Steve's Post Wedding Adventures In the Ol' US of A

Hey all.

One of our favourite wedding guests (Steven John Pack) will be heading to the US after the wedding and was wondering if anyone else was interested in joining him. He wants to do a driving trip that will encompass LA, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Yosemite National Park from the 17th of April to the 29th. Probably involving hiking and/or trekking.

For those of you who are not familiar with Steve he is a very responsible and respectable young man as the attached picture shows.



Please enjoy Steve responsibly.

¿Tiene usted alguna pregunta?

Or do you have any questions? We would like to answer any you may have here!

Rough itinerary and dates to aim for

For people planning to come to the hens and bucks week prior to the wedding, we'll most likely be traveling on these dates.

Hens and bucks - 26the - 31st March 2010

Cusco - 1st - 4th April 2010

We can fit 18 people in Garden house from the 2nd - 4th April and we've booked the villa out for us and us alone for three whole days!

Machu Picchu trek begins on 5th April and ends back in Cusco on the 8th April 2010

From here, we need suggestions on where you want to go! Case and I were thinking of going North into Ecuador and possibly Columbia for the adventurous!

Po
xx

Travel Doctor For South America

Don't forget your shots!

Travel Doctor will give you an idea...

My doc said definitely get Typhoid and Hep A shots before you travel.

Also, most of South America is known as a Yellow Fever Endemic zone. You will need to obtain your vaccine through a special vaccine clinic which will also provide you with documentation you'll need to show before proceeding into some countries.

The only other thing to consider is malaria tablets. We'll be looking into malaria detection kits instead of tables.

Ask your doctor if any are relevant to you.

Travel Insurance

We often travel with World Nomads. They have a footprints program which you can donate a little money when you buy your insurance. Check out some of their work: http://footprints.worldnomads.com/

Accommodation

Accommodation in Cusco varies depending on your needs!

Cusco:

Loki is a hostel chain where you can share your room with a group of people for as low a $8 US per bed. They also have private rooms from $27 US per room

Home Sweet Home This hostel is in both Cusco and Arequipa. The prices are quite cheap according to their website.

Casa Andina is the Hotel chain that Garden House recommended in Cusco

Arequipa:

La Posada de Cacique - a few reviews on Trip advisor for this one - looks quite nice.

How do I get to Peru?

To get to Peru you have to go through either Buenos Aires or Santiago to get to Lima (the capital) from Sydney. From Lima you will need to get a flight to Cusco. From the prices we have seen, it seems to work out cheaper if you buy the flight to Lima, rather than buying 2 seperate flights.

First areas to look into are:

STA - Pretty good quotes so far! We did business with a lovely guy by the name of Sean Morrison from Broadway Shoppingtown broadway@branch.sta.com.au or 02 9211 2563.

Flight Centre - A friend of ours is a travel agent (pretty handy huh?) Her name is Kylie Johnson and she is more than happy to help anyone out with flights for the trip. Also if there are a few of you she can organise a group discount, so if anyone is thinking of doing this, then feel free to let us know and we can put you in contact with any others who are thinking of doing the same thing! She is located in Mosman, but you can do everything by email so you don't actually have to go to the north shore at any stage if you don't want to. Her contact details are: kylie.johnson@flightcentre.com.au or 8968 8000

There are heaps of sites on the net which specialise in flights. Best Flights and travel.com.au are decent sites which we used as starting points with occasionally some good deals!