I love to travel light. It makes schlepping through the airport easier and we have three flights of stairs to get into our actual apartment (sorry, no elevator). Since the apartment has a washer and dryer, coupled with the fact that we'll probably not see temperatures over 70 (probably no swimming on this trip), I plan on just packing about three sets of pants and shirts and my toiletries. This way I'm light on the run and will only need to do laundry once or maybe twice. I recall from my previous trips that shorts aren't as common in Buenos Aires and it's actually frowned upon in restaurants. I'll bring just one pair. Depending on what you want to purchase for gifts / souvenirs you may want to have either extra room in your luggage or bring a smaller bag along for such things. I will say that clothes are cheap in Buenos Aires and if you're in the market for a new leather coat, get it in Buenos Aires (custom made).
Besides clothing and toiletries, a cribbage board, camera and my medications are are all I'm brining. It'll take me 10 minutes to pack before I leave for the airport.
Speaking of medications, make sure you're stocked up on any regular meds you're taking as getting a refill in Argentina will be costly and problematic. Additionally, I'm going to call my physician tomorrow and see if I should get some Tamiflu in the unlikely event that this new 'swine flu' gets me while in route. I'll update you all on the swine flue later tomorrow.
Apr 26, 2009
Money and Credit Cards
Money in Argeninta is called pesos, but they use the same $ (dollar sign) as we do in the USA. One can be confused looking at a menu and see a price of "$7.40" for a cold beer. Fear not, this is only $2 in US terms as the current exchange rate is approximately 3.7 Pesos = 1 USD. One should assume all prices in Argentina are in pesos. If something is priced in US dollars it will be clearly marked (e.g. US$50).
ATM machines are the best way to exchange money in Buenos Aires. Most of the machines work with the +Plus network. These should work with your debit, credit and ATM cards. These machines do NOT dispense US dollars, only Argentinian Pesos. Depending on your bank, they may or may not charge a minimal amount for a foreign transaction. However a few things should be done before departure:
1) If you plan on using your cards on a trip to Argentina, it's best to call the issuing bank and let them know that you are about to travel. This will keep them from blocking any transactions as part of their automated fraud protection.
2) Depending on your daily withdrawal limits, you can work with your bank to establish different limits during your travel.
The apartment we are renting has a built-in safe for holding our passports, money, etc. I advise that we store our credit cards in the safe once we've withdrawn the appropriate cash from the ATM. Our apartment is only 4 or 5 blocks from a bank with an ATM. As can be seen below.
View Buenos Aires Tourist & Restaurant Map in a larger map
When withdrawing Pesos from an ATM, be careful to NOT round to the nearest 100 pesos, as small bills are good to have around (taxis, etc.). So rather than withdrawing 400 pesos, withdraw 370 to insure you recieve some smaller demoninations.
ATM machines are the best way to exchange money in Buenos Aires. Most of the machines work with the +Plus network. These should work with your debit, credit and ATM cards. These machines do NOT dispense US dollars, only Argentinian Pesos. Depending on your bank, they may or may not charge a minimal amount for a foreign transaction. However a few things should be done before departure:
1) If you plan on using your cards on a trip to Argentina, it's best to call the issuing bank and let them know that you are about to travel. This will keep them from blocking any transactions as part of their automated fraud protection.
2) Depending on your daily withdrawal limits, you can work with your bank to establish different limits during your travel.
The apartment we are renting has a built-in safe for holding our passports, money, etc. I advise that we store our credit cards in the safe once we've withdrawn the appropriate cash from the ATM. Our apartment is only 4 or 5 blocks from a bank with an ATM. As can be seen below.
View Buenos Aires Tourist & Restaurant Map in a larger map
When withdrawing Pesos from an ATM, be careful to NOT round to the nearest 100 pesos, as small bills are good to have around (taxis, etc.). So rather than withdrawing 400 pesos, withdraw 370 to insure you recieve some smaller demoninations.
Apr 25, 2009
Planning
The company I work for invested in an Electronic Health Record (EHR) about a year ago. Since then I've been putting in 80 -100 hour work weeks. Quite frankly, I'm feeling burned out. So I decided to get away from it all for a few days.
About a week ago, I called my father and asked if he'd be up for a trip. We didn't have any place specific that we wanted to go, so I made several sample itineraries with corresponding budgets and we began to weigh our options.
Dad and I talked about inviting dad's brother, Dennis, along for the trip, so we shared the list of itineraries with him. After a couple of conversations, we ended up agreeing to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I've been there twice before, but not in the last 5 years. Dad and Dennis have never been there. With only 10 days to prepare, my work is cut out for me.
The first step for us was to nail down a flight. I went with trusty Orbitz and found round trip flights for $841 -- not bad for leaving out of Des Moines, especially given less than two weeks' notice. The flight goes from Des Moines to Atlanta, then from Atlanta directly to Buenos Aires. That second flight is a doozy.. 10+ hours long, during the middle of the night.
The good news is that there's only a 2 hour time difference when you get there (BA is two hours ahead of us here in Iowa). This shouldn't cause us any jetlag. Here's the flight route we'll be taking:
Also, I picked seats for our flights in three separate rows that, at the time of booking, each had three empty seats. My hope is that this stays this way so we can have extra room to lie down. We're assigned to seats 33E,34E & 35E. You can monitor this flight's seat assignments (to see if the seats next to us stay open) by going here. I did the same thing for our return flight but for seats 30E, 31E & 32E, you can check this flights seating assignments here.
Having been to Buenos Aires twice before, I knew the value of renting an apartment rather than staying in a hotel. Not only is it more comfortable, it's less expensive. After searching quite a few options, I finally decided to rent an apartment in the downtown Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Telmo . While my previous stays in Buenos Aires were in the neighborhood of Recoleta, I know San Telmo to be a nice place too. You can see a video of the actual apartment in the two videos below. We're getting all of this for about $50 per person per night (that's Motel 6 prices).
For more information on things to do, restaurants and other tips go to this site.
About a week ago, I called my father and asked if he'd be up for a trip. We didn't have any place specific that we wanted to go, so I made several sample itineraries with corresponding budgets and we began to weigh our options.
Dad and I talked about inviting dad's brother, Dennis, along for the trip, so we shared the list of itineraries with him. After a couple of conversations, we ended up agreeing to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I've been there twice before, but not in the last 5 years. Dad and Dennis have never been there. With only 10 days to prepare, my work is cut out for me.
The first step for us was to nail down a flight. I went with trusty Orbitz and found round trip flights for $841 -- not bad for leaving out of Des Moines, especially given less than two weeks' notice. The flight goes from Des Moines to Atlanta, then from Atlanta directly to Buenos Aires. That second flight is a doozy.. 10+ hours long, during the middle of the night.
The good news is that there's only a 2 hour time difference when you get there (BA is two hours ahead of us here in Iowa). This shouldn't cause us any jetlag. Here's the flight route we'll be taking:
Also, I picked seats for our flights in three separate rows that, at the time of booking, each had three empty seats. My hope is that this stays this way so we can have extra room to lie down. We're assigned to seats 33E,34E & 35E. You can monitor this flight's seat assignments (to see if the seats next to us stay open) by going here. I did the same thing for our return flight but for seats 30E, 31E & 32E, you can check this flights seating assignments here.
Having been to Buenos Aires twice before, I knew the value of renting an apartment rather than staying in a hotel. Not only is it more comfortable, it's less expensive. After searching quite a few options, I finally decided to rent an apartment in the downtown Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Telmo . While my previous stays in Buenos Aires were in the neighborhood of Recoleta, I know San Telmo to be a nice place too. You can see a video of the actual apartment in the two videos below. We're getting all of this for about $50 per person per night (that's Motel 6 prices).
For more information on things to do, restaurants and other tips go to this site.
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