Just completed, 3 continent voyages with 35 days of travel, covering 7 countries, changing 12 time zones, using 7 SIM cards and 6 unique currencies with a team of passionate travelers.
Travel itinerary was something like this, which went as per plan.
Melbourne ->> Hawaii ->> Los Angeles->> Las Vegas ->> Mexico City ->> Cancún ->> San Jose ->> Manual Antonio ->> La Fortuna ->> Monteverde ->> Bogota ->> Lima ->> Cusco ->> Machu Picchu ->> Panama ->> San Francisco->> Papeete ->> Auckland->> Melbourne
I am taking this opportunity to write a few highlights from our month-long travel around North, Central and South America and the experiences we had.
1. Without any doubt, Machu Picchu was best pick of this trip with its beautiful landscape and the history behind it. Well preserved, remote, spiritual, sustainable and the wildlife around, gave this place additional points to be at the top of any travel bucket list.
2. Next on this list is Costa Rica with its diverse biodiversity, more than USA and Canada combined. Amazing birds, mammals, reptiles, snakes and what not. This country is a biodiversity hotspot (with more than 5% of our beloved planet). And don’t forget warm water to dip at Pacific Ocean at any given time. The most exciting part of Costa Rica were the wild adventures including white water rafting, crocodile, and birdwatching cruise (spotting Macaws, Toucans and more than 30 other diverse bird species), Arenal volcano hike, jungle night walk, cliff diving, surfing lessons at Manual Antonio, cloud forests walkthrough hanging bridges and many more to count.
3. Another highlight was the French Polynesian islands at Papeete and Moorea with great wildlife to spot underwater and swim with Mantra Rays, Black tip sharks, turtles, colorful corals, fishes, and lot of other sea creatures. It was a thriving ecosystem of sea life underneath at these islands.
4. Remotely located picturesque San Blas archipelago (group of islands) in the Caribbean Sea at Panama with amazing ocean colors and sea life with natural pools. Just blew our minds with scenery around.
5. Panama Canal – an engineering marvel, built more than a century ago, and yet still functions so beautifully and perfectly- it has been a fortune cookie for Panama as a country, which has reaped benefits from the Canal and developed immensely due to its strategic location.
6. Other special mentions on this list are the Wonder of World Chichen Itzá, which is still standing tall with glimpses of Mayan civilization, natural wonders of The Grand Canyon at USA, Hanauma bay (explored through snorkeling) at Hawaii, Hoover Dam at USA, Incan history at Cusco, Teotihuacan pyramids at Mexico and Cenotes (natural sink hole) at Cancun, Mexico
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| Moorea island - French Polynesia |
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| Grand Canyon, USA |
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| Glamorous - Las Vegas |
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| Engineering marvel - Hoover Dam, USA |
Few words for cities we covered:
1. Los Angeles – Fashion, Hollywood and Traffic
2. Las Vegas – Glamorous and Flashy
3. Mexico City – Spicy food, cable cars as public transport and Mexicans know how to party hard.
4. Bogota – Mountainous on one side of city, history, street art/graffiti, coffee, pioneer of bus transport system
5. San Franisco – Waterfront and Golden Gate
6. Lima – Chaos, Waterfront and Spanish colonial touch
7. San Jose – IT companies’ hub at Central America.
8. Panama City – Layered architecture and culture with Spanish, French and American
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| Shaved Ice - Hawaii |
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| Historical Cusco - Peru |
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| Golden Gate - San Francisco |
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| San Blas Islands - Panama |
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| Lima, Peru |
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| Traditional Peruvians |
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| Venomous Snake - Costa Rica |
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| Pacific Ocean - Costa Rica |
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| White face monkey - Costa Rica |
And awards we ranked as a team:
1. Airlines – Air Tahiti Nui for services, food and entertainment on flight
2. Hotel – Real Inn at Cancun for waterfront and huge swimming pool next to café.
3. Beer – Modela with Michelada recipe (Spicy Mexican beer and tomato juice cocktail)
4. Food – Casado (Traditional Costa Rican food)
5. Coffee – Juan Valdez at Bogota
6. City – Mexico city for vibe
7. Airport – Mexico city NLP (new airport), big, clean and beautiful writings in rest rooms around Mexican history and culture.
8. Restaurant – Maxie at Las Vegas and La Casa De Tono at Mexico City.
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| Japanese Temple - Hawaii |
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| Do i need to say - where it is? |
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| Wonder of the World - Machu Picchu, Peru |
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| Honolulu skyline - USA |
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| Wonder of the World - Chichen Itza, Mexico |
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| Historical plaza - Bogota, Colombia |
Don’t forget lessons learnt from the trip:
1. SIM card – Try using e-sim instead of procuring physical sim for each country.
2. Cash – Don’t carry too much cash. International travel card works efficiently in most of the big cities.
3. Bookings – Make bookings in advance specially during peak season. We missed on couple of activities due to delay in booking.
Special thanks
1. Alberto - for showing us Mexico City and initial lessons on Spanish language.
2. Jamie - who paved way for us to see Machu Picchu
3. Pravin and Anushree - our ideal hosts at Los Angeles
4. Rachit and Swati - showing us best of San Francisco in less than 12 hours.
5. Leo, Cesar and Chamo – knowledgeable and sharing Costa Rican stories.
6. Brendon - Grand Canyon tour guide and he was not 'that' guy.
7. Alex - can’t have better guide than him to show beautiful life underneath water at French Polynesian islands with innovative ways of snorkeling.
8. Sandra - our Mexican friend who introduced us to Alberto, pre-Spanish food and spicy beer.
This was my share of experience, please do ask any travel advice for this part of planet. I am more than willing to share my experiences, information around local guides and travel plans (with rough estimate around budget).
Gracias and Pura Vida everyone for reading it and become part of journey with us, with mission of 50 countries by 2025
#travelpassionison #50by2025 #australia #costarica
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