That wonderful feeling of someone rummaging within the room when you’re trying to sleep is further enhanced by small whispers in a foreign language. None other than the smoothest to the ear, like a broken chainsaw – German.

As my eyes were pried open, I uttered a somewhat able ‘hola’ to the newly found adjacent bunk-bed companions. To which one of them nicely reciprocated – “You look damaged”. Now that’s how you say “hello”!
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According to the local coffee shops raggy edition of the Lonely Planet’s “Chile”, Torres Del Paine has approximately 100,000 flower tramplers per year. An astounding number of wide-eyed gringos for any destination.

Especially if you consider that the main walk[s] consist of half a dozen variations to a set track, the paths themselves in most places are no more than 1m in width. Pushing through a hundred smelly backpackers as you traverse the peaks of this beautiful terrain would be a horrible horrible thing … that’s why the best time to visit is Read more »

The journey around Torres Del Paine, and adjoining parks is to take nearly two weeks. The vast majority of them will be on foot, thus consideration must be given to the weight of the total pack(s), as there are (unfortunately) going to be no sherpas.

Weather report for this time of year, idled within 2-3ºC below 0 for the night, and a few degrees higher for daytime. Which necessitated the number of thermals throughout the trip, coupled with the self-imposed weight restriction as well as possible lack of showers; more thermals = less smelly experience.

There are many lists online of what people have managed to bring with them along for their trek. To add to the noise, I wanted to provide an OCD technologists view.

Main pack is the Genesis 70, which comes with a very Read more »

Growing up in Ukraine, I’ve seen my fair share of snow, blizzards, and every temperature from -40ºC through to 40ºC, although upon arriving in El Calafate, which is a small town in the Patagonian region of Argentina (that should be oft-described as a tourist trap… – on that later) – the first stop was to be the famous Perito Moreno Glacier which is a magnificent spectacle that is difficult to explain and take in.

Interestingly enough, the best view is far away from the the glacier itself, and on one of the Los Glaciares National Park’s viewing platforms.

By far the most enjoyable part of the journey to the glacier was donning some crampons and spending just under two hours walking around and having the history, growth spurts and inevitable ‘shock’-stories being told by our guide Diego.

After the completion of the walk, we were surprised to be greeted by a table full of glasses, some local chocolate, and a bottle of whiskey. To top it off, the ice for the tumbler, was chipped from the glacier itself.

What a way to start my holiday ..

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At approximately 14:02 AEST Sep. 3, an announcement (interrupting my watching of Bridesmaids, which isn’t actually that bad) over the PA system of the Qantas QF 17, Sydney to Buenos Aires came which detailed a possible issue with the airconditioning system. Which resulted in noises coming into the cabin at the front of the aircraft. Upon speaking with the Sydney engineering team, and being unable to resolve said problem, we were told that the plane is taking a pitstop in Auckland.

An immediate dumping of fuel has then commenced. Some even started taking photos + video with their iPads.

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I have no problem with New Zealand, it’s a beautiful country, although this is the third time in the last month that I’ve been here; plus I didn’t think New Zealand was famous for their mechanical skills. Fingers crossed.

Prognosis is that we will be on the ground for at least an hour, for engineering, and then to get some more tucker for the plane, as there’s another ~10 hours of flying to be made.

Qantas’ outsourcing is doing wonders for the safety of their patrons. Although this isn’t as bad as the guy that choked to death yesterday.

UPDATE:

We ended up having to spend the night in Auckland, and are now en route to a fixed or a new plane. Qantas put us up in the Holiday Inn, which thankfully had a superb buffet of food waiting for us. That’s one way to keep the passangers happy – keep them fed.

I love to travel.

Am fortunate enough that in my role am able to do two awesome things: talk about technology and see new places. Yet exploration goes beyond taxis, hotel rooms and new office blocks; and has not been towards Argentina in detail.

Every now and then, the need to re-charge, or in this case Read more »