Argentina

There is a whole lot more to this country than simply football (although that is quite important to them!)

We flew into Buenos Aires and had booked a few nights here in a hotel to get over our flight (almost 31 hours from Heathrow thanks to Emirates). All Emirates flights fly via Dubai so we had to go to the Middle East before we could head west. At Dubai airport we picked up half the Argentinian army on their way back from somewhere. Our plane was full of them – unfortunately for me this meant that they ate all the mid flight snack of pizza. We did get offered an apple instead though. I am still bitter about this five years after the event.

We spent the couple of days there exploring the city, discovering empanadas and having our first experience of being entirely unprepared whilst trying to book transport (you need to take your passport with you if trying to book a bus into another country). We finally hopped on our night bus to Mendoza – wine and dinner included!

Mendoza was my first experience of hostels. It met all my expectations. I took one look at the dusty floor, mouldy shower curtain and peeling bathroom ceiling and wondered if this would be the best hostel that we would stay in. The upside was that the hostel offered free wine for an hour in the evening. We took one of the readily available tours to three different wineries, part of which was to be cycled.

After my first experience with hostels it was time for my experience with a land border crossing – passports at the ready!