A visit to the market

R

I always find a visit to a market in a different country an experience for all the senses. The colours, the smells, different music playing in the back ground and this one was no exception.

Mercado San Pedro is the central market in Cusco is a hub of bustling vendors. From everything you can possible make from alpaca wool, to various strange meats which of course I avoided.

A wonderful experience and I would recommend anyone visiting a city in a different country to seek out the local market.

Coca Tea for altitude sickness

As soon as you check in at the hotel in Cusco they give you a cup of coca tea. This apparently helps with the affects of altitude which can vary greatly from person to person, and can be quite severe. Generally it's just a headache and maybe a light headedness. At 11,000 feet it can certainly be felt here.

I had heard of this tea, and expected something coffee like, thinking cocoa/coffee, who knows. I was wrong. When it came it was hot water with some large green leaves floating in it, and tasted somewhat like you had cooked vegetables and were now drinking the hot water. Not very nice. I said to a fellow tourist, I think the locals just do it as a joke and are laughing at us.

I'm not sure if it was the tea or it just affects some people, but I feel ok. The only time I notice it right now is climbing stairs, becoming breathless fast. It should take a few days to get used it in time for the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu.

Sleeping on the airport floor.. fun times.

So the flight from Toronto to Lima was about 8 hours arriving in Lima at midnight. My flight to Cusco wasn't until 6am, so I knew that I would have an uncomfortable night, but silly me had envisioned seats that you could lay down on.

Having collected my baggage, I look for the Departures area. Well the domestic departures is closed until the morning. There were several small cafes and restaurants, but none of those long bench seats that you see in other airports, that you can lay down on.

I circled the airport a few times hoping that I had missed the "comfy" area, but no. There was a wide corridor where a number of back packers and randoms had set up a sleeping dormitory. Fortunately I had my sleeping bag in my suit case, so pulled that out, organised my back pack as a pillow and called it bed time. Not the best, but not the worst few hours sleep ever.

The hi-light of my night was going to the bathroom to watch the water flush in the other directions. The Coriolis effect.

I was in Barcelona in June.   There are so many wonderful things to see in the city.   We wanted to go and see the famous Gaudi cathedral Sagrada Familia which is one of the top things to see there.

On arrival at the cathedral there were 2 lines,   one to line up to get 'entry' tickets,  the other to actually go in.   The first line was about 1 hour-long,   and it gave you a ticket for a specific time to enter the cathedral.  In our case it was 3 hours later.    So we had to go away and kill time for 3 hours.   Fortunately we found a lovely cafe and enjoyed some tapas.

To save waiting in the first line for 1 hour we could have booked the tickets online and then just showed up for our 'time slot'.

So if you are planning on visiting any city to see a specific attraction it is definitely worth while to see if you can book your tickets online to save wasting valuable time while you are there.

Currency delivered to your door.

I was going to go to the bank today to order the currency that I needed for Peru.  I always check things out online first, so I googled best rates etc and a number of different companies offered their services.

I am not sure what other companies offer,  but I found one with excellent rates.   You can order the currency you require and pick it up at their office free of charge,  but for $10 you can have it delivered to your front door.

When there are so many last minute things to do before a trip it doesn't get much more convenient than that.

Oh,  and in Peru,  the currency is Peruvian Nuevo Sol,  just in case you ever need to know :)

http://www.interchangefinancial.com/

 

Upgrade your seat for more luggage allowance

I fly back and forth to London, UK once or twice a year.   For some reason I can't seem to limit myself to 23 kg.  Yes,  I know,  its shocking,  and it has become a family joke.    Checking in is always a very stressful experience as I know that I have over 23 kg,  and if they need to weigh my hand luggage then I could be in trouble.

Last year I actually paid to bring home an extra suitcase,  and I was still verging on being over my limit with 2 suitcases... yes,  I have a problem.

There is quite a hefty penalty if your luggage is overweight.   It used to be a per kilo fee,  then it change to a flat rate.

Instead of stressing before leaving for the airport this year, I checked a few days before and discovered that for half the cost charged for the penalty on over weight luggage,  I could upgrade the seat, and get an extra 10 kilos of baggage allowance.   This also gave you a free seat selection, priority check in, priority boarding and priority baggage handling - meaning your suitcase comes out first at the other end,  that was a huge bonus.

It was definitely worth the extra $55 and I will be doing it again,   only on the return flight when I have bought too much.

Carry on liquid restrictions

I recently took a flight from London Gatwick to Barcelona.   It was only a 3 night visit so I just had my carry on luggage.

This creates problems with regards to cosmetics, hair and body products which usually come in liquid form,   and as we are all aware now,  only 100 ml of a product can go in your hand luggage.

I spent sometime before the trip moving shampoo, conditioner and body lotion from big bottles into 100 ml bottles.  Also bought small versions of other products that I use so that I was prepared.

When I got to security I discovered that all of my precious little bottles had to fit in 1 clear plastic zip lock bag supplied by the airport (unless you were so organised that you had your own).  This was a whole new problem.    It was quite a site,  all the ladies trying to squeeze, move  and juggle their bottles to fit into the clear bag.

I finally got everything squeezed in  and put the suitcase onto the screening conveyor belt. As it went through the x-ray machine,  a metal arm came out and pushed mine to the 'what illegal products do you have in here' side for inspection.

As I waited at the end the kind lady went through my suitcase and brought out a miniature sized hair styling mousse that I had just bought and forgot was loose in the case.    Now it may be a miniature sized mousse,  but it still had to go in that same little plastic zip lock bag that I had spend 20 minutes stuffing all the other things into, or it was going to be confiscated.

Fortunately the nice lady was an expert at these things.  Took all the little bottles out of my zip lock,  re-positioned everything,  and squeezed it all in and was able to zip the bag up.  I don't know how she did it,  but what a relief - bad hair days in Barcelona had been averted.

Did you know that is possible to buy products such as shampoo, conditioner and body lotion in solid form from Lush?   This would have avoided the whole liquid restrictions nightmare.