In general, once I choose my destination,and numerous factors play a role in the decision ie. desire, time, expense, and world events, I secure my flight.

I never had much success with the last minute deals people rave about, so I generally book my flights months in advance. If I am using miles from my credit card I sometimes speak to the representative directly; it can be well worth it. I remember a very kind employee of Delta finding a first class ticket to Alaska, after quite a bit of searching, for the same number of miles as economy. It was on July 4th and perhaps less people were traveling that day.

For ideas and advice I use TripAdvisor travel forums, general Google searches and buy a guide book, usually The Lonely Planet which offers a number of suggested itineraries, tips on numerous places, and valuable information.

Unlike many travelers I do not, for better or worse, do extensive planning before my departure. I try to get a general idea of where I would like to go, particularly for the beginning, and then, once I arrive let my experiences and the advice of people I meet assist in my decision making. However visas and vaccinations need to be addressed as soon as possible.

I will be heading to Chile next month and can attest to what I have done thus far: purchased my round trip ticket to Santiago, with Delta skymiles; booked three nights in a highly rated hostel in the Bellas Artes District that I found by viewing hostelworld.com then cross referencing with TripAdvisor and booking.com (a site I highly recommend); purchased a national flight that takes me, after a few days in Santiago, down to Punta Arenas, an entry point for Tierra del Fuego; booked five nights at a small hotel in Valparaiso, just before my return back home. And that is all for now, besides pulling out my Spanish dictionary and some Spanish books.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post! Welcome to the tales of a woman solo traveler and thoughts to make today the start of something new. I hope you find information and inspiration in the text and images and join me in my quest for growth, wonderment and self-improvement