A Vacation on Vacation?

A vacation on vacation? Sure! Why Not?

2010 has been an incredible year complete with 5 months in Europe plus 3 in Argentina, wonderful visits with friends and family (even a wedding) as well as tons of unforgettable experiences. Although our time on the travel circuit has been extensive this year, our use of the standard PTO vacation time has not. So, rolling into our Argentine exploration, not a single day had been used – amazing, I know! Not wanting it to go to waste, we decided to explore some of Argentina’s treasures while we were here (and one of the big reasons for coming in the first place).

We took two trips – one to Mendoza a few weeks back to explore wine country and a second trip south to Patagonia for two weeks at Thanksgiving.

Although it may seem like our travel lifestyle is an endless vacation; rest assured, although amazing and fantastic, it is far from a vacation. We conduct our own research. We plan our own trips – flights, apartments, trips, tours. We cook our own meals (well, Brett does most of the cooking). Plus, we work full time. It is just normal life with a changing backdrop. So, a vacation sounded nice to both of us.

On our recent trip, we visited Ushuaia, the Southernmost city in the world, in Tierra del Fuego (land of the fire) and El Calafate and El Chaltén further north in the Andes mountains. Patagonia is a very large and vast region of Argentina. Although it contains iconic mountain vistas and glaciers, it is more appropriately famous for its nothingness. As we flew into and out of El Calafate, you can look for miles and miles without seeing as much as a house or even a tree. In the summer there are high winds and in the winter there is snow. If you want to get away from it all, you will have no problem with that in Patagonia.

We enjoyed our vacation very much. Highlights include a day hike and train ride in Tierra del Fuego National Park, a Beagle Channel boat tour, hiking in the Andes with vistas of Fitz Roy and a day trip to Perito Moreno glacier (the 3rd largest glacier in Argentina).