Punto Tombo, Patagonia, October 2018, canon, ©Sylvie Gé

Travelling is often plain sailing and enjoyable, but one must be prepared to put up with some of the unavoidable hitches and  inconveniences. Some of them below, in no particular order :

1. The cancellation of the Auckland-Santiago flight, which deprived us of a day in the beautiful Atacama Desert
2. Crossing the Andes by bus (twelve hours, instead of seven)
3. The apartment not at all friendly in Mendoza
4. Be forced to return to the apartment (really) not nice because the flight from  Mendoza to  Buenos Aires has been canceled
5. Return to the airport and find out that the  flight will be redirected to  the international airport, due to a pilots’ strike. Having to find a taxi to take us to the other airport in time and realise that the  flight has been  delayed by three hours ( and being deprived of a  day in Punta del Este)
6. To be covered with urticaria in the Atacama desert (for unknown reasons) for several days.
7. Too much plastic: straws, bottles, bag. Hard to avoid when travelling.
8. Duty to carry on your passport and money at all times
9. Being constantly encouraged to buy things I do not need. Always a little difficult to find a balance  between the necessary contribution of the tourist to the improvement of a country’s infrastructures  and the sometimes unpleasant sensation to be exploited (when pushed too far, because I have nothing against the reasonable exploitation of the tourist)

10. The internet connexion is often not very good, despite all rooms and apartments claiming they have free internet.

11. All this does not alter the enjoyment  of the trip. At each stage, I thought that it was worth it all the same, particularly when I find myself in front of unforgettable sceneries.