1st (or is that 2nd) impressions

Well, day 2 in Buenos Aires and probably about time I let you all know what I have been upto. I say that it is not strictly my first impression of BA as I was here a couple of years ago. But it is like seeing it for the first time, through a new lens.

When I finally left Paris, the 13 hour flight was painless enough and I even managed to get some sleep. Which is surprising as I don't normally sleep very well on planes. And on arrival, thanks to the inhumane layover in Paris, I arrived in Buenos Aires on a glorious summer's morning. There is nothing worse than arriving thousands of miles away in a city clothed in darkness. I managed to get a shuttle bus and before you could say "hola" I was being whisked into the city centre.

Now being tired, and having travelled for over a day I would have liked to get straight into my room. However, check in was not for a couple of hours so I had to drop my bag at hostel and head off in search of food and drink. Not difficult admittedly in Buenos Aires.



Fed, watered and with a room at my disposal I refreshed myself and had a little nap. Only to wake wondering where the hell I was for a second! Having realised I was still in South America, I got dressed and headed out to explore San Telmo. San Telmo is a little suburb in BA of cobbled streets, leafy squares and great little bars and it wasn't long before I found myself in Bar Plaza Dorrega having a couple of cold Quilmes (the local brew).



I then meandered back towards home, up Avenida Florida and back to Avenida Corrientes where the hostel is. I decided that tonight was going to be an early night, ready to hit the sights tomorrow.

And that is what I have done. Up and out at 7.30am this morning, a brief coffee stop for a café cortoda whilst formulating a plan and then I have walked the city for the last 7 hours. I wandered upto the exclusive suburb of Recoleta and took in one of BA's top tourist attractions, the cemetery! But this is no ordinary cemetery, it has to be seen to be believed. This is where Eva Peron (made famous by Madonna in the Evita movie) is laid to rest. The cemetery is huge with rows and rows of grand mausoleums. The focal point for all the tourists being the family mausoleum of Evita Duarte.



After a lunch stop it was time for the long walk back into town. And it was then that I became aware of two phenomenoms of Buenos Aires. The professional dog walkers, who walk up to 15 dogs at one time, and the obvious signs that tell you why BA is one of the cosmetic surgery capitals of the world. Boy, do those girls make the most of summer clothes!!!

On that note, I will leave you. My beer is getting warm and I feel the need for a siesta.

Adios amigos.

Departure day - 28th December

After a very relaxing evening in the Radisson Blu at Manchester airport, making full use of the pool and sauna facilities, it was a relatively early start for departure day! Months in the planning, weeks in the waiting, days of goodbyes, and all of a sudden it was here. And it still felt a little too soon. Was I ready? Had I done enough planning? Had I forgotten anything?

The brutal truth as I stood in the queue to check in was, its too damn late if you have Cormack.

But deep down, I knew that I had everything I needed. I have been very ably assisted over the last few weeks by my wingman. Working like a well oiled team. Move out of apartment, check! Store possessions, check! Pack bag for travelling, check! I couldn't have done it without you kid!

So here I am, sat in a coffee bar at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, making full use of the free wi-fi and being very grateful that the coffee bar accepts cards as there is not one ATM in the whole bloody airport.

And on day 1 of this trip, today is the day that I immediately failed. I booked the flights in a little bit of haste all those months ago. I had a 9:40am flight from Manchester to Paris. And a 23.20 flight from Paris to Buenos Aires. And i'm sure you have done the math by now. That leaves me with 11 hours to kill in the airport. Now, I'm not normally one for "killing time", but today I will make an exception.

Time check - 13:48 local time, leaving only (only?!?) 9 and a half hours to kill. Oh man! Maybe it's time to go for a little wander about, check out the duty free shops, have a read of my book, and maybe watch a DVD on the netbook.

Au revoir for now mes amies!

Less than 2 weeks to go...

When you hand your notice in at work almost 3 months in advance, the day you plan to leave seems so far off in the distance that its almost unreal. A date on a calendar that doesn't hold any special meaning or significance. But like all far off dates, it eventually comes around and it always seems to have arrived much faster than you had imagined. Kind of snuck up on you! And there it was, December 14th 2010, my last day at Lloyds Banking Group.

I now have the unenviable task of emptying my apartment and moving out by the 23rd December which leaves a few days bunking at my sister's house before heading to Buenos Aires on 28th December.

The idea of giving myself a couple of weeks between leaving work and setting off was to leave plenty time for all the tiresome jobs like moving. However, since leaving work I have been struck down and bed ridden for the last couple of days. I even had to cancel going on the works Xmas do in Edinburgh as I just don't feel up to it. Not the best of starts to my newly found freedom. And being infirm causes my stress levels to increase, knowing how much I still have to do before leaving the UK. Travel insurance for one. Oh, and not to mention the Xmas shopping that I still have to do.

So for now, I need to take a deep breath, have another lemsip and write a list of all the outstanding jobs I have left.