluctant than I would have been pre-2020 to book long-haul flights with connections, though - it's another country which gets a chance to impose vaccination rules or mask requirements on the flights
In the end I booked some direct flights to Bogotá (not going to bother with the accent all the time) with Avianca and the plan is that I'm going to split my time between Colombia and Panama. I believe there's an island-hopping boat trip between Colombia and Panama (I don't think I'm confusing this with a similar-ish trip between Panama and Costa Rica) which sounds like it might be cool if it's not too expensive. Flights between Colombia and Panama are also relatively cheap.
The London-Bogota flights cost a whisker under £640 - there may have been an element of Black Friday-ish sale in this, though it's far from clear - although I am going to have to pay probably £40-50 in total to select my seats. I haven't done that yet as although I will probably do it in the next few weeks, I figured there was no point adding to the stress of booking by paying the extra there and then. This way if I did or do get a sudden "oh fuck, I picked bad dates and can't go and it's not an insurable reason" situation, I will lose the £640 but at least won't lose the extra £40-50 for the seats.
My current travel insurance is valid until mid December so I didn't have to rush to buy travel insurance before booking the tickets. They've sent me a mildly shitty renewal quote (can't remember the amount offhand), but I will search around for an alternative in the next week or so, and the renewal price is at least tolerable so it rules out a worst case where it turns out the cheapest travel insurance I can get costs something insane like £400+.
The split between the two countries won't necessarily be even - I've seen slightly more of Colombia than Panama over the years (my only visit to Panama was in 2010 and I only really saw Panama City, the canal and David), and although I haven't yet read any new guidebooks or done any resource on tourist things in either country, if I want to spend 90% of my time in Panama that's fine. I will probably play it by ear a little bit once I'm there.
It wasn't a huge factor in my decision but unless they've gone and changed all the notes, this will also give me a chance to offload the (at the time) £200-ish of Colombian currency I was left with when I had to abandon the 2020 trip at short notice.
I did look into options like flying into Cancun or Mexico City, then maybe spending some time actually being a tourist in Mexico and/or using Mexico as a jumping off point to get into Central America. But I'm just edgy enough (perhaps unfairly) about the safety of Mexico that being a tourist there wasn't completely appealing (despite hearing good things from people when I was in Costa Rica, and I may well go at some point in the relatively near future). My vague desire to visit Central America would also probably have pushed me towards SE Mexico and I have already spent a moderate amount of time round there and while I'm sure there's more to see it didn't feel super attractive right now. Flights from Mexico to Central America were also not as cheap or convenient as I'd have expected. I do think there's potential in flying to Cancun as an entry point for an actual Mexico-based trip in the future, as it is relatively cheap and popular.
It isn't inconceivable this trip will extend from Colombia and Panama to take in other parts of Central America, but gut feeling and initial vague plans are that I won't actively push for this - it will depend how things feel when I start to look at guide books etc.
While I may well try to be relatively relaxed and perhaps stay in the same place for a week if I'm enjoying it for whatever reason (nice crowd at hostel, place seems enjoyable in some way) - I don't want to be haring round trying to cram in as much as possible, this just isn't sustainable for me over a long-ish trip - I am planning to do this trip in "relaxed tourist" mode, not "practising being an ex-pat" where I find somewhere congenial and live there for multiple weeks. I don't actively plan to sign up for Spanish classes and stay in place for weeks as a result, although I won't rule this out if the urge takes me of course.
Given this, I am not taking a laptop - I don't own one and won't be buying one. I hope this will give my body a bit of a break from the ongoing strains of keyboard/mouse use as well. I've got a new (to me, it's second hand) smartphone - a OnePlus 6 - and plan to take that and my trusty K1. The OP6 will be my daily carry phone, replacing the G5 I took last time. I still have the G5 and still use it a bit here in the UK, but when I'm on a trip with no laptop and thus using my phones more, the G5 is a bit chuggy. The G5 camera, at least under LineageOS, while capable of some pretty decent photos with OpenCamera also seems a bit prone to unreliable focussing. This matters more because I am currently not planning to take a compact camera with me and rely exclusively on my phones, primarily the O6 (given the K1 will be left in my accommodation most time).
Given I don't want to carry an expensive flagship Android or iPhone for various reasons, including but not least the possibility of getting mugged, it is a bit of a shame not to take a compact camera. However, while the photos I took with it in Costa Rica do seem OK (not that I've looked at them that much, except in a tediously grinding way while organising them - something I actually *still* haven't quite finished, FWIW), it is clearly on the way out - as noted on the blog at the time, there is some damage to the rear screen, the lens/lens cover mechanisms are grinding and a bit unreliable and there are some scratches on the lens. For better or worse decent "amateur" grade compact cameras of the kind popular in IIRC the mid 2010s are no longer a thing, it's smartphones or multiple hundreds of pounds of high grade pseudo-compact cameras or DSLRs these days. I don't want the cost or bulk of the modern dedicated cameras, so it has to be a smartphone. The O6 appears to take reasonable if not amazing shots - I do want to take photos of the trip, and I will probably miss the optical zoom of my iXus at times, but I think it will probably be good enough. The photos I take are mainly just "memories", and if I want I would hope some of them will be good enough to get A2/A3-ish sized prints to hang on my wall at home.
It will also be nice, as I've probably said many times, to not have the bulk of a separate camera (or its charger and spare battery and gorillapod) both in my luggage but especially in my pockets when I'm out and about. That said, the increased risk of my phone getting dropped or stolen when I've got it out taking a photo isn't great and may have a slight inhibiting factor (e.g. in busy cities or when on boats). In theory I could take two phones (as I did in Costa Rica) to act as smartphones/laptop substitutes and a third phone which is just treated as a camera, but this does feel a bit like overkill and I would like to experiment with the reduced weight/bulk.
A small benefit of just having the K1 and O6 is that both are USB-C, so I won't need to carry both types of cable or those fairly unreliable adapters. I have ordered myself a new USB-C OTG cable which I hope will work fine. The actual weight/bulk saving here is not necessarily huge, although I guess given you can buy cables anywhere (even if not necessarily at a decently low price) I can probably get away with just one long cable and maybe one short cable; I think on the last trip I had one long cable of each type and a short micro-B cable.
I did a quick check on required vaccinations and other travel medications the other day. I need to double check it fairly soon - but the usual laziness/pseudo-fear has kicked in and I don't "like" having to deal with this stuff - but I'm pretty sure I'm mostly OK. I seem to have in-date doses of the recommended vaccinations for Colombia and Panama on the NHS site, and the "to consider" vaccines I don't actually have are things I can probably do without. From memory, not checking my notes, it's hepatitis B and rabies I don't currently have but "could" have. I don't feel I'm particularly at risk of hep B and as I doubtless wrote in the past, I'm dubious about the value of rabies vaccination given you *still* need urgent medical treatment if you get a suspect bite anyway.
Malaria tablets are also recommended for parts of Colombia, but I don't know if I will be visiting them, and although anti-mosquito precautions are recommended in Panama there is no recommendation for tablets. It was a long time ago but ISTR it being pretty hard to get malaria tablets (even though they're paid for, not free) out of UK doctors - they want to know *exactly* how many you want etc etc, as if they're some kind of potentially addictive opiate, and it's not as if my plans are that firm yet. IIRC it isn't as trivial as I'd hoped to get malaria tablets out of doctors in Latin America (I can't remember where I tried it off the top of my head, it will be in the blog), but I don't think it's any *worse*, and at least if I am trying to obtain them over there I won't have to go anywhere near my GP (I really really hate the idea of going these days, for all sorts of reasons which aren't on topic for this blog) and I will be buying them with relatively concrete plans in place.
As far as I can tell from the web, Colombia had rather IMO (given how things are in the UK) excessive mask requirements going on until surprisingly recently, which does make me a bit edgy, but AFAICT right now everything is fine and I can only hope it won't get worse. Once I'm over there if things do flare up a bit but not to vaccination proof levels, I can at least take any newly imposed rules (though touch wood there won't be any) into account and maybe country hop to avoid them, even if I am still at risk of being forced to wear masks on the long-haul flights. (Spain also appears to have a track record of requiring masks on flights much longer than other countries, which is part of the reason I was reluctant to get long-haul flights with a change in Madrid. Though FWIW, while there were some half-decent options changing in various European cities - e.g. if I'd wanted to fly into Panama City from home - none of them were significantly better given my relative flexibility/fuzziness on where I went than these direct UK-Bogota flights with Avianca, so I didn't find myself engaged in significant dithering over whether to go with long-haul flights changing in European city X.)
8 Dec 0120 Wow, been slack about posting this, so I'll just write more here. Being a little bit lazy/procrastinaty about some trip preparations, which I find a little unpleasant to think about, but have been nibbling away at the edges of the todo list.
In an effort to tick something off the todo list, let me do a "proper" review of vaccinations, which I did a little bit haphazardly before but couldn't tick off because I was a bit informal. OK, I am not posting medical stuff here just in case, but I think I'm fine. Incidentally neither Colombia nor Panama has any updates on FCDO travel advice, which is good.
1346 Called LV to see if I can get a better price for travel insurance renewal; I can't. They were nice enough but very "no, we always give the best price first, no you can't reduce the level of cancellation cover or change the excess". The price has gone up dramatically compared to last year, but it is borderline acceptable (it's not £500 or anything crazy like that) and to be fair to them I've done a little bit of comparison stuff on the web and the price is borderline competitive. (I may or may not have waffled about this on the blog before, but when it comes to travel insurance and the prospect of needing urgent medical attention, I'm a bit leery of the more budget end of the spectrum, where I'm sure I could get a cheaper price. If I were spending two weeks in Europe or something, I'd probably be fairly comfortable with the budget options.) I'll sleep on it and do a tiny bit more web searching but I am probably going to have to accept their price. I did find a single trip policy which was £20 cheaper for this trip, but although I think the company was reputable (I'm being deliberately vague here on privacy grounds, in case it's not obvious) this wasn't exactly a like-for-like comparison as it was based on (still probably acceptable) lower levels of cancellation cover than the LV quote. (Not like-for-like is kind of fair, given I'd be willing to lower the cover at LV if they'd let me do it.) Even though if I had to guess I'd say I won't be making a second trip during the next year of cover, gut feeling is that the multi-trip with the higher cover levels feels a bit safer/better value and it's not worth going with the single trip to save £20 at most. If the single trip cover was half the price it would be different.
I need to order some saltidin mosquito spray too. Looking back at old blog entries, it looks like I took a single 100ml bottle with me to Costa Rica and (although I'm not 100% sure on this and haven't tried to find old posts) I think it lasted the entire trip, and as I said when preparing for CR it's bulky and heavy enough that I don't really want to be taking two bottles out with me just in case - I will be able to buy something (even if I have to go DEET) when I'm out there and if it's slightly pricier or I can't get saltidin I'll just have to deal with it. (It's a bit like sunblock - I need it and it's way cheaper in the UK, but I'm not lugging an entire trip's supply out with me when I'm trying to travel light.)
I also need to order a half-decent phone charger with a US plug on it. I think I've mentioned this before, but now I won't be taking my compact camera with its UK style plug (though to be fair I could have changed the plug on that if I'd really wanted to, I guess), the only mains device I am taking is a phone charger. I just checked and both Colombia and Panama seem to use the same plugs as the US, so if I have a US charger I won't need the extra bulk or weight of an adapter. Even on other trips (or if this trip takes me somewhere unexpected), I am pretty sure a US-to-local adapter will be easy to find and relatively cheap, so I can buy one while I'm there. And whether I buy one locally or bring one from home if I know I'll need it, a US-to-local adapter is going to be mechanically simpler, lighter and more-reliable than the any-to-any gadget I have at the moment (which IIRC I bought in Santiago). It is probably (e.g. that buy in Santiago) possible to get *something* UK-to-local in an emergency, but the chances are it's not going to be cheap or compact, which is why I haven't and aren't intending to adopt a "use a fixed UK-to-local adapter" strategy, because if reality doesn't match up to the web advice or I make a change of plans and visit an unexpected country, it leaves me a bit stuck, whereas as I say I expect it's near trivial to find US-to-local adapters. Plus if memory serves a lot of the time (whether it's because it's local or just because of traveller needs) hostels seem to have power strips or power splitter cubes with US sockets on and even if the local standard *isn't* US, I'm more likely to be able to plug in a US charger. A quick check on amazon turns up a multi-voltage dual 2.1A USB-pinned charger for £5.59.
(If memory serves in hostel type environments it's also not unknown for there to be some kind of bulk USB charging outlet provided, so you don't even need a charger, just a USB cable. But this is not so common that carrying no charger at all feels smart - if you really wanted to go ultra-minimal on the weight, you could probably borrow a charger or use of a port on someone's charger most places, especially in a hostel or homestay kind of environment, but I'd rather not add needless social hassle when this amazon charger apparently weighs 20g. Still, I suppose asking might be a good way to make contact, so if I feel cheeky I could always pretend not to have a charger sometimes.)
The US style charger will also be slimmer than the UK one plus adapter when sharing power strips with other people, which helps me (to squeeze in in the first place) and others. My UK charger is quite compact in its way, as it's basically just the size of the plug, but it's not compact in a helpful way by the time it's got the adapter on.
It is also an option to buy a USB charger with the right plug locally in country X if necessary, but this is probably the least desirable option - there's no guarantee what you buy is of half-decent quality (either from a safety or charging current POV) and as it's actual electronics, it's likely to be relatively expensive. (Then again, this is something locals will buy and thus may be priced accordingly, whereas a US-to-local adapter is perhaps touristy and thus relatively low demand and high price. But then again, it's not hard to imagine locals in a country where electornics might be overpriced wanting to use imported US equipment and thus adapters may well be cheap too. But I'm just waffling, this isn't relevant for now and if this ever becomes relevant I'll be able to see the actual prices and make a decision.)
I will probably buy the double pack of saltidin spray for a tiny saving (£17.99 for two vs £9.99 each); barring another major fuckfest like 2020-2023 the expiry date on the second bottle is probably going to be fine for a trip in a year or even two years' time. This also gives me the option to decide I'm going to weigh myself down by taking both bottles, for better or worse, but I probably won't succumb to that anyway.
It's also possible I still have some of the Costa Rica 2023 bottle left; if I do, I might take that plus one new bottle as a compromise. Yes, just checked - it expires in 2025 and actually feels and sounds pretty full. In many ways the big constraint on taking this kind of stuff is actually the volume occupied in the bloody hand baggage liquids plastic bag allowance, rather than the weight. But I could probably squash two bottles in, and the weight of "1.5" bottles is probably acceptable. Obviously I may never even finish this bottle, let alone start on a new one, during the trip if I used so little in CR, but I suppose it depends how paranoid I am about malaria. A quick look at Fit for Travel (being consistent) shows the whole of CR as low to no risk but precautions advised. Panama sounds similar but Colombia a bit scarier, although I guess if you're in a high risk area you're on the antimalarials (at least ideally; I can't help wondering if I'm going to find myself chancing it and just upping my precaution levels if e.g. I need to go to a high risk area just for a day or two to get a boat out to Panama, and also whether the high risk areas really do respect country boundaries so sharply) and in a low risk area it's probably the same as in Panama or CR - it's just the existence of these high risk areas that make it seem a bit more worrying as I look right now.
I suppose I could always top up this one half-empty bottle from one of the new ones (which will presumably have better expiry dates, so I should prioritise using up the remaining in-date supply first) if I really only wanted to take one, but gut feeling is that since I happen to have this assumed-half bottle which is in date it might be convenient to take 1.5 with me and then I might well not have to worry at all about buying any while I'm out there. (I don't like DEET on general grounds - it is unpleasant and I don't like having it around delicate plastic items like phones and glasses, but I'm not concerned about health risks from it. But if I can avoid being forced to buy DEET locally that's definitely a plus, albeit I do also like to travel light and it's quite possible I could get saltidin spray over there - I think I have seen it sometimes, though no idea about price or how commonly available it is in general.)
Looking at old blog reminds me in theory it might be worth poking around to see if there's any decent non-liquid mosquito repellent on the market, but gut feeling is that based on last year's search, all such things are bulky and/or expensive and/or unreliable. I may make a quick effort to look but I may not. I have no real reason to believe there's anything new on the market, but of course you never know.
2032 Just dug my backpack out and a cursory examination suggests it's in reasonable condition. I need to give it a more thorough going over (which really I should just have done now and then it would be done, but I guess taking two separate looks isn't entirely a bad idea) but this is still reassuring.
10 Dec 1725 E-mail from Avianca saying my flight is approaching and suggesting I do Colombia "checkmig" - the site itself seems to say you can only do this within 72h of your flight, so WTF - and "biomig" - which appears to be some sort of voluntary iris scanning thing and which a) I'm probably not doing b) which I would inherently have to do at the airport, as I don't have an iris scanner at home anyway. So that's all super helpful.
I still haven't booked any seats on the flights; I probably should. I don't seriously expect all the aisle seats to sell out, but it is vaguely possible the price will go up. I'll probably continue to put this off until I finish dithering about travel insurance and bite the bullet and renew the current policy at the high but apparently not uncompetitive price.
Started doing a casual test of powerbank and some of my USB cables with the two phones I plan to take. I am going to buy (haven't ordered yet) a 30cm USB A-C cable and take that along with my long (normal length) USB A-C cable - on the last trip I had a short USB A-micro cable, the long USB A-C and a long USB A-micro, but I won't need the latter this time and by replacing the former I avoid the need for an unreliable and fiddly C-micro adapter.
Powerbank (starting from full) has topped up the O6 from IIRC 30-odd% to 100% and still has three dots of capacity. This was with the long (blue) USB A-C cable. That also seems to give a nice solid connection at the O6 end which doesn't wiggle loose when handling the phone while charging.
Just checked (I thought it might be helpful to get a hold in) and my online library doesn't have copies of any Panama or Colombia guide books.
13 Dec 0044 Feeling a bit edgy about all sorts of stuff to do, and I'm being indecisive and that's stopping me renewing travel insurance, booking train tickets back to London after Christmas and booking seats. Just having a quick look on Avianca site, I can get some aisle seats with the aisle on my right near the back for £21/£20.70 (tiny difference on each leg). This is second to last row, I don't want the last row as it's restricted recline. Gut feeling is I should just book these, but given there do still seem to be a fair number of unallocated seats I could probably afford to sleep on it. OTOH, it would be good to get this sorted and IIRC I sat at back left on CR flights and it was fine and I felt like I had a reasonable amount of space etc etc.
Yeah, looking at the CR blog notes when I booked the seat then, I did indeed pick these back left seats. I think I'll sit on this for half an hour or so and then maybe book it, then it's one less thing to worry about.
Also just been and had a quick rummage through some more travel clothes and without trying it on it looks likes I have underwear in acceptable condition and two "spare" pairs which are unworn. I also do have some short-sleeved T-shirts and my fleece looks in solid condition. I need to decide about tops, but without trying to find relevant musings from last trip at this point, gut feeling is I will take 1-2 short-sleeved T-shirts and 4-3 long-sleeved T-shirts, and probably not take any of the merino tops, just sticking with lightweight plastic fabric shirts.
0304 On verge of booking seats. There's an annoying "in the event of an aircraft change, your seat will be reassigned at the airport" text - if there's an aircraft change weeks before the flight, why can't I just pick my seat again? But I guess I just have to hope this will be OK or that they'll at least honour my request for an aisle seat if there is a change. The only alternative is to wait until nearer the time, but then the seats I want might have gone or the price might have shot up. So I guess I'll just have to go for it.
And yay, my credit card is not processing for no obvious reason.
OK, tried it three times, on the third time it kicked me out into the Spanish version of their site. And I'm trying with another credit card and no, still doesn't work. So fuck me, I guess. I picked seat 32C on both flights FWIW, I will just have to try again tomorrow.
I note from last year's blog entry about prep that some of those short-sleeved T-shirts may have some marks on I didn't notice in my cursory examination right now. They're probably fine and some of them are I think virtually unworn, but I may order another one just in case (at about £5 on amazon they're not expensive).
Shaving oil bottle I took on last trip still appears to be nearly full. I haven't dug into cupboards at this time of night to see if I have another bottle floating around, but I don't really think I need one.
1443 And trying to book the seats fails to process the payment again.
1447 And yay, trying again in a new profile with no UBO *still* fails. You fucking bastards.
1449 And it doesn't work with a different credit card in that new profile either. Fuck-a-doodle-do.
OK, and I just tried again with a debit card (even though it says credit card only, probably not meaning it) and it's redirected me to the home page with no error, probably because it was the third attempt. So yay, I will have to wait a bit longer and vaguely hope this fixes itself.
1509 And I just tried it on Chrome on my phone (because even though I booked the flights in Firefox on PC, maybe they only care about Chrome) and no, it's still not working there.
1531 Don't want to call LV - it feels like admitting defeat, though as I've said at length the renewal quote, while frustratingly higher than last year, *does* appear to be competitive given I am ruling out the bargain basement travel insurance providers as usual. So I should call them and then I can get *this* ticked off the list - I'm still freeling frustrated that I thought I was getting the seat reservation sorted but some unspecified problem is occurring with it. It also kind of sucks I have to call them to renew, but I just checked their website and yes, you have to call to renew.
1540 OK, renewed that. One job down at least.
14 Dec 1126 Just tried again (and possibly other times without writing it down), still can't pay for seats on Avianca site. Since I've tried multiple browsers and cards at my end, I don't really believe this is in any way my fault. I'll have to try calling or WA-ing them later on, seriously unimpressed.
1513 On phone with Avianca after another failed online seat reservation attempt. Having to give my passport number and date of birth so being super paranoid about confirming these lest they get on the system wrong and all sorts of nightmare bureaucracy and/or changing details charges happens later on. (The online site does *not* ask for these, and I hadn't been asked for them when booking IIRC. Not a big deal, just slightly weird.) Getting seat 32C on both flights and confirmed verbally this is aisle seat. Price is same as online (£41.70) though initially quoted to me as USD52 IIRC, but I asked for pounds.
1531 OK, apart from taking ~20 mins that was relatively painless, they didn't make a fuss and were perfectly helpful. I have half a dozen new e-mails but I think this is fine, in particular I seem to have an updated ticket which shows seat 32C on both flights. I do feel a slight chump for paying the extra to select my seat, but there you go - I would probably worry (on a long haul flight - I may well take a chance on any short haul flights I might book while over there) about feeling trapped in a non-aisle seat so it's probably worth it for peace of mind.
1603 Look at Mr Organised here. I've just called Boots to check price of typhoid vaccination - £37, £2 more than Superdrug but not terrible - and I've booked an appointment for Sunday afternoon. This is a minor faff, I really would have liked to have a quiet day at home on Sunday, but it can't be helped and it is one less thing to worry about (both in terms of risk, and perhaps more practically having this "should I or shouldn't I?" thing on my todo list). I don't think I got to specify the type of vaccination I wanted, but maybe I did - I half feel I did select it so I probably did, but the appoointment booking doesn't mention it. Still, fingers crossed and while it would be a pisser to turn up and they have no stock, it would only waste a bit of time/be a hassle and I still have time to get it done in January if I really want to.
1704 Just re-activated my Skype credit. I honestly don't understand why it goes inactive given they don't steal it off you and you can just reactivate it whenever you want - and since I just signed into the website and reactivated it with no fuss, I don't see any security benefit in terms of stopping someone using it. Doesn't matter, just always seems curious. (By the same token, I could probably have left it inactive and activated it if I needed it - maybe this is why it goes in active, to stop you using it by mistake? But I doubt it. Anyway, I didn't want to leave it inactive because if I do need to make phone calls via Skype it's likely I'm in at least a minor SHTF situation and the last thing I need is a potential roadblock - e.g. "you seem to be in a new place, please authenticate via extra mechanism X that you don't actually have access to right now before reactivating your credit".)
Wed 20 Dec 1547 FWIW I got the typhoid vaccination privately at Boots on Sunday, and (I didn't lie, but there's a certain vagueness in some questions which undermines my confidence in the results slightly) as a small extra bonus going through the travel vaccination questionnaire with the pharmacist as part of this suggests that my own analysis of what else I need was/is correct, including my hepatitis A vaccination lasting much longer than the nominal date written in the yellow booklet. Side effects were minimal, a tiny bit of soreness in muscles but really very little. This vaccination will last three years anyway.
Incidentally the pharmacist, after doing this questionnaire, said I didn't need malaria tablets. There were some questions about covering up and wearing repellent but this still feels slightly contradictory with the Fit for Travel advice for some regions of Colombia. I didn't raise it because at this point I'm not interested in buying malaria tablets anyway. (Worth remembering - perhaps obvious in hindsight - that I could in future get some from a UK travel clinic without having to go near my GP, if I want to. But even so, when I'm far from clear if I'll need any or how many I might want, it feels better to try to get them abroad when plans are clearer. I do hope I won't need to faff with this one way or another.)
Broadly feeling a bit harried with respect to trip preparation as well as other stuff. Partly this is because I'm lazy, partly it's because I will be away for a big chunk of the remaining time over Christmas and getting stuff done is difficult because of distractions and not being here in London. I have been intermittently sewing away adding pocket zips to the travel trousers over the last few weeks (or even longer) but still need to make a bit of a push to finish this - I may need to carry on with this after Christmas, unfortunately.
I don't seem to have written in here but at some point since I bought the last two pairs (to go to Colombia in late 2019) Karrimor have changed the design of their Panther trousers which I had been buying semi-religiously for travel for a few years - the pockets are now microscopic (they won't even fit my hands, just to give the scale) and thus next to useless. It also didn't help that of multiple Sports Direct stores I tried, hardly any had two pairs of the correct size in (even without considering the colour), adding insult to injury with an unusable "buy two, pay only £x" offer. I took a bit of a punt on some Mountain Warehouse trousers on sale on amazon (with free returns) and I got two pairs that seem half decent. I got them turned up at the shop round the corner from the flat for £15 for two, which isn't too bad at all. I am not sure the quality is amazing but they are a known brand so fingers crossed they will be OK.
Sat 23 Dec 2142 FWIW I got an e-mail from Jack's Flight Club the other morning saying TUI have flights to Costa Rica for ~£400. Even with bag fees etc that's pretty cheap and this is mildly annoying as it was to Liberia, which would be a fairly decent starting point for going on to Nicaragua. Still, it's not as if Colombia/Panama is a bad choice and I had no way of knowing this would come up. More to the point, it did say "January" for dates, so it's possible coming back just before Easter would have been disproportionately expensive. These were direct flights though, so never mind their suitability for me this time, they did feel very decent value.
Thu 28 Dec 1638 Just put the Royal Mail redirection in. I get very little post at regular address but I can't take chances. I did at least have the wit to notice the advice on the site that by using a card registered at the "old" address there would be less (chance?) of security questions (which IIRC tend to be extremely persnickety credit report based questions which it's very hard to answer correctly) and indeed the payment just went through using a card registered at the regular address with no fuss.
1939 Just had super-quick poke on booking.com for Bogota accommodation. Ignoring the awkward 3am arrival, there is at least one place with a single room private bathroom for the first three nights for £23 including taxes and charges - this is super cheap and may be a bit crap (I haven't even clicked the link), but it is vaguely reassuring. This is probably central-ish and given post-Christmas laziness ("I'll do it tomorrow") I am not putting any more effort in right now, but it is vaguely reassuring. As I say, it is probably central-ish and I do kind of need to decide what I'm doing - I may well prefer (if there's something suitably priced, perhaps even the place I stayed in 2020 if it's still operating) something near to the airport. I don't want to actively waste time but even if perhaps Bogota (even/especially that bit near the airport) is maybe not tge most chilled introduction to the country, I still see some value in having a couple of days to slightly acclimatise and buy myself a SIM and perhaps start to warm my Spanish up a bit. That doesn't necessarily preclude trogging into the centre of Bogota from the airport, *but* if I will be getting on a plane somewhere almost immediately it may well be nicer to stay near the airport. If I have time and energy to spare, I can always get the metro or whatever in - and I have visited Bogota before and will obviously be returning at end of trip so while I'm sure there's plenty I could do, I also don't feel a desperate need to dash round the main tourist sites.
As I may or may not have said above, my gut feeling is that Panama will be the initial and possibly the main focus of the trip. It feels sensible to head over towards Panama (not exactly rushing, depending how it goes) and spend time there while I have as much time as required, and then if I feel I'm not enjoying it that much or whatever I can return to Colombia earlier or if I am having fun I can return to Colombia relatively late. I still need to look into these tourist island hopping border crossings - I half wonder if I can/should do one on each side of the country, obviously in opposite directions - but wrt planning the early part of the trip, I need to check where I might want to go in Colombia to get one of these boat trips and the question then is do I want/need to fly from Bogota to somewhere in that vague region in order to get there or can/should I just set off by bus from Bogota? My vague recollection of FCDO stuff last time is that overnight buses are maybe a smidge iffy in Colombia, but I am far from clear if this was or is true and the extent to which it's really a serious concern.
I do need to not be too lazy about this but I think it's kind of OK not force myself to do more right now. To say I'm run down would be ridiculously OTT but with various Christmas visits and hassle and family stress and so forth I am feeling a bit lazier even than usual. I do need to push on with this stuff in the next day or two and I'm going to try to force myself to eg look into a bit of online shopping tonight, but this is all vaguely reassuring and the fact there is cheap-is accommodation to have bodes well for the trip in general and for not having left this way too late.
(I will probably mix some dorms into the trip, both for cost and pseudo-social reasons, but although I'll play it by ear I probably won't dorm it as much as I did in CR, where the relatively high prices made it a bit more "necessary". Regardless, as usual I *really* don't want to be in a dorm the first few nights, when I'm tired and disoriented after the flight etc. Similarly given the relative gem (esp wrt Spanish practice/"social" aspect) of that airbnb in CR I should make an effort (notwithstanding my broad distaste for the site) to try to do more of the same on this trip, but I am not considering that for first stay on arrival - I don't want the social dynamic, I want somewhere I can hole up if I feel that way after the flight and just not feel too pressured. Plus as noted before airbnb is a nightmare if you don't have mobile data for WhatsApp, so definitely best to avoid it until I've had a chance to buy a local SIM and check it works.
I don't have a formal budget for the trip. I will try to keep costs down, I will play it by ear as I see how things are going, if there's something I *really* want to do (e.g. maybe these boat trips) which costs several hundred dollars I will do it (because I do have "enough" money, in some sense) but I don't want to splurge for the hell of it. It is a bit off the top of my head but if the trip including flights comes in under £4k I will probably be pretty pleased.
Flights are (going from memory) about £10/day, if we pick a possibly stingy figure of £30/day including that (i.e. £20/day for accom/food/activities) the 77 day (from memory) would come in at about £2.3k, and £40/day including the flights would come in at about £3k. What with inflation and different countries and not having travelled for a year and CR being expensive anyway it's very hard for me to intuitively judge this correctly, but this does superficially (mainly going off those Bogota accommodation prices) suggest getting the trip in for about £3k may not be impossible, and I think I'd be pretty chuffed with that.
(These figures are all massively approximate, I'm ignoring things like travel insurance and the various bits of clothing and other gear I've already bought or will bought etc etc.)
Sat 30 Dec 1643 Just been into Sports Direct to try to buy some new shoes for the trip, but they didn't have the ones I wanted in size 9. Not the end of the world - the ones I already have are probably fine and I can always try again in London, but a minor annoyance not to be able to tick this off the todo list.
1729 No updates to FCDO Colombia or Panama pages. (I am not checking these that frequently, for what it's worth.)
I don't think I mentioned that I had a bit of a look on amazon for lightweight rain jackets the other day; I ordered one (Dark Olive was super cheap at something like £12 but I paid £15-ish for a navy one which was due to arrive earlier) and it turned up today. I think it's OK, it's not as super lightweight as I'd hoped (and I can't weigh it here) but it is probably lighter and almost certainly much less bulk than the shell jacket I've been taking until now. I am not saying I will neer take that existing shell jacket with me, but unless I anticipate significant need for the (presumably) extra warmth it provides (though it is not exactly thick, nor meant to be - it cames with the fleece as a set) I will probably prefer this new one. I may use the extra space/weight freed up to take one of the thin wool sweaters I probably otherwise wouldn't take - this would be a layering type item and not part of my "allowance" of five tops for daily wear. I may not, I will mull this over and see how it feels when I probably do a test pack soon after I get back to London.
2002 OK, forced myself to have the quickest possible look at this Colombia-Panama boat stuff. Guide book appears to suggest there are vague safety concerns and recommends bluesailing.net. Very mixed feelings. Not checked availability etc. There's something iffy about single passengers may be required to share a double *bed* with another traveller and to mention if this bothers you. Borderline iffy. There is 26-30h of open sea crossing (this is on a sailboat FWIW), then island hopping. Food included, my usual pickiness may be an issue but this needn't be a killer. Panama may require proof of onward travel and this may be an issue if they decide my return ticket home from Colombia is not good enough, though this would potentially be an issue for any border crossing and I may end up trying to buy some kind of crappy return ticket just to satisfy this risk, though that sucks.
The route is basically from (or to) Cartagena in Colombia - which I had half hoped to avoid re-visiting - to either Puerto Lindo on the mainland or El Porvenir island (involving a speedboat connection to mainland). El Porvenir is nearer but given virtually no one gets seasick on island hopping part this is not a massive factor. Trip is 5 nights and has three days in San Blas islands. My trip is in the middle of the windy season. Various tips and other incidental tourist gouging are not included in the price. The windy business is apparently worse for trips departing from Panama due to wind/wave directions, so although I had been wondering if doing it in that direction might work out better in some way this would argue against it. (I don't *know* if I suffer from seasickness, and I could get tablets. I am just thinking it through.)
Despite the guidebook notionally being up to date and quoting prices USD450-650, at least with bluesailing the price is "typically" 660-780USD per person. Diving by 5 and taking the top end that comes in at USD156/day. That can of course be offset against accommodation and meals to some extent. Nevertheless, this feels pricey but not absolutely intolerably expensive. It is (of course) "an experience", hopefully not an entirely bad one. :-)
They do have spots on a range of dates in January right now, enough that while I maybe wouldn't want to be booking this last minute I don't fweel the need to rush right now.
This is on the Caribbean side.
Looking at a random website, although I am there in the windy season, it is also the high season (i.e. prices will tend towards high side, and demand for space on boats will be higher). It is the dry season, which vaguely bodes well with respect to not needing too much in the way of waterproof clothing etc etc. Apparently there used to be an 18h-ish ferryboat from Colon, Panama to Cartagena, but it was discontinued in 2016. This website mentions "San Blas adventures", which is presumably a company - not checked them out yet. I am far from insistent that I will only trust the recommended company in the guide book, though I certainly want to do research on any company I do book with. They do speedboat trips, not sailboat - this may well be better, as I suspect it reduces the time and cost taken. Of course a sailboat is "cooler" in some way, but even bluesailing say they may have to use the motor. Plus I suspect a speedboat means less time out on open water and thus less seasickness potential (maybe the faster motion of a speedboat makes it more likely though, I don't know of course). The random website - which I might as well mention is wingingtheworld.com, I just found it via a web search and it may or may not be reliable - says speedboat means less seasickness as it's gentler. I think on the speedboat trips you sleep on the islands. WTW does suggest the crowd on sailboats is older (which may suit me better, or may not) and that the accomodation on board is more comfortable (it is mentioning bluesailing BTW), but I suspect I might prefer to be sleeping on the islands no matter how "rustic" the accommodation is.
It does not look like there is an established Panama-Colombia tourist-ish boat service on the Pacific side, based on this super quick look (neither the guide book nor WTW mentions it and skimming the first page of search results they all seem to be about roughly the same route.
I could of course do the trip by sailboat one way and speedboat the other, if I really wanted to. Not saying I necessarily would - the different modes of travel would add something, but it would be the same islands and it would be retracing my tracks a bit (and depending on how the trip goes, it's conceivable that e.g. I decide I want to spend some time in non-northern Colombia before returning home and I want to fly from wherever I am in Panama straight to somewhere in nn Colombia, which wouldn't fit well with doing this boat trip). I suppose maybe the thing to do is to decide which way I would prefer to do it and do that first, if I am going to do it at all.
Wrt diet-type concerns, even if food is included in the price (which it may not be) on the speedboat trip, at least on dry land I presumably have the option to go into a local shop or restaurant and get something there, whereas on the boat I am stuck with a take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal. Then again (especially if I am suffering from seasickness), these concerns mainly apply to the 2-ish day open ocean part of the sailboat trip, and I am not going to die of hunger if I eat absolutely nothing for two days, and of course it would never get quite that far (I could take a few snacks, there'd probably be *something* I could eat, etc, etc). Even if it's true speedboat is all other things being equal less seasickness-inducing, there would still probably be an argument for doing sailboat Colombia-Panama in order to get the relatively calmer conditions on the slower sailboat crossing.
You have to pay the captain in cash (less a USD60 deposit, probably paid via some iffy-ish online thing) for the bluesailing.net thing. Not super happy at the prospect of having to be in Cartagena (or anywhere, TBH) with ~USD700 in physical cash. I do like cash, but I also like not getting mugged.
Hmm. At least I've had a poke and I do at least now know this is a Caribbean side only thing, and I have a vague idea of price and the options (speedboat vs sailboat) and the directional factors, and I know the Colombian "terminus" is Cartagena, so I can let myself chew this over a bit.
I am sort of feeling a vague and somewhat irrational (it's not as if this is a bucket list activity - not that I actually have a list, but YKWIM - or as if I am in serious danger of missing out, given I have ~2 month lead time to book a place if I really want to, as I could do this towards the end of the trip if necessary) urge to "make a decision". But this is silly. I am in some mixture reassured, interested and disturbed by what I've read and it is smart rather than procrastination to let myself chew on this for a day or so
Oh, WTW also has some slightly confusing stuff (I am only skimming, not necessarily the site's fault) about an option to use jungle (access only by boat) town of Carpurganá in Colombia as a terminus/intermediate stop - super unclear right now. Hmm, they seem to be suggesting you fly to Puerto Obaldia (on the border)(though it's not clear if this is actually a possibility!) and then get boat to Capurgana and then after staying there a bit get a boat to Necocoli or Turbo. Their article is about crossing the border, not specifically about boat trips across it. Gut feeling is it may well be that this region or these boat trips are worth doing if they happen to fall in my route (e.g. maybe if I got to Necocoli or Turbo, I could go to Carpurgana by boat for a few days, being random), but it's not clear they are convenient or massively memorable ways *to cross the border*, the border crossing seeming to happen at PO which sounds like a mare to get to etc.
Current gut feelings:
- nothing I've read makes this sound terrible or not worth taking a punt on for the experience
- I do *not* like the idea of turning up with a huge wodge of cash to pay the captain and it may well be worth picking one company over another (assuming they have reasonably good reputation) if it means I can avoid doing this
- the double bed business on bluesailing sounds a bit iffy, but it is not *necessarily* a killer, and it does sound like if I'm otherwise happy I could at least ask about this before booking
- the speedboat option (notwithstanding the vaguely reassuring suggestion the sailboat crowds are older) being both cheaper and having less potential seasickness may well be half-decent compromise, but I can see the appeal of the sailboat
- prices are high but borderline acceptable, it is a multi-day experience etc etc, although I suspect prices are higher than they seem by the time you're done getting chiseled for various taxes, tips, etc along the way
- there may be elements of snorkelling etc to this, I have sort of learned to swim since the last trip but I would have to play this by ear and see how I feel/how it looks at the time
- the risk of getting knocked back by Panamanian immigration because my return ticket home from Colombia isn't good enough is a concern, but it exists on any border crossing - and it's not as if on this particular border I can minimise this stress by overnighting in a town close to the border so if I do get knocked back I can return there and deal with it, however I cross the border I will be making a long-ish air or sea trip to cross it. (I suppose I could potentially book a pair of sea and/or air crossings in both directions before I leave Colombia, probably before I even leave home, then I am 100% in the clear with Panamanian immigration in this sense. *But* having to pre-commit to some specific distribution of time up front does not seem reasonable, I'd probably rather wing it or buy some cheap-as-possible ticket which I may just have to write off instead. If I am buying a ticket mainly to write off, I could possibly buy a cheap bus ticket to cross from Panama into Costa Rica in March, instead of having to buy a plane ticket. Or I could compromise and if I can get (say) a cheapish flight for GBP40 to return to Colombia a week before I fly home, I could buy that with the thought that I *might* use if if I am enjoying myself in Panama, and that if I really want to leave Panama earlier I will write that ticket off.)
And while this general "trying to sort the trip out" sense of urgency is also saying to me that I could at least be looking at Bogota accommodation for my arrival and/or onward travel from there (incidentally the guide book seems to suggest buses in Colombia are potentially OK; I haven't read it in detail nor have I rechecked FCDO advice or looked elsewhere), I think timescales have enough slack in them that it makes sense to chew over the boat stuff for a day or two (as it obviously influences my general plans and the "shape" of the early part of the trip, depending on whether or not I want to be heading over to Cartagena early on.
Just looking at the map, I see where Turbo/Necocoli are and I see Carpurgana and it does look sort of intriguing to do that route. But it would involve a flight anyway and I don't necessarily want to be mixing "see remote areas" (which may or may not be safe; this is sort of fringes of Darien province and I have no idea if it's truly safe to be on the water there, or the land, etc etc - haven't even tried to read up yet) with "get across the border". It is a shame there's no "major" boat service from say Turbo or Carpurgana to Panama, but it is what it is - maybe this is a reflection of safety, but who knows.
Mon 1 Jan 0357 Still being lazy and/or chewing this over. Probably 60% leaning towards doing this trip in some form. I am kind of feeling that terminating the cruise on that island in San Blas might be more relaxing, I could then spend a few days upwards there and get a boat to the mainland on my own schedule, whereas I can't help feeling if I go all the way to Puerto Lindo direct I may a) miss out on that chance b) perhaps get hustled on to Panama City, which I may visit but am certainly in no hurry to see (given I've already been there, and I suspect from a tourist POV it's probably even less fun than it used to be, given they apparently were getting rid of all the fancy painted buses and the world generally spirals into decay ;-) ). I got those details from bluesailing but given the island hopping applies to speedboat too I suspect that is equally an option there.
Tue 2 Jan 1546 Continuing to procrastinate a bit, although there are semi-legit excuses of course.
The idea of doing the boat trip in some form does continue to appeal, albeit not "fuck yeah, I must do this" - but it does appeal. That said, given the desirability (seasickness) of doing the trip from Colombia to Panama and that my rough plan is to get to Panama ASAP and spend time in Colombia towards the end of the trip if I want to, the naive approach is to fly in, get to Cartagena ASAP and then get the boat out from there.
The trouble with this is that it seems to set up the start of the trip as distinctly non-fun and stressful. I haven't reciewed old blog entries, but while part of it was "fresh off the boat" fears (although that would still apply this trip too, on the schedule I'm discussing here) and I did have some fun etc, I really wasn't super keen on Cartagena. I also dislike flying, in large part because getting to/from airports always feels rip-off prone and hassley. The point being that the naive approach roughly repeats the start of my previous Colombia trip - fly into Bogota, have a few days there just to find my feet, then fly to Cartagena, faff with expensive and stressful taxis getting to accommodation in Cartagena and then be in a frankly unpleasantly "touristy with a vague sense of menace" environment (I'm probably exaggerating, but there was just enough of people hassling me in mildly aggressive ways that I don't have great memories) where I've already "done" the main tourist stuff and where I've then got to start worrying about taking cash over to pay for the boat (although it's possible some non-bluesailing options will let me pay on card or in some office somewhere, I haven't looked yet). So there's not much to look forward to in these early days of the trip - and the boat trip itself is a bit of a stressful prospect, even if it is also attractive.
I'm not saying I absolutely don't want to go back to Cartagena. I would almost certainly do a repeat trip to El Totumo, and given I have done the old town and seen most of the stuff there, there may well be potential side trips (organised or independent) I could do during the day etc etc. But I would probably rather not hare over there ASAP on arrival in Colombia, and I might "enjoy" Cartagena more if I could be there a bit more acclimatised to the hot weather and having lost some of the "fresh off the boat" fears.
I have *not* researched this at all, but I am vaguely toying with a plan to do some short-ish bus hops from Bogota over towards Cartagena. I have no idea if it's en route, but I do seem to remember Zipaquira looking quite nice when I went there for that day trip to the salt cathedral, and the idea of doing some short hops between Zipaquira-ish towns between Bogota and Cartagena has some appeal. I might potentially stay at a central-ish hostel in Bogota, perhaps I can find one which will do an airport pick-up to alleviate some of the stress of arrival, and if I'm really lucky I might be able to get some tips from someone about possible routes/places to go. If we assume for the moment this is vaguely reasonable, this approach would probably see me taking ~2 weeks to get to Cartagena, but I would hopefully be low-key enjoying touristing it up across northern Colombia and except for possible concerns with having booked a boat weeks in advance and not wanting to get to Cartagena too early or too late, it would take the pressure off and stop the immediate beginning of the trip being all about a mad dash to Cartagena and the boat, and it would give me time to settle down a bit and feel more comfortable.
I suppose if this bus-towards-Cartagena option isn't reasonable for whatever reason (no buses, unsafe, etc), a pseudo-variant would be to fly from Bogota to somewhere other than Cartagena, tourist it up there for a bit and then fly on to Cartagena (annoyingly I suspect this would involve changing in Bogota) - the point being to add a bit of "non-boat-stress" touristing at the start of the trip.
I am going to have to start making *some* kind of decision, if only about booking accommodation in Bogota, in the next few days.
I did at least manage to get some new shoes for the trip today, so that's one thing off the todo list. If I didn't already say I'm going with the Karrimor Summit walking shoes again - I don't remember if I specifically noticed them being lighter, but I seemed to get on OK with these on the last trip and didn't miss the slightly heavier construction of the Mount Lows.
Thu 4 Jan 2237 For the record, just checked smoke alarm battery and it shows as "good" on my tester, so I'm going to leave it in while I'm away and not change it or take it out the day I leave. The carbon monoxide alarm has a non-replaceable battery and is good until something like 2026.
Been thrown out a bit by a minor IT crisis (hard drive in my home server has started to die, and there's some stuff involved in this which I "nearly must" sort out before the trip, and it's also going to be a bit of a pisser as I had planned to use for keeping copies of photos on during trip in case I lose my bag etc). Still dealing with this and it's definitely sapped some of my energy/time but fingers crossed I am making some headway with sorting out the "nearly must" stuff, and I'll just have to make do with other means of backup while I'm away. It sucks a little bit to have "fixing this properly" to deal with when I come back, but it can't be helped, and there is maybe a slight silver lining in that it means I can buy and play with some new IT toys.
Have done a bit more sewing on trip trousers today (still more to do, though) and I'm going to do a test pack in a bit.
I haven't actually done anything about accommodation when I arrive or made any decisions on stuff like my route or the boat trip. It's not novel or precisely actionable, but I am thinking for the nth time (and this kind of applies to the rest of my life too, really) that I need to fucking chill out a bit. The trip is not a "race" or a competition. There is no absolute "must do" thing I'm dying to see. I do in fact believe in serendipity and cool stuff or interactions can crop up anywhere. Speaking more broadly, while I need to be careful not to just be massively lazy and sit around on my own in my room all day without seeing anything or interacting with anyone, I need to avoid putting pressure on myself to keep moving on because maybe I've "seen everything" in place X. As I say, there can be hidden gems or just random events/incidents/people that prove memorable wherever, even if I've slightly over-stayed by some definitions. Also constantly researching where to go next and sorting out accommodation and spending days on transport, while obviously part of the overall experience, adds to the overall stress and removes from the pleasure of the trip.
Descending from those generalities to the specifics - and fully admitting laziness and/or procrastination and/or being distracted with other preparations is also an element here - my gut feeling is that if I can find half-decent (price, quality, etc) accommodation in central-ish Bogota with a private room (because I'll be fresh off the plane and a bit stressed out and don't want the extra hassle of a dorm), I might well put in 3-4 nights there to settle down, maybe get a chance to talk to people (I would greatly prefer a hostel-ish environment, as that at least opens up the chance of getting into a chat in a common area, whereas if I'm in something hotel or airbnb-ish that isn't so likely - and with broader "getting old", personal safety in a large city, trying not to drink too much etc type concerns, I am not super keen (especially not right at the start of the trip) to be going out at night to bars). I need to get away from the feeling that going into Bogota (which is a general "big city" concern, not specific to Bogota) vastly increases my chances of getting mugged etc etc. Even if I don't meet anyone, I can potentially still get advice from staff (e.g. about advisability of taking buses in general) and once I'm actually on the trip nothing will be more important than making plans for the next move, whereas right now (rightly or wrongly - but I think not entirely wrongly) I am a bit distracted not just by this IT crisis but by other elements of preparation like deciding what to take, test packs, finishing my trouser sewing, etc, not to mention other non-travel related "chores" it would be nice (but not essential) to do before I go.
I am still feeling potentially up for the boat trip to (or from, at a pinch) Panama. That said, either on this trip or another trip, I could do something similar between Costa Rica and Panama, so I don't *have* to do it this time or never. (Obviously if I get seriously ill and can't travel any more or something that's going to be a pisser, but even though it seems vaguely cool, doing one of these island hopping-ish trips is not bucket list, deathbed regret stuff.) I also feel if I haven't already said that I really don't want to be piling on the pressure to sort this out and dash over there to get the boat and make the start of the trip more stressful than it naturally is, just in order to save (say) a week - I won't be spending that week sitting in my room, I'll be in Colombia and doing stuff, even if it's not "super duper cool stuff", still just being there and seeing stuff and maybe talking to people etc etc - and get to Panama ASAP. If it helps I am also willing to fly to get into Panama (although all else being equal I'd rather not, because getting between airport and accommodation in a big city is probably more stressful and horrible than with a bus or boat into a small town, and I suspect I'd have to fly to Panama City for an international flight, although I haven't looked) - I could do the boat in the reverse direction, or maybe I will find myself in northern Panama and decide to do a boat trip into Costa Rica.
I am not ruling out the sailing option for the boat, but given that the random website I read seemed to imply the sailing option was an older crowd (I suppose they might mean "40s not 20s" rather than "60s not 20s" as I am kind of reading it), while I may well be likely to get on better with people on a sailing option for that reason, it's also not as if I'm in danger of getting "too old" for this. Especially if it avoids having to pay a huge lump sum in cash or if I come back on the more seasickness prone Panama-Colombia direction, the speedboat option might be more appealing - even if I can't socialise with them, the prospect of boozy 20 somethings doesn't massive disturb me (it's not as if I don't enjoy a drink myself, even if I drink less than I used to for various reasons) - and to whatever extent it actually matters, the "age-related awkwardness" of the speedboat option (assuming that website is actually right about age differences on the two options anyway) is only going to get worse, so maybe there's a small argument for preferring the speedboat before it is "too late".
It has occurred to me I could have - and I suppose still could, with connection worries - booked a connecting flight to go straight from Bogota to Cartagena. But if I'd done that on my original booking I'd probably have had to return from Cartagena too - I probably said this when I was writing about the booking. And even ignoring worries about the trans-Atlantic flight being delayed and making me miss a connection on to Cartagena, I'm not super keen to add an extra leg and airport hanging around onto my already exhausting long flight from the UK. It doesn't help that having already been to Cartagena I'm not super excited to go back and I also don't have particularly great (if not terrible) memories of getting from the airport to my accommodation, plus it feels less likely I'm going to have nice little off-the-beaten track wanders in what felt like a mildly threatening (just because there are so many tourists, kind of, so a subset of the locals are out to hassle them) city where everything touristy is concentrated round the old town.
I'm also aware of the probable importance of booking the boat trip at least a few weeks ahead of time - though as a solo traveller I probably have a bit of an advantage there. This is another reason not to be super keen on trying to get it in ASAP - it just adds another set of deadlines and booking before I even leave home which then add more stress to the initial part of the trip. I know it's not "rational", but I'm sure I'd be there ticking off the list of stops in my head: "got to get to Bogota, then I've got to get that flight on to Cartagena a day or two later, then I've got to figure out how to get over to wherever the boat goes, then I've got to kill a few days in Cartagena, then I've got to get over to the marina with all that cash". With a base level "scariness" of just having to navigate the flight over there (I'm not scared of flying in the "I might die" sense, but it's inherently stressful, customs/immigration/security is horrible, I hate getting from the final airport to my initial accommodation when I'm frazzled and I've got all my worldly possessions on me and I'm almost completely unfamiliar with the country having just arrived etc etc) - as long as I'm not expecting to be able to book a boat at a few days' notice, it really does feel psychologically more appealing to just have some accommodation booked for my arrival, get there and then worry^Wstart thinking about exactly what comes next with a few days of fixed accommodation and nothing else major to do after a good night's sleep.
Fri 5 Jan 0018 Doing a very (almost too) leisurely practice pack - probably won't do everything tonight, but it's a start. In a way going over this is semi-enjoyable and it maybe also has a reassuring effect of convincing myself I am prepared, silly as that might be.
My waterproof neck pouch thing (for water activities, not for day-to-day passport carrying etc) is broken, IIRC it broke years ago and I didn't replace it for the Costa Rica trip. Gut feeling is I am not going to get one now - I could get something (albeit most stuff seems designed for phones) on amazon or ebay and have it here in the next couple of days - but I don't really think I need one. While I do hope to do some swimming if possible, a pouch like this is mainly valuable if I'm swimming somewhere within an easy walk of my accommodation - in which case I might go out in swimming gear+T-shirt and not take a dry bag or daypack with me, and being able to put a tiny amount of money or any keys I must take out with me in a neck pouch is nice (although if I actually intend to swim swim rather than just go in the water, probably not ideal). I am not super convinced this is that useful as I write this, and if I realise I'm wrong while on the trip this is something I can probably buy (a bit overpriced, but not insane) from a shop over there, and at least I'd have a specific use case in mind and be able to physically see what I'm buying.
0048 I appear to have (I did remember I brought back a lot due to sudden departure in 2020) 1,360k Colombia pesos in 50k and 20k notes alone, plus a bit more in smaller bills. This appears to be about £275. Handily banrep.gov.co has details of the banknotes still in circulation and all my 50k and 20k notes appear to still be valid; I haven't checked the smaller ones, but they probably are too.
I also seem to have 103k CR colones, which is apparently about £156. I will have to mull over whether to take those with me. I don't think it's super likely I will go to Costa Rica, but it's not utterly implausible - as I've already noted, I may go to northern Panama anyway, and when I'm there it may be desirable to pop over into Costa Rica - it's not as if I've seen that much of southern CR, especially on the Caribbean side - and there is the prospect of a boat trip. I don't want to be lugging money around that I may not use and which adds to the loss of mugging, theft or general loss, but at the same time it would be good to get this spent instead of having to withdraw more money if I do visit CR. I'll mull it over. I may compromise and take part of it, perhaps (for bulk saving, rather than minimising losses) just taking higher value bills, since if I *do* happen to visit having to break a bill is a bit of a faff but not insane.
I also have some USD somewhere, which I will take, since I *am* almost certainly going to Panama and it's useful in CR and is probably useful (though when I was there last I don't think it was routinely used to quote prices) in Colombia (and probably accepted in an emergency).
I also found my Bogota public transport smartcard thing, which I will take on the offchance it still works. No, it's for Medellin - maybe they don't have them in Bogota, or maybe I never used one. The latter feels about right now I think about it - I've just realised some memories I had been casually ascribing to Bogota of taking metro-ish buses around town were almost certainly in Quito, and I don't have a card for there either so it was presumably cash. Still taking it of course, while I currently think it's unlikely it will be a focal point of the trip and my desire to enter a Spanish school and be forced to discuss politics with the approved opinions is limited, it's far from impossible I will visit Medellin at some point.
I should probably re-read onebag.com pre-trip, though I think I have it mostly memorised these days and it doesn't seem to change dramatically last few times I've looked. I think wrt taking money, it says to secrete it about your pack and while (paraphrasing) it's a pisser if your pack is lost, the reality is the loss of the pack and its other contents will be a bigger worry than losing the money. I don't exactly like that, but it is probably true. (I guess there's a balancing act - stash a "reasonable" amount of money, but too much just increases the loss and may not offer a compensating benefit.)
0231 No updates to FCDO site for Colombia or Panama, which is good.
0314 I am probably going to take one new full 100ml saltidin spray and the half-full one (it weighs 80g vs 128g for the new full one, though obviously some of that weight is the plastic bottle, but I am guessing half full is about right). As far as I can tell from old blog entries, I only took 1x100ml last time, but given I'm probably a smidge more worried about mosquitos and malaria in at least parts of Colombia this doesn't feel insane.
Incidentally I started to read some blog posts from first few days of CR trip and they were oddly cheering/reassuring in a quiet kind of way.
1749 Forcing myself to have quick look at accommodation. Looking at location "Bogota airport", there is a hotel with a double room with private bathroom for £32 inc taxes and charges for 3 nights with free cancellation until 10 January. I am almost tempted to book this, but it's practically the first thing I'm looking at and I'm not getting the impression things are likely to sell out in the next few hours. So anyway, that's something - there is an option there if I want it.
There is a hostel with a 6-bed dorm bed for £18 for the three nights, FWIW. And another at £16. Not checked for taxes and charges there. Hard to be sure but it's not too obvious if there's a hostel with a private room near the airport. This is fine and as I've already said, I'm probably leaning towards staying more centrally where there probably are more hostels. It's not that (and I'm going to make an effort to try to avoid repeating this point throughout the trip) I expect/assume things will automatically be social at a hostel, but it feels like (depending on luck and the particular style of each hostel etc etc) there is a chance, whereas if I'm staying in a private room in a hotel I am almost guaranteed not to interact with anyone on site.
OK, this is mildly promising. I steeled myself to take a look at the guidebook. There is a transmilenio bus type thing from the airport into the centre, and given I'm arriving "not long before dawn" this is probably doable. I am half thinking that if I stayed (subject to cheap accommodation) away from La Candelaria (where IIRC I was in IIRC 2010, on my only "proper" visit to central Bogota) that might add some "novelty" to the visit (not that having visited once in 2010 would really make LC tremendously repetitive) and make it feel less repetitive and might also be safer (though during the LC is probably fine, with caution) and it may also slightly ease the connection with the airport transmilenio thing. The guide book also sings the praises of the main bus terminal and gives some example fares - it looks like Cartagena is 12-24h by bus and costs about COP100k (£20?!). I don't exactly want to do a bus trip that long or go direct to Cartagena, but it does kind of suggest there may be a few biggish towns or cities which would let me head up towards Cartagena in 2-3 hops. If I put in 4 nights (it's tempting to say 3, but let's assume I try to be a bit less harried and the places are at least mildly comfortable or interesting) and include Bogota as one of those stays, this sort of very vague plan could see me in Cartagena in about (2 to 4)*4 days, or roughly a week to two weeks. As long as I'm enjoying myself (or at least, not enjoying myself in generally stressy ways which aren't related to being in Colombia rather than Panama) that isn't really a waste of time. It's possible I'd end up spending another 4-ish days around Cartagena waiting for a boat space, depending on when I book and demand and so forth. But this feels vaguely doable (without having looked at map yet) and better than the alternative of putting in 3-4 nights in Bogota then hopping on a plane to Cartagena (which is mainly a means to an end on this trip, not somewhere I want to go for its own sake) and tying the start of the trip up in knots just in order to get this damn boat.
I will make an effort to try to memorise the approximate exchange rate: 1 GBP ~= 5000 COP. For Panama it's relatively easy as I have a vague familiary with the GBP/USD rate anyway.
1828 Stating the somewhat obvious, but there is an argument that if I "expect" to spend the majority of my time in Panama and to leave because I need to fly back rather than because I'm "done", it makes more sense to take the boat from Colombia to Panama rather than the other way round. Early in the trip I have plenty of time to take delays due to weather etc or just random outright cancellations of a boat in my stride, whereas if I'm doing the boat trip towards the end of my trip as a whole, I then start to need biggish time buffers which force me to return relatively early - not to mention that I would arrive in Cartagena rather than Bogota, adding at least an extra flight on. Wheras doing it the other way I could potentially see myself returning from Panama City to Bogotá a few days before I'm due to fly home - barring major "hopefully wouldn't arrive out of the blue" disruption to air travel, a few days would probably be ample and a week would be very comfortable.
Just chewing things over in my head I am definitely warming to the idea (assuming accommodation can be had cheaplyish) of staying somewhere central for a few days, and perhaps avoiding LC not so much on safety grounds as just on "variety", since that's where I was in 2010.
OK, very quick "not trying to be exhaustive or actually book" peek at central-ish accommodation. A hostel (I'm probably going to try to follow my regular policy of not naming places on here, at least not til after I leave and probably not even then, though I will have a private record of course from booking e-mails etc) will do a single room with shared bathroom for £25 for three nights inc taxes and charges. This looks to be towards the north edge of La Candelaria which is probably OK. It has free cancellation until 10th January. Breakfast is £2 aparently. Check in not til 2pm but this is probably par for the course and they do offer luggage storage so that's the main thing. Shared lounge type stuff so at least some prospect of chatting to people.
They have a Selina hostel in Bogota - I'm sure I met someone at a party talking about these hostels (are they meant to be luxury?) who was very scathing about the kinds of people who stay there, no idea if fair or not - but at £50 for 3 nights for a dorm bed I'm not interested regardless.
There's another place with similar inc taxes charges and free cancellation and a free breakfast for £45 for three nights which also sounds kind of cool and although it gets about the same rating as the £25 one it has four times as many reviews. (That said, there seems to be a general tendency for the reviews to be at least several months old.)
Another place ~Teusaquillo at £33 with breakfast and free cancellation before 11th.
Of these three - and I haven't done an exhaustive look yet, this is already more than I intended to (but in a good-ish way) - the first one somehow appeals, perhaps in part because of the price but not exclusively. Need to remember the first one has no free breakfast, so over three nights that is £6, making it more like £31 for possibly like-to-like comparison. I don't necessarily want breakfast, but depends on the possibility of cheap eating out, and to a limited extent a "free" breakfast is a good way to force me to get up early. :-)
I'm going to stop saying "inc taxes and charges" unless it suddenly turns out this isn't standard for Colombia places on whatever site I'm using (booking.com for these)
I think it doesn't help the latter two IIRC are described as "guest houses" and while they do mention common areas, this does conjure up vague suggestions (based e.g. on the - fine but not super sociable - place I stayed on arrival in Alajuela) that they are a bit more likely to result in me sitting in my room at night.
Also if there is this transmilenio bus metro thing which isn't too hard to use, it doesn't matter too much where I am, especially given I am not intending to go out at night in Bogotá (even when I wasn't too old clubs etc were never my thing, perhaps because I was also too "solo traveller" or whatever, and while I still like a drink and the right kind of bar, it's not like I'm gagging to get out for a beer in the evening right at the start of the trip). This also means I am not massively worried if LC is "unsafe" at night (I don't think it's lethally unsafe, just not ideal.
Wrt drinking we'll see how it goes and I'm certainly not formally abstaining and if I particularly want to drink (solo or with other people) I will, but I think the basic strategy is to copy what happened in CR where I quite often don't drink for a few days in a row in a fairly "natural" way, and unless the whim really takes me most of my drinking is a couple of cans admiring a view or scenery or chatting to someone sort of thing. Certainly not ruling out drinking "a lot" in a single night, but I don't expect it to be routine or something I feel a huge temptation to do most of the time.
I have been looking at 3 nights here, but bear in mind that although I expect to be frazzled from sleeping badly on the plane, I am essentially in Bogota for the entire day of my arrival (Friday), so this is 4 days/3 nights. Since I won't be booking a plane ticket or a bus ticket or subsequent accommodation until I've got there and had a look around (I could see the first day or the second day after I've hopefully had a decent sleep being used for finding-my-feet type chores like wandering over to the bus station, maybe experimenting further with transmilenio, trying to buy a local SIM, figuring out cheap-ish places to eat - this is fine, I'm not saying I won't do any museums or what have you, but I have been before so I don't have to do these things, though I could see myself going up Montserrate again and maybe even doing that free viewing from the top of the tower block if that's still there - but neither is a must do, especially since I can put time in in Bogota before flying home as well), I can always decide to extend for a night or two if I'm particularly liking it, and three days/four nights is not massively racing around - especially, to repeat myself, for a city I am definitely returning to later in the trip, unlike most other places where they will probably be single visits on this trip so make the most of them if I like them.
1920 Just noticed the first hostel in fact has a single room with privte bathroom for exactly the same price. And interstingly, both those options also have one which is £1 *more* expensive with free cancellation before 9 Jan instead of 10 Jan - err, WTF? But this kind of anomaly feels like the kind of thing I've seen before on booking.com (and probably other sites).
So free cancellation "up to" 10 Jan, i.e. up to end of 9 Jan, means I can cancel up to the end of Tuesday. Including the early hours of Wednesday morning if they use the hostel's time zone rather than mine.
There is apparently a bar on site though this is a mixed blessing and IIRC one of the (dated) reviews said it was closed. But FWIW. This place is not in hostelworld.com AFAICT.
Oh, OK, the review sort defaults to relevant rather than date. Hmm. Most reviews are good ish, the odd 1 star but that's par for the course I think. Some peoople say there is a lot of noise at night, others say it is not a party hostel and not very good for meeting people. Some mention the area seeming sketchy after dark, others make no mention of it at all. Rooms may be very small, but I think this is fine-ish. Not that I fancy chancing it etc, but apart from the fact not everyone complains about safety, I haven't actually seen a review where anyone says anything happened to them yet.
Yeah, especially if the "danger" (which appears in part to be "homeless people" - I had been misinterpreting the word "vagabundos" in the Spanish reviews and only when I did an auto-translate did I remember this - which while maybe correlated with risk is way less threatening than I had anticipated) is more of an issue late at night not merely because it's an hour after sunset. I also don't really expect to be leaving at night, it's not like I plan to hit the clubs or anything. The reviews are all over the place but they nearly always are and no one has mentioned bedbugs - some say it's humid or a bit unclear or no hot water, some say hot water, lovely, etc, etc. Gut feeling is I will book this, I have the free cancellation if I get second thoughts but it sounds my kind of place in some ways - cheap and potentially cheerful. Some complaints about room size said "but they are same as the photos" and the photos don't look insanely tiny, albeit yes plausible small-ish.
OTOH the £33 a night place with the included breakfast (but shared bathroom) gets way more positive reviews. All the same, I do get a bit of that "guest house" vibe (for want of a better phrase) even though it does have a garden and shared lounge. Reviews make out the area is safer, it is maybe a couple of km northwest of the one in LC - but hardly a killer for a daytime walk if I do want to go to LC. There is also the fact they don't *advertise* luggage storage, check in starts an hour later at 1500 and entry is "key access", so this does make me suspect I'm going to be unable to get in at all prior to check in, never mind whether they're otherwise willing to let me leave my bag. Gut feeling is to maybe take a punt on the £25 one after all. It may or may not be a bit scuzzy (reviews all over the place) but it feels like I'm going to have less trouble getting in "early" which is probably more valuable in terms of feeling reasonably comfortable on the trip out from the UK.
I must say that I feel rather more cheerful about the trip for having done this - maybe it's just facing up to the irrationally scary business of booking accommodation and deciding what to do, and maybe in part it's because I'm putting off the decision about where to go next and the boat and all that, which is sort of procrastination but does also make some sense as once I'm there it will be easier to focus on this kind of thing. [I think the positive stuff about buses in the guide book helps too. This just feels so much more tractable than having to deal with a plane, soehow. Not that I am ruling out planes as and when necessary, perhaps even for the first hop out of Bogota.]
2148 Toying with booking that £25 one. It does say 24h front desk. It's (just based on memories of the funicular up Montserrate being nearby - these may be incorrect, not checked) probably not a million miles from where I stayed in 2010, but that's fine. I'm not averse to staying somewhere else, *but* the guide book does seem to go on about LC and I'm not massively concerned about personal security at night given I don't plan to be out late, possibly not after dark and most critically I expect to be arriving and departing in daylight. The reviews are mixed but this is not an automatic red flag, I do not like the key-based guest house stuff for the other place I kind of fancied. Yes I could review every single hostel in Bogota at a similar price point and try to find "the best", but that's silly. I do love the pricing on this, it sounds OK and at least seems to offer possibility of meeting people and possibility of getting in and dropping my bag off when I arrive at 6am or something.
Flight lands 0340, sunrise in Bogota is 06:08 on the day in question, with civil twilight starting 05:45. Even if everything goes swimmingly and we land dead on time and I breeze through customs and immigration, it's quite likely I wouldn't be arriving at the hostel until approximately 05:45, and I can and probably would choose to hang around the airport and have an overpriced coffee and/or try to find where to buy a ticket/card/whatever (haven't researched this) for TM into town until it starts to get light. (I'm probably willing to be hanging around the airport TM terminal in the dark, but I don't really want to be getting off the bus in the dark.)
While I like the price, this isn't the only factor. I really don't want something with a private host/guest house/keys given my early arrival - I want somewhere with 24h reception and at least a chance of luggage storage until I can check in. This won't always be an issue - once I have a local SIM with working WhatsApp and I'm arriving in daylight or at least early evening when I can check in and thus someone "has" to be there to let me in, rather than super early in the morning, it might be different. But that's not the case here. I do want a hostel-ish environment to give me a chance of meeting someone and being able to get some tips. I am not paying massively over the odds here, and most of the cheap-ish (generally not as cheap) hostels are in LC, so presumably they have more-or-less the same safety issues anyway. OK, to be scrupulously fair, the one I'm looking at it is not strictly in LC, but LC doesn't exactly have a super-safe reputation either, and this one is near LC.
Yeah, I've been over the first three pages on booking.com. Also remember I am not looking for a dorm here (fresh off the plane) or a hotel (too "isolated"). Prices are broadly speaking encouraging anyway. Look, I have free cancellation on this, I think it's fine and a half-decent option, so let's book it. I do kidn of wonder if the private bathroom is not a 100% plus because it means the room is smaller or damper or something, but sod it - being able to do a bit of laundry with no fuss or expense is well worth it. (Some reviews imply the room walls don't go all the way to ceiling etc etc but that's fine if it is true, and it may not be. I've stayed in cheap places before. I'm really not that fussy, I like some privacy some of the time, I like cheap, but really I'm not that picky if it feels good value and basically safe, and no one has said the interior of this hostel isn't safe.)
I may or may not splurge on the £2 breakfast, but it isn't a huge deal.
OK, I'm reserving. There's some waffle about "additional VAT" depending on nationality. I hope this won't apply, but there's not much I can do about it. It looks like standard boilerplate rather than something specific to this property. It says free cancellation deadlines are in the property's timezone, which is in my favour here, and if I don't show up or cancel late I have to pay the first night, so that's not too bad either.
Quick web search is vague as to whether I should or will in practice be asked to pay 19% VAT. I guess I will just have to see. It will *probably* be OK, even though it seems to have disappeared from this actual booking page and says "additional charges may apply" and this VAT stuff, it *did* say "inc taxes and charges" earlier and I'd have to assume they don't/can't just outright lie about this (though who knows?).
2219 Woohoo, booked.
Sat 6 Jan 0041 I've had a response to my special request about dropping back off early, they haven't exactly answered the question but say depending on the room availability I can also maybe use the common areas while I wait for check in. This is not exactly bad (it's in Spanish, I'm fairly sure I understand it - I wrote to them in both languages just for practice and whatever) but it's also slightly weird. But I'm not deeply concerned about it, I think there's a fair chance I can get in and drop my bag off, and absolute worst case I will just have to camp out in a nearby cafe or something drinking coffee all morning.
1517 No updates to FCDO pages for Panama or Colombia.
Sun 7 Jan 1553 Been a bit slack and also to be fair to myself somewhat distracted with DR for the failed computer, but I did do a little bit more sewing and a bit more test packing (more "checking I have everything and checking what I have is still OK"; probably not the very first time I've done this, but this is closer to being a final check) yesterday. I hope the DR is largely done and while I got up insanely late again I hope to force myself to do more trip prep, especially packing (e.g. choosing clothes) later. Until now despite the DR stuff I've had a vaguely comforting feeling that I still have plenty of time - if we include today I now have four full days and "sort of" a fifth day (given how late I fly) but it's starting to get close and is going to rapidly be eaten away at.
The various non-trip things I've been trying to squeeze in lately remind me - not for the first time - that rightly or wrongly, whether it means I'm lazy or not, I *really* don't like constantly having to "do" stuff - it's somehow particularly bad for me in respect of making it hard to get up. Of course I need to make an effort during the trip, but as ISTR noting off the back of reading F33W last year, I do also need to not be constantly "pushing" myself. I need some days off where I get up more-or-less when I want to and don't necessarily do anything. To some extent the comfort/enjoyability of this depends on how congenial my circumstances are, but I think it's important. Insofar as I can manage it, this also ties in with not wanting to be constantly feeling I have to be making decisions about where to go next and how to get there and where to stay - in other words, I do need to try to stay places a bit longer so I'm not feeling I need to book the next stop almost immediately. And/or I need to be a bit more chilled about sorting out exactly how and where to get places, though in practice I suspect I don't over-do this and it is smart to try to investigate the options properly to avoid unpleasant surprises. Still, jotting down this thought (for the nth time) just might help.
Staying longer does feel wasteful. But I need to at least experiment with this and force myself to "waste" some time and see if it really means I enjoy myself more or less. It isn't a race, there are no to few absolute bucket list items, I have enough time on hand that I should manage to do most of the stuff I really want to even if I am taking it easy-ish and except for spending too many days literally on my own in my room (fine once in a while, as a rest, if that's what appeals to me), every day has the potential for some casual wander round town to turn into something memorable or for some random interaction that I enjoy or whatever.
Incidentally Avianca have sent me a couple of e-mails inviting me to bid on an upgrade to business class. I'm ignoring these, I already paid for an aisle seat in economy and that's really all I care about. I suspect (but haven't checked) the minimum bid (or at least the minimum bid with any chance of winning) is going to be non-negligible, even if it's cheap for business class. And the chances are the food in business class is going to be fancier and less likely to be edible as well. And if I upgraded I'd then be worried I might not get an aisle seat - maybe in business class the extra space would make this irrelevant, but I can't be sure. Just wanted to make a note that I did have this option (which they are pushing slightly hard, but not too much).
2235 Poking at clothing choices.
New rain jacket (Mountain Warehouse/Regatta) is 516g, compared to 789g for the older Karrimor shell jacket (which pairs with the fleece and will IIRC zip to it, though I've never done that). The Karrimor jacket, while vaguely "puffy" looking (especially around the collar) is not insulated in any way - most of the material is pretty thin, the idea presumably being the fleece plus the trapped air between them provides the insulation. It is possible the Karrimor jacket is breathable fabric but I am not certain. For the kind of stuff I tend to get up to I'm not sure the breathability (if it is even a thing; I don't remember) is a big deal and the saving on weight and bulk is not negligible.
I had been wondering about replacing the shell jacket (on this trip - it isn't inconceivable I'll choose to take it on some future trip even if I get on OK with the new rain jacket, it would depend what I expect to do) with the new rain jacket *plus* a merino top. But the fact the shell jacket (while in my head I imagine it as rather puffy and insulated-looking and bulk) isn't actually insulated at all would seem to argue against this.
Orange merino long-sleeved top is 218g, blue ditto is 158g (both Forclaz). Apart from the fact it seems like there is no reason to include a merino top with the new rain jacket to make it comparable to the shell jacket, this starts to eat into the 273g weight (and unquantified bulk) saving from the new jacket as well.
Annoyingly I can't find anything written down about what tops I actually took to Costa Rica. I am 99% confident I took the two-tone blue iscol and the orange merino top and 100% confident I took two Raging Sport (Bull) tops, one grey and one blue. There will almost certainly have been one more top, and gut feeling - given my recollection and possibly blog wafflings I can't find right now - that I was over-provisioned with under-comfortable merino tops, probably that remaining top was another long-sleeve merino, I might guess the blue one (as I probably only have three, and the grey one in the same style as the blue got invisibly mended in Colombia in 2020 and I probably felt it was therefore less likely to survive). [OK, I found a non-blog note about what I took, and yes, it was as I've said - 2xRS, orange merino, blue merino, two tone blue isocool.]
Most of my travel clothing seems as I described last year. After Christmas and another purchase, I have another 2 black/grey and 3 blue Raging Sport tops in addition to the probably-still-OK ones I wore last year in Costa Rica. I am struggling to see the stains on the no-name short-sleeved red T-shirt I blogged about last year, maybe I need daylight for that. I did buy another one of those tops (the identical make, AFAICT) over Christmas too, and gut feeling is I am going to take that (though I have some other either unworn or decent condition anyway short-sleeved tops) and use it in the evenings when I don't need protection from the sun (but maybe mosquitos are a factor - but still) and as beach-ish wear, as I know from practical experience that these T-shirts are not going to get damaged from getting wet etc, so if I wanted to go in water in it that would be fine (it's also cheap enough - about £6 IIRC - that if it did get ruined it wouldn't be such a big deal.
I'm not ruling out a second short-sleeved top, but let's assume just that one for now. I have enough Raging Sport ones to take (say) two black/grey and two blue if I want to. The "single colour-ish" isocool tops both have that weird line-ish wrinkliness at the lower part of the back and while they are both probably wearable, given the existence of other better condition options I should probably not take them. The two tone blue isocool top I took with me to CR is in fair condition and is probably good enough, though I do wonder if it looks a little faded - not sure that that's a problem. The only other long-sleeved tops I have that really fit are a very bright red and a fairly bright blue Craft ones which I bought pre-CR and decided not to take. Neither is I think ridiculously bright, even the red, and the blue doesn't feel too utterly outrageous, but I do wonder if it might still render me a bit more conspicuous than I'd like.
I am definitely taking at least one black/grey and one blue RS long-sleeved top, though I am dithering as to whether to take the old ones. If we add the red short-sleeved T-shirt, that leaves two slots. Bear in mind that on the whole I expect it to be warm verging on hot, though Bogota is high enough that I think it can be pretty cool and there's also the prospect of stuff like that hike I did in Colombia in 2022 near Santa Marta which involves getting high enough that it's cold again. But my strategy for dealing with that is the fleece and/or an extra layer of jacket on that, and if push comes to shove I can wear two tops. I don't think I need to take a merino top just for this sort of thing, and based on how I felt with them in CR last year I honestly don't feel they're a great choice for me for comfort in hot weather, so even if they might be marginally helpful in a few spots I don't think they'd earn their spot in this tight clothing budget. As mentioned before, I generally prefer long sleeves (but loose) when it's hot, following onebag.com and also from personal experience feeling that by the time you've slathered your arms in sunblock (which also means buying and carrying more sunblock overall), the popularly claimed cooling benefits from short sleeves aren't really there.
Anyway, this accounts for three of my five tops. I'm a bit reluctant to take duplicates of the RS tops just on grounds of not wanting to look like I'm wearing the same clothes over and over again if anyone happens to notice. If we're saying I want long sleeve tops for both of these two, I could potentially take the two-tone blue isocool and the somewhat bright blue Craft top. All except the Craft top have been travel-tested and worked well, though TBF I *really* liked the RS tops and that might argue for taking more than two. It may be I just liked them by comparison with the two merino tops, but I do seem to remember feeling they were even better than the two-tone blue isocool. Then again, the isocool is maybe a little bit heavier and might be a pseudo-compromise as a warmer garment for evenings/high altitudes. It's also possible I could use one of these two remaining slots for a second short-sleeved T-shirt.
Looking over my (never really got round to fully going over, but did sort of see and remember) notes during and after the trip - some of this may also be in the blog, scattered around - I did (exacerbated by the two less desirable merino tops) tend to experiment with a pattern of wearing the same long-sleeve top for 2-3 days running during the day (e.g. if I was out and about walking in the country on my own, where no one can smell me *and* I'm probably sweating like a pig after five minutes anyway), showering in the evening and then putting on a different top which I might also wear for 2-3 days but which didn't get (I hope) too dirty as I was only wearing it in the cooler evenings when I was doing less activity. I also sometimes would squeeze in a sneaky water-only (i.e. no soap) wash of tops while having a shower or whatever to help this strategy.
Short sleeved shirts will be slightly lighter all else being equal, but I don't think I should go over five tops even if this is a factor - better just to bank the weight saving. More tops means more prospect of accumulating laundry etc. I already go over the IIRC 2-3 tops suggested by onebag.com (just checked - it's 2-4), but that's because my type of travel often involves shared bathrooms (and dorms, with lack of privacy for drying, make it worse, even if they're not super common or a killer) rather than having a private bathroom virtually every day.
I suppose the thing is that I can wear a long-sleeved top in the evening (and it may even be desirable, if it's cool-ish) whereas I "can't" wear a short-sleeved shirt during the day (because of not wanting the sun exposure/extra sunscreen faff), unless I'm at a beach or something as a special case. So long-sleeved tops are more flexible.
I just weighed the two-tone isocool top to be 193g, whereas the Craft is 140g. I am surprised somehow. The isocool top did have what looked like a sort of slightly caked grey sweat and/or deodorant in some of the 'pores' of the material by the armpits, which (presumably) crumbled out when I rubbed it a bit - this is odd as I'm *sure* I washed everything after the trip before I put it away. I do wonder if the isocool top is a little bit dirty somehow and that's adding to the weight. I could take a punt on the Craft, I had two "useless" tops on the last trip and the Craft is way less likely to be "useless" even if I do end up feeling over-conspicuous wearing it (which feels unlikely in the long term), as I could still wear it for solo hikes etc, and even if it was one "useless" top is still less of a handicap than the CR trip. I can breathe through my mouth comfortably through both, probably about as easily though hard to be sure. And maybe the lighter (if brighter) blue of the Craft would be more helpful against heat.
I did also experimentally wear the blue Craft top out for a single night with a friend in the UK to see if it got a reaction and although the night was cut short it didn't, so I might guess it doesn't look tremendously outlandish, and at least viewing it in artifical light now it doesn't strike me as too crazy, just lighter than I am used to. It is virtually new, as I bought it pre-CR trip and never wore it otherwise.
As far as colours go given I am taking black and navy blue trousers. I think within reason almost any colour top will go with those, and it looks like the candidates are various shades of blue, red and black/grey, which don't feel too crazy a mix. (Shoes are black walking shoes, FWIW.)
I am half inclining towards a provisional selection of:
- new "no-name" short-sleeved red T-shirt, for evenings and/or beach
- new black/grey RS long-sleeve
- new blue RS long-sleeve
- old blue RS long-sleeve
- 'near-new' blue Craft long-sleeve
This is slightly blue-heavy but that's fine, and the Craft blue is quite different from the RS blue. Black/grey is probably not ideal for heat either (although I'm not sure it was a huge deal in practice, but it did perhaps *look* a bit hot, especially with the long sleeves, and I did get one or two not-bad-but-surprised-ish comments on it) but there's a limited colour selection in the RS stuff (just the two I have, basically) so I wanted variety both in 2023 and for this trip.
I could take two new blue RS long-sleeves, but since the old RS tops are still in fair condition (they got heavy use, but only for 11 weeks) it feels like a half-decent compromise to get some more use out of the old one - if it does somehow absolutely collapse on me I lose a garment but I don't lose a colour, so to speak. (The garment is more important than colour choice, but it's something.)
I obviously need to make an effort to inspect the clothes in daylight, but the old blue RS top appears to be in decent shape from a quick inspection - two small stains on the back of the upper arm and a slight raggedness on some of the stitching inside near the waist, but that's about it. Oh, the logo is coming off the chest and was coming off during the trip (hand-washing may or may not exacerbate this and maybe - not checked - you are supposed to wash inside out and I didn't) and has lost some of the letters, but it is a low contrast grey against a blue-grey dithery pattern and it didn't bother me at all during the trip, plus if I really wanted to I could easily just pick the whole logo off - it's a kind of plastic lightly stuck onto the fabric - and if I did or when it comes off naturally it isn't leaving any kind of hole behind.
Yeah, I'll sleep on it but that doesn't seem like too bad a selection. I haven't made those decisions on weight (except maybe it being an extra reason against the blue isocool) but I suspect these will be collectively a bit lighter than the five tops I took to CR. (Maybe not though, given the blue merino top at 158g is lighter than the blue isocool and only a smidge heavier than the Craft.)
On the weight theme, the part voluntary and part "no choice, because no one makes them now and mine is dying" decision not to take a compact camera is probably going to save me 106g for the charger+cable, 17g for the spare battery, 9g for the lens cleaning cloth (which I never used anyway), 47g for the gorillapod (I would kind of like a tripod to take e.g. night shots with the camera, but I don't have one, the gorillapod won't work and even with a camera I've often wondered if the tripod is worth its weight given how little I actually use it) and 143g for the camera itself. There's also a related saving of 78g from not taking my mains plug adapter, as the only mains device I will take is a US-style USB charger. The US-style charger also happens to be 21g vs 51g for my UK charger, which is nice although it may also reflect on the build quality - I don't really know. Those all sounds kind of trivial, but if I got the maths right that's a combined saving of 430g, which isn't to be sniffed at. (Admittedly the camera is nearly always in my trouser pocket, which is a different way to carry weight than in my pack. But I do also expect to feel a smidge less burdened when out and about without the camera. Although as I've noted before I did like the relative lack of worry about snatch-and-grab when using the camera on the street instead of having a phone out. But it can't really be helped anyway.)
On top of that there is a probable saving of 273g from taking the Regatta rain jacket instead of the Karrimor shell jacket. When my bag weighed 7.9kg heading out to CR, potentially dropping that to 7.197kg (excess precision!) may well make a noticeable difference (albeit it's "only" 8.8%). (And that 7.9kg probably doesn't include the camera itself, so it's more like dropping to 7.34kg in a way - but then again, I am still carrying the camera around with the bag, so not ridiculous to use this figure.) This 7.9kg figure also includes two packets of fruit and nuts and a 1.091kg water bottle.
Off the top of my head the main weight gain compared to last year is that I'm taking 1.5 bottles of insect repellent instead of just the one.
Mon 8th Jan 0130 No update to Colombia or Panama pages on FCDO.
0215 Just cut fingernails with the new nail clippers I got. (The other ones I have I bought in India in 2013 and they work great, but I started to feel it would be annoying if I got them confiscated at security all of a sudden.) They're not great but they do kind of work, it's hard to describe and I've obviously just tried them once. I think I will go with them, obviously worst case I can buy some over there at possibly more than I'd have to pay here but nothing likely to be too insane.
0302 To get to terminal 2 at Heathrow on the Elizabeth line (AFAICT on TfL's shitty fare finder site) is £13.30! It's £5.60 by tube. What a fucking crock of shit. Anyway, guess who - barring major problems - is going to be on the good old chuggy Piccadilly line to the airport? Utter pisstake. It's a good job I had a vague idea the price might not be "fair" and checked, otherwise I'd just have touched in and touched out and got a nasty shock. Or perhaps heard an announcement or read something when I was already committed to that route and it was too late to change in practice.
Just browsing onebag.com, I see it meantions a rain jacket at 156g, which makes my new one at 516g seem rather heavy. Still, it was cheap, and it is at least lighter than the old one. Definitely scope for saving some weight there though. (onebag.com also sings the praises of umbrellas, but I've always been reluctant. I suppose given that in reality if I have my rain jacket with me I also have either my daypack or my main bag, as long as an umbrella fits in both of those it is not necessarily that impractical. On the other hand, even if that isn't a concern, if it is "cold and wet" and/or I'm on a hike in a foresty area, maybe an umbrella is not going to be that great, so I could end up feeling I have to take a rain jacket as well. In reality, if memory serves, I have certainly used the shell jacket at times, but not a huge amount and I haven't felt that an umbrella (against rain) would have been better. Against the sun maybe, if I could actually imagine myself using one - maybe in Asia this is a thing, but I haven't really seen it in Latin America IIRC.
0416 My daypack from CR trip was IIRC starting to disintegrate internally - it was quite old, cheap but I liked it. I bought another one which feels reasonably well made for being cheap and uses a drawstring rather than a zip, but the straps aren't adjustable and it maybe hangs a little low. It could probably be tweaked with string (holding the two chest straps together makes the hang height feel really good) or safety pins (to double the straps over on themselves a bit, though I don't know if this would damage the plasticy fabric). I am probably going to take it with me anyway, rather than use one of the other bags I have lying around, but I haven't definitely decided yet.
0451 Really need to go to bed; I'm slacking off rather than beavering away at trip prep or whatever. Anyway, just seen on onebag.com - possibly "new" - a suggestion that as a temporary measure you could rubber band a torch on your glasses frame instead of using a headstrap. This might be worth experimenting with, it would allow me to ditch my homemade (albeit pretty light) headband if it actually works well. (Not that I plan to ditch it for this trip, but this is worth bearing in mind.)
1811 Just checked underwear, I have 2 pairs Rohan and 3 pairs Kalenji and I just checked and they appear to be in good condition (the Rohan ones probably date back to my first trip in 2010, but it's not as if I've worn them a huge amount - and actually I did buy some more at some point too, though even those are probably ~8-10 years old) so I will take them. I have 4 pairs never worn Kalenji but I don't see any point starting on those at this point.
I am going to take 1 pair of the thick-ish Quechua socks I used exclusively on the CR trip and 4 pairs of Sock Snob Bambu (cheap; something like £1 each in a big pack from Debenhams or Next) socks, which I got specially and which high percentage plastic mixed with a bit of cotton. The Quecha socks were a smidge heavy in the heat in CR although not in reality terrible so I'm hoping the thinner socks will be better, but I do want one thicker pair just in case it turns out they are better for "hiking" type stuff. The thin socks should also dry quicker after washing of course. This does slightly restrict mix-and-match potential if a sock goes missing, but I don't expect to be regularly handing laundry over to strangers and can't really be helped. The SS socks do have (slightly annoying, TBH) patches of material sewn on with logos of birds, so if one goes missing it won't technically match any of the others, but they are just black where it shows so I could mix and match them if necessary.
OK, I have the packet here, the socks are branded "Pandastick Bamboo" and are 73% viscose (from bamboo - how exciting, this seems to be a bit of a fad at the moment), 24% polyester, 3% elastane. So there's no cotton in there at all.
2210 I bought a single 250g packet of mixed nuts (unsalted) and raisins earlier. I didn't get the cheaper-per-weight 500g bag as I didn't want too much extra weight, and likewise I didn't buy 2x250g bags. This is just insurance in case I can't eat the food on the flight (although it's quite likely I will cook at home on the day I fly out as it is a pretty late flight, so I'm not likely to be too desperate even if the flight food is inedile), and if I don't need it on the plane I will lug it around until I get tempted to snack on it. I was going to buy some hard mints but I didn't like the price of the usual extra strong mints (and buying sweets always makes me think about the sugar tax) and although there was a packet of mint humbugs which was cheap-ish and would have fulfilled that "get this sick taste out of my mouth" or "I am trogging round site X with a hangover and I feel shit" role, the packet was bulkier and heavier than I'd like, whereas a simple tube of mints fits nicely in pocket of fleece without too much faff. I just may crumble and buy some XXX mints somewhere (Tesco also only had the Trebor ones, whereas at least in the past they've had some kind of no-name brand), or failing that I have some sugar-free Polos and will take a tube of those. The sugar-free stuff is not ideal; there's no "sustenance" in them in the hangover/no time for breakfast type case, plus I have had bad experiences from guzzling multiple packets of these in one sitting, although I will only have one packet with me so I guess that's not likely to be a problem.
I'm washing the trip clothes now. I had vaguely intended to an actual pack into the bag tonight, but I figured it's not critical and I can do it tomorrow night. It's not as if I doubt everything will fit, since there's slightly less volume than usual, but it is good to experiment and figure out what stuff goes best where. I am going to cut my hair when that finishes, I absolutely hate cutting my hair (irrationally so) but it needs doing before the trip. I will probably still have to get it cut twice if not three times during the trip, but at least by cutting it as late as possible before the trip starts I minimise the urgency of this. Getting it cut twice during trip is probably OK, but if I want to make a bit of an effort to look "smart" it might be a good idea to push it. I'll maybe be swayed in part by spotting suitably cheap yet unintimidating barbers at roughly the right time.
Really wish I had sorted out a lot of this stuff months ago. Obviously I can't cut my hair and nails early, and there's maybe an argument for sorting out clothes late-ish (and to be fair except for sewing the trousers, which I should maybe have pushed harder to get done earlier, I was pretty on the ball about clothes - even the Christmas and post-Christmas purchases were not *essential*), but I could and probably should have gone over the packing list, bought replacements for missing stuff, bought new experimental stuff etc months ago. Maybe a lesson learned, if I can overcome my procrastination.
Will cut toenails after post-haircut shower. Nail cutting is another one of those chores I irrationally detest which aren't actually that big a deal, but again, if I do it now I minimise the need to do it during the trip.
Bugger, I forgot to wash the fleece. It is clean but it's been in a musty-ish cupboard for months. I was probably doing another load tomorrow anyway, but still annoying.
Tue 9th Jan 0313 Quick web search re TransMilenio etc turns up https://www.airport-bogota.com/bus.php, which is presumably fairly authoritative. So I get a free feeder bus from the airport to Portal Eldorado then pay using a Tullave card from there on Transmilenio - I need to check route map ahead of time so I'm not entirely dependent on maps at stop when I'm there. That page is a bit confusing and seems to imply the K86 might go direct to the airport, but it doesn't quite say that. Anyway, I need to purcahse a Tullave card at the SITP counter (!?) in the arrivals hall. Should remember but given the feeder bus is free I may not be forced to remember. I guess if push really comes to shove I can get the free feeder bus *back* to the airport to buy my card, but that would be quite sucky - and depending on exactly how this works, I may or may not be able to access the arrivals hall when entering the airport from the bus. Still, apart from being a bit frazzled after the trip, I do at least have plenty of time.
Looking on Google Maps, TM stops Las Aguas or Las Nieves are close to my hostel.
https://bogotivo.com/en/bogota-transmilenio-guide/ is undated but suggests the card costs COP5k and rides are about COP2.4k. I would be happy-ish to top up COP10-20k if these prices are accurate. I've also downloaded a PDF map to my phone. OK, it looks as though the K line runs (ignoring the feeder aspect) from the airport to Universidades, which is right by Las Aguas, and given there seems to be no trivial in-station interchange to the line with Calle 19 on and I'm in no hurry, it looks like I want to go to Universidades.
And I've just saved the hostel in both Organic Maps on O6 and Google Maps on K1, so that's one less thing to have to remember to do. I have offline maps for both devices downloaded too.
While I am still fiddling with my trip prepartions, I am a mix of edgy and calm and excited, if that makes any sense. It does actually feel like I have things kind of under control.
Just looking at Google Maps, I wonder if it's safe to walk up Monserrate, maybe at the weekend? I'm 95% sure I went up it in 2010 and that I used the cable car in at least one direction, but I honestly can't remember if I walked in one direction. In 2010 I was perhaps less keen on walking anyway, though maybe that's not true - it's a bit scary just how little I remember "myself" back then, so to speak. Quick web search turns up https://www.travelonthereg.com/monserrate-bogota-hike/ dated August 2023 which says it's safe, there are police etc, but it's only open from 5am-1pm and is quite demanding (and I wouldn't be acclimatised to the altitude), but would probably be OK from the exercise POV if I take it steady. I guess it's a case of going early, taking it easy and maybe (if only for time reasons) being open to getting the funicular down. It may also be busy (too busy?) at weekends, especially on Sunday - I could see this being a mixed blessing wrt security.
Gut feeling is that I may consider doing this during my initial stay in Bogota. If not I could do it when I'm there at the end of the trip - that way if I did get robbed, it would perhaps be less damaging to rest of trip (psychological impact, loss of gear like rain coat and/or phone) - but it probably isn't so dangerous it's a big concern. I will take advice when I get there (e.g. I can ask staff at hostel) and see how I feel. If I'm busy (in a hopefully relaxed touristy way) buying SIM cards and checking out the bus terminal etc etc it's fine to give it a miss at the start of the trip. Bit disappointing that site says there's no discount for one-way trips on the funicular (cable car? not gone back to check), but hardly the end of the world. And I may walk it both ways of coruse, depending on timescales (I need to be down before it closes at 1pm, of course) and confidence and weather etc etc. Still, this sounds kind of cool and a nice mix of something I did before and something I probably didn't do.
(Actually, some very old pages etc suggest that the hike up may have been closed from 2006 onwards, so it's quite possible walking up was unsafe or simply not an option when I was there in 2010. But I haven't specifically tried to find info on web from 2010 or to check the old blog entries.)
Yeah, while still vaguely apprenhensive about the trip/leaving soon, I am feeling kind of low-key excited about this.
I will just note and try to avoid repeating myself that when I quote a website, it's probably something I just found via a web search. If it gives sketchy or outdated vibes I will probably ignore it, but otherwise I will take it as a data point but not assume it's gospel truth. I'm not disparaging the authors of the random websites I quote here - it's just that as I come to their sites fresh, I haven't had any chance to judge their general reliability/accuracy/similarity to my own travel preferences etc. So just because I quote website X saying Y, it doesn't mean I believe Y - it's just that Y is hopefully now factored in to my own proto-beliefs. Ridiculously finicky point but if I don't make it here I'm going to feel obliged to stick (for Future Me's benefit) disclaimers in about not quite trusting info I find all the time.
1429 I put Dropbox on the "work" profile of the O6 last night. I don't normally have it on the O6, but it probably makes sense while I'm away and the two phones become my two complementary devices, unlike when I'm at home and using other devices and don't need the two phones to be in sync as I use them for different kinds of things. Only lightly tested but it seems to work.
2151 Was thinking earlier that I may be slightly pushed for time in Bogota. Yes I am there all day Fri/Sat/Sun, but Fri I expect to feel zonked and want to go to bed earlyish. I may well manage to buy a local SIM and/or wander over to the bus terminal, but I may not achieve both or either of them. Saturday I am not likely to want to be up early-ish (unless time zones and body clocks and lack of sleep on flight work in my favour) for an early-ish start to walk up Monserrate. And Sunday may be too busy and/or I may not really want to go up there on a Sunday if it's very very busy (mixed feelings). Wrt Monserrate this isn't a huge concern because I will be back in Bogota at the end of the trip and can do it then. But this makes me think that as a general rule, I should be aiming to stay in most towns/cities for at least four nights - the flight is an extreme example, but even for short-ish bus hops or internal flights, the day of arrival is still full of disruption and tiredness and so forth, and staying just three nights means only two full "free" days (which still need to involve some planning - maybe back at the hostel at night, of course - and ticket buying for the next hop), and the lost time to travel starts to become a significant fraction of the total time.
I am not going to book an extra night in Bogota though. I am reasonably optimistic I could extend by a day, probably at the same hostel and if not somewhere else, without too much trouble last minute. I will also be there at the end of the trip, so it's not like I only get one chance to see/do stuff there
It also occurs to me that if (as - whether I go by boat or not - I probably do) I intend to spend a significant amount of time in Panama, buying a Colombian SIM is maybe a tiny bit of a "waste". But I think the reality is I'm going to be in Colombia for at least a week or two at the start of the trip and (although I'd probably have to top up again) at least a week and probably more at the end of the trip, and even if it's just a week or two at the start, for the sake of a few pounds it isn't worth the (minor, but real) safety risk of not having a phone and mobile data for calling taxis or trying to use taxi apps/websites, not to mention the minor comfort of not being entirely dependent on hostel wifi.
Wed 10th Jan Belatedly pseudo-packing. Dicking around a bit but it's OK. Final pack will be tomorrow given some washing done tonight, and I did already check through packing list so I shouldn't get any horrific last minute surprises.
Taking USD302 cash with me as well as the 1360k+ COP. Would be a pisser to lose this but not life- or trip-ruining. Actually I may not take all that USD. It makes sense to take all the COP as it's only useful in Colombia. USD is always worth having as a backup. Yes I might need some in Panama, but if I took it all I'd want to be returning with a reserve anyway for a future trip, so it's not as if not taking all of it is going to mean withdrawing cash "uselessly". I think I might take USD142 - that happens to be the total from all my singles and fives with a 10 and four 20s on top. That's a useful chunk of cash in an emergency while not such a pull if I lose it somehow, and having small bills may well be valuable at border crossings or similar situations. The 20s (the only ones I have a choice from my larger collection from) all look pretty clean, though who knows what some random guy may or may not refuse to accept.
Gut feeling is I'm not taking my Costa Rican money with me. I don't plan to visit CR, I cannot rule out the possibility of wanting to e.g. do a boat trip Panama-Costa Rica, but it isn't *super* likely. Obviously it would be annoying not to have the money if I do end up in CR, but that's got to be weighed against the risk of loss when I was carrying it for no reason. I am toying with taking a few small bills with me - on the grounds that lack of change can be a problem at border crossings and when you first get cash out of a machine - but I'm not sure even that is worth it.
The USD142 and 1360k COP (ignoring the smaller COP bills) is ~£384. More money than I'd absolutely like to be carrying, although on the flip side I will not withdraw any money at the airport on arrival this time whereas I would normally withdraw £200-£300 worth, so once I leave the airport I won't be carrying enormously more than I normally would.
I am using the small and hopefully deuter flip hidden wallet thing this time - I don't seem to have mentioned that before - instead of the biggish pouch I used to wear inside my trousers on my bum, as (as probably complained about endlessly on the blog before) the other pouch - apart from the elastic being in woeful shape despite some too-cautious repairs pre-CR trip - would become monstrously uncomfortable at times and I have just got to trade off a possible bit of security for comfort. This does mean I won't be stashing the £384 worth in my hidden pouch thing this time, and some will have to go in my bag. I have currently shoved 10xCOP50k notes in the deuter flip and I don't think that makes it overly bulky. That's about £100 worth. My passport is in there at the moment too, as always once I'm actually checked into accomodation depending on my judgement of belonging security I may well leave the passport there, which would free up additional space in the deuter flip for other things if I wanted, although I suppose in practice if I feel the accommodation is safe enough to leave my passport in it's safe enough to leave money in too. I don't say that I couldn't squeeze more cash into the deuter flip even with the passport, I'm just trying not to overdo it at the moment. I will probably experiment as the trip goes on and may squash some more in before I head out anyway.
0159 Lazily packing a bit and reading onebag and I may actually have a beer, because I'm maybe an idiot. Anyway, although I have been taking a sleep mask with me, I have almost never used it - IIRC when I *did* use it, it was in Guatemala when I'd accidentally stared at the sun a bit and got stressed out about "dazzly patches" in my vision and I wanted to go lie down in the dark. I have just had a quick experiment and I think my bandanna if rolled over on itself four-ish times does a pretty good job at blocking out light (and I could also e.g. trap a sock between the layers). So I am probably going to omit the sleep mask this time and see how I go.
I don't generally get that much use out of the bandanna, TBH, but it is probably worth having. It does (depending on whether I have it on me) definitely function as an emergency head covering to prevent sunburn if I lose my cap and some unlikely-but-vital uses like dipping it in water to act as a better-than-nothing smoke filter in a fire and maybe wrapping a stone in it to make an improvised weapon are vaguely reassuring/intriguing. If I'm not carrying a camera in my trouser leg pocket, having the bandanna in there so it is nearly always with me may be less annoying.
I've also realised (although of course it's not *very* secure, it is at least probably tamper-visible) that I can actually lock the zip on the top pouch of the backpack to an adjacent fabric loop with e.g. one of my combination locks. The main compartment shuts only with some hooks-on-cords and while I do sometimes do a "for looks only, to put off the most casual thief" thing of running a padlock through one of those hooks, they are not remotely secure, even for tamper resistance IIRC. Maybe I realised this about the top pouch before and just forgot, but I'm moderately chuffed with myself for realising this. Part of the reason for lazy packing is experimenting/thinking about how to distribute stuff to give myself some chance of not losing everything - obviously in many situations the pack as a whole will just be stolen, but there are intermediate cases (e.g. it's in my room or next to my bunk and the pack itself is semi-securely chained to a piece of furniture and can't trivially be stolen, but someone could rifle around in it). Plus maybe thinking about this sort of thing appeals to some nerdy "puzzle solving" part of me and/or exercising "control" in this way helps make me feel more comfortable.
I do have a faint dread about the trip but I am also kind of looking forward to it. I definitely wish I didn't have any more prep to do, but maybe I'll learn the lesson next time.
Following onebag's suggestion, I have been carrying a couple of London fridge magnets and some good condition (souvenir, not financial, value) UK coins with me to potentially give out as souvenirs to "people I meet", but I may not take these this time. I have occasionally met people I liked/who were very nice to me who I wouldn't have *minded* giving a souvenir to, but (and I don't think this is just tightness on my part) it always feels like it might be misconstrued or seem a bit naff. I may compromise and take the fridge magnets - at 53g for two they're not absolutely negligible, but not huge, and this does compare to 87g for those plus the coins I was taking so a small saving. Also the fridge magnets are really no use to me, I don't need souvenirs of London - although having lugged them around for five years they do have a tiny sentimental value, I don't think giving them up to someone would be a huge wrench - whereas obviously the coins are of use to me. (In hindsight - not checked blog, as I seldom do and going to try to stop saying this - I can't help wondering why I didn't offer one of the magnets to the airbnb couple in Costa Rica. Maybe I just didn't think about it or maybe I felt it would seem like (not that it would be "meant" to be, but still) an appalling feeble return for all their help. And in general I always wonder "hmm, did these people really like me or were they just nice and do they particularly want some piece of semi-tat as a souvenir to remind them of me?" Probably a minor psychological issue on my part, but maybe there really is something to it. Maybe something to throw into casual conversation with a friend at some point and see if they'd ever give a souvenir in a situation like that.)
I am going to take three rehydration sachets (6g each). Normally I only take one or two, but since I've been told (can't remember if I've ever tested it) these are also good for dealing with hangovers but I've never wanted to "waste" one of such a limited supply (and these seem difficult to buy off the shelf - I don't think I've ever described what I want to a pharmacist, though maybe I have - abroad, so can't be easily replaced) on that, and I'm going to splurge on the weight here. In reality it's also a bit difficult to find a drinking vessel I can pour a suitable measure into and get the fluid into, but I might possibly manage it.
It occurs to me the fridge magnets might destroy some of my stashed debit/credit cards. A quick web search turns up nothing massively authoritative but it looks like chip & PIN cards aren't vulnerable to magnets. At least one of my cards does have what looks like a magnetic strip, presumably as a backup, but this is still vaguely reassuring as I suspect chip & PIN is the main technology used outside the US. But I am still a bit edgy about these fridge magnets, even though I've IIRC had them stashed near some of my cards for ages on previous trips.
I've been taking a couple of rubble sacks with me for ages and never actually used them. Because they are so heavy duty they're quite heavy for what they are, and the fact they have no "handles" (I could possibly cut some in an emergency, though with only nail clippers it might be difficult if I can't borrow some scissors or a knife) also makes me wonder exactly when I might use them. I think the primary idea of these is that they might make an emergency rain cover for the pack. I am probably going to just take one - I will take some ordinary strong carrier bags, which are probably more generally useful - but while it may take a crisis to reveal the value in the rubble sacks, I think one is going to be plenty for this trip.
Charged up noise-cancelling headphones (new ones; I like the old ones but one of the earpieces is unreliable and I didn't really want to cut it open to try to mend the cable and ruin my only pair, or to go on a trip with a possibly iffy repair) earlier though they were already charged, and now doing same with already-charged powerbank.
I have wrapped a fairly large amount of black cotton thread around a bit of card with some slits cut in it (still weighs 0g on my scales) - I forgot, but I do always travel with a tiny bit of thread and a needle (barring it suddenly getting confiscated - but it is allowed last time I checked). But given my home-made trouser pocket zips, the chances of needing to do repairs on the road are perhaps greater than usual, and as I say this weighs virtually nothing. Obviously I'm sure it's possible to buy thread (and needles) over there, but it's the sort of thing that it a lot better to just have right there, and it's nicer not to get stuck with a big reel of cotton or multiples when you don't really need them. If I had more needles I would probably take two, but I appear to possess exactly two and I'm slightly reluctant to take both. I might do though.
I am taking my travel clothesline despite not using it much in CR. I suspect if I have more private rooms (due to cost benefits) in Colombia/Panama it is more likely to get some use. I have never found it as useful as onebag.com makes out - persuasive as it is - but I do see some value in it and I'm not ready to abandon it yet. It's not as if it weighs a lot. (And yes, I do have one made of surgical latex with three strands. Even if it's not actually a Flexo-line. This is my second travel clothesline and I made efforts to buy one as similar to the recommendations as possible, after finding my first one OK but not as great as I'd been lead to expect.)
Reading onebag, I note hydrocortisone is useful for insect bites (to soothe, not to prevent diseases). I did kinda vaguely know this, but since I have also sort of been carrying round a tube of hydrocortisone without really knowing exactly why I should make an effort to bear this in mind.
On a random note (hey, there are some benefits to having a beer or two :-) ), I am wondering if I should take a couple of small disposable water bottles with me instead of a big one. I will naturally aquire biggish ones as I buy bottled water over there, but if I do decide to/end up naturally hanging onto them, small ones might be more helpful in terms of distributing weight, hanging successfully on the outside of my bag (which isn't really equipped for this, as far as I can tell) etc. Yes there is more plastic per unit of water, but not likely that much. And it does open up some scope for experimentation.
0440 Quick check, no update to FCDO Colombia or Panama pages. (I haven't really bothered checking other countries' travel advice for variety so far, but at the moment I'm mainly concerned with "objective" stuff like the existence of coronavirus rules that would probably be equally reported by any other country, rather than subject-to-politics-and-opinion stuff like where's safe, where's not, what to do and not do, etc.) Anyway, phew!
0534 I haven't checked the weather but if I didn't already say, I am aware Bogota might be cool-ish (though probably warmer than the UK), although I guess most of the trip will be at lower altitudes and be pretty warm. I did happen to see when checking time zone different for parents earlier Bogota is about 2500m asl IIRC. Am sure this will be fine, but as per advice on that site I guess when unacclimatised (as I am likely to be even at the end of the trip), probably smart (and indeed near biologically mandated :-) ) to take it easy on things like the Monserrate hike.
0552 On a whim I just went poking around for the "I remember it somewhat vividly" moment when I had my own "travel light, but how?" revelation, and it's here: https://steve-abroad.blogspot.com/2010/04/colonia-and-buenos-aires.html IIRC (not checked beyond that post) that was when I vaguely remembered reading about some weirdos who did travel hand luggage only and had some engineering-ish thoughts of my own ("hmm, maybe you could do X?") and it probably prompted me to do some web searches and find onebag.com later on, probably when I got home.
(Just skimming that post now, there's some lovely time capsule stuff. Back then burning DVDs to save photos was still a sensibile suggestion. And I had a standalone GPS receiver too.)
Incidentally thinking about packing the thread makes me think of generally being in rooms with slightly poor lightning and not being able to see properly. While I can and perhaps should be less frugal with my non-rechargeable AA powered torch, this is also maybe a good reason for taking along my various USB lights to plug into the power bank - they are a zero marginal cost way to throw extra light on whatever I am trying to do, even if the mains lighting is functioning perfectly.
2310 Just checked in online. Pretty smooth really, although the emergency contact section seems to ask for your country code twice and then smushes a duplicate country code into one of the fields it asked you to include it in yourself.
2317 My printer even printed it perfectly, twice.
TfL site says (after turning off Elizabeth Line, then turning off National Rail) it will make ~1h20m to get from home to airport, via District to Earl's Court and change to Piccadilly there. £5.60 anytime. So if we roughly say I want to be at airport 3h before flight, I need to arrive ~1840 and thus "should" leave home about 1730. I will probably leave earlier (although the 3h already allows for some delays), but it's good to know I can leave that late if I want to.
Thu 11th Jan 0009 Rather ineffectually packing. I think I will take 5x2000CRC bills, this is about £15 so the extra risk of loss isn't huge, and if I do find myself visiting CR it will mean I at least don't have to worry about having only big bills. Hmm, this feels silly (albeit not that big a deal). If I am going to CR I will be going there from Panama, where the USD is the currency, and I know from experience that USD is widely accepted in CR especially in tourist situations. So no, I won't take any CRC. If I am in Panama and deciding to head to CR I can always make a point of trying to build up an extra stash of small US bills, and I do have a few already and will not spend them gratuituously even in Panama.
0243 I need to go to bed; despite utterly failing to do so today, I really want to be up almost stupidly early tomorrow to have plenty of time to hang aroud at home and maybe triple check stuff and perhaps do a bit of final sewing on one pair of travel trousers. I am going to post this from the K1 as a test, and anything I write tomorrow will be a separate post.
I was (and still am) a bit broadly edgy new coronavirus or similar restrictions will be brought in suddenly, but I told myself that I can't really let this put me off. As far as I can tell from miscellaneous online research and talking to my Spanish teacher, in day-to-day life coronavirus is not a big concern any more (just as it isn't in the UK) and I can only hope there isn't going to be a flare up of restrictions. This aspect of things does make me more reluctant than I would have been pre-2020 to book long-haul flights with connections, though - it's another country which gets a chance to impose vaccination rules or mask requirements on the flights
In the end I booked some direct flights to Bogotá (not going to bother with the accent all the time) with Avianca and the plan is that I'm going to split my time between Colombia and Panama. I believe there's an island-hopping boat trip between Colombia and Panama (I don't think I'm confusing this with a similar-ish trip between Panama and Costa Rica) which sounds like it might be cool if it's not too expensive. Flights between Colombia and Panama are also relatively cheap.
The London-Bogota flights cost a whisker under £640 - there may have been an element of Black Friday-ish sale in this, though it's far from clear - although I am going to have to pay probably £40-50 in total to select my seats. I haven't done that yet as although I will probably do it in the next few weeks, I figured there was no point adding to the stress of booking by paying the extra there and then. This way if I did or do get a sudden "oh fuck, I picked bad dates and can't go and it's not an insurable reason" situation, I will lose the £640 but at least won't lose the extra £40-50 for the seats.
My current travel insurance is valid until mid December so I didn't have to rush to buy travel insurance before booking the tickets. They've sent me a mildly shitty renewal quote (can't remember the amount offhand), but I will search around for an alternative in the next week or so, and the renewal price is at least tolerable so it rules out a worst case where it turns out the cheapest travel insurance I can get costs something insane like £400+.
The split between the two countries won't necessarily be even - I've seen slightly more of Colombia than Panama over the years (my only visit to Panama was in 2010 and I only really saw Panama City, the canal and David), and although I haven't yet read any new guidebooks or done any resource on tourist things in either country, if I want to spend 90% of my time in Panama that's fine. I will probably play it by ear a little bit once I'm there.
It wasn't a huge factor in my decision but unless they've gone and changed all the notes, this will also give me a chance to offload the (at the time) £200-ish of Colombian currency I was left with when I had to abandon the 2020 trip at short notice.
I did look into options like flying into Cancun or Mexico City, then maybe spending some time actually being a tourist in Mexico and/or using Mexico as a jumping off point to get into Central America. But I'm just edgy enough (perhaps unfairly) about the safety of Mexico that being a tourist there wasn't completely appealing (despite hearing good things from people when I was in Costa Rica, and I may well go at some point in the relatively near future). My vague desire to visit Central America would also probably have pushed me towards SE Mexico and I have already spent a moderate amount of time round there and while I'm sure there's more to see it didn't feel super attractive right now. Flights from Mexico to Central America were also not as cheap or convenient as I'd have expected. I do think there's potential in flying to Cancun as an entry point for an actual Mexico-based trip in the future, as it is relatively cheap and popular.
It isn't inconceivable this trip will extend from Colombia and Panama to take in other parts of Central America, but gut feeling and initial vague plans are that I won't actively push for this - it will depend how things feel when I start to look at guide books etc.
While I may well try to be relatively relaxed and perhaps stay in the same place for a week if I'm enjoying it for whatever reason (nice crowd at hostel, place seems enjoyable in some way) - I don't want to be haring round trying to cram in as much as possible, this just isn't sustainable for me over a long-ish trip - I am planning to do this trip in "relaxed tourist" mode, not "practising being an ex-pat" where I find somewhere congenial and live there for multiple weeks. I don't actively plan to sign up for Spanish classes and stay in place for weeks as a result, although I won't rule this out if the urge takes me of course.
Given this, I am not taking a laptop - I don't own one and won't be buying one. I hope this will give my body a bit of a break from the ongoing strains of keyboard/mouse use as well. I've got a new (to me, it's second hand) smartphone - a OnePlus 6 - and plan to take that and my trusty K1. The OP6 will be my daily carry phone, replacing the G5 I took last time. I still have the G5 and still use it a bit here in the UK, but when I'm on a trip with no laptop and thus using my phones more, the G5 is a bit chuggy. The G5 camera, at least under LineageOS, while capable of some pretty decent photos with OpenCamera also seems a bit prone to unreliable focussing. This matters more because I am currently not planning to take a compact camera with me and rely exclusively on my phones, primarily the O6 (given the K1 will be left in my accommodation most time).
Given I don't want to carry an expensive flagship Android or iPhone for various reasons, including but not least the possibility of getting mugged, it is a bit of a shame not to take a compact camera. However, while the photos I took with it in Costa Rica do seem OK (not that I've looked at them that much, except in a tediously grinding way while organising them - something I actually *still* haven't quite finished, FWIW), it is clearly on the way out - as noted on the blog at the time, there is some damage to the rear screen, the lens/lens cover mechanisms are grinding and a bit unreliable and there are some scratches on the lens. For better or worse decent "amateur" grade compact cameras of the kind popular in IIRC the mid 2010s are no longer a thing, it's smartphones or multiple hundreds of pounds of high grade pseudo-compact cameras or DSLRs these days. I don't want the cost or bulk of the modern dedicated cameras, so it has to be a smartphone. The O6 appears to take reasonable if not amazing shots - I do want to take photos of the trip, and I will probably miss the optical zoom of my iXus at times, but I think it will probably be good enough. The photos I take are mainly just "memories", and if I want I would hope some of them will be good enough to get A2/A3-ish sized prints to hang on my wall at home.
It will also be nice, as I've probably said many times, to not have the bulk of a separate camera (or its charger and spare battery and gorillapod) both in my luggage but especially in my pockets when I'm out and about. That said, the increased risk of my phone getting dropped or stolen when I've got it out taking a photo isn't great and may have a slight inhibiting factor (e.g. in busy cities or when on boats). In theory I could take two phones (as I did in Costa Rica) to act as smartphones/laptop substitutes and a third phone which is just treated as a camera, but this does feel a bit like overkill and I would like to experiment with the reduced weight/bulk.
A small benefit of just having the K1 and O6 is that both are USB-C, so I won't need to carry both types of cable or those fairly unreliable adapters. I have ordered myself a new USB-C OTG cable which I hope will work fine. The actual weight/bulk saving here is not necessarily huge, although I guess given you can buy cables anywhere (even if not necessarily at a decently low price) I can probably get away with just one long cable and maybe one short cable; I think on the last trip I had one long cable of each type and a short micro-B cable.
I did a quick check on required vaccinations and other travel medications the other day. I need to double check it fairly soon - but the usual laziness/pseudo-fear has kicked in and I don't "like" having to deal with this stuff - but I'm pretty sure I'm mostly OK. I seem to have in-date doses of the recommended vaccinations for Colombia and Panama on the NHS site, and the "to consider" vaccines I don't actually have are things I can probably do without. From memory, not checking my notes, it's hepatitis B and rabies I don't currently have but "could" have. I don't feel I'm particularly at risk of hep B and as I doubtless wrote in the past, I'm dubious about the value of rabies vaccination given you *still* need urgent medical treatment if you get a suspect bite anyway.
Malaria tablets are also recommended for parts of Colombia, but I don't know if I will be visiting them, and although anti-mosquito precautions are recommended in Panama there is no recommendation for tablets. It was a long time ago but ISTR it being pretty hard to get malaria tablets (even though they're paid for, not free) out of UK doctors - they want to know *exactly* how many you want etc etc, as if they're some kind of potentially addictive opiate, and it's not as if my plans are that firm yet. IIRC it isn't as trivial as I'd hoped to get malaria tablets out of doctors in Latin America (I can't remember where I tried it off the top of my head, it will be in the blog), but I don't think it's any *worse*, and at least if I am trying to obtain them over there I won't have to go anywhere near my GP (I really really hate the idea of going these days, for all sorts of reasons which aren't on topic for this blog) and I will be buying them with relatively concrete plans in place.
As far as I can tell from the web, Colombia had rather IMO (given how things are in the UK) excessive mask requirements going on until surprisingly recently, which does make me a bit edgy, but AFAICT right now everything is fine and I can only hope it won't get worse. Once I'm over there if things do flare up a bit but not to vaccination proof levels, I can at least take any newly imposed rules (though touch wood there won't be any) into account and maybe country hop to avoid them, even if I am still at risk of being forced to wear masks on the long-haul flights. (Spain also appears to have a track record of requiring masks on flights much longer than other countries, which is part of the reason I was reluctant to get long-haul flights with a change in Madrid. Though FWIW, while there were some half-decent options changing in various European cities - e.g. if I'd wanted to fly into Panama City from home - none of them were significantly better given my relative flexibility/fuzziness on where I went than these direct UK-Bogota flights with Avianca, so I didn't find myself engaged in significant dithering over whether to go with long-haul flights changing in European city X.)
8 Dec 0120 Wow, been slack about posting this, so I'll just write more here. Being a little bit lazy/procrastinaty about some trip preparations, which I find a little unpleasant to think about, but have been nibbling away at the edges of the todo list.
In an effort to tick something off the todo list, let me do a "proper" review of vaccinations, which I did a little bit haphazardly before but couldn't tick off because I was a bit informal. OK, I am not posting medical stuff here just in case, but I think I'm fine. Incidentally neither Colombia nor Panama has any updates on FCDO travel advice, which is good.
1346 Called LV to see if I can get a better price for travel insurance renewal; I can't. They were nice enough but very "no, we always give the best price first, no you can't reduce the level of cancellation cover or change the excess". The price has gone up dramatically compared to last year, but it is borderline acceptable (it's not £500 or anything crazy like that) and to be fair to them I've done a little bit of comparison stuff on the web and the price is borderline competitive. (I may or may not have waffled about this on the blog before, but when it comes to travel insurance and the prospect of needing urgent medical attention, I'm a bit leery of the more budget end of the spectrum, where I'm sure I could get a cheaper price. If I were spending two weeks in Europe or something, I'd probably be fairly comfortable with the budget options.) I'll sleep on it and do a tiny bit more web searching but I am probably going to have to accept their price. I did find a single trip policy which was £20 cheaper for this trip, but although I think the company was reputable (I'm being deliberately vague here on privacy grounds, in case it's not obvious) this wasn't exactly a like-for-like comparison as it was based on (still probably acceptable) lower levels of cancellation cover than the LV quote. (Not like-for-like is kind of fair, given I'd be willing to lower the cover at LV if they'd let me do it.) Even though if I had to guess I'd say I won't be making a second trip during the next year of cover, gut feeling is that the multi-trip with the higher cover levels feels a bit safer/better value and it's not worth going with the single trip to save £20 at most. If the single trip cover was half the price it would be different.
I need to order some saltidin mosquito spray too. Looking back at old blog entries, it looks like I took a single 100ml bottle with me to Costa Rica and (although I'm not 100% sure on this and haven't tried to find old posts) I think it lasted the entire trip, and as I said when preparing for CR it's bulky and heavy enough that I don't really want to be taking two bottles out with me just in case - I will be able to buy something (even if I have to go DEET) when I'm out there and if it's slightly pricier or I can't get saltidin I'll just have to deal with it. (It's a bit like sunblock - I need it and it's way cheaper in the UK, but I'm not lugging an entire trip's supply out with me when I'm trying to travel light.)
I also need to order a half-decent phone charger with a US plug on it. I think I've mentioned this before, but now I won't be taking my compact camera with its UK style plug (though to be fair I could have changed the plug on that if I'd really wanted to, I guess), the only mains device I am taking is a phone charger. I just checked and both Colombia and Panama seem to use the same plugs as the US, so if I have a US charger I won't need the extra bulk or weight of an adapter. Even on other trips (or if this trip takes me somewhere unexpected), I am pretty sure a US-to-local adapter will be easy to find and relatively cheap, so I can buy one while I'm there. And whether I buy one locally or bring one from home if I know I'll need it, a US-to-local adapter is going to be mechanically simpler, lighter and more-reliable than the any-to-any gadget I have at the moment (which IIRC I bought in Santiago). It is probably (e.g. that buy in Santiago) possible to get *something* UK-to-local in an emergency, but the chances are it's not going to be cheap or compact, which is why I haven't and aren't intending to adopt a "use a fixed UK-to-local adapter" strategy, because if reality doesn't match up to the web advice or I make a change of plans and visit an unexpected country, it leaves me a bit stuck, whereas as I say I expect it's near trivial to find US-to-local adapters. Plus if memory serves a lot of the time (whether it's because it's local or just because of traveller needs) hostels seem to have power strips or power splitter cubes with US sockets on and even if the local standard *isn't* US, I'm more likely to be able to plug in a US charger. A quick check on amazon turns up a multi-voltage dual 2.1A USB-pinned charger for £5.59.
(If memory serves in hostel type environments it's also not unknown for there to be some kind of bulk USB charging outlet provided, so you don't even need a charger, just a USB cable. But this is not so common that carrying no charger at all feels smart - if you really wanted to go ultra-minimal on the weight, you could probably borrow a charger or use of a port on someone's charger most places, especially in a hostel or homestay kind of environment, but I'd rather not add needless social hassle when this amazon charger apparently weighs 20g. Still, I suppose asking might be a good way to make contact, so if I feel cheeky I could always pretend not to have a charger sometimes.)
The US style charger will also be slimmer than the UK one plus adapter when sharing power strips with other people, which helps me (to squeeze in in the first place) and others. My UK charger is quite compact in its way, as it's basically just the size of the plug, but it's not compact in a helpful way by the time it's got the adapter on.
It is also an option to buy a USB charger with the right plug locally in country X if necessary, but this is probably the least desirable option - there's no guarantee what you buy is of half-decent quality (either from a safety or charging current POV) and as it's actual electronics, it's likely to be relatively expensive. (Then again, this is something locals will buy and thus may be priced accordingly, whereas a US-to-local adapter is perhaps touristy and thus relatively low demand and high price. But then again, it's not hard to imagine locals in a country where electornics might be overpriced wanting to use imported US equipment and thus adapters may well be cheap too. But I'm just waffling, this isn't relevant for now and if this ever becomes relevant I'll be able to see the actual prices and make a decision.)
I will probably buy the double pack of saltidin spray for a tiny saving (£17.99 for two vs £9.99 each); barring another major fuckfest like 2020-2023 the expiry date on the second bottle is probably going to be fine for a trip in a year or even two years' time. This also gives me the option to decide I'm going to weigh myself down by taking both bottles, for better or worse, but I probably won't succumb to that anyway.
It's also possible I still have some of the Costa Rica 2023 bottle left; if I do, I might take that plus one new bottle as a compromise. Yes, just checked - it expires in 2025 and actually feels and sounds pretty full. In many ways the big constraint on taking this kind of stuff is actually the volume occupied in the bloody hand baggage liquids plastic bag allowance, rather than the weight. But I could probably squash two bottles in, and the weight of "1.5" bottles is probably acceptable. Obviously I may never even finish this bottle, let alone start on a new one, during the trip if I used so little in CR, but I suppose it depends how paranoid I am about malaria. A quick look at Fit for Travel (being consistent) shows the whole of CR as low to no risk but precautions advised. Panama sounds similar but Colombia a bit scarier, although I guess if you're in a high risk area you're on the antimalarials (at least ideally; I can't help wondering if I'm going to find myself chancing it and just upping my precaution levels if e.g. I need to go to a high risk area just for a day or two to get a boat out to Panama, and also whether the high risk areas really do respect country boundaries so sharply) and in a low risk area it's probably the same as in Panama or CR - it's just the existence of these high risk areas that make it seem a bit more worrying as I look right now.
I suppose I could always top up this one half-empty bottle from one of the new ones (which will presumably have better expiry dates, so I should prioritise using up the remaining in-date supply first) if I really only wanted to take one, but gut feeling is that since I happen to have this assumed-half bottle which is in date it might be convenient to take 1.5 with me and then I might well not have to worry at all about buying any while I'm out there. (I don't like DEET on general grounds - it is unpleasant and I don't like having it around delicate plastic items like phones and glasses, but I'm not concerned about health risks from it. But if I can avoid being forced to buy DEET locally that's definitely a plus, albeit I do also like to travel light and it's quite possible I could get saltidin spray over there - I think I have seen it sometimes, though no idea about price or how commonly available it is in general.)
Looking at old blog reminds me in theory it might be worth poking around to see if there's any decent non-liquid mosquito repellent on the market, but gut feeling is that based on last year's search, all such things are bulky and/or expensive and/or unreliable. I may make a quick effort to look but I may not. I have no real reason to believe there's anything new on the market, but of course you never know.
2032 Just dug my backpack out and a cursory examination suggests it's in reasonable condition. I need to give it a more thorough going over (which really I should just have done now and then it would be done, but I guess taking two separate looks isn't entirely a bad idea) but this is still reassuring.
10 Dec 1725 E-mail from Avianca saying my flight is approaching and suggesting I do Colombia "checkmig" - the site itself seems to say you can only do this within 72h of your flight, so WTF - and "biomig" - which appears to be some sort of voluntary iris scanning thing and which a) I'm probably not doing b) which I would inherently have to do at the airport, as I don't have an iris scanner at home anyway. So that's all super helpful.
I still haven't booked any seats on the flights; I probably should. I don't seriously expect all the aisle seats to sell out, but it is vaguely possible the price will go up. I'll probably continue to put this off until I finish dithering about travel insurance and bite the bullet and renew the current policy at the high but apparently not uncompetitive price.
Started doing a casual test of powerbank and some of my USB cables with the two phones I plan to take. I am going to buy (haven't ordered yet) a 30cm USB A-C cable and take that along with my long (normal length) USB A-C cable - on the last trip I had a short USB A-micro cable, the long USB A-C and a long USB A-micro, but I won't need the latter this time and by replacing the former I avoid the need for an unreliable and fiddly C-micro adapter.
Powerbank (starting from full) has topped up the O6 from IIRC 30-odd% to 100% and still has three dots of capacity. This was with the long (blue) USB A-C cable. That also seems to give a nice solid connection at the O6 end which doesn't wiggle loose when handling the phone while charging.
Just checked (I thought it might be helpful to get a hold in) and my online library doesn't have copies of any Panama or Colombia guide books.
13 Dec 0044 Feeling a bit edgy about all sorts of stuff to do, and I'm being indecisive and that's stopping me renewing travel insurance, booking train tickets back to London after Christmas and booking seats. Just having a quick look on Avianca site, I can get some aisle seats with the aisle on my right near the back for £21/£20.70 (tiny difference on each leg). This is second to last row, I don't want the last row as it's restricted recline. Gut feeling is I should just book these, but given there do still seem to be a fair number of unallocated seats I could probably afford to sleep on it. OTOH, it would be good to get this sorted and IIRC I sat at back left on CR flights and it was fine and I felt like I had a reasonable amount of space etc etc.
Yeah, looking at the CR blog notes when I booked the seat then, I did indeed pick these back left seats. I think I'll sit on this for half an hour or so and then maybe book it, then it's one less thing to worry about.
Also just been and had a quick rummage through some more travel clothes and without trying it on it looks likes I have underwear in acceptable condition and two "spare" pairs which are unworn. I also do have some short-sleeved T-shirts and my fleece looks in solid condition. I need to decide about tops, but without trying to find relevant musings from last trip at this point, gut feeling is I will take 1-2 short-sleeved T-shirts and 4-3 long-sleeved T-shirts, and probably not take any of the merino tops, just sticking with lightweight plastic fabric shirts.
0304 On verge of booking seats. There's an annoying "in the event of an aircraft change, your seat will be reassigned at the airport" text - if there's an aircraft change weeks before the flight, why can't I just pick my seat again? But I guess I just have to hope this will be OK or that they'll at least honour my request for an aisle seat if there is a change. The only alternative is to wait until nearer the time, but then the seats I want might have gone or the price might have shot up. So I guess I'll just have to go for it.
And yay, my credit card is not processing for no obvious reason.
OK, tried it three times, on the third time it kicked me out into the Spanish version of their site. And I'm trying with another credit card and no, still doesn't work. So fuck me, I guess. I picked seat 32C on both flights FWIW, I will just have to try again tomorrow.
I note from last year's blog entry about prep that some of those short-sleeved T-shirts may have some marks on I didn't notice in my cursory examination right now. They're probably fine and some of them are I think virtually unworn, but I may order another one just in case (at about £5 on amazon they're not expensive).
Shaving oil bottle I took on last trip still appears to be nearly full. I haven't dug into cupboards at this time of night to see if I have another bottle floating around, but I don't really think I need one.
1443 And trying to book the seats fails to process the payment again.
1447 And yay, trying again in a new profile with no UBO *still* fails. You fucking bastards.
1449 And it doesn't work with a different credit card in that new profile either. Fuck-a-doodle-do.
OK, and I just tried again with a debit card (even though it says credit card only, probably not meaning it) and it's redirected me to the home page with no error, probably because it was the third attempt. So yay, I will have to wait a bit longer and vaguely hope this fixes itself.
1509 And I just tried it on Chrome on my phone (because even though I booked the flights in Firefox on PC, maybe they only care about Chrome) and no, it's still not working there.
1531 Don't want to call LV - it feels like admitting defeat, though as I've said at length the renewal quote, while frustratingly higher than last year, *does* appear to be competitive given I am ruling out the bargain basement travel insurance providers as usual. So I should call them and then I can get *this* ticked off the list - I'm still freeling frustrated that I thought I was getting the seat reservation sorted but some unspecified problem is occurring with it. It also kind of sucks I have to call them to renew, but I just checked their website and yes, you have to call to renew.
1540 OK, renewed that. One job down at least.
14 Dec 1126 Just tried again (and possibly other times without writing it down), still can't pay for seats on Avianca site. Since I've tried multiple browsers and cards at my end, I don't really believe this is in any way my fault. I'll have to try calling or WA-ing them later on, seriously unimpressed.
1513 On phone with Avianca after another failed online seat reservation attempt. Having to give my passport number and date of birth so being super paranoid about confirming these lest they get on the system wrong and all sorts of nightmare bureaucracy and/or changing details charges happens later on. (The online site does *not* ask for these, and I hadn't been asked for them when booking IIRC. Not a big deal, just slightly weird.) Getting seat 32C on both flights and confirmed verbally this is aisle seat. Price is same as online (£41.70) though initially quoted to me as USD52 IIRC, but I asked for pounds.
1531 OK, apart from taking ~20 mins that was relatively painless, they didn't make a fuss and were perfectly helpful. I have half a dozen new e-mails but I think this is fine, in particular I seem to have an updated ticket which shows seat 32C on both flights. I do feel a slight chump for paying the extra to select my seat, but there you go - I would probably worry (on a long haul flight - I may well take a chance on any short haul flights I might book while over there) about feeling trapped in a non-aisle seat so it's probably worth it for peace of mind.
1603 Look at Mr Organised here. I've just called Boots to check price of typhoid vaccination - £37, £2 more than Superdrug but not terrible - and I've booked an appointment for Sunday afternoon. This is a minor faff, I really would have liked to have a quiet day at home on Sunday, but it can't be helped and it is one less thing to worry about (both in terms of risk, and perhaps more practically having this "should I or shouldn't I?" thing on my todo list). I don't think I got to specify the type of vaccination I wanted, but maybe I did - I half feel I did select it so I probably did, but the appoointment booking doesn't mention it. Still, fingers crossed and while it would be a pisser to turn up and they have no stock, it would only waste a bit of time/be a hassle and I still have time to get it done in January if I really want to.
1704 Just re-activated my Skype credit. I honestly don't understand why it goes inactive given they don't steal it off you and you can just reactivate it whenever you want - and since I just signed into the website and reactivated it with no fuss, I don't see any security benefit in terms of stopping someone using it. Doesn't matter, just always seems curious. (By the same token, I could probably have left it inactive and activated it if I needed it - maybe this is why it goes in active, to stop you using it by mistake? But I doubt it. Anyway, I didn't want to leave it inactive because if I do need to make phone calls via Skype it's likely I'm in at least a minor SHTF situation and the last thing I need is a potential roadblock - e.g. "you seem to be in a new place, please authenticate via extra mechanism X that you don't actually have access to right now before reactivating your credit".)
Wed 20 Dec 1547 FWIW I got the typhoid vaccination privately at Boots on Sunday, and (I didn't lie, but there's a certain vagueness in some questions which undermines my confidence in the results slightly) as a small extra bonus going through the travel vaccination questionnaire with the pharmacist as part of this suggests that my own analysis of what else I need was/is correct, including my hepatitis A vaccination lasting much longer than the nominal date written in the yellow booklet. Side effects were minimal, a tiny bit of soreness in muscles but really very little. This vaccination will last three years anyway.
Incidentally the pharmacist, after doing this questionnaire, said I didn't need malaria tablets. There were some questions about covering up and wearing repellent but this still feels slightly contradictory with the Fit for Travel advice for some regions of Colombia. I didn't raise it because at this point I'm not interested in buying malaria tablets anyway. (Worth remembering - perhaps obvious in hindsight - that I could in future get some from a UK travel clinic without having to go near my GP, if I want to. But even so, when I'm far from clear if I'll need any or how many I might want, it feels better to try to get them abroad when plans are clearer. I do hope I won't need to faff with this one way or another.)
Broadly feeling a bit harried with respect to trip preparation as well as other stuff. Partly this is because I'm lazy, partly it's because I will be away for a big chunk of the remaining time over Christmas and getting stuff done is difficult because of distractions and not being here in London. I have been intermittently sewing away adding pocket zips to the travel trousers over the last few weeks (or even longer) but still need to make a bit of a push to finish this - I may need to carry on with this after Christmas, unfortunately.
I don't seem to have written in here but at some point since I bought the last two pairs (to go to Colombia in late 2019) Karrimor have changed the design of their Panther trousers which I had been buying semi-religiously for travel for a few years - the pockets are now microscopic (they won't even fit my hands, just to give the scale) and thus next to useless. It also didn't help that of multiple Sports Direct stores I tried, hardly any had two pairs of the correct size in (even without considering the colour), adding insult to injury with an unusable "buy two, pay only £x" offer. I took a bit of a punt on some Mountain Warehouse trousers on sale on amazon (with free returns) and I got two pairs that seem half decent. I got them turned up at the shop round the corner from the flat for £15 for two, which isn't too bad at all. I am not sure the quality is amazing but they are a known brand so fingers crossed they will be OK.
Sat 23 Dec 2142 FWIW I got an e-mail from Jack's Flight Club the other morning saying TUI have flights to Costa Rica for ~£400. Even with bag fees etc that's pretty cheap and this is mildly annoying as it was to Liberia, which would be a fairly decent starting point for going on to Nicaragua. Still, it's not as if Colombia/Panama is a bad choice and I had no way of knowing this would come up. More to the point, it did say "January" for dates, so it's possible coming back just before Easter would have been disproportionately expensive. These were direct flights though, so never mind their suitability for me this time, they did feel very decent value.
Thu 28 Dec 1638 Just put the Royal Mail redirection in. I get very little post at regular address but I can't take chances. I did at least have the wit to notice the advice on the site that by using a card registered at the "old" address there would be less (chance?) of security questions (which IIRC tend to be extremely persnickety credit report based questions which it's very hard to answer correctly) and indeed the payment just went through using a card registered at the regular address with no fuss.
1939 Just had super-quick poke on booking.com for Bogota accommodation. Ignoring the awkward 3am arrival, there is at least one place with a single room private bathroom for the first three nights for £23 including taxes and charges - this is super cheap and may be a bit crap (I haven't even clicked the link), but it is vaguely reassuring. This is probably central-ish and given post-Christmas laziness ("I'll do it tomorrow") I am not putting any more effort in right now, but it is vaguely reassuring. As I say, it is probably central-ish and I do kind of need to decide what I'm doing - I may well prefer (if there's something suitably priced, perhaps even the place I stayed in 2020 if it's still operating) something near to the airport. I don't want to actively waste time but even if perhaps Bogota (even/especially that bit near the airport) is maybe not tge most chilled introduction to the country, I still see some value in having a couple of days to slightly acclimatise and buy myself a SIM and perhaps start to warm my Spanish up a bit. That doesn't necessarily preclude trogging into the centre of Bogota from the airport, *but* if I will be getting on a plane somewhere almost immediately it may well be nicer to stay near the airport. If I have time and energy to spare, I can always get the metro or whatever in - and I have visited Bogota before and will obviously be returning at end of trip so while I'm sure there's plenty I could do, I also don't feel a desperate need to dash round the main tourist sites.
As I may or may not have said above, my gut feeling is that Panama will be the initial and possibly the main focus of the trip. It feels sensible to head over towards Panama (not exactly rushing, depending how it goes) and spend time there while I have as much time as required, and then if I feel I'm not enjoying it that much or whatever I can return to Colombia earlier or if I am having fun I can return to Colombia relatively late. I still need to look into these tourist island hopping border crossings - I half wonder if I can/should do one on each side of the country, obviously in opposite directions - but wrt planning the early part of the trip, I need to check where I might want to go in Colombia to get one of these boat trips and the question then is do I want/need to fly from Bogota to somewhere in that vague region in order to get there or can/should I just set off by bus from Bogota? My vague recollection of FCDO stuff last time is that overnight buses are maybe a smidge iffy in Colombia, but I am far from clear if this was or is true and the extent to which it's really a serious concern.
I do need to not be too lazy about this but I think it's kind of OK not force myself to do more right now. To say I'm run down would be ridiculously OTT but with various Christmas visits and hassle and family stress and so forth I am feeling a bit lazier even than usual. I do need to push on with this stuff in the next day or two and I'm going to try to force myself to eg look into a bit of online shopping tonight, but this is all vaguely reassuring and the fact there is cheap-is accommodation to have bodes well for the trip in general and for not having left this way too late.
(I will probably mix some dorms into the trip, both for cost and pseudo-social reasons, but although I'll play it by ear I probably won't dorm it as much as I did in CR, where the relatively high prices made it a bit more "necessary". Regardless, as usual I *really* don't want to be in a dorm the first few nights, when I'm tired and disoriented after the flight etc. Similarly given the relative gem (esp wrt Spanish practice/"social" aspect) of that airbnb in CR I should make an effort (notwithstanding my broad distaste for the site) to try to do more of the same on this trip, but I am not considering that for first stay on arrival - I don't want the social dynamic, I want somewhere I can hole up if I feel that way after the flight and just not feel too pressured. Plus as noted before airbnb is a nightmare if you don't have mobile data for WhatsApp, so definitely best to avoid it until I've had a chance to buy a local SIM and check it works.
I don't have a formal budget for the trip. I will try to keep costs down, I will play it by ear as I see how things are going, if there's something I *really* want to do (e.g. maybe these boat trips) which costs several hundred dollars I will do it (because I do have "enough" money, in some sense) but I don't want to splurge for the hell of it. It is a bit off the top of my head but if the trip including flights comes in under £4k I will probably be pretty pleased.
Flights are (going from memory) about £10/day, if we pick a possibly stingy figure of £30/day including that (i.e. £20/day for accom/food/activities) the 77 day (from memory) would come in at about £2.3k, and £40/day including the flights would come in at about £3k. What with inflation and different countries and not having travelled for a year and CR being expensive anyway it's very hard for me to intuitively judge this correctly, but this does superficially (mainly going off those Bogota accommodation prices) suggest getting the trip in for about £3k may not be impossible, and I think I'd be pretty chuffed with that.
(These figures are all massively approximate, I'm ignoring things like travel insurance and the various bits of clothing and other gear I've already bought or will bought etc etc.)
Sat 30 Dec 1643 Just been into Sports Direct to try to buy some new shoes for the trip, but they didn't have the ones I wanted in size 9. Not the end of the world - the ones I already have are probably fine and I can always try again in London, but a minor annoyance not to be able to tick this off the todo list.
1729 No updates to FCDO Colombia or Panama pages. (I am not checking these that frequently, for what it's worth.)
I don't think I mentioned that I had a bit of a look on amazon for lightweight rain jackets the other day; I ordered one (Dark Olive was super cheap at something like £12 but I paid £15-ish for a navy one which was due to arrive earlier) and it turned up today. I think it's OK, it's not as super lightweight as I'd hoped (and I can't weigh it here) but it is probably lighter and almost certainly much less bulk than the shell jacket I've been taking until now. I am not saying I will neer take that existing shell jacket with me, but unless I anticipate significant need for the (presumably) extra warmth it provides (though it is not exactly thick, nor meant to be - it cames with the fleece as a set) I will probably prefer this new one. I may use the extra space/weight freed up to take one of the thin wool sweaters I probably otherwise wouldn't take - this would be a layering type item and not part of my "allowance" of five tops for daily wear. I may not, I will mull this over and see how it feels when I probably do a test pack soon after I get back to London.
2002 OK, forced myself to have the quickest possible look at this Colombia-Panama boat stuff. Guide book appears to suggest there are vague safety concerns and recommends bluesailing.net. Very mixed feelings. Not checked availability etc. There's something iffy about single passengers may be required to share a double *bed* with another traveller and to mention if this bothers you. Borderline iffy. There is 26-30h of open sea crossing (this is on a sailboat FWIW), then island hopping. Food included, my usual pickiness may be an issue but this needn't be a killer. Panama may require proof of onward travel and this may be an issue if they decide my return ticket home from Colombia is not good enough, though this would potentially be an issue for any border crossing and I may end up trying to buy some kind of crappy return ticket just to satisfy this risk, though that sucks.
The route is basically from (or to) Cartagena in Colombia - which I had half hoped to avoid re-visiting - to either Puerto Lindo on the mainland or El Porvenir island (involving a speedboat connection to mainland). El Porvenir is nearer but given virtually no one gets seasick on island hopping part this is not a massive factor. Trip is 5 nights and has three days in San Blas islands. My trip is in the middle of the windy season. Various tips and other incidental tourist gouging are not included in the price. The windy business is apparently worse for trips departing from Panama due to wind/wave directions, so although I had been wondering if doing it in that direction might work out better in some way this would argue against it. (I don't *know* if I suffer from seasickness, and I could get tablets. I am just thinking it through.)
Despite the guidebook notionally being up to date and quoting prices USD450-650, at least with bluesailing the price is "typically" 660-780USD per person. Diving by 5 and taking the top end that comes in at USD156/day. That can of course be offset against accommodation and meals to some extent. Nevertheless, this feels pricey but not absolutely intolerably expensive. It is (of course) "an experience", hopefully not an entirely bad one. :-)
They do have spots on a range of dates in January right now, enough that while I maybe wouldn't want to be booking this last minute I don't fweel the need to rush right now.
This is on the Caribbean side.
Looking at a random website, although I am there in the windy season, it is also the high season (i.e. prices will tend towards high side, and demand for space on boats will be higher). It is the dry season, which vaguely bodes well with respect to not needing too much in the way of waterproof clothing etc etc. Apparently there used to be an 18h-ish ferryboat from Colon, Panama to Cartagena, but it was discontinued in 2016. This website mentions "San Blas adventures", which is presumably a company - not checked them out yet. I am far from insistent that I will only trust the recommended company in the guide book, though I certainly want to do research on any company I do book with. They do speedboat trips, not sailboat - this may well be better, as I suspect it reduces the time and cost taken. Of course a sailboat is "cooler" in some way, but even bluesailing say they may have to use the motor. Plus I suspect a speedboat means less time out on open water and thus less seasickness potential (maybe the faster motion of a speedboat makes it more likely though, I don't know of course). The random website - which I might as well mention is wingingtheworld.com, I just found it via a web search and it may or may not be reliable - says speedboat means less seasickness as it's gentler. I think on the speedboat trips you sleep on the islands. WTW does suggest the crowd on sailboats is older (which may suit me better, or may not) and that the accomodation on board is more comfortable (it is mentioning bluesailing BTW), but I suspect I might prefer to be sleeping on the islands no matter how "rustic" the accommodation is.
It does not look like there is an established Panama-Colombia tourist-ish boat service on the Pacific side, based on this super quick look (neither the guide book nor WTW mentions it and skimming the first page of search results they all seem to be about roughly the same route.
I could of course do the trip by sailboat one way and speedboat the other, if I really wanted to. Not saying I necessarily would - the different modes of travel would add something, but it would be the same islands and it would be retracing my tracks a bit (and depending on how the trip goes, it's conceivable that e.g. I decide I want to spend some time in non-northern Colombia before returning home and I want to fly from wherever I am in Panama straight to somewhere in nn Colombia, which wouldn't fit well with doing this boat trip). I suppose maybe the thing to do is to decide which way I would prefer to do it and do that first, if I am going to do it at all.
Wrt diet-type concerns, even if food is included in the price (which it may not be) on the speedboat trip, at least on dry land I presumably have the option to go into a local shop or restaurant and get something there, whereas on the boat I am stuck with a take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal. Then again (especially if I am suffering from seasickness), these concerns mainly apply to the 2-ish day open ocean part of the sailboat trip, and I am not going to die of hunger if I eat absolutely nothing for two days, and of course it would never get quite that far (I could take a few snacks, there'd probably be *something* I could eat, etc, etc). Even if it's true speedboat is all other things being equal less seasickness-inducing, there would still probably be an argument for doing sailboat Colombia-Panama in order to get the relatively calmer conditions on the slower sailboat crossing.
You have to pay the captain in cash (less a USD60 deposit, probably paid via some iffy-ish online thing) for the bluesailing.net thing. Not super happy at the prospect of having to be in Cartagena (or anywhere, TBH) with ~USD700 in physical cash. I do like cash, but I also like not getting mugged.
Hmm. At least I've had a poke and I do at least now know this is a Caribbean side only thing, and I have a vague idea of price and the options (speedboat vs sailboat) and the directional factors, and I know the Colombian "terminus" is Cartagena, so I can let myself chew this over a bit.
I am sort of feeling a vague and somewhat irrational (it's not as if this is a bucket list activity - not that I actually have a list, but YKWIM - or as if I am in serious danger of missing out, given I have ~2 month lead time to book a place if I really want to, as I could do this towards the end of the trip if necessary) urge to "make a decision". But this is silly. I am in some mixture reassured, interested and disturbed by what I've read and it is smart rather than procrastination to let myself chew on this for a day or so
Oh, WTW also has some slightly confusing stuff (I am only skimming, not necessarily the site's fault) about an option to use jungle (access only by boat) town of Carpurganá in Colombia as a terminus/intermediate stop - super unclear right now. Hmm, they seem to be suggesting you fly to Puerto Obaldia (on the border)(though it's not clear if this is actually a possibility!) and then get boat to Capurgana and then after staying there a bit get a boat to Necocoli or Turbo. Their article is about crossing the border, not specifically about boat trips across it. Gut feeling is it may well be that this region or these boat trips are worth doing if they happen to fall in my route (e.g. maybe if I got to Necocoli or Turbo, I could go to Carpurgana by boat for a few days, being random), but it's not clear they are convenient or massively memorable ways *to cross the border*, the border crossing seeming to happen at PO which sounds like a mare to get to etc.
Current gut feelings:
- nothing I've read makes this sound terrible or not worth taking a punt on for the experience
- I do *not* like the idea of turning up with a huge wodge of cash to pay the captain and it may well be worth picking one company over another (assuming they have reasonably good reputation) if it means I can avoid doing this
- the double bed business on bluesailing sounds a bit iffy, but it is not *necessarily* a killer, and it does sound like if I'm otherwise happy I could at least ask about this before booking
- the speedboat option (notwithstanding the vaguely reassuring suggestion the sailboat crowds are older) being both cheaper and having less potential seasickness may well be half-decent compromise, but I can see the appeal of the sailboat
- prices are high but borderline acceptable, it is a multi-day experience etc etc, although I suspect prices are higher than they seem by the time you're done getting chiseled for various taxes, tips, etc along the way
- there may be elements of snorkelling etc to this, I have sort of learned to swim since the last trip but I would have to play this by ear and see how I feel/how it looks at the time
- the risk of getting knocked back by Panamanian immigration because my return ticket home from Colombia isn't good enough is a concern, but it exists on any border crossing - and it's not as if on this particular border I can minimise this stress by overnighting in a town close to the border so if I do get knocked back I can return there and deal with it, however I cross the border I will be making a long-ish air or sea trip to cross it. (I suppose I could potentially book a pair of sea and/or air crossings in both directions before I leave Colombia, probably before I even leave home, then I am 100% in the clear with Panamanian immigration in this sense. *But* having to pre-commit to some specific distribution of time up front does not seem reasonable, I'd probably rather wing it or buy some cheap-as-possible ticket which I may just have to write off instead. If I am buying a ticket mainly to write off, I could possibly buy a cheap bus ticket to cross from Panama into Costa Rica in March, instead of having to buy a plane ticket. Or I could compromise and if I can get (say) a cheapish flight for GBP40 to return to Colombia a week before I fly home, I could buy that with the thought that I *might* use if if I am enjoying myself in Panama, and that if I really want to leave Panama earlier I will write that ticket off.)
And while this general "trying to sort the trip out" sense of urgency is also saying to me that I could at least be looking at Bogota accommodation for my arrival and/or onward travel from there (incidentally the guide book seems to suggest buses in Colombia are potentially OK; I haven't read it in detail nor have I rechecked FCDO advice or looked elsewhere), I think timescales have enough slack in them that it makes sense to chew over the boat stuff for a day or two (as it obviously influences my general plans and the "shape" of the early part of the trip, depending on whether or not I want to be heading over to Cartagena early on.
Just looking at the map, I see where Turbo/Necocoli are and I see Carpurgana and it does look sort of intriguing to do that route. But it would involve a flight anyway and I don't necessarily want to be mixing "see remote areas" (which may or may not be safe; this is sort of fringes of Darien province and I have no idea if it's truly safe to be on the water there, or the land, etc etc - haven't even tried to read up yet) with "get across the border". It is a shame there's no "major" boat service from say Turbo or Carpurgana to Panama, but it is what it is - maybe this is a reflection of safety, but who knows.
Mon 1 Jan 0357 Still being lazy and/or chewing this over. Probably 60% leaning towards doing this trip in some form. I am kind of feeling that terminating the cruise on that island in San Blas might be more relaxing, I could then spend a few days upwards there and get a boat to the mainland on my own schedule, whereas I can't help feeling if I go all the way to Puerto Lindo direct I may a) miss out on that chance b) perhaps get hustled on to Panama City, which I may visit but am certainly in no hurry to see (given I've already been there, and I suspect from a tourist POV it's probably even less fun than it used to be, given they apparently were getting rid of all the fancy painted buses and the world generally spirals into decay ;-) ). I got those details from bluesailing but given the island hopping applies to speedboat too I suspect that is equally an option there.
Tue 2 Jan 1546 Continuing to procrastinate a bit, although there are semi-legit excuses of course.
The idea of doing the boat trip in some form does continue to appeal, albeit not "fuck yeah, I must do this" - but it does appeal. That said, given the desirability (seasickness) of doing the trip from Colombia to Panama and that my rough plan is to get to Panama ASAP and spend time in Colombia towards the end of the trip if I want to, the naive approach is to fly in, get to Cartagena ASAP and then get the boat out from there.
The trouble with this is that it seems to set up the start of the trip as distinctly non-fun and stressful. I haven't reciewed old blog entries, but while part of it was "fresh off the boat" fears (although that would still apply this trip too, on the schedule I'm discussing here) and I did have some fun etc, I really wasn't super keen on Cartagena. I also dislike flying, in large part because getting to/from airports always feels rip-off prone and hassley. The point being that the naive approach roughly repeats the start of my previous Colombia trip - fly into Bogota, have a few days there just to find my feet, then fly to Cartagena, faff with expensive and stressful taxis getting to accommodation in Cartagena and then be in a frankly unpleasantly "touristy with a vague sense of menace" environment (I'm probably exaggerating, but there was just enough of people hassling me in mildly aggressive ways that I don't have great memories) where I've already "done" the main tourist stuff and where I've then got to start worrying about taking cash over to pay for the boat (although it's possible some non-bluesailing options will let me pay on card or in some office somewhere, I haven't looked yet). So there's not much to look forward to in these early days of the trip - and the boat trip itself is a bit of a stressful prospect, even if it is also attractive.
I'm not saying I absolutely don't want to go back to Cartagena. I would almost certainly do a repeat trip to El Totumo, and given I have done the old town and seen most of the stuff there, there may well be potential side trips (organised or independent) I could do during the day etc etc. But I would probably rather not hare over there ASAP on arrival in Colombia, and I might "enjoy" Cartagena more if I could be there a bit more acclimatised to the hot weather and having lost some of the "fresh off the boat" fears.
I have *not* researched this at all, but I am vaguely toying with a plan to do some short-ish bus hops from Bogota over towards Cartagena. I have no idea if it's en route, but I do seem to remember Zipaquira looking quite nice when I went there for that day trip to the salt cathedral, and the idea of doing some short hops between Zipaquira-ish towns between Bogota and Cartagena has some appeal. I might potentially stay at a central-ish hostel in Bogota, perhaps I can find one which will do an airport pick-up to alleviate some of the stress of arrival, and if I'm really lucky I might be able to get some tips from someone about possible routes/places to go. If we assume for the moment this is vaguely reasonable, this approach would probably see me taking ~2 weeks to get to Cartagena, but I would hopefully be low-key enjoying touristing it up across northern Colombia and except for possible concerns with having booked a boat weeks in advance and not wanting to get to Cartagena too early or too late, it would take the pressure off and stop the immediate beginning of the trip being all about a mad dash to Cartagena and the boat, and it would give me time to settle down a bit and feel more comfortable.
I suppose if this bus-towards-Cartagena option isn't reasonable for whatever reason (no buses, unsafe, etc), a pseudo-variant would be to fly from Bogota to somewhere other than Cartagena, tourist it up there for a bit and then fly on to Cartagena (annoyingly I suspect this would involve changing in Bogota) - the point being to add a bit of "non-boat-stress" touristing at the start of the trip.
I am going to have to start making *some* kind of decision, if only about booking accommodation in Bogota, in the next few days.
I did at least manage to get some new shoes for the trip today, so that's one thing off the todo list. If I didn't already say I'm going with the Karrimor Summit walking shoes again - I don't remember if I specifically noticed them being lighter, but I seemed to get on OK with these on the last trip and didn't miss the slightly heavier construction of the Mount Lows.
Thu 4 Jan 2237 For the record, just checked smoke alarm battery and it shows as "good" on my tester, so I'm going to leave it in while I'm away and not change it or take it out the day I leave. The carbon monoxide alarm has a non-replaceable battery and is good until something like 2026.
Been thrown out a bit by a minor IT crisis (hard drive in my home server has started to die, and there's some stuff involved in this which I "nearly must" sort out before the trip, and it's also going to be a bit of a pisser as I had planned to use for keeping copies of photos on during trip in case I lose my bag etc). Still dealing with this and it's definitely sapped some of my energy/time but fingers crossed I am making some headway with sorting out the "nearly must" stuff, and I'll just have to make do with other means of backup while I'm away. It sucks a little bit to have "fixing this properly" to deal with when I come back, but it can't be helped, and there is maybe a slight silver lining in that it means I can buy and play with some new IT toys.
Have done a bit more sewing on trip trousers today (still more to do, though) and I'm going to do a test pack in a bit.
I haven't actually done anything about accommodation when I arrive or made any decisions on stuff like my route or the boat trip. It's not novel or precisely actionable, but I am thinking for the nth time (and this kind of applies to the rest of my life too, really) that I need to fucking chill out a bit. The trip is not a "race" or a competition. There is no absolute "must do" thing I'm dying to see. I do in fact believe in serendipity and cool stuff or interactions can crop up anywhere. Speaking more broadly, while I need to be careful not to just be massively lazy and sit around on my own in my room all day without seeing anything or interacting with anyone, I need to avoid putting pressure on myself to keep moving on because maybe I've "seen everything" in place X. As I say, there can be hidden gems or just random events/incidents/people that prove memorable wherever, even if I've slightly over-stayed by some definitions. Also constantly researching where to go next and sorting out accommodation and spending days on transport, while obviously part of the overall experience, adds to the overall stress and removes from the pleasure of the trip.
Descending from those generalities to the specifics - and fully admitting laziness and/or procrastination and/or being distracted with other preparations is also an element here - my gut feeling is that if I can find half-decent (price, quality, etc) accommodation in central-ish Bogota with a private room (because I'll be fresh off the plane and a bit stressed out and don't want the extra hassle of a dorm), I might well put in 3-4 nights there to settle down, maybe get a chance to talk to people (I would greatly prefer a hostel-ish environment, as that at least opens up the chance of getting into a chat in a common area, whereas if I'm in something hotel or airbnb-ish that isn't so likely - and with broader "getting old", personal safety in a large city, trying not to drink too much etc type concerns, I am not super keen (especially not right at the start of the trip) to be going out at night to bars). I need to get away from the feeling that going into Bogota (which is a general "big city" concern, not specific to Bogota) vastly increases my chances of getting mugged etc etc. Even if I don't meet anyone, I can potentially still get advice from staff (e.g. about advisability of taking buses in general) and once I'm actually on the trip nothing will be more important than making plans for the next move, whereas right now (rightly or wrongly - but I think not entirely wrongly) I am a bit distracted not just by this IT crisis but by other elements of preparation like deciding what to take, test packs, finishing my trouser sewing, etc, not to mention other non-travel related "chores" it would be nice (but not essential) to do before I go.
I am still feeling potentially up for the boat trip to (or from, at a pinch) Panama. That said, either on this trip or another trip, I could do something similar between Costa Rica and Panama, so I don't *have* to do it this time or never. (Obviously if I get seriously ill and can't travel any more or something that's going to be a pisser, but even though it seems vaguely cool, doing one of these island hopping-ish trips is not bucket list, deathbed regret stuff.) I also feel if I haven't already said that I really don't want to be piling on the pressure to sort this out and dash over there to get the boat and make the start of the trip more stressful than it naturally is, just in order to save (say) a week - I won't be spending that week sitting in my room, I'll be in Colombia and doing stuff, even if it's not "super duper cool stuff", still just being there and seeing stuff and maybe talking to people etc etc - and get to Panama ASAP. If it helps I am also willing to fly to get into Panama (although all else being equal I'd rather not, because getting between airport and accommodation in a big city is probably more stressful and horrible than with a bus or boat into a small town, and I suspect I'd have to fly to Panama City for an international flight, although I haven't looked) - I could do the boat in the reverse direction, or maybe I will find myself in northern Panama and decide to do a boat trip into Costa Rica.
I am not ruling out the sailing option for the boat, but given that the random website I read seemed to imply the sailing option was an older crowd (I suppose they might mean "40s not 20s" rather than "60s not 20s" as I am kind of reading it), while I may well be likely to get on better with people on a sailing option for that reason, it's also not as if I'm in danger of getting "too old" for this. Especially if it avoids having to pay a huge lump sum in cash or if I come back on the more seasickness prone Panama-Colombia direction, the speedboat option might be more appealing - even if I can't socialise with them, the prospect of boozy 20 somethings doesn't massive disturb me (it's not as if I don't enjoy a drink myself, even if I drink less than I used to for various reasons) - and to whatever extent it actually matters, the "age-related awkwardness" of the speedboat option (assuming that website is actually right about age differences on the two options anyway) is only going to get worse, so maybe there's a small argument for preferring the speedboat before it is "too late".
It has occurred to me I could have - and I suppose still could, with connection worries - booked a connecting flight to go straight from Bogota to Cartagena. But if I'd done that on my original booking I'd probably have had to return from Cartagena too - I probably said this when I was writing about the booking. And even ignoring worries about the trans-Atlantic flight being delayed and making me miss a connection on to Cartagena, I'm not super keen to add an extra leg and airport hanging around onto my already exhausting long flight from the UK. It doesn't help that having already been to Cartagena I'm not super excited to go back and I also don't have particularly great (if not terrible) memories of getting from the airport to my accommodation, plus it feels less likely I'm going to have nice little off-the-beaten track wanders in what felt like a mildly threatening (just because there are so many tourists, kind of, so a subset of the locals are out to hassle them) city where everything touristy is concentrated round the old town.
I'm also aware of the probable importance of booking the boat trip at least a few weeks ahead of time - though as a solo traveller I probably have a bit of an advantage there. This is another reason not to be super keen on trying to get it in ASAP - it just adds another set of deadlines and booking before I even leave home which then add more stress to the initial part of the trip. I know it's not "rational", but I'm sure I'd be there ticking off the list of stops in my head: "got to get to Bogota, then I've got to get that flight on to Cartagena a day or two later, then I've got to figure out how to get over to wherever the boat goes, then I've got to kill a few days in Cartagena, then I've got to get over to the marina with all that cash". With a base level "scariness" of just having to navigate the flight over there (I'm not scared of flying in the "I might die" sense, but it's inherently stressful, customs/immigration/security is horrible, I hate getting from the final airport to my initial accommodation when I'm frazzled and I've got all my worldly possessions on me and I'm almost completely unfamiliar with the country having just arrived etc etc) - as long as I'm not expecting to be able to book a boat at a few days' notice, it really does feel psychologically more appealing to just have some accommodation booked for my arrival, get there and then worry^Wstart thinking about exactly what comes next with a few days of fixed accommodation and nothing else major to do after a good night's sleep.
Fri 5 Jan 0018 Doing a very (almost too) leisurely practice pack - probably won't do everything tonight, but it's a start. In a way going over this is semi-enjoyable and it maybe also has a reassuring effect of convincing myself I am prepared, silly as that might be.
My waterproof neck pouch thing (for water activities, not for day-to-day passport carrying etc) is broken, IIRC it broke years ago and I didn't replace it for the Costa Rica trip. Gut feeling is I am not going to get one now - I could get something (albeit most stuff seems designed for phones) on amazon or ebay and have it here in the next couple of days - but I don't really think I need one. While I do hope to do some swimming if possible, a pouch like this is mainly valuable if I'm swimming somewhere within an easy walk of my accommodation - in which case I might go out in swimming gear+T-shirt and not take a dry bag or daypack with me, and being able to put a tiny amount of money or any keys I must take out with me in a neck pouch is nice (although if I actually intend to swim swim rather than just go in the water, probably not ideal). I am not super convinced this is that useful as I write this, and if I realise I'm wrong while on the trip this is something I can probably buy (a bit overpriced, but not insane) from a shop over there, and at least I'd have a specific use case in mind and be able to physically see what I'm buying.
0048 I appear to have (I did remember I brought back a lot due to sudden departure in 2020) 1,360k Colombia pesos in 50k and 20k notes alone, plus a bit more in smaller bills. This appears to be about £275. Handily banrep.gov.co has details of the banknotes still in circulation and all my 50k and 20k notes appear to still be valid; I haven't checked the smaller ones, but they probably are too.
I also seem to have 103k CR colones, which is apparently about £156. I will have to mull over whether to take those with me. I don't think it's super likely I will go to Costa Rica, but it's not utterly implausible - as I've already noted, I may go to northern Panama anyway, and when I'm there it may be desirable to pop over into Costa Rica - it's not as if I've seen that much of southern CR, especially on the Caribbean side - and there is the prospect of a boat trip. I don't want to be lugging money around that I may not use and which adds to the loss of mugging, theft or general loss, but at the same time it would be good to get this spent instead of having to withdraw more money if I do visit CR. I'll mull it over. I may compromise and take part of it, perhaps (for bulk saving, rather than minimising losses) just taking higher value bills, since if I *do* happen to visit having to break a bill is a bit of a faff but not insane.
I also have some USD somewhere, which I will take, since I *am* almost certainly going to Panama and it's useful in CR and is probably useful (though when I was there last I don't think it was routinely used to quote prices) in Colombia (and probably accepted in an emergency).
I also found my Bogota public transport smartcard thing, which I will take on the offchance it still works. No, it's for Medellin - maybe they don't have them in Bogota, or maybe I never used one. The latter feels about right now I think about it - I've just realised some memories I had been casually ascribing to Bogota of taking metro-ish buses around town were almost certainly in Quito, and I don't have a card for there either so it was presumably cash. Still taking it of course, while I currently think it's unlikely it will be a focal point of the trip and my desire to enter a Spanish school and be forced to discuss politics with the approved opinions is limited, it's far from impossible I will visit Medellin at some point.
I should probably re-read onebag.com pre-trip, though I think I have it mostly memorised these days and it doesn't seem to change dramatically last few times I've looked. I think wrt taking money, it says to secrete it about your pack and while (paraphrasing) it's a pisser if your pack is lost, the reality is the loss of the pack and its other contents will be a bigger worry than losing the money. I don't exactly like that, but it is probably true. (I guess there's a balancing act - stash a "reasonable" amount of money, but too much just increases the loss and may not offer a compensating benefit.)
0231 No updates to FCDO site for Colombia or Panama, which is good.
0314 I am probably going to take one new full 100ml saltidin spray and the half-full one (it weighs 80g vs 128g for the new full one, though obviously some of that weight is the plastic bottle, but I am guessing half full is about right). As far as I can tell from old blog entries, I only took 1x100ml last time, but given I'm probably a smidge more worried about mosquitos and malaria in at least parts of Colombia this doesn't feel insane.
Incidentally I started to read some blog posts from first few days of CR trip and they were oddly cheering/reassuring in a quiet kind of way.
1749 Forcing myself to have quick look at accommodation. Looking at location "Bogota airport", there is a hotel with a double room with private bathroom for £32 inc taxes and charges for 3 nights with free cancellation until 10 January. I am almost tempted to book this, but it's practically the first thing I'm looking at and I'm not getting the impression things are likely to sell out in the next few hours. So anyway, that's something - there is an option there if I want it.
There is a hostel with a 6-bed dorm bed for £18 for the three nights, FWIW. And another at £16. Not checked for taxes and charges there. Hard to be sure but it's not too obvious if there's a hostel with a private room near the airport. This is fine and as I've already said, I'm probably leaning towards staying more centrally where there probably are more hostels. It's not that (and I'm going to make an effort to try to avoid repeating this point throughout the trip) I expect/assume things will automatically be social at a hostel, but it feels like (depending on luck and the particular style of each hostel etc etc) there is a chance, whereas if I'm staying in a private room in a hotel I am almost guaranteed not to interact with anyone on site.
OK, this is mildly promising. I steeled myself to take a look at the guidebook. There is a transmilenio bus type thing from the airport into the centre, and given I'm arriving "not long before dawn" this is probably doable. I am half thinking that if I stayed (subject to cheap accommodation) away from La Candelaria (where IIRC I was in IIRC 2010, on my only "proper" visit to central Bogota) that might add some "novelty" to the visit (not that having visited once in 2010 would really make LC tremendously repetitive) and make it feel less repetitive and might also be safer (though during the LC is probably fine, with caution) and it may also slightly ease the connection with the airport transmilenio thing. The guide book also sings the praises of the main bus terminal and gives some example fares - it looks like Cartagena is 12-24h by bus and costs about COP100k (£20?!). I don't exactly want to do a bus trip that long or go direct to Cartagena, but it does kind of suggest there may be a few biggish towns or cities which would let me head up towards Cartagena in 2-3 hops. If I put in 4 nights (it's tempting to say 3, but let's assume I try to be a bit less harried and the places are at least mildly comfortable or interesting) and include Bogota as one of those stays, this sort of very vague plan could see me in Cartagena in about (2 to 4)*4 days, or roughly a week to two weeks. As long as I'm enjoying myself (or at least, not enjoying myself in generally stressy ways which aren't related to being in Colombia rather than Panama) that isn't really a waste of time. It's possible I'd end up spending another 4-ish days around Cartagena waiting for a boat space, depending on when I book and demand and so forth. But this feels vaguely doable (without having looked at map yet) and better than the alternative of putting in 3-4 nights in Bogota then hopping on a plane to Cartagena (which is mainly a means to an end on this trip, not somewhere I want to go for its own sake) and tying the start of the trip up in knots just in order to get this damn boat.
I will make an effort to try to memorise the approximate exchange rate: 1 GBP ~= 5000 COP. For Panama it's relatively easy as I have a vague familiary with the GBP/USD rate anyway.
1828 Stating the somewhat obvious, but there is an argument that if I "expect" to spend the majority of my time in Panama and to leave because I need to fly back rather than because I'm "done", it makes more sense to take the boat from Colombia to Panama rather than the other way round. Early in the trip I have plenty of time to take delays due to weather etc or just random outright cancellations of a boat in my stride, whereas if I'm doing the boat trip towards the end of my trip as a whole, I then start to need biggish time buffers which force me to return relatively early - not to mention that I would arrive in Cartagena rather than Bogota, adding at least an extra flight on. Wheras doing it the other way I could potentially see myself returning from Panama City to Bogotá a few days before I'm due to fly home - barring major "hopefully wouldn't arrive out of the blue" disruption to air travel, a few days would probably be ample and a week would be very comfortable.
Just chewing things over in my head I am definitely warming to the idea (assuming accommodation can be had cheaplyish) of staying somewhere central for a few days, and perhaps avoiding LC not so much on safety grounds as just on "variety", since that's where I was in 2010.
OK, very quick "not trying to be exhaustive or actually book" peek at central-ish accommodation. A hostel (I'm probably going to try to follow my regular policy of not naming places on here, at least not til after I leave and probably not even then, though I will have a private record of course from booking e-mails etc) will do a single room with shared bathroom for £25 for three nights inc taxes and charges. This looks to be towards the north edge of La Candelaria which is probably OK. It has free cancellation until 10th January. Breakfast is £2 aparently. Check in not til 2pm but this is probably par for the course and they do offer luggage storage so that's the main thing. Shared lounge type stuff so at least some prospect of chatting to people.
They have a Selina hostel in Bogota - I'm sure I met someone at a party talking about these hostels (are they meant to be luxury?) who was very scathing about the kinds of people who stay there, no idea if fair or not - but at £50 for 3 nights for a dorm bed I'm not interested regardless.
There's another place with similar inc taxes charges and free cancellation and a free breakfast for £45 for three nights which also sounds kind of cool and although it gets about the same rating as the £25 one it has four times as many reviews. (That said, there seems to be a general tendency for the reviews to be at least several months old.)
Another place ~Teusaquillo at £33 with breakfast and free cancellation before 11th.
Of these three - and I haven't done an exhaustive look yet, this is already more than I intended to (but in a good-ish way) - the first one somehow appeals, perhaps in part because of the price but not exclusively. Need to remember the first one has no free breakfast, so over three nights that is £6, making it more like £31 for possibly like-to-like comparison. I don't necessarily want breakfast, but depends on the possibility of cheap eating out, and to a limited extent a "free" breakfast is a good way to force me to get up early. :-)
I'm going to stop saying "inc taxes and charges" unless it suddenly turns out this isn't standard for Colombia places on whatever site I'm using (booking.com for these)
I think it doesn't help the latter two IIRC are described as "guest houses" and while they do mention common areas, this does conjure up vague suggestions (based e.g. on the - fine but not super sociable - place I stayed on arrival in Alajuela) that they are a bit more likely to result in me sitting in my room at night.
Also if there is this transmilenio bus metro thing which isn't too hard to use, it doesn't matter too much where I am, especially given I am not intending to go out at night in Bogotá (even when I wasn't too old clubs etc were never my thing, perhaps because I was also too "solo traveller" or whatever, and while I still like a drink and the right kind of bar, it's not like I'm gagging to get out for a beer in the evening right at the start of the trip). This also means I am not massively worried if LC is "unsafe" at night (I don't think it's lethally unsafe, just not ideal.
Wrt drinking we'll see how it goes and I'm certainly not formally abstaining and if I particularly want to drink (solo or with other people) I will, but I think the basic strategy is to copy what happened in CR where I quite often don't drink for a few days in a row in a fairly "natural" way, and unless the whim really takes me most of my drinking is a couple of cans admiring a view or scenery or chatting to someone sort of thing. Certainly not ruling out drinking "a lot" in a single night, but I don't expect it to be routine or something I feel a huge temptation to do most of the time.
I have been looking at 3 nights here, but bear in mind that although I expect to be frazzled from sleeping badly on the plane, I am essentially in Bogota for the entire day of my arrival (Friday), so this is 4 days/3 nights. Since I won't be booking a plane ticket or a bus ticket or subsequent accommodation until I've got there and had a look around (I could see the first day or the second day after I've hopefully had a decent sleep being used for finding-my-feet type chores like wandering over to the bus station, maybe experimenting further with transmilenio, trying to buy a local SIM, figuring out cheap-ish places to eat - this is fine, I'm not saying I won't do any museums or what have you, but I have been before so I don't have to do these things, though I could see myself going up Montserrate again and maybe even doing that free viewing from the top of the tower block if that's still there - but neither is a must do, especially since I can put time in in Bogota before flying home as well), I can always decide to extend for a night or two if I'm particularly liking it, and three days/four nights is not massively racing around - especially, to repeat myself, for a city I am definitely returning to later in the trip, unlike most other places where they will probably be single visits on this trip so make the most of them if I like them.
1920 Just noticed the first hostel in fact has a single room with privte bathroom for exactly the same price. And interstingly, both those options also have one which is £1 *more* expensive with free cancellation before 9 Jan instead of 10 Jan - err, WTF? But this kind of anomaly feels like the kind of thing I've seen before on booking.com (and probably other sites).
So free cancellation "up to" 10 Jan, i.e. up to end of 9 Jan, means I can cancel up to the end of Tuesday. Including the early hours of Wednesday morning if they use the hostel's time zone rather than mine.
There is apparently a bar on site though this is a mixed blessing and IIRC one of the (dated) reviews said it was closed. But FWIW. This place is not in hostelworld.com AFAICT.
Oh, OK, the review sort defaults to relevant rather than date. Hmm. Most reviews are good ish, the odd 1 star but that's par for the course I think. Some peoople say there is a lot of noise at night, others say it is not a party hostel and not very good for meeting people. Some mention the area seeming sketchy after dark, others make no mention of it at all. Rooms may be very small, but I think this is fine-ish. Not that I fancy chancing it etc, but apart from the fact not everyone complains about safety, I haven't actually seen a review where anyone says anything happened to them yet.
Yeah, especially if the "danger" (which appears in part to be "homeless people" - I had been misinterpreting the word "vagabundos" in the Spanish reviews and only when I did an auto-translate did I remember this - which while maybe correlated with risk is way less threatening than I had anticipated) is more of an issue late at night not merely because it's an hour after sunset. I also don't really expect to be leaving at night, it's not like I plan to hit the clubs or anything. The reviews are all over the place but they nearly always are and no one has mentioned bedbugs - some say it's humid or a bit unclear or no hot water, some say hot water, lovely, etc, etc. Gut feeling is I will book this, I have the free cancellation if I get second thoughts but it sounds my kind of place in some ways - cheap and potentially cheerful. Some complaints about room size said "but they are same as the photos" and the photos don't look insanely tiny, albeit yes plausible small-ish.
OTOH the £33 a night place with the included breakfast (but shared bathroom) gets way more positive reviews. All the same, I do get a bit of that "guest house" vibe (for want of a better phrase) even though it does have a garden and shared lounge. Reviews make out the area is safer, it is maybe a couple of km northwest of the one in LC - but hardly a killer for a daytime walk if I do want to go to LC. There is also the fact they don't *advertise* luggage storage, check in starts an hour later at 1500 and entry is "key access", so this does make me suspect I'm going to be unable to get in at all prior to check in, never mind whether they're otherwise willing to let me leave my bag. Gut feeling is to maybe take a punt on the £25 one after all. It may or may not be a bit scuzzy (reviews all over the place) but it feels like I'm going to have less trouble getting in "early" which is probably more valuable in terms of feeling reasonably comfortable on the trip out from the UK.
I must say that I feel rather more cheerful about the trip for having done this - maybe it's just facing up to the irrationally scary business of booking accommodation and deciding what to do, and maybe in part it's because I'm putting off the decision about where to go next and the boat and all that, which is sort of procrastination but does also make some sense as once I'm there it will be easier to focus on this kind of thing. [I think the positive stuff about buses in the guide book helps too. This just feels so much more tractable than having to deal with a plane, soehow. Not that I am ruling out planes as and when necessary, perhaps even for the first hop out of Bogota.]
2148 Toying with booking that £25 one. It does say 24h front desk. It's (just based on memories of the funicular up Montserrate being nearby - these may be incorrect, not checked) probably not a million miles from where I stayed in 2010, but that's fine. I'm not averse to staying somewhere else, *but* the guide book does seem to go on about LC and I'm not massively concerned about personal security at night given I don't plan to be out late, possibly not after dark and most critically I expect to be arriving and departing in daylight. The reviews are mixed but this is not an automatic red flag, I do not like the key-based guest house stuff for the other place I kind of fancied. Yes I could review every single hostel in Bogota at a similar price point and try to find "the best", but that's silly. I do love the pricing on this, it sounds OK and at least seems to offer possibility of meeting people and possibility of getting in and dropping my bag off when I arrive at 6am or something.
Flight lands 0340, sunrise in Bogota is 06:08 on the day in question, with civil twilight starting 05:45. Even if everything goes swimmingly and we land dead on time and I breeze through customs and immigration, it's quite likely I wouldn't be arriving at the hostel until approximately 05:45, and I can and probably would choose to hang around the airport and have an overpriced coffee and/or try to find where to buy a ticket/card/whatever (haven't researched this) for TM into town until it starts to get light. (I'm probably willing to be hanging around the airport TM terminal in the dark, but I don't really want to be getting off the bus in the dark.)
While I like the price, this isn't the only factor. I really don't want something with a private host/guest house/keys given my early arrival - I want somewhere with 24h reception and at least a chance of luggage storage until I can check in. This won't always be an issue - once I have a local SIM with working WhatsApp and I'm arriving in daylight or at least early evening when I can check in and thus someone "has" to be there to let me in, rather than super early in the morning, it might be different. But that's not the case here. I do want a hostel-ish environment to give me a chance of meeting someone and being able to get some tips. I am not paying massively over the odds here, and most of the cheap-ish (generally not as cheap) hostels are in LC, so presumably they have more-or-less the same safety issues anyway. OK, to be scrupulously fair, the one I'm looking at it is not strictly in LC, but LC doesn't exactly have a super-safe reputation either, and this one is near LC.
Yeah, I've been over the first three pages on booking.com. Also remember I am not looking for a dorm here (fresh off the plane) or a hotel (too "isolated"). Prices are broadly speaking encouraging anyway. Look, I have free cancellation on this, I think it's fine and a half-decent option, so let's book it. I do kidn of wonder if the private bathroom is not a 100% plus because it means the room is smaller or damper or something, but sod it - being able to do a bit of laundry with no fuss or expense is well worth it. (Some reviews imply the room walls don't go all the way to ceiling etc etc but that's fine if it is true, and it may not be. I've stayed in cheap places before. I'm really not that fussy, I like some privacy some of the time, I like cheap, but really I'm not that picky if it feels good value and basically safe, and no one has said the interior of this hostel isn't safe.)
I may or may not splurge on the £2 breakfast, but it isn't a huge deal.
OK, I'm reserving. There's some waffle about "additional VAT" depending on nationality. I hope this won't apply, but there's not much I can do about it. It looks like standard boilerplate rather than something specific to this property. It says free cancellation deadlines are in the property's timezone, which is in my favour here, and if I don't show up or cancel late I have to pay the first night, so that's not too bad either.
Quick web search is vague as to whether I should or will in practice be asked to pay 19% VAT. I guess I will just have to see. It will *probably* be OK, even though it seems to have disappeared from this actual booking page and says "additional charges may apply" and this VAT stuff, it *did* say "inc taxes and charges" earlier and I'd have to assume they don't/can't just outright lie about this (though who knows?).
2219 Woohoo, booked.
Sat 6 Jan 0041 I've had a response to my special request about dropping back off early, they haven't exactly answered the question but say depending on the room availability I can also maybe use the common areas while I wait for check in. This is not exactly bad (it's in Spanish, I'm fairly sure I understand it - I wrote to them in both languages just for practice and whatever) but it's also slightly weird. But I'm not deeply concerned about it, I think there's a fair chance I can get in and drop my bag off, and absolute worst case I will just have to camp out in a nearby cafe or something drinking coffee all morning.
1517 No updates to FCDO pages for Panama or Colombia.
Sun 7 Jan 1553 Been a bit slack and also to be fair to myself somewhat distracted with DR for the failed computer, but I did do a little bit more sewing and a bit more test packing (more "checking I have everything and checking what I have is still OK"; probably not the very first time I've done this, but this is closer to being a final check) yesterday. I hope the DR is largely done and while I got up insanely late again I hope to force myself to do more trip prep, especially packing (e.g. choosing clothes) later. Until now despite the DR stuff I've had a vaguely comforting feeling that I still have plenty of time - if we include today I now have four full days and "sort of" a fifth day (given how late I fly) but it's starting to get close and is going to rapidly be eaten away at.
The various non-trip things I've been trying to squeeze in lately remind me - not for the first time - that rightly or wrongly, whether it means I'm lazy or not, I *really* don't like constantly having to "do" stuff - it's somehow particularly bad for me in respect of making it hard to get up. Of course I need to make an effort during the trip, but as ISTR noting off the back of reading F33W last year, I do also need to not be constantly "pushing" myself. I need some days off where I get up more-or-less when I want to and don't necessarily do anything. To some extent the comfort/enjoyability of this depends on how congenial my circumstances are, but I think it's important. Insofar as I can manage it, this also ties in with not wanting to be constantly feeling I have to be making decisions about where to go next and how to get there and where to stay - in other words, I do need to try to stay places a bit longer so I'm not feeling I need to book the next stop almost immediately. And/or I need to be a bit more chilled about sorting out exactly how and where to get places, though in practice I suspect I don't over-do this and it is smart to try to investigate the options properly to avoid unpleasant surprises. Still, jotting down this thought (for the nth time) just might help.
Staying longer does feel wasteful. But I need to at least experiment with this and force myself to "waste" some time and see if it really means I enjoy myself more or less. It isn't a race, there are no to few absolute bucket list items, I have enough time on hand that I should manage to do most of the stuff I really want to even if I am taking it easy-ish and except for spending too many days literally on my own in my room (fine once in a while, as a rest, if that's what appeals to me), every day has the potential for some casual wander round town to turn into something memorable or for some random interaction that I enjoy or whatever.
Incidentally Avianca have sent me a couple of e-mails inviting me to bid on an upgrade to business class. I'm ignoring these, I already paid for an aisle seat in economy and that's really all I care about. I suspect (but haven't checked) the minimum bid (or at least the minimum bid with any chance of winning) is going to be non-negligible, even if it's cheap for business class. And the chances are the food in business class is going to be fancier and less likely to be edible as well. And if I upgraded I'd then be worried I might not get an aisle seat - maybe in business class the extra space would make this irrelevant, but I can't be sure. Just wanted to make a note that I did have this option (which they are pushing slightly hard, but not too much).
2235 Poking at clothing choices.
New rain jacket (Mountain Warehouse/Regatta) is 516g, compared to 789g for the older Karrimor shell jacket (which pairs with the fleece and will IIRC zip to it, though I've never done that). The Karrimor jacket, while vaguely "puffy" looking (especially around the collar) is not insulated in any way - most of the material is pretty thin, the idea presumably being the fleece plus the trapped air between them provides the insulation. It is possible the Karrimor jacket is breathable fabric but I am not certain. For the kind of stuff I tend to get up to I'm not sure the breathability (if it is even a thing; I don't remember) is a big deal and the saving on weight and bulk is not negligible.
I had been wondering about replacing the shell jacket (on this trip - it isn't inconceivable I'll choose to take it on some future trip even if I get on OK with the new rain jacket, it would depend what I expect to do) with the new rain jacket *plus* a merino top. But the fact the shell jacket (while in my head I imagine it as rather puffy and insulated-looking and bulk) isn't actually insulated at all would seem to argue against this.
Orange merino long-sleeved top is 218g, blue ditto is 158g (both Forclaz). Apart from the fact it seems like there is no reason to include a merino top with the new rain jacket to make it comparable to the shell jacket, this starts to eat into the 273g weight (and unquantified bulk) saving from the new jacket as well.
Annoyingly I can't find anything written down about what tops I actually took to Costa Rica. I am 99% confident I took the two-tone blue iscol and the orange merino top and 100% confident I took two Raging Sport (Bull) tops, one grey and one blue. There will almost certainly have been one more top, and gut feeling - given my recollection and possibly blog wafflings I can't find right now - that I was over-provisioned with under-comfortable merino tops, probably that remaining top was another long-sleeve merino, I might guess the blue one (as I probably only have three, and the grey one in the same style as the blue got invisibly mended in Colombia in 2020 and I probably felt it was therefore less likely to survive). [OK, I found a non-blog note about what I took, and yes, it was as I've said - 2xRS, orange merino, blue merino, two tone blue isocool.]
Most of my travel clothing seems as I described last year. After Christmas and another purchase, I have another 2 black/grey and 3 blue Raging Sport tops in addition to the probably-still-OK ones I wore last year in Costa Rica. I am struggling to see the stains on the no-name short-sleeved red T-shirt I blogged about last year, maybe I need daylight for that. I did buy another one of those tops (the identical make, AFAICT) over Christmas too, and gut feeling is I am going to take that (though I have some other either unworn or decent condition anyway short-sleeved tops) and use it in the evenings when I don't need protection from the sun (but maybe mosquitos are a factor - but still) and as beach-ish wear, as I know from practical experience that these T-shirts are not going to get damaged from getting wet etc, so if I wanted to go in water in it that would be fine (it's also cheap enough - about £6 IIRC - that if it did get ruined it wouldn't be such a big deal.
I'm not ruling out a second short-sleeved top, but let's assume just that one for now. I have enough Raging Sport ones to take (say) two black/grey and two blue if I want to. The "single colour-ish" isocool tops both have that weird line-ish wrinkliness at the lower part of the back and while they are both probably wearable, given the existence of other better condition options I should probably not take them. The two tone blue isocool top I took with me to CR is in fair condition and is probably good enough, though I do wonder if it looks a little faded - not sure that that's a problem. The only other long-sleeved tops I have that really fit are a very bright red and a fairly bright blue Craft ones which I bought pre-CR and decided not to take. Neither is I think ridiculously bright, even the red, and the blue doesn't feel too utterly outrageous, but I do wonder if it might still render me a bit more conspicuous than I'd like.
I am definitely taking at least one black/grey and one blue RS long-sleeved top, though I am dithering as to whether to take the old ones. If we add the red short-sleeved T-shirt, that leaves two slots. Bear in mind that on the whole I expect it to be warm verging on hot, though Bogota is high enough that I think it can be pretty cool and there's also the prospect of stuff like that hike I did in Colombia in 2022 near Santa Marta which involves getting high enough that it's cold again. But my strategy for dealing with that is the fleece and/or an extra layer of jacket on that, and if push comes to shove I can wear two tops. I don't think I need to take a merino top just for this sort of thing, and based on how I felt with them in CR last year I honestly don't feel they're a great choice for me for comfort in hot weather, so even if they might be marginally helpful in a few spots I don't think they'd earn their spot in this tight clothing budget. As mentioned before, I generally prefer long sleeves (but loose) when it's hot, following onebag.com and also from personal experience feeling that by the time you've slathered your arms in sunblock (which also means buying and carrying more sunblock overall), the popularly claimed cooling benefits from short sleeves aren't really there.
Anyway, this accounts for three of my five tops. I'm a bit reluctant to take duplicates of the RS tops just on grounds of not wanting to look like I'm wearing the same clothes over and over again if anyone happens to notice. If we're saying I want long sleeve tops for both of these two, I could potentially take the two-tone blue isocool and the somewhat bright blue Craft top. All except the Craft top have been travel-tested and worked well, though TBF I *really* liked the RS tops and that might argue for taking more than two. It may be I just liked them by comparison with the two merino tops, but I do seem to remember feeling they were even better than the two-tone blue isocool. Then again, the isocool is maybe a little bit heavier and might be a pseudo-compromise as a warmer garment for evenings/high altitudes. It's also possible I could use one of these two remaining slots for a second short-sleeved T-shirt.
Looking over my (never really got round to fully going over, but did sort of see and remember) notes during and after the trip - some of this may also be in the blog, scattered around - I did (exacerbated by the two less desirable merino tops) tend to experiment with a pattern of wearing the same long-sleeve top for 2-3 days running during the day (e.g. if I was out and about walking in the country on my own, where no one can smell me *and* I'm probably sweating like a pig after five minutes anyway), showering in the evening and then putting on a different top which I might also wear for 2-3 days but which didn't get (I hope) too dirty as I was only wearing it in the cooler evenings when I was doing less activity. I also sometimes would squeeze in a sneaky water-only (i.e. no soap) wash of tops while having a shower or whatever to help this strategy.
Short sleeved shirts will be slightly lighter all else being equal, but I don't think I should go over five tops even if this is a factor - better just to bank the weight saving. More tops means more prospect of accumulating laundry etc. I already go over the IIRC 2-3 tops suggested by onebag.com (just checked - it's 2-4), but that's because my type of travel often involves shared bathrooms (and dorms, with lack of privacy for drying, make it worse, even if they're not super common or a killer) rather than having a private bathroom virtually every day.
I suppose the thing is that I can wear a long-sleeved top in the evening (and it may even be desirable, if it's cool-ish) whereas I "can't" wear a short-sleeved shirt during the day (because of not wanting the sun exposure/extra sunscreen faff), unless I'm at a beach or something as a special case. So long-sleeved tops are more flexible.
I just weighed the two-tone isocool top to be 193g, whereas the Craft is 140g. I am surprised somehow. The isocool top did have what looked like a sort of slightly caked grey sweat and/or deodorant in some of the 'pores' of the material by the armpits, which (presumably) crumbled out when I rubbed it a bit - this is odd as I'm *sure* I washed everything after the trip before I put it away. I do wonder if the isocool top is a little bit dirty somehow and that's adding to the weight. I could take a punt on the Craft, I had two "useless" tops on the last trip and the Craft is way less likely to be "useless" even if I do end up feeling over-conspicuous wearing it (which feels unlikely in the long term), as I could still wear it for solo hikes etc, and even if it was one "useless" top is still less of a handicap than the CR trip. I can breathe through my mouth comfortably through both, probably about as easily though hard to be sure. And maybe the lighter (if brighter) blue of the Craft would be more helpful against heat.
I did also experimentally wear the blue Craft top out for a single night with a friend in the UK to see if it got a reaction and although the night was cut short it didn't, so I might guess it doesn't look tremendously outlandish, and at least viewing it in artifical light now it doesn't strike me as too crazy, just lighter than I am used to. It is virtually new, as I bought it pre-CR trip and never wore it otherwise.
As far as colours go given I am taking black and navy blue trousers. I think within reason almost any colour top will go with those, and it looks like the candidates are various shades of blue, red and black/grey, which don't feel too crazy a mix. (Shoes are black walking shoes, FWIW.)
I am half inclining towards a provisional selection of:
- new "no-name" short-sleeved red T-shirt, for evenings and/or beach
- new black/grey RS long-sleeve
- new blue RS long-sleeve
- old blue RS long-sleeve
- 'near-new' blue Craft long-sleeve
This is slightly blue-heavy but that's fine, and the Craft blue is quite different from the RS blue. Black/grey is probably not ideal for heat either (although I'm not sure it was a huge deal in practice, but it did perhaps *look* a bit hot, especially with the long sleeves, and I did get one or two not-bad-but-surprised-ish comments on it) but there's a limited colour selection in the RS stuff (just the two I have, basically) so I wanted variety both in 2023 and for this trip.
I could take two new blue RS long-sleeves, but since the old RS tops are still in fair condition (they got heavy use, but only for 11 weeks) it feels like a half-decent compromise to get some more use out of the old one - if it does somehow absolutely collapse on me I lose a garment but I don't lose a colour, so to speak. (The garment is more important than colour choice, but it's something.)
I obviously need to make an effort to inspect the clothes in daylight, but the old blue RS top appears to be in decent shape from a quick inspection - two small stains on the back of the upper arm and a slight raggedness on some of the stitching inside near the waist, but that's about it. Oh, the logo is coming off the chest and was coming off during the trip (hand-washing may or may not exacerbate this and maybe - not checked - you are supposed to wash inside out and I didn't) and has lost some of the letters, but it is a low contrast grey against a blue-grey dithery pattern and it didn't bother me at all during the trip, plus if I really wanted to I could easily just pick the whole logo off - it's a kind of plastic lightly stuck onto the fabric - and if I did or when it comes off naturally it isn't leaving any kind of hole behind.
Yeah, I'll sleep on it but that doesn't seem like too bad a selection. I haven't made those decisions on weight (except maybe it being an extra reason against the blue isocool) but I suspect these will be collectively a bit lighter than the five tops I took to CR. (Maybe not though, given the blue merino top at 158g is lighter than the blue isocool and only a smidge heavier than the Craft.)
On the weight theme, the part voluntary and part "no choice, because no one makes them now and mine is dying" decision not to take a compact camera is probably going to save me 106g for the charger+cable, 17g for the spare battery, 9g for the lens cleaning cloth (which I never used anyway), 47g for the gorillapod (I would kind of like a tripod to take e.g. night shots with the camera, but I don't have one, the gorillapod won't work and even with a camera I've often wondered if the tripod is worth its weight given how little I actually use it) and 143g for the camera itself. There's also a related saving of 78g from not taking my mains plug adapter, as the only mains device I will take is a US-style USB charger. The US-style charger also happens to be 21g vs 51g for my UK charger, which is nice although it may also reflect on the build quality - I don't really know. Those all sounds kind of trivial, but if I got the maths right that's a combined saving of 430g, which isn't to be sniffed at. (Admittedly the camera is nearly always in my trouser pocket, which is a different way to carry weight than in my pack. But I do also expect to feel a smidge less burdened when out and about without the camera. Although as I've noted before I did like the relative lack of worry about snatch-and-grab when using the camera on the street instead of having a phone out. But it can't really be helped anyway.)
On top of that there is a probable saving of 273g from taking the Regatta rain jacket instead of the Karrimor shell jacket. When my bag weighed 7.9kg heading out to CR, potentially dropping that to 7.197kg (excess precision!) may well make a noticeable difference (albeit it's "only" 8.8%). (And that 7.9kg probably doesn't include the camera itself, so it's more like dropping to 7.34kg in a way - but then again, I am still carrying the camera around with the bag, so not ridiculous to use this figure.) This 7.9kg figure also includes two packets of fruit and nuts and a 1.091kg water bottle.
Off the top of my head the main weight gain compared to last year is that I'm taking 1.5 bottles of insect repellent instead of just the one.
Mon 8th Jan 0130 No update to Colombia or Panama pages on FCDO.
0215 Just cut fingernails with the new nail clippers I got. (The other ones I have I bought in India in 2013 and they work great, but I started to feel it would be annoying if I got them confiscated at security all of a sudden.) They're not great but they do kind of work, it's hard to describe and I've obviously just tried them once. I think I will go with them, obviously worst case I can buy some over there at possibly more than I'd have to pay here but nothing likely to be too insane.
0302 To get to terminal 2 at Heathrow on the Elizabeth line (AFAICT on TfL's shitty fare finder site) is £13.30! It's £5.60 by tube. What a fucking crock of shit. Anyway, guess who - barring major problems - is going to be on the good old chuggy Piccadilly line to the airport? Utter pisstake. It's a good job I had a vague idea the price might not be "fair" and checked, otherwise I'd just have touched in and touched out and got a nasty shock. Or perhaps heard an announcement or read something when I was already committed to that route and it was too late to change in practice.
Just browsing onebag.com, I see it meantions a rain jacket at 156g, which makes my new one at 516g seem rather heavy. Still, it was cheap, and it is at least lighter than the old one. Definitely scope for saving some weight there though. (onebag.com also sings the praises of umbrellas, but I've always been reluctant. I suppose given that in reality if I have my rain jacket with me I also have either my daypack or my main bag, as long as an umbrella fits in both of those it is not necessarily that impractical. On the other hand, even if that isn't a concern, if it is "cold and wet" and/or I'm on a hike in a foresty area, maybe an umbrella is not going to be that great, so I could end up feeling I have to take a rain jacket as well. In reality, if memory serves, I have certainly used the shell jacket at times, but not a huge amount and I haven't felt that an umbrella (against rain) would have been better. Against the sun maybe, if I could actually imagine myself using one - maybe in Asia this is a thing, but I haven't really seen it in Latin America IIRC.
0416 My daypack from CR trip was IIRC starting to disintegrate internally - it was quite old, cheap but I liked it. I bought another one which feels reasonably well made for being cheap and uses a drawstring rather than a zip, but the straps aren't adjustable and it maybe hangs a little low. It could probably be tweaked with string (holding the two chest straps together makes the hang height feel really good) or safety pins (to double the straps over on themselves a bit, though I don't know if this would damage the plasticy fabric). I am probably going to take it with me anyway, rather than use one of the other bags I have lying around, but I haven't definitely decided yet.
0451 Really need to go to bed; I'm slacking off rather than beavering away at trip prep or whatever. Anyway, just seen on onebag.com - possibly "new" - a suggestion that as a temporary measure you could rubber band a torch on your glasses frame instead of using a headstrap. This might be worth experimenting with, it would allow me to ditch my homemade (albeit pretty light) headband if it actually works well. (Not that I plan to ditch it for this trip, but this is worth bearing in mind.)
1811 Just checked underwear, I have 2 pairs Rohan and 3 pairs Kalenji and I just checked and they appear to be in good condition (the Rohan ones probably date back to my first trip in 2010, but it's not as if I've worn them a huge amount - and actually I did buy some more at some point too, though even those are probably ~8-10 years old) so I will take them. I have 4 pairs never worn Kalenji but I don't see any point starting on those at this point.
I am going to take 1 pair of the thick-ish Quechua socks I used exclusively on the CR trip and 4 pairs of Sock Snob Bambu (cheap; something like £1 each in a big pack from Debenhams or Next) socks, which I got specially and which high percentage plastic mixed with a bit of cotton. The Quecha socks were a smidge heavy in the heat in CR although not in reality terrible so I'm hoping the thinner socks will be better, but I do want one thicker pair just in case it turns out they are better for "hiking" type stuff. The thin socks should also dry quicker after washing of course. This does slightly restrict mix-and-match potential if a sock goes missing, but I don't expect to be regularly handing laundry over to strangers and can't really be helped. The SS socks do have (slightly annoying, TBH) patches of material sewn on with logos of birds, so if one goes missing it won't technically match any of the others, but they are just black where it shows so I could mix and match them if necessary.
OK, I have the packet here, the socks are branded "Pandastick Bamboo" and are 73% viscose (from bamboo - how exciting, this seems to be a bit of a fad at the moment), 24% polyester, 3% elastane. So there's no cotton in there at all.
2210 I bought a single 250g packet of mixed nuts (unsalted) and raisins earlier. I didn't get the cheaper-per-weight 500g bag as I didn't want too much extra weight, and likewise I didn't buy 2x250g bags. This is just insurance in case I can't eat the food on the flight (although it's quite likely I will cook at home on the day I fly out as it is a pretty late flight, so I'm not likely to be too desperate even if the flight food is inedile), and if I don't need it on the plane I will lug it around until I get tempted to snack on it. I was going to buy some hard mints but I didn't like the price of the usual extra strong mints (and buying sweets always makes me think about the sugar tax) and although there was a packet of mint humbugs which was cheap-ish and would have fulfilled that "get this sick taste out of my mouth" or "I am trogging round site X with a hangover and I feel shit" role, the packet was bulkier and heavier than I'd like, whereas a simple tube of mints fits nicely in pocket of fleece without too much faff. I just may crumble and buy some XXX mints somewhere (Tesco also only had the Trebor ones, whereas at least in the past they've had some kind of no-name brand), or failing that I have some sugar-free Polos and will take a tube of those. The sugar-free stuff is not ideal; there's no "sustenance" in them in the hangover/no time for breakfast type case, plus I have had bad experiences from guzzling multiple packets of these in one sitting, although I will only have one packet with me so I guess that's not likely to be a problem.
I'm washing the trip clothes now. I had vaguely intended to an actual pack into the bag tonight, but I figured it's not critical and I can do it tomorrow night. It's not as if I doubt everything will fit, since there's slightly less volume than usual, but it is good to experiment and figure out what stuff goes best where. I am going to cut my hair when that finishes, I absolutely hate cutting my hair (irrationally so) but it needs doing before the trip. I will probably still have to get it cut twice if not three times during the trip, but at least by cutting it as late as possible before the trip starts I minimise the urgency of this. Getting it cut twice during trip is probably OK, but if I want to make a bit of an effort to look "smart" it might be a good idea to push it. I'll maybe be swayed in part by spotting suitably cheap yet unintimidating barbers at roughly the right time.
Really wish I had sorted out a lot of this stuff months ago. Obviously I can't cut my hair and nails early, and there's maybe an argument for sorting out clothes late-ish (and to be fair except for sewing the trousers, which I should maybe have pushed harder to get done earlier, I was pretty on the ball about clothes - even the Christmas and post-Christmas purchases were not *essential*), but I could and probably should have gone over the packing list, bought replacements for missing stuff, bought new experimental stuff etc months ago. Maybe a lesson learned, if I can overcome my procrastination.
Will cut toenails after post-haircut shower. Nail cutting is another one of those chores I irrationally detest which aren't actually that big a deal, but again, if I do it now I minimise the need to do it during the trip.
Bugger, I forgot to wash the fleece. It is clean but it's been in a musty-ish cupboard for months. I was probably doing another load tomorrow anyway, but still annoying.
Tue 9th Jan 0313 Quick web search re TransMilenio etc turns up https://www.airport-bogota.com/bus.php, which is presumably fairly authoritative. So I get a free feeder bus from the airport to Portal Eldorado then pay using a Tullave card from there on Transmilenio - I need to check route map ahead of time so I'm not entirely dependent on maps at stop when I'm there. That page is a bit confusing and seems to imply the K86 might go direct to the airport, but it doesn't quite say that. Anyway, I need to purcahse a Tullave card at the SITP counter (!?) in the arrivals hall. Should remember but given the feeder bus is free I may not be forced to remember. I guess if push really comes to shove I can get the free feeder bus *back* to the airport to buy my card, but that would be quite sucky - and depending on exactly how this works, I may or may not be able to access the arrivals hall when entering the airport from the bus. Still, apart from being a bit frazzled after the trip, I do at least have plenty of time.
Looking on Google Maps, TM stops Las Aguas or Las Nieves are close to my hostel.
https://bogotivo.com/en/bogota-transmilenio-guide/ is undated but suggests the card costs COP5k and rides are about COP2.4k. I would be happy-ish to top up COP10-20k if these prices are accurate. I've also downloaded a PDF map to my phone. OK, it looks as though the K line runs (ignoring the feeder aspect) from the airport to Universidades, which is right by Las Aguas, and given there seems to be no trivial in-station interchange to the line with Calle 19 on and I'm in no hurry, it looks like I want to go to Universidades.
And I've just saved the hostel in both Organic Maps on O6 and Google Maps on K1, so that's one less thing to have to remember to do. I have offline maps for both devices downloaded too.
While I am still fiddling with my trip prepartions, I am a mix of edgy and calm and excited, if that makes any sense. It does actually feel like I have things kind of under control.
Just looking at Google Maps, I wonder if it's safe to walk up Monserrate, maybe at the weekend? I'm 95% sure I went up it in 2010 and that I used the cable car in at least one direction, but I honestly can't remember if I walked in one direction. In 2010 I was perhaps less keen on walking anyway, though maybe that's not true - it's a bit scary just how little I remember "myself" back then, so to speak. Quick web search turns up https://www.travelonthereg.com/monserrate-bogota-hike/ dated August 2023 which says it's safe, there are police etc, but it's only open from 5am-1pm and is quite demanding (and I wouldn't be acclimatised to the altitude), but would probably be OK from the exercise POV if I take it steady. I guess it's a case of going early, taking it easy and maybe (if only for time reasons) being open to getting the funicular down. It may also be busy (too busy?) at weekends, especially on Sunday - I could see this being a mixed blessing wrt security.
Gut feeling is that I may consider doing this during my initial stay in Bogota. If not I could do it when I'm there at the end of the trip - that way if I did get robbed, it would perhaps be less damaging to rest of trip (psychological impact, loss of gear like rain coat and/or phone) - but it probably isn't so dangerous it's a big concern. I will take advice when I get there (e.g. I can ask staff at hostel) and see how I feel. If I'm busy (in a hopefully relaxed touristy way) buying SIM cards and checking out the bus terminal etc etc it's fine to give it a miss at the start of the trip. Bit disappointing that site says there's no discount for one-way trips on the funicular (cable car? not gone back to check), but hardly the end of the world. And I may walk it both ways of coruse, depending on timescales (I need to be down before it closes at 1pm, of course) and confidence and weather etc etc. Still, this sounds kind of cool and a nice mix of something I did before and something I probably didn't do.
(Actually, some very old pages etc suggest that the hike up may have been closed from 2006 onwards, so it's quite possible walking up was unsafe or simply not an option when I was there in 2010. But I haven't specifically tried to find info on web from 2010 or to check the old blog entries.)
Yeah, while still vaguely apprenhensive about the trip/leaving soon, I am feeling kind of low-key excited about this.
I will just note and try to avoid repeating myself that when I quote a website, it's probably something I just found via a web search. If it gives sketchy or outdated vibes I will probably ignore it, but otherwise I will take it as a data point but not assume it's gospel truth. I'm not disparaging the authors of the random websites I quote here - it's just that as I come to their sites fresh, I haven't had any chance to judge their general reliability/accuracy/similarity to my own travel preferences etc. So just because I quote website X saying Y, it doesn't mean I believe Y - it's just that Y is hopefully now factored in to my own proto-beliefs. Ridiculously finicky point but if I don't make it here I'm going to feel obliged to stick (for Future Me's benefit) disclaimers in about not quite trusting info I find all the time.
1429 I put Dropbox on the "work" profile of the O6 last night. I don't normally have it on the O6, but it probably makes sense while I'm away and the two phones become my two complementary devices, unlike when I'm at home and using other devices and don't need the two phones to be in sync as I use them for different kinds of things. Only lightly tested but it seems to work.
2151 Was thinking earlier that I may be slightly pushed for time in Bogota. Yes I am there all day Fri/Sat/Sun, but Fri I expect to feel zonked and want to go to bed earlyish. I may well manage to buy a local SIM and/or wander over to the bus terminal, but I may not achieve both or either of them. Saturday I am not likely to want to be up early-ish (unless time zones and body clocks and lack of sleep on flight work in my favour) for an early-ish start to walk up Monserrate. And Sunday may be too busy and/or I may not really want to go up there on a Sunday if it's very very busy (mixed feelings). Wrt Monserrate this isn't a huge concern because I will be back in Bogota at the end of the trip and can do it then. But this makes me think that as a general rule, I should be aiming to stay in most towns/cities for at least four nights - the flight is an extreme example, but even for short-ish bus hops or internal flights, the day of arrival is still full of disruption and tiredness and so forth, and staying just three nights means only two full "free" days (which still need to involve some planning - maybe back at the hostel at night, of course - and ticket buying for the next hop), and the lost time to travel starts to become a significant fraction of the total time.
I am not going to book an extra night in Bogota though. I am reasonably optimistic I could extend by a day, probably at the same hostel and if not somewhere else, without too much trouble last minute. I will also be there at the end of the trip, so it's not like I only get one chance to see/do stuff there
It also occurs to me that if (as - whether I go by boat or not - I probably do) I intend to spend a significant amount of time in Panama, buying a Colombian SIM is maybe a tiny bit of a "waste". But I think the reality is I'm going to be in Colombia for at least a week or two at the start of the trip and (although I'd probably have to top up again) at least a week and probably more at the end of the trip, and even if it's just a week or two at the start, for the sake of a few pounds it isn't worth the (minor, but real) safety risk of not having a phone and mobile data for calling taxis or trying to use taxi apps/websites, not to mention the minor comfort of not being entirely dependent on hostel wifi.
Wed 10th Jan Belatedly pseudo-packing. Dicking around a bit but it's OK. Final pack will be tomorrow given some washing done tonight, and I did already check through packing list so I shouldn't get any horrific last minute surprises.
Taking USD302 cash with me as well as the 1360k+ COP. Would be a pisser to lose this but not life- or trip-ruining. Actually I may not take all that USD. It makes sense to take all the COP as it's only useful in Colombia. USD is always worth having as a backup. Yes I might need some in Panama, but if I took it all I'd want to be returning with a reserve anyway for a future trip, so it's not as if not taking all of it is going to mean withdrawing cash "uselessly". I think I might take USD142 - that happens to be the total from all my singles and fives with a 10 and four 20s on top. That's a useful chunk of cash in an emergency while not such a pull if I lose it somehow, and having small bills may well be valuable at border crossings or similar situations. The 20s (the only ones I have a choice from my larger collection from) all look pretty clean, though who knows what some random guy may or may not refuse to accept.
Gut feeling is I'm not taking my Costa Rican money with me. I don't plan to visit CR, I cannot rule out the possibility of wanting to e.g. do a boat trip Panama-Costa Rica, but it isn't *super* likely. Obviously it would be annoying not to have the money if I do end up in CR, but that's got to be weighed against the risk of loss when I was carrying it for no reason. I am toying with taking a few small bills with me - on the grounds that lack of change can be a problem at border crossings and when you first get cash out of a machine - but I'm not sure even that is worth it.
The USD142 and 1360k COP (ignoring the smaller COP bills) is ~£384. More money than I'd absolutely like to be carrying, although on the flip side I will not withdraw any money at the airport on arrival this time whereas I would normally withdraw £200-£300 worth, so once I leave the airport I won't be carrying enormously more than I normally would.
I am using the small and hopefully deuter flip hidden wallet thing this time - I don't seem to have mentioned that before - instead of the biggish pouch I used to wear inside my trousers on my bum, as (as probably complained about endlessly on the blog before) the other pouch - apart from the elastic being in woeful shape despite some too-cautious repairs pre-CR trip - would become monstrously uncomfortable at times and I have just got to trade off a possible bit of security for comfort. This does mean I won't be stashing the £384 worth in my hidden pouch thing this time, and some will have to go in my bag. I have currently shoved 10xCOP50k notes in the deuter flip and I don't think that makes it overly bulky. That's about £100 worth. My passport is in there at the moment too, as always once I'm actually checked into accomodation depending on my judgement of belonging security I may well leave the passport there, which would free up additional space in the deuter flip for other things if I wanted, although I suppose in practice if I feel the accommodation is safe enough to leave my passport in it's safe enough to leave money in too. I don't say that I couldn't squeeze more cash into the deuter flip even with the passport, I'm just trying not to overdo it at the moment. I will probably experiment as the trip goes on and may squash some more in before I head out anyway.
0159 Lazily packing a bit and reading onebag and I may actually have a beer, because I'm maybe an idiot. Anyway, although I have been taking a sleep mask with me, I have almost never used it - IIRC when I *did* use it, it was in Guatemala when I'd accidentally stared at the sun a bit and got stressed out about "dazzly patches" in my vision and I wanted to go lie down in the dark. I have just had a quick experiment and I think my bandanna if rolled over on itself four-ish times does a pretty good job at blocking out light (and I could also e.g. trap a sock between the layers). So I am probably going to omit the sleep mask this time and see how I go.
I don't generally get that much use out of the bandanna, TBH, but it is probably worth having. It does (depending on whether I have it on me) definitely function as an emergency head covering to prevent sunburn if I lose my cap and some unlikely-but-vital uses like dipping it in water to act as a better-than-nothing smoke filter in a fire and maybe wrapping a stone in it to make an improvised weapon are vaguely reassuring/intriguing. If I'm not carrying a camera in my trouser leg pocket, having the bandanna in there so it is nearly always with me may be less annoying.
I've also realised (although of course it's not *very* secure, it is at least probably tamper-visible) that I can actually lock the zip on the top pouch of the backpack to an adjacent fabric loop with e.g. one of my combination locks. The main compartment shuts only with some hooks-on-cords and while I do sometimes do a "for looks only, to put off the most casual thief" thing of running a padlock through one of those hooks, they are not remotely secure, even for tamper resistance IIRC. Maybe I realised this about the top pouch before and just forgot, but I'm moderately chuffed with myself for realising this. Part of the reason for lazy packing is experimenting/thinking about how to distribute stuff to give myself some chance of not losing everything - obviously in many situations the pack as a whole will just be stolen, but there are intermediate cases (e.g. it's in my room or next to my bunk and the pack itself is semi-securely chained to a piece of furniture and can't trivially be stolen, but someone could rifle around in it). Plus maybe thinking about this sort of thing appeals to some nerdy "puzzle solving" part of me and/or exercising "control" in this way helps make me feel more comfortable.
I do have a faint dread about the trip but I am also kind of looking forward to it. I definitely wish I didn't have any more prep to do, but maybe I'll learn the lesson next time.
Following onebag's suggestion, I have been carrying a couple of London fridge magnets and some good condition (souvenir, not financial, value) UK coins with me to potentially give out as souvenirs to "people I meet", but I may not take these this time. I have occasionally met people I liked/who were very nice to me who I wouldn't have *minded* giving a souvenir to, but (and I don't think this is just tightness on my part) it always feels like it might be misconstrued or seem a bit naff. I may compromise and take the fridge magnets - at 53g for two they're not absolutely negligible, but not huge, and this does compare to 87g for those plus the coins I was taking so a small saving. Also the fridge magnets are really no use to me, I don't need souvenirs of London - although having lugged them around for five years they do have a tiny sentimental value, I don't think giving them up to someone would be a huge wrench - whereas obviously the coins are of use to me. (In hindsight - not checked blog, as I seldom do and going to try to stop saying this - I can't help wondering why I didn't offer one of the magnets to the airbnb couple in Costa Rica. Maybe I just didn't think about it or maybe I felt it would seem like (not that it would be "meant" to be, but still) an appalling feeble return for all their help. And in general I always wonder "hmm, did these people really like me or were they just nice and do they particularly want some piece of semi-tat as a souvenir to remind them of me?" Probably a minor psychological issue on my part, but maybe there really is something to it. Maybe something to throw into casual conversation with a friend at some point and see if they'd ever give a souvenir in a situation like that.)
I am going to take three rehydration sachets (6g each). Normally I only take one or two, but since I've been told (can't remember if I've ever tested it) these are also good for dealing with hangovers but I've never wanted to "waste" one of such a limited supply (and these seem difficult to buy off the shelf - I don't think I've ever described what I want to a pharmacist, though maybe I have - abroad, so can't be easily replaced) on that, and I'm going to splurge on the weight here. In reality it's also a bit difficult to find a drinking vessel I can pour a suitable measure into and get the fluid into, but I might possibly manage it.
It occurs to me the fridge magnets might destroy some of my stashed debit/credit cards. A quick web search turns up nothing massively authoritative but it looks like chip & PIN cards aren't vulnerable to magnets. At least one of my cards does have what looks like a magnetic strip, presumably as a backup, but this is still vaguely reassuring as I suspect chip & PIN is the main technology used outside the US. But I am still a bit edgy about these fridge magnets, even though I've IIRC had them stashed near some of my cards for ages on previous trips.
I've been taking a couple of rubble sacks with me for ages and never actually used them. Because they are so heavy duty they're quite heavy for what they are, and the fact they have no "handles" (I could possibly cut some in an emergency, though with only nail clippers it might be difficult if I can't borrow some scissors or a knife) also makes me wonder exactly when I might use them. I think the primary idea of these is that they might make an emergency rain cover for the pack. I am probably going to just take one - I will take some ordinary strong carrier bags, which are probably more generally useful - but while it may take a crisis to reveal the value in the rubble sacks, I think one is going to be plenty for this trip.
Charged up noise-cancelling headphones (new ones; I like the old ones but one of the earpieces is unreliable and I didn't really want to cut it open to try to mend the cable and ruin my only pair, or to go on a trip with a possibly iffy repair) earlier though they were already charged, and now doing same with already-charged powerbank.
I have wrapped a fairly large amount of black cotton thread around a bit of card with some slits cut in it (still weighs 0g on my scales) - I forgot, but I do always travel with a tiny bit of thread and a needle (barring it suddenly getting confiscated - but it is allowed last time I checked). But given my home-made trouser pocket zips, the chances of needing to do repairs on the road are perhaps greater than usual, and as I say this weighs virtually nothing. Obviously I'm sure it's possible to buy thread (and needles) over there, but it's the sort of thing that it a lot better to just have right there, and it's nicer not to get stuck with a big reel of cotton or multiples when you don't really need them. If I had more needles I would probably take two, but I appear to possess exactly two and I'm slightly reluctant to take both. I might do though.
I am taking my travel clothesline despite not using it much in CR. I suspect if I have more private rooms (due to cost benefits) in Colombia/Panama it is more likely to get some use. I have never found it as useful as onebag.com makes out - persuasive as it is - but I do see some value in it and I'm not ready to abandon it yet. It's not as if it weighs a lot. (And yes, I do have one made of surgical latex with three strands. Even if it's not actually a Flexo-line. This is my second travel clothesline and I made efforts to buy one as similar to the recommendations as possible, after finding my first one OK but not as great as I'd been lead to expect.)
Reading onebag, I note hydrocortisone is useful for insect bites (to soothe, not to prevent diseases). I did kinda vaguely know this, but since I have also sort of been carrying round a tube of hydrocortisone without really knowing exactly why I should make an effort to bear this in mind.
On a random note (hey, there are some benefits to having a beer or two :-) ), I am wondering if I should take a couple of small disposable water bottles with me instead of a big one. I will naturally aquire biggish ones as I buy bottled water over there, but if I do decide to/end up naturally hanging onto them, small ones might be more helpful in terms of distributing weight, hanging successfully on the outside of my bag (which isn't really equipped for this, as far as I can tell) etc. Yes there is more plastic per unit of water, but not likely that much. And it does open up some scope for experimentation.
0440 Quick check, no update to FCDO Colombia or Panama pages. (I haven't really bothered checking other countries' travel advice for variety so far, but at the moment I'm mainly concerned with "objective" stuff like the existence of coronavirus rules that would probably be equally reported by any other country, rather than subject-to-politics-and-opinion stuff like where's safe, where's not, what to do and not do, etc.) Anyway, phew!
0534 I haven't checked the weather but if I didn't already say, I am aware Bogota might be cool-ish (though probably warmer than the UK), although I guess most of the trip will be at lower altitudes and be pretty warm. I did happen to see when checking time zone different for parents earlier Bogota is about 2500m asl IIRC. Am sure this will be fine, but as per advice on that site I guess when unacclimatised (as I am likely to be even at the end of the trip), probably smart (and indeed near biologically mandated :-) ) to take it easy on things like the Monserrate hike.
0552 On a whim I just went poking around for the "I remember it somewhat vividly" moment when I had my own "travel light, but how?" revelation, and it's here: https://steve-abroad.blogspot.com/2010/04/colonia-and-buenos-aires.html IIRC (not checked beyond that post) that was when I vaguely remembered reading about some weirdos who did travel hand luggage only and had some engineering-ish thoughts of my own ("hmm, maybe you could do X?") and it probably prompted me to do some web searches and find onebag.com later on, probably when I got home.
(Just skimming that post now, there's some lovely time capsule stuff. Back then burning DVDs to save photos was still a sensibile suggestion. And I had a standalone GPS receiver too.)
Incidentally thinking about packing the thread makes me think of generally being in rooms with slightly poor lightning and not being able to see properly. While I can and perhaps should be less frugal with my non-rechargeable AA powered torch, this is also maybe a good reason for taking along my various USB lights to plug into the power bank - they are a zero marginal cost way to throw extra light on whatever I am trying to do, even if the mains lighting is functioning perfectly.
2310 Just checked in online. Pretty smooth really, although the emergency contact section seems to ask for your country code twice and then smushes a duplicate country code into one of the fields it asked you to include it in yourself.
2317 My printer even printed it perfectly, twice.
TfL site says (after turning off Elizabeth Line, then turning off National Rail) it will make ~1h20m to get from home to airport, via District to Earl's Court and change to Piccadilly there. £5.60 anytime. So if we roughly say I want to be at airport 3h before flight, I need to arrive ~1840 and thus "should" leave home about 1730. I will probably leave earlier (although the 3h already allows for some delays), but it's good to know I can leave that late if I want to.
Thu 11th Jan 0009 Rather ineffectually packing. I think I will take 5x2000CRC bills, this is about £15 so the extra risk of loss isn't huge, and if I do find myself visiting CR it will mean I at least don't have to worry about having only big bills. Hmm, this feels silly (albeit not that big a deal). If I am going to CR I will be going there from Panama, where the USD is the currency, and I know from experience that USD is widely accepted in CR especially in tourist situations. So no, I won't take any CRC. If I am in Panama and deciding to head to CR I can always make a point of trying to build up an extra stash of small US bills, and I do have a few already and will not spend them gratuituously even in Panama.
0243 I need to go to bed; despite utterly failing to do so today, I really want to be up almost stupidly early tomorrow to have plenty of time to hang aroud at home and maybe triple check stuff and perhaps do a bit of final sewing on one pair of travel trousers. I am going to post this from the K1 as a test, and anything I write tomorrow will be a separate post.
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