I mostly have places to stay

It's hard to believe, I am leaving on this trip in less than four weeks.  And I have Christmas and Winter term start up to keep me distracted until I go.  

At some point since I wrote the last post, I went onto Booking.com and found some places to stay.  Who would have guessed that with a massive seat sale on flights to Colombia during high season, that many places would already be full!?  Not me apparently.  

That plus my recently acquired 'high falutin' standards' means the hotels are as much as all of my flights combined.  No problem, who needs to save for retirement when you are living the retirement life while not retired?  Not me apparently.  

I get to Bogota at 4am on January 18th so I just booked a room for January 17 just to avoid hassles.  I am booked for every night except the night before I leave.  I was trying to decide if I should stay near the airport since I fly into Bogota at 5:30pm and fly home the next day at 8:40 am.  As I write that, I realize, yes, just stay near the airport.  But that really means I can't buy anything!  Nothing!  No buying something in Bogota and leaving it at my hotel until I get back.  Anything I buy I have to carry with me and if you remember from my last post, I am only allowed a child's school bag as carry on for my Wingo flights.  

Oh, yes, before I decided in the last paragraph to book a room near the airport, I was trying to figure out how to get to and from the airport/downtown.  Bogota, I discovered, has a massive transit system with trains and subway called TransMelenio.  I looked at their website and saw the massive map and how it does not seem to go near my hotel?  But I can't be sure because I could not find a map that includes both subway stops and street names that are even close to the Booking.com street names.  

I decided to stay in the touristy area of Candelaria.  I don't have a lot of time there so this way I can be walking distance to the highlights such as the Gold Museum that literally everyone who's been there says is a must see.  

I was talking to my friend Dottie last night.  She loved Colombia and recommends a free walking tour company...  I wrote it down...  one sec...  Beyond Colombia Walking Tours.  Sure, I was intrigued by the 'historical tour' but she really had me at the free 'food tour'!  I'm gonna look that up right now.  

Oh man!!  They are in all three cities.  My trip might just be walking around, following the person with the red umbrella.  Finally something other than cocaine and kidnapping.  

(five minutes later).  I am booked for the Food Tour on the 18th and the War and Conflict Tour on the 19th (so I still get to do the cocaine and kidnapping, I would hate to miss out).  I'll look at Cartagena and Medellin later.  This post has already been derailed enough.  

https://youtu.be/yI7NnrxJ5Iw

-77777778875555555555555555558888888888888888888888 (Pigeon stopped by for a comment if you are interested in what she thinks about this trip -1 is 'exceeds expectations', 9 is 'very unsatisfied').

All of this food talk and video is making me think a cooking class might be a good idea.  hmm. $120 CAD!.  I'll wait until I get there and see what I can find.  My falutin' standards are not that high.  

What were we talking about...?  Oh yes, hotels.  I am booked in Masaya Bogota in Bogata (obviously).  ...more googling.  7 minute walk from the bus stop to my hotel.  Probably not at 4am though?  Probably...  

https://www.masaya-experience.com/en/bogota/ 

Then I'm booked in Santa Alejandria Hotel in Cartagena.  

https://hotel-santa-alejandria.negocio.site/

And then the Jaguar Refugio in Medellin. Which you just know I booked because of the name.  I got an email after I booked letting me know there are no windows in the rooms because of the street noise. 😕 But it's got a 9.4 - Fantastic! rating.  So, we'll see (and you will get to read all about it I'm sure) 

No website, here's the booking.com link

And now I also booked in Hotel Habitel Prime, very close to the airport for my last night.

https://www.habitelhotels.com/es/hotel-habitel-prime-en-bogota/

That's probably it for now.  Until I need another excuse to do some googling/planning.   

This trip is sort of coming together

I keep forgetting I'm going to Colombia in less than two months.  I do a bit of thinking on it, maybe a bit of research and then say, later.  

My flight from Canada to Colombia is carry on only.  And my smaller backpack is unsalvageable.  It has been too many places and been abused by its owner's overpurchasing/overpacking too many times.  I think the 6 cutting boards from Costa Rica might have been when it should have been declared dead but the 5 alpaca blankets from Peru was when the plug finally got pulled.  I think I may have 'Weekend at Bernie's' it one more time but now it is literally ripped open at the top, duct taped on the bottom.  Just not usable at all.  Even I have my limits. 

I bought a wheelie/duffle/backpack thing that I took to Madagascar and it worked well.  But it is too big for carry on.  So, a new small backpack is required.  I spent way more time researching what bag I wanted that I did researching all aspects of this trip combined (which isn't hard since I gave it 30 seconds thought before buying my flight).  

Conveniently, this trip is on the heels of Black Friday. Say what you will about the Americanization of Canada, I can't say no to a good Black Friday sale.  Sorry Boxing Day, you were doomed to be pushed aside due to your post-Christmas date.  

Anyway, I made my friend Andrea come downtown with me and try out various backpacks.  I settled on the Cotopaxi 35 litre backpack, colour: Del Dia.  25% off for Black Friday, thank you very much. 

Del Dia bags are made out of ends of rolls so they are a mish-mash of colours.  I won't lose it on the carousel, that's for sure. 

It is small (although possibly not small enough, TBD), has lots of pockets and compartments, the waist strap turns into a shoulder strap so it can become a duffle.  

This is my bag:  business in the front, party in the back, just like a good 80s mullet! 

Next task.  What does one do in Colombia.  Actually, I still don't know.  

Next task.  Where does one go in Colombia.  

Bogota, not so much.  Google, tell me where is the best place to go in Colombia for a boring tourist who doesn't want to climb a mountain?  Mostly a tie between Cartagena and Medellin.   I have two weeks.  I think I can do all three.  

Next research:  Intra-Colombia flights.  There are four airlines in the area.  Two I've flown with in the past: Avianca and Latam.  And two I've never heard of:  Wingo and Clic.   So, three flights with two potential routes (Bogota to Cartagena or Medillin, Medillin to Cartegena or vice versa, Medilla or Cartegena to Bogota) X four airlines.  That took a bit of time.  Of course it was immediately apparent that Aviance and Latam were way more expensive than Clic and Wingo.  Probably better service but these are short hops so do I care?  Feel free to ask me when my flight is cancelled and I am booking a last minute, million peso flight back to Bogota.

My research, good old paper and a calculator!  

Anyway, Wingo is cheaper than Clic and has routes that I need at reasonable times.  I even calculated the difference in cost between B->M->C->B vs B->C->M->B.  By the way, this required I also look up the conversion of Canadian dollars (CAD) to Colombian pesos (COP).  Approximately $10 000 COP is $3.50 CAD.  

My initial research showed I could do all three flights for under $200 CAD ($170 actually).  But wait, Black Friday is coming, plus my procrastination/apathy made me hold on until today.  

Good decision.  All told, I got all three for @ $120 CAN, with priority boarding and selected seats!  Bonus.  And I can change each flight once if needed.  

But I still only have carry one.  And really small carry on.  Technically smaller than my new Cotopaxi bag.  So, TBD.  

For those that like to fret and/or judge my idiocy.  The bag I am allowed is 40cm x 35cm x 25cm.  The listed size of my bag is 51cm x 30cm x 20cm.  So, it is a little bit tall but a equal part less narrow/wide.  Wingo says I have to put it under my seat.  I can put my feet on whatever part doesn't fit under hopefully.  

Next task, find somewhere to stay in three cities. That is for another day.  

Please enjoy my very bad photo editing: 

I'm not even sure I want to do this, am I becoming jaded?

I was at a concert with some friends and one of them innocently said 'YVR Deals just sent an email about seats sales to Colombia'.  You'd think my friends would know me better than to say such a thing. 

Anyway, that percolated in my noggin overnight (no I did not buy a ticket while at a concert, I do have some self-control).  You all know you can just ignore that bracket about self-control right?  Cause I bought a ticket on my lunch break the next day, with zero research, no booked vacation and no idea what one does in Colombia except cocaine and kidnapping, neither of which particularly appeals to me. 

I am flying to Bogotá round trip January 17 to Feb 1 (I should check that date to make sure).  I then read Bogotá is not great for two weeks, more like two days.  So, now I am deciding between Medellin or Cartagena or both.  Internal flights are cheap.   There are three airlines to choose from, with varying prices.  Wingo is the cheapest.  Wingo sounds like a real airline, doesn't it?  It has wings and it goes. In theory.  TBD (again, not really, you all know I am going to go with the cheap option).  

More later.