While we were busy saving up money for our trip, we also needed to figure out how to set up our finances before we left and how to manage money once we were on the road. We researched the best credit card and debit card for travel, plus savings accounts and travel checking accounts. As a couple we decided it would be much easier to use one shared account for travel expenses (instead of Splitwise-ing everything), but we were not quite ready to combine all of our finances.
Salt. Cold. And really freakin’ awesome pictures. That’s what you can expect from Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. Sitting at about 12,000 feet above sea level, Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat and roughly the size of the State of Connecticut; that’s a lot of salt! The out-of-this-world landscapes surrounding the Bolivian salt flats truly make you feel like you’ve landed on another planet. Drawing more tourists than anything else in Bolivia, Salar de Uyuni is worth all the salt and all the cold. Here’s your guide to touring Salar de Uyuni and tips for the trip.
While we were bartending in La Paz, Bolivia we heard about a little something called the World’s Most Dangerous Road. A name that naturally spiked our interest so we did some research. The ominous name is more than just an empty threat – this narrow, winding, cliff-adjacent dirt road had an estimated 200-300 fatalities per year until 2006 when they opened a new paved road nearby. Now, the old road is primarily used for bicycle tourism.
Tamara and I consider ourselves moderately advanced when it comes to using public transportation (or so we thought). We are both transportation engineers and use public transit a lot. For us, figuring out a new transportation system in a foreign country is like an awesome complex puzzle that differs in every city. The adventure of using transit in another country is often worth it if you don’t mind sideways looks from locals and occasionally getting dropped off somewhere unfamiliar. Here we outline some of our Peru transportation tips about two of our favorite modes of transport – local daytime buses and overnight buses. Tamara LOVES looking out bus windows and we took plenty of buses so she had plenty of window time.
The last few steps of hiking the Inca Trail are nicknamed the monkey steps for good reason – trekkers literally crawl on all fours to reach their first glimpse of Machu Picchu. After four days of sweating profusely, using makeshift toilets, desperately needing a shower, sucking in air at 14,000 feet, cursing the Incas for making such ridiculously huge staircases, and asking yourself if this hike was really a good idea, suddenly everything becomes worth it.
