Preparation

How does one prepare for a trip of 75 days duration?  A trip to an area with vast weather differences from moderate climate Seattle.  With wariness necessary for day-to-day health and culinary practices. An area so vast, it requires airline legs, rather than auto or train segments, to see all 13 countries.  A chance to go to "The End Of The Earth," and visit two completely different continents?  The answer is: Slowly and Carefully.  The "to do" list (major and minor) is essentially endless...

First of all, the trip was supposed to be to visit extended family in Columbia.  Then it expanded to see all of South America.  My thinking was, "I may never get down this 9000 miles again.  Maximize what you can."  Then, knowing I was to be in Tierra Del Fuego and Patagonia anyway, the first thoughts of Antarctica came into play.  What would it take to add the 7th continent?

When surfing the net, ran into Expedtion Trips out of Seattle.  Awesome bunch !  [http://www.expeditiontrips.com/ , (206)547-0700 ].  These folks really made this happen for me.  Particularly Aimee Demarest, the Program Director.  She kept sending me Antarctic trip leads on icebreakers to The Peninsula.  I kept telling her that was way out of my budget, since 13 countries would follow immediately afterward.  Then, about mid-December she sent me an announcement, undercutting my best anticipated price by $250 -- about a $1750 drop over the best previous pricing.  Not hard to pull the trigger after that.  And now, I'll be leaving out of Ushuaia ("The End Of The Earth," supposedly the southernmost inhabited city in the world) on the Polar Star for 11 days starting January 16th, 2011.

But obviously that requires carrying extreme cold weather gear, not at all in synch with shorts and t-shirts that will apply to equatorial South America, at the heighth of its summer season.  And airlines don't really let you carry two bags these days.  So, you have to do a lot of listing, and then a lot of culling of the list.  And then, I am told, mail back the cold weather gear back to the US when returning from Ushuaia (departure point at the extreme southern end of Argentina, for Antarctica) so you don't have to haul it around with you during the rest of your travels.

As for the trip at large, certain things are necesssary before departure.  the big picture highlights are:

1) Pay rent, utilities and bills 90 days in advance
2) Get your health shots for South America.  This included a very worthwhile travel consult from the Snohomish Health Department about security, cash issues, eating practices, hygiene down south, medical planning, and many other valuable pieces of advice for the first-time southern hemisphere traveler.

For example, I was told to drink only capped liquids, avoid all animals (thus avoiding an expensive and difficult series of rabies shots), brush my teeth only with bottled water, don't wade in freshwater lakes or rivers, dress in pale colors to avoid attracting insects (particularly malaria carrying mosquitoes), scan my passport and all credit card documents and send them to myself, notify my bank and credit card companies of the impending trip, and register my trip online with the US State Dept prior to entering each country for security purposes and tracking if necessary [ https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/index/aspx ].  The State Dept also has a travel advisory site with relevant travel warnings and advice for each country at: [ www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis ].  The recommended shot schedule for South America was:

    A)  Typhoid
    B)  Yellow Fever
    C)  Hepititis A -- Hepititis B is also strongly recommended
    D)  Tetanus Booster
    E)  Diarrhea prescription (preventative)
    F)  Malaria pills, in reserve

3) Arrange for a laptop computer that is lightweight, southern hemisphere compatible, and backed up!
4)  Line up your cameras for ease of packing, charging, and redundant  battery supply.  Electrical conversion outlets are an obvious adjunct to this.
5)  Get a suitcase that can both be wheeled, and carried backback style w/ straps.
6)  Start a blog (!) to avoid excess note taking, excess e-mailing, and have adequate photo capacity for timely display of photos taken on the fly.
7)  Arrange visas for South America.  These are necessary for Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Suriname.  This must be doone well in advance, as you have to send documents (including itineraries and places where you will stay, when you don't know where this will be if you practice freestyle travel) plus your passport itself to each consulate or embassy for each country.  This takes up quite a bit of time, obviously.  So, I determined to just pick up the visas IN South America, by stopping in at the consulate for each country in a neighboring country, and present the passport in person (hopefully with 1-day expediting).  Generally, by the way, each of these visas cost from $100 to $135.  I am told also that Argentina does not require an actual visa, but will nick you $140 at the airport or border for a "transit" fee.
8)  Renew all documents and licenses coming up for renewal during my absence from the United States, including professional continuing education, driver's license, and so forth.  Also, suspend car insurance to cover the vehicle only, so as to save money during my absence.
9)  Obtain medical emergency/trip cancellation/emergency evacuation insurance, which for the Antarctic portion at least, is required by the carrier.  There are apparently not many rescue ships or helicopters as one approaches Antarctica, and half a million of coverage is required by the carrier to ensure you are not unreachable when having extreme health difficulties in Arctic Circle waters [ TravelexInsurance.com ].
10)  Arrange for a LAN Airlines airpass [ LAN.com, and look for the LanPass ], which is the airfare equivilent of a EurRail pass, allowing you to cobble together multiple segments at a heavily discounted fare so that travelling the whole continent becomes possible.
11)  Arrange for as many rooming situations in advance as possible.  Being a freestyle traveler, this is made much easier with a large number of useful internet tools.  One of them I found and have used extensively was at: [ HostelBookers.com ].  The site is very intuitve, with many easy to use drop-down lists, and all that is required in advance is a 10% deposit to secure a hostel type room or inexpensive hotel or pensione -- and not full payment.
12)  Minimize my Verizon cellphone account, cutting down the minutes, and changing my messages to a indicate I'll be out of contact for 90 days and NOT to leave messages, as I can access them !  Direct those who persist to a South American cell phone number, which will be a "pay as you go" model I will purchase as soon as I arrive in Buenos Aires on January 11th.
13)  Despite payment in advance for most things, bills will still arrive for credit card purchases, for example.  Arrange bill pay with my bank, for remote payment.

An example of small things that come up that need preparation, is a roster of currency exchange rates for the 13 countries comprising South America, so I'd have a baseline of what the conversion rates were and whether they were getting better or worse (also, to compare venues: would it be better to exchange at cash machines, only at banks, at vendor shops, the airports, at hotels, or some other spot?).

Brushing up on my high-school Spanish is another small task requirement; this would include getting an electronic translator/calculator, and perhaps a small lightweight pocket book of most commonly used terms.

Next: Packing List for 75 Days in South America and Antarctica !