South American Way

Finally, FINALLY, Jason and I have decided where we're going this summer.

Drumroll please...

We're going to Peru!

This place.

After months (MONTHS) of discussions of where-to-go, let's-be-practical, how-about-here? -ness, tonight we actually bought plane tickets, thereby ensuring some sort of civil war or llama uprising in the next two months.

As you may recall, we were going to be good travelers and stay domestic (i.e. North America) this summer in hopes of going to Europe for Kristkinglemarts in December and St. Petersburg next summer.

But then Jason told me last night that he just can't make the December trip happen with his work schedule.  My heart was bruised (oh! how I miss Germany at Christmas time!), especially since I really don't know anyone else who would/could make that trip with me.  And while I certainly don't mind traveling on my own, that particular trip was meant to be shared.

Not going to Europe this winter does open up some financial possibilities, though.  And so we started poking around Kayak again.

And then we spotted round-trip tickets to Peru for $501.

"Peru...?"

"...Peru!"

We immediately started researching different travel sites, reading out loud to each other the various facts and opinions and suggestions.


"We can go on a four-day trek through the jungle and camp out!"
"Oh.  That sounds... fun."

and

"We can volunteer in a classroom with kids for an afternoon, singing songs and teaching English!"
 "Oh.  That sounds... fun."

(Betcha can't guess to whom each suggestion belongs!)

Within an hour, we had convinced ourselves that Peru was it.  Finally we were excited, not just content but excited, about our plans.

And then we went back to book the tickets.  The $501 was still listed, but it was impossible to find on the booking page.  Darn you, Kayak!  Darn you and your travel-teasing ways!

We searched and searched watching the prices climb higher and higher.  Really, it was bizarre.  I've never seen plane tickets change like that over such a small chunk of time.  Within two hours of our original search, Peru was pulling up at $950 or more with 9-hour layovers in the middle of the night in Bogota or El Salvador  Not the best itineraries.

Frustrated and dismayed, we called the search off for the night with promises to reconvene soon, maybe Peru, but probably our domestic roadtrip plans to confirm instead.

But the bug had bitten - I was feeling that excellent nervous-excited tremor about Peru that I hadn't felt about any of our many, many other trip ideas.  I had spent Friday at a faculty party having this conversation over and over again:

"So, where are you going this summer?"
"I'm going to go live in DC for six weeks."
"Oh.  You're not going overseas?"
"Not this summer."
(with visible disappointment) "Oh.  Well, that'll be fun, too."

I hated it!  I'm spoiled, dang it!  I want to go somewhere with great possibilities for great stories.  I want to accomplish something travel-wise this summer.  I want adventure and novelty and foreign-language mishaps.

So when I wrapped up work at a reasonable hour today I hopped on itasoftware.com to see what they could offer.  When I found a really reasonable itinerary for under $900, I emailed Jason.

A flurry of emails and several refreshings of the search screen later, we had our tickets to Peru.

Peru!

Now there's all sorts of accomplishment to be had - a new continent!  Heck, a new hemisphere!  And, best of all, now I have something new to research!

Man, I love researching a new destination.

(Say, who's got two index fingers and a place to go this summer?)

Boom, baby!