For people who have been on this tour before, can you please tell me how it went? I'm planning on going April 2009. I've never been to South America so this is going to be an advetnure.!

Ciao!

Ed, I have not done the tour, but have been to all the places, except Manaus, are you taking the pre-tour extension? it seems worthwhile. Great shopping in Buenos Aires, the weather should be fine, except Bariloche-Puerto Montt, most likely windy, cold and snowy, Puerto Montt is close to the volcano that's is still erupting, maybe you get to see it. Nice tour, it combines great cities and beautiful places, have a great time.

Hi Ed
I haven't done this tour either but travelled there a couple of months ago on a 'work' study tour. Iguassu Falls is incredible, one of the most amazing sights I have seen. Rio was great, a lot of fun and the views from Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf are fantastic. Didn't enjoy Buenos Aires as much but that could have been due to the thick smoke sitting over the entire city (thanks to the farmers). Made our eyes burn, clothes stink and some of our outings were cancelled. Also made it difficult to see more than 50m ahead. Great place for buying leather goods. My husband went to a football game at the local Boca homeground (Maradona's club) and loved it. Hope you like meat because that's the speciality, the bigger the better!

Oh, yes, Augusta I forgot to mention the food, loved those "churrasquerias" in Brasil and Iguazu. the shows were good also. The lamb in Patagonia is very, very tasty, I hope Ed gets to try it. Too bad you could not enjoy Buenos Aires, I read about the smoke in the city. Another interesting aspect of Buenos Aires is that almost always you'll find some protesters or people in strike, it's very similar to Italy on this.

Hi Californian and Augusta,

Thanks for your comments. I will chaperone my parents on this tour. They are getting excited and so am I. The past seven years, I've focused my travels on Europe.

I heard a lot of good things about Buenos Aires. Thanks for the heads up regarding the smoke. I have really bad allergies so I have to be ready for anything that may aggravate it. I have been to a couple of restaurants here in Vancouver that serve Brazilan or Argentinian barbecue, they are really good, but too much for me to eat in one sitting.

I just read about Puerto Montt and the volcano, that would be so cool. I know that it will be quite cold in Bariloche but I heard the town is quite pretty. I imagine to look at bit like the Swiss Alps..

We will not get the pre-tour extension. The 17 day trip is long enough for my parents. When I chaperoned them to Europe 5 years ago, the 21 day trip was too much for them. They don't want to go for more than 2 weeks at a time.

I am also excited about the day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, which is a UNESCO Heritage site.

This sounds like a trip we would like to take, but unfortunately it is not offered on the Trafalgar website in New Zealand. Does anyone know if we could still do it with Trafalgar?

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This sounds like a trip we would like to take, but unfortunately it is not offered on the Trafalgar website in New Zealand. Does anyone know if we could still do it with Trafalgar?

We did SAm with another company. This tour was not on their NZ web site. We ended up booking it through Affordable. But if you wish go to your NZ TA, give them the details of the TT that you want to do and explain which web site it is on I'm sure they will be able to book it. It usually just takes a phone call for them to check out the details/costs. Be prepared for a 'blank look' from your TA. If they are unable/unwilling to do it, you can do it yourself through another country eg: Affordable. When looking at tours we now check out other country's options to find a tour we want not just NZ's.

If your need any further help with this let me know We have a great NZ TA and I'm sure she will come to your aid if you get into difficulties. We do most of our contact via email.

I didn't know that Affordable Tours accepts bookings outside the USA.

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I didn't know that Affordable Tours accepts bookings outside the USA.

I didn't occur to us that they wouldn't

We had not problems at all with working with them and our contact was most helpful sorting out things when one of our tours was canceled. Most contact was done via email and I made one short (pre arranged) phone call to give my CC details to them.

There was a element of risk for us by going this way as we were unable to take out 'cancellation insurance' but it did save us $NZ3,000 even with the extra expense involved with the cancellation fees on air fares.

It's unlikely that we will do it in the next couple of years as I am planning another trip to Europe (hopefully next year) first. We are planning to do as much travel further afield as we are able to do and do the closer to home trips after that. But thanks for the info Cottontail.

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We are planning to do as much travel further afield as we are able to do and do the closer to home trips after that.

As we are FK

However the news announced this week re Dominion on top of others has thrown everything into jeopardy

I did some sums for budgeting purposes that travel costs are increasing at a rate of 6-7% (roughly) per year

The offer still stands for any help you may need in the future.

Happy planning for your future travels

I'm not sure what you are referring to re Dominion - can you elaborate?