South America and South Africa

Friday was my last working day for the next five months. It felt somewhat awkward and strangely I remembered the time when I started working a lifetime ago. Life clocked in in morning meetings, lunch breaks, and overtime hours, working weeks and weekends, financial years and annual leaves. And now, five months off. Did I say that I enjoy being lazy? A co-worker mentioned that it might be difficult to get accustomed to work upon my return but my initial thought was that this will happen quicker than I would ever hope for.

My to-do-list is shrinking and the remaining items are things which are not really under my control. Eventually I could live with those if they cannot be sorted. The move from L to BS went well, however, some cardboard boxes are still crouching in the corners of the basement and the attic and picture frames are still waiting to find their new home on the walls.

The flights are paid, the scuba diving package in Honduras is booked (yes, it appeared to me that this was done in kind of a haste whilst I still want to switch into a different, slower mode), the road traffic department made a mistake when I applied for an international drivers-license and they re-issued also my domestic one (I am now a proud owner of a 12-plus tons truck drivers-license), the backpacks will be packed either tomorrow or Tuesday (some things never change).

Today I booked my flights. Due to hesitating a couple of days we had to move the departure date by one day. It’s now August 3, 2011, still in time for the tri-expo on Friday, August 5. Maybe it’s also beneficial for the NYC tri on Sunday when I’m still on European time, i.e. six hours ahead so that it doesn’t feel like 2 o’clock in the morning when I have to get up at 4 sharp (I’m certainly not an early bird).

Andi from the travel agency is a star, it’s always great talking to him. When he chats about places in Namibia, the natives who live there, the landscape I really want to go there immediately. Since I couldn’t remember everything he said we agreed that the next time I visit him I bring my travel books to get some more advice about my route, which is still work in progress (“advice” in the best possible way). This guy loves traveling and speaks very wisely about the culture, the nature, everything.

While I was there we were also briefly discussing the outlook for travel agencies and whether the internet will eat up their markets. I told him that this is the first time that I use the service of an agency, mainly as I couldn’t figure out how to compare prices between Round-The-World-tickets and the prices of individually booked tickets (for those who are interested: it would have been more costly with the rtw-ticket-option and also would have included one v-e-r-y l-o-n-g f-l-i-g-h-t). I also told him that the service he provides is superior, really provides added-value for my needs and that I absolutely enjoy talking to him about all these great places. I reckon this is how travel agencies can succeed despite the low-cost competition. Might be a niche-market though and only the fittest survive.

What else? I added some items to the to-do-list, I removed some items from the to-do-list but as a matter of fact it is still growing.

This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship, me and my blog for my five-months trip to South America and South Africa. Since this is the first time I create a blog there might be some hickups at the beginning but I hope within a couple of weeks it will be more interesting, more colorful and with more features.

As I am german but many of my friends live abroad I write this blog in English. Every now and then it will be written not only in English but Funny English and I hope that none of the English speakers amongst you, my dear readers, feels offended.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

See you soon