Some times you have to appreciate the little things in life....

Like when you're on a flight to Amsterdam, and spill your apple juice into your lap.. In this situation there is really only one thing to do - be grateful that you didn't spill the hot tea that was sitting right next to the apple juice!

Another good thing about appreciating the little things, is that the bigger things seem even more grand.

This weekend I went to Amsterdam to see Hanson live at the Paradiso. Of course, it's not my first show, but it was my first real concert seeing as the only things I've done before are the 2009 Tulsa MOE and the NYC 5 of 5. And there is a difference. There is a huge difference!

Going to a plain, normal concert is something I've been waiting to do since 1997, so I guess you could say it was way overdue. Luckily, all the little things and all the big things made this first concert a night to remember.

A couple of days before the concert I got an email saying I had gotten one of the 14 meet&greets for Amsterdam, and of course I was completely extatic! Even more nerves on top of what I was allready experiencing, but who cares about that?! Meeting Hanson is worth all the nerves in the world! But we'll get to that..

Getting to Amsterdam was resonably easy - Schiphol is close to the city center, and I manage to find my way to the couchsurf host I was to be staying with without any difficulty. Luckily, he turned out to be as weird (/mental) as me, which made for a very interesting and fun weekend - even outside the concert.

I spent Friday morning walking around Amsterdam, pretty strung up before my M&G and the concert, but still managed to take in some of the sites and even make room for some sushi in between all the butterflies in my stomach. After seeing my share of canals, leaning houses and coffeeshops, I decided it was time to make my was towards Paradiso and my fellow fans. What if I got there and realised the other M&G'ers were completely horrible??

Well... Safe to say that wasn't the case!! After recognizing the line outside Paradiso as fansons, I made my way through he crowd - looking for any familiar faces. Yeah, not easy when you only know people from facebook. So I took a shot, walked up to a girl and asked her if she knew my danish facebook-fanson-friend. As it turned out, she was standing right next to me and we ended up chatting until close to doors.

Even better, hanging out with her and her friends, I also ended up meeting most of the other M&G'ers. And what do you know - they turned out to be some of the coolest girls I've ever come across! I don't care if you're Croatian, Brazilian, Dutch or Marsian for that matter - we stand united in Hanson! We ended up having a great time waiting for our M&G, and of course an even better time when the finally let us in.

We were made to wait in the lobby, and few minutes later Hanson walked in. No screaming, no running - we were all very sivilized. Hanson handed out both hugs and signatures all around, and I even plucked up the courage to show Taylor my tattoo. The feeling of meeting Hanson like that is something I don't think I could ever explain to a non-fanson, so I'm not even gonna bother. The only thing you need to know is that it was completely awesome, and I was over the moon when they led us into the venue for the concert.

Which leads me to the next big thing - the front row. Oh yeah. Getting a M&G doesn't only mean meeting the band, but also getting into the venue before everyone else, and thus getting the absolute best spots in the entire place. I ended up right in front of Taylor, and let me tell you, I wouldn't have traded that spot for anything in the world! Through the entire concert I was all smiles (and screams of course), and I just couldn't have enjoyed it more. Sharing it with the amazing M&G'ers at front row just made it even better.

Since there are pictures and videos posted all over facebook and youtube, I'm not going to describe the concert in detail. It should suffice to say it was the absolute best concert I have ever seen/heard, and that the withdrawals will be strong for months to come!

After he concert I had a chance to meet up with the Norwegian fansons who had also come the oh-so-long way from Norway for Hanson. Waiting for Zac, and then later Taylor was cold and killing my feet, but still so worth it. More pictures, more signatures. More of a Hanson-fix for me.

Will you belive I had trouble sleeping when I got back to the appartment after that experience? Still, I did manage after a while and slept like a contented kitten until the next morning.

I spent Saturday exploring more of Amsterdam by foot, some of the day with the awesome Norwegian fansons. I even managed to do a little shopping, despite a tight budget and an even tighter backpack. Another sushi meal, another few km on foot and several canals later I again met up with my host, and he showed me some of the, well, murkier parts of Amsterdam. There is just no way around it - on your first visit to Amsterdam, you kinda have to experience the red light district. Being a Norwegian, it was definetly somewhat of a culture shock, but hey - that's why I travel!

Sooo.. To sum up. A weekend in Amsterdam brought me some amazing new friends, a wonderful musical experience, and a couple of new impressions that I don't think I could have gotten anywhere else. And the little things? They definetly made the big things even bigger - what a weekend!!

Once upon a time...

... there was a girl who had too much fun traveling to update her blog.

The End.

.... for now

New place, new country.

After more than six weeks, I'm outside Thailand again!

The last few days in sothern Thailand have been rainy and not at all the beach paradise we'd been hoping for, so now we have high hopes that Malaysia will deliver what Thailand didn't. So far it's been a tiresome journey. From riding on the back of a scooter in the rain, with two backpacks and a bag when going to the hotel in Phuket to the seriously tubulent flight from Phuket to KL. Luckily the flight from KL to Kota Bharu was more pleasant, and we found a taxi and a guest house easily enough.

So far we've only had a little walk around town, some dinner and are planning on taking a walk through the night market a little later. Our taxi to Perenthian leaves at 8.00 in the morning, so no late night tonight.

I was planning on transferring some pictures today as well, but seeing as the computer at the guesthouse sounds like a jet engine taking off I'll be postponing that for later.

Now I think it's time for a stretch on my bed, before checking out some more night market delights! No bugs this time.....

Bye bye Railey!

And just like that we've left another place...

We got to Railey on Monday, looking forward to some more peace and quiet after the packed conditions of Phi Phi. Turns out Railey is definetly peaceful and quiet during the day, and unless you're interested in doing rock climbing ther really isn't all that much to do in day time. Of course, night time is a whole other story.

We got some flyers advertising a fire show, and decided to check it out, even after having seen the one at Phi Phi several times. Turns out the guys at Raileys Last Bar, allthough not as hunky looking, are even better at juggling fire than the guys at Phi Phi. Very impressive! The youngest guy there is only 16, and put on a crazy show. Pictures and video to come as soon as I get to transfer from my camera again.

At Railey we stayed at the Yaya resort, where we payed 350 baht for a room that was definelty better than the one at Phi Phi. No Gustav either. We spent most of our day time at the beach, all though some heavy rain showers cut our beachtime short some days. Still nice, and still an amazing place to be. Quite sure I'll be going back there one day.

Right now we're back in Phuket, staying in a very nice hotel that even has hot water in the shower! What a splurge! For 500 baht, it is actually almost a splurge, but soo worth it after a long day of travelling from Railey. One longtail boat and three minibuses, and two very uncomfortable stops to wait for the next bus along the way. So glad to be done with that!

Tomorrow we're heading out to the airport early, to catch our 8.15 flight to Kuala Lumpur, where we're transferring to Kota Bharu. Hopefully once we get there we'll be able to catch the last boat out to Perenthian. Crossing fingers for that.

Now it's time to get some sleep, next update; Malaysia!

Phi Phi Island report

From Chiang Mai we flew to Phuket to go directly to Phi Phi the following morning. Getting here well before noon on Monday we had enough time to get to know the place and to check out the beach. And after staying at the temple for a month, and then travelling around for a few days the laid back feeling of Phi Phi was just what the doctor ordered.

We've been staying at a nice little guest house called Harmony House. The room is 350 baht a night (less than 50NOK per person), and the guest house located a little way away from the beach and the "bar centre" which means it's pretty quiet and not to mention safe. The room was a pretty typical standard from what I've come to expect from guest houses in Thailand. No aircon (that'll just give you a cold anyway), no hot water in the shower (who needs that when the ocean is warm??) and a little house pet we decided to name Gustav (cockroaches aren't my favorite pets, but I'm not one to be picky).

The beaches are pale sand and the water is (mostly) a clear green blue. Perfect for lazy days just chilling out with a book. We've spent most of our beach time on the closest beach at Loh Dalam Bay, but also high jacked a long tail boat to take us out to Long Beach one morning.

Yesterday we did one of the mandatory tours of the surrounding area, where we among other places visited Maya Beach, made famous by the movie The Beach. Incredibly gorgeous, as was the other places we visited on our sunset cruice.

The nights here at Phi Phi are spent at some of the most amazing beach parties ever known to man. It starts out with a fire show, and ends in loud music and hordes of people dancing in the sand. Though it's been a lot of fun, getting to Ray Leh for a bit of relaxing probably won't be the worst thing right now.

Which brings me to our plans from here.. We're leaving for Ray Leh today, and plan to stay there for a few days before moving on. Our initial plans were to go to Cambodia after the south of Thailand, but after some consideration of time and financial matters we've decided to go to Malaysia instead. I've never been there either, so another notch in the belt for me countrywise.

Aaaan, that should be all for now. Might come back with more news from Ray Leh. :)

Chiang Mai jungle flight!

It's been a while since I've sat down by a computer, so please forgive me if I leave something out...

We spent our last day in Chiang Mai at the Jungle Flight treetop adventures. This is basically a web of ziplines connecting to different platforms high in the jungle canopy. And let me tell you, it's awesome!!!

The longest of the ziplines is around 300m high, and actually gives you a view of the jungle all the way to Burma. You do move pretty fast though, so there's not really all that much time to enjoy the view. Especially when you take into account that the highest of the ziplines is a staggering 120m above ground. For me, having a slight fear of hights, that was a challenge. But when I did throw myself over the edge of that platform it was without a doubt worth it!

We also did a few abseils, where the longest was a 40m drop straight down. What a thrill!

Definetly one of the most fun days I've had in a looong time, and I'm positive I'll do it again if I ever go back to Chiang Mai. If you're ever in the area - check it out! http://www.jungle-flight.com/

Chiang Mai night market delights

One of my favorite things about markets is the food. I'm not going to lie to you, I enjoy the shopping as well, but the food is something else entirely.

Yesterday we decided to try what Chiang Mai's night market had to offer.

I started with something safe and well known, namely chicken livers. I love the way they cook them in a nice sticky sauce on the tiny little wooden sticks. Ten livers, 15 baht - kept me going for a while.

Next out we had to try something sweet, and went for the waffles with chocolate and condenced milk. To be honest I think I could have eaten quite a few more of those!

Right by the waffle stall I spotted a stall selling sushi, and instantly decided that eating sushi from a market stall in Thailand would be a very bad idea indeed. Which I ended up filling up a tray. Twice. And let me tell you, that 90 baht worth of sushi was my best desicion yesterday. Completely yummy!

ne thing I had promised myself I would not eat on this trip was bugs... But when faced with a dare, how can one refuse?? We bumped into two guys from our guesthouse, and one of them had a bag of crickets with him, and pretty much dared me to taste one. I had to think about that one a little longer than the sushi, but eventually chewed and swallowed the little critter. No, it didn't taste good but it wasn't completely disgusting either. I did have to drink an entire bottle of water tp get it down, and then a butterscotch coffee frappe to get rid of the taste.

All in all, some experiences richer, and definetly that bug point crossed off my list!

Chiang Mai so far

We got to the train station in Chiang Mai somewhere around 6.30 this morning. 11 hours on a train was not what my body had ordered, and I was tired and pretty much stiff as a board.

We found a taxi right outside and told him to take us to a guest house we found in the Lonely Planet guide. So he did, or so we thought.. We arrived at what we thought was the right guest house, only to be surprised by the price that was pretty much 3 times what we expected. Since it was now 6.40 am and we had no tuk tuk we just decieded to stay, since we're just staying the one night anyway. The place is nice and clean and the night marked is pretty much right down the street from here.

We've now booked a zip-line tour tomorrow (www.jungle-flight.com), and I can't wait to try that! So far today, we've walked around the city, had brunch in a middle eastern restaurant (I had the chicken chawarma, YUM!), got a foot massage (where I nearly fell asleep) and then had a couple of hours relaxation in our room before doing som picture transfers and blog updating.

Right now we're starting to get ready for the night marked and hopefully an early night as we're being picked up between 6.30 and 7.00 tomorrow for the zip-line. Can't wait!! :)

Changing plans.. And then changing them again!

After a month at the temple, I've now started my somewhat aimless travelling with June by my side.

Our plan was to go to Ayutthaya yesterday, preferably by bus from Kanchanaburi, early in the morning. That plan fell through as the only minibus leaving Kanchan left at 1.30pm. Too late we decided. Since the plan was to go to Chian Mai with the night train after spending the day in Ayutthaya, we decided we might as well go directly there in stead. Sooo.. Tickets were booked to Bangkok, and we arrived at Khao San Road with hopes high and stomachs empty. A quick stop by KFC took care of the last bit, and some heavy rain shopping just got our spirits even higher. We weren't exactly thrilled we had to stop by Bangkok, but it turns out it wasn't so bad after all.

After that short visit to the backpacker centre of Bangkok we headed to the train station to get our tickets to Chiang Mai. We knew the train should be leaving at 8pm and had lots of time. Actually, it turns out we had a lot more time than we had expected.... When we got to the train station we quickly found out that all trains and buses to Chiang Mai were fully booked because of todays election. So, what now??

We tried to find out when the next option would be, and after realizing it wouldn't be until the following evening we decided we had to do something else. We didn't want to spend the night in Bangkok, but going to Chiang Mai was definetly not an option.

Well, we decided it was fate, and got a ticket to Ayutthaya in stead! Again, after finding the right platform we nearly ended up in the wrong place - as we managed to get on the wrong train to god knows where. Luckly we asked some neighbour passengers and they told us to get off quickly before the train started moving.

The right train did leave eventually. Almost an hour late and freezingly cold, but it did get us there.

So, we've spent today walking around the temple city of Aytthaya. We saw some of the temples from atop an elephant, and then walked until our feet got sore. We still have some hours until out train leaves for Chiang Mai, and we're trying to spend it relaxing, definetly not letting our feet getting any sorer.

Next update: Chiang Mai!

Still here..

Friday's blog;

So, some updates since last time.

I got my computer fixed, thanks to Bird. I have no idea what he did, but it was obviosly something right. Allthough that is no longer a problem, the internet here at the temple can be a little on and off and so it's hard to actually plan to update the blog.

And in other news.. I guess it was about a week ago I got a nice little bite on my lower arm from a little girl called Sang Rowie. She didn't really want to go to breakfast, and she told me by nibbling me. No biggie though, it's almost gone allready.

The past week we've also been taking our group of about 10 tigers out to play several times in the hour before lunch. They get to run around freely, play with each other, with us and with whatever else they can find in the enclosures. They are LOVING it! Most days the babies from last year; Lucky III, Happy, Money and Vayo also get to go out and play, sometimes with some of the older tigers, like Saifa, Nit Noy or Lucky II. A lot of fun seeing them all run around like crazy!

Other than that it's been pretty quiet here. I'm having some trouble sleeping at the moment, because I keep getting too cold at night. Tonight I'm planning on bringing an extra blanket, cause I'm way to lazy to get up and out from my mosquitonet to turn the fan off.

Tomorrow we're going out for dinner, which I'm really looking forward to. Most days dinner is a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter or nutella, and some real food is going to be just perfect!

I was going to put some pictures in this blog, but because of the slightly moody internet connection that will have to wait for next time.

Still here..

So, some update since last time.

I got my computer fixed, thanks to Bird. I have no idea what he did, but it was obviosly something right. Allthough that is no longer a problem, the internet here at the temple can be a little on and off and so it's hard to actually plan to update the blog.

And in other news.. I guess it was about a week ago I got a nice little bite on my lower arm from a little girl called Sang Rowie. She didn't really want to go to breakfast, and she told me by nibbling me. No biggie though, it's almost gone allready.

The past week we've also been taking our group of about 10 tigers out to play several times in the hour before lunch. They get to run around freely, play with each other, with us and with whatever else they can find in the enclosures. They are LOVING it! Most days the babies from last year; Lucky III, Happy, Money and Vayo also get to go out and play, sometimes with some of the older tigers, like Saifa, Nit Noy or Lucky II. A lot of fun seeing them all run around like crazy!

Other than that it's been pretty quiet here. I'm having some trouble sleeping at the moment, because I keep getting too cold at night. Tonight I'm planning on bringing an extra blanket, cause I'm way to lazy to get up and out from my mosquitonet to turn the fan off.

Tomorrow we're going out for dinner, which I'm really looking forward to. Most days dinner is a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter or nutella, and some real food is going to be just perfect!

I was going to put some pictures in this blog, but because of the slightly moody internet connection that will have to wait for next time.

Dead computer....

And on my third day here no less!

Well, I guess this is a chance for me to learn how to live without it for a little bit. A lesson I'm not too keen on learning to tell you the truth.

Anyhow. Today is my day off, and I'm currently in Kanchanaburi where I'm enjoying different kinds of food (like chicken wings, mmmm), a nice bed and a shower that works properly. The only thing missing down here is the tigers really. And for my next day off there is a good chance I'll just stay at the temple and play tourist for the day. Get some tiger time, some good photos and just enjoy.

Up to now the experience of the tiger temple has been pretty much the same as last year, the biggest difference being some new people. And they all seem like nice people so all the better.

The cubs we walk to the sala this year are 4-6 months, while last year we had 2 month olds. These guys are a little bit more action, a little easier to walk and of course a little bigger. And I'm enjoying it alot!!

The tourists are mostly the same as last year as well. A lot of nice people, some stupid people and some people who never should have been there in the first place. But it's their choice I guess, so I'll just try to focus on the nice ones.

This blog will probably be updated whenever I have internet access, which might be at random times from now on. Fingers crossed for getting the computer to work again!

First day (again)

So, today was my first real day back. And it does feel like I never even left, and I LOVE it! The tigers from last year are a lot bigger of course, and I don't yet know the ones that are small now, but except from that this could just as easily have been July 2010.

The breakfast this morning consisted of rice and chili sauce, with a small bag of vegetables and pork on the side. And of course - the mandatory watermelon for dessert. The chili sauce was just as good as last year, and my stomach was just as angry at me afterwards as it was last year. At breakfast I got to spend a lot of time with a real cutie, Way Ha II. Not sure how old he is, but he is a real sweet little guy, so hoping to get to know him a little better.

My job today after breakfast was cleaning behind the cages. All though it's kinda messy and smelly, I actually quite like it. It gives you a lot of face time with the bigger tigers, which I definetly need after being away for so long. Hard to remember names as faces!

I spent enrichment watching some of the bigger tigers playing outside (among others, Happy and Money from "our" babies last year), and then cuddling the month olds before having some lunch at noodle town.

This afternoon was also my first time back in the canyon, and even though crowd control can be a bitch I loved it! It is soo good to be back.

Right now it's about 5.30pm, which means I've allready had a shower, changed into clean clothes and just waiting for it to be time to go to meditation. Last night me and Tine didn't have to do meditation because of all the organizing and unpacking we had to do, so that will be another seconds first today. And I'm actually looking forward to it. :)

Finishing off with some pics of our bathroom/shower. Enjoy!

Counting down

Two more days. TWO! Today is Sunday, which means that in less than 48 hours I'll have finished my exam and will be on a plane headed for Amsterdam. Yes - that does give me butterflies!

I've finished packing (I think?), and I have a list of some last minute things I need to add to my carry on. Should mean I'm not going to forget anything essensial this time either, but you never know. The good thing is that Thailand is pretty cheap, and you can find pretty much anything you need at either Tesco Lotus or at one of the many markets. So.. Fingers crossed for no larger emergencies.

I should be arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport sometime before 1pm local time on wednesday, which means somewhere around 7am Norwegain time. I've allready booked a car to come pick me up so that I don't lose too much time getting to Kanchanaburi. After all, I have quite a list of stuff to get when I finally get there - such as a mosquito net and a matress, which are things I'm not very interested in being without even for a week.

Another thing is that my Norwegian friend, Tine, will arrive some hours ahead of me and I'm really looking forward to start showing her the wonder that is Kanchanaburi! Last year I didn't know a single soul before going to the temple, and this year I'm lucky enough to share the month with a good friend! Of course, this time around I'm super excited to come back to all the awesome people at the tiger temple as well.

And if that wasn't enough... After Tine and I finish our month at the temple, we will be joined by June - another past tiger temple volunteer and travelling wizz extraordinaire!

The three of us will head to Ayutthaya first, then further on to Chiang Mai before heading south to Phi Phi Islands for some nice long days in the sun. Tine will be heading home on July 17, which gives me and June another two weeks to explore southern Thailand and hopefully some parts of Cambodia as well. We haven't planned too much just yet - which is some of the fun of backpacking, but we have booked our flights from Chiang Mai to Phuket, just to be sure we get the flight we want and don't end up stuck in the north for too long.

Sooo.. That's about it for now. I'll try to update my blog as much as possible, and for anyone interested in reading more, Tine and June will be blogging as well.

June: http://adventuresofjune2.blogspot.com/

Tine: http://tinebloggis.blogspot.com/

The times they are a-changin'...

By popular demand (by which I mean a couple of people who've asked me why I don't blog in english), my blog from this year's stay at the tiger temple will be in english.

That way I can refer more people to it when they ask about my experiences, and I won't have to do separate updates in english. Win-win I hope!

So, today is Saturday, which means there's now only TEN days left 'til I'm on a plane headed for Bangkok. I have an exam that same day - so no doubt about that being the most stressful day I've had in a while.... Still, pretty sure it'll be worth it and more. After all, there are tigers and travelling involved!

For now I need to get back to studying, packing and planning, but in about twelve days this blog will hopefully once again be full of tigers, monks and Thailand fun!

Farvel Buenos Aires!

Da var eventyret over for denne gang... Nå sitter jeg på bussen på vei mot Santiago, og mørket senker seg i det jeg skriver. I morgen ettermiddag er vi tilbake i Chile, og ha da bare noen timer før flyet til Lima går tidlig onsdag morgen. Med venting og videre fly betyr dette rundt tre døgn reising – noe jeg ikke akkurat ser frem mot. Det er noe annet med hjemreise enn bare reise, det er helt sikkert!

Heldigvis har jeg fått oppleve mye utrolig på denne turen, i tillegg til at jeg har fått et solid grunnlag for masteroppgaven min. Jeg har møtt mange flott mennesker, bygget nettverk og hatt det mye gøy.

Aller mest kommer jeg nok til å savne Huinay, men også Buenos Aires var trist å forlate nå i ettermiddag. Jeg gleder meg til neste gang livet tar meg i retning Sør-Amerika – jeg tror jeg har mange spennende opplevelser igjen på dette kontinentet!

Kjøtt!

Storfekjøtt!

I dag har vi hatt en sløv dag i Buenos Aires, og avsluttet kvelden med grillbuffet på en koselig, lokal restaurant. Spis så mye du vil for rundt 50-lappen, med stort utvalg av ulike typer grillet kjøtt, tilbehør og dessert.

Jeg spiste meg goood og mett på (svært lite stekt) storfekjøtt, med påfølgende karamellis. Mmmmm! Beste måltidet jeg har spist på veldig veldig lenge!

Over pampasen

Nå er vi på vei over den Argentiske pampasen, og landskapet er helt spektakulært. Etter det relativt kalde, grønne og frodige Patagonia er det rart å så plutselig befinne seg midt i et landskap som nesten like gjerne kunne vært utenomjordisk. Joda, det vokser busker og gress her, og budskap går løs ute på de åpne slettene, men det er allikevel ulikt noe annet jeg tidligere har sett.

Lyset over slettene er lysebrunt med en økende gråtone ettersom vi kjører lengre og lengre inn i det møtende uværet. Ser jeg ut det ene sidevinduet på bussen kan jeg fortsatt se blå himmel, hvite skyer og siste rest av gylne solstråler, mens på den andre siden ligger skyene tung, tette og nesten lilla. Det lyner med jevne mellomrom, og hvert lynglimt skjærer igjennom skylaget og lyser opp pampasen under.

På visse måter minner landskapet om den sørlige amerikanske ørkenen, men allikevel gir pampasen en følelse av noe helt annet. Det virker villere, kraftigere og tøffere.

På tross av den noe ugjestmilde følelsen pampasen gir fra seg kunne jeg godt tenke meg å tilbringe mer tid her nede. Jeg ser for meg at å gjete budskap fra hesteryggen her ute i den barske naturen ville vært en opplevelse for livet; hardt, vondt og utrolig spennende!

Nå siger lukten av regn inn i bussen, og vi er nesten helt inne i det lillagrå uværet som venter. Kraftige lysglimt kryper nærmere inn fra horisonten og det ser ut som vi snart kommer til å få oppleve tordenstormen på nært hold.

En route!

Dette innlegget skriver jeg mens jeg sitter på bussen mellom Bariloche og Buenos Aires, men grunnet null internett på bussen blir det selvsagt ikke postet før i Buenos Aires.

Turen fra Puerto Montt til Bariloche gikk veldig greit, og jeg fikk tilogmed sove noen små lurer på veien over Andesfjellene. Litt bortkastet kan man kanskje si, men dessverre var vi ikke helt heldige med været, så Andesfjellene viste seg nok ikke fra sin aller beste side i dag. Alilkevel fikk jeg sett mye flott natur på veien over, og jeg må ærlig innrømme at overfarten var litt annerledes enn jeg hadde forventet. Nå klarer jeg ikke helt å sette ord på hva jeg forventet heller, men det var uten tvil flott landskap og uvant natur.

Og noe trege grensepasseringer. Ja, for to må det selvsagt være. En FRA Chile og en TIL Argentina. På tross av 1,5 times forsinkelse rakk vi heldigvis både å hente billetter og å komme oss på bussen videre og jeg er nå klar for over 20 timer i et bussete.

Siden vi nå allerede er en dag forsinket har jeg bestemt meg for å droppe Uruguay denne gangen, og heller satse på å få mest mulig ut av Buenos Aires. Heldigvis fikk vi med oss mange gode tips fra Klaudia før vi dro, så jeg er helt sikker på at vi skal klare å fylle tiden.

Enn så lenge har jeg ikke fått noen i setet ved siden av meg, så jeg forsøker å nyte «friheten» så lenge det varer. Ut ifra setekartet på nettet blir bussen stappfull til slutt, så jeg får bare håpe at min sidemann ikke er totalt i mot personlig hygiene, overforbruker av parfyme eller har issues med andres personal space. Fingers crossed!

*sukk* Transportfrustrasjon!

Noen ganger bør man bare gjøre som man hadde tenkt....

Vi bestemte oss for å ikke bestille bussbilletter på nettet fra Huinay, men heller bare dra på stasjonen her i Puerto Montt. Lurt? Nope!

0815-bussen gikk fra oss siden det ikke var noen i luken på morgenen, og det var ingen ledige seter på busser til Bariloche i dag. Etter litt om og men fikk vi bestilt billetter i morgen tidlig, men ingen kunne hjelpe oss med billetter videre til Buenos Aires. De to selskapene som betjener den ruten hadde tydeligvis bedre ting å gjøre i dag, enn å betjene lukene på stasjonen.

Så da endte vi opp med å måtte bestille på nett allikevel, og vi sitter nå med tre nettbilletter som er betalt, men som vi ikke vet hvordan vi skal få ut ettersom navnet på kredittkortet som ble brukt ikke tilhører noen av oss som skal reise, og vi må møte opp to timer før avreise for å hente billettene. Vi er etter planen på stasjonen 2,5 timer før og det er dersom bussen herifra er i rute!

Vi har forsøkt å ringe kontoret, sende mail (på et kontaktskjema som ikke fungerer), og siste mulighet for å få kontakt virker nå å være luken på stasjonen om de skulle bestemme seg for å åpne den igjen i løpet av dagen.

Håper virkelig dette går i orden nå! Har ikke lyst til å være stuck i hverken Bariloche eller Puerto Montt!