All my bags are bought, I'm ready to go.

A lot of water's flown under the proverbial bridge since the 28th of July when I first announced my intentions to join my cousin Macneil on a trip fashioned around the carnival in Brazil. Things have fallen into place and out of many painstaking hours of instant messaging, travel site trolling and brochure scanning was borne... an itinerary! Which takes us through Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. In that order.

Details later. For now I'm in the middle of a bubble of excitement... one of those that periodically pop up through the quagmire that is 'the daily routine'... I bought my backpack for the trip! I dug up this deal on gumtree and am now the proud owner of a Black Wolf 75l backpack (with attachable daypack). It's not new, but Andrew (of FiveDock, NSW) was true to his ad and had taken great care of it. Or as much care as you can take of a backpack (with attachable daypack). For someone who's never seen - let alone owned - one of these at close quarters, I was appropriately blown away. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a work of art and a feat of engineering all rolled (often literally) into one. Note the efficient manner in which pockets miraculously appear for the storage of buckles and "stuff" that are not presesntly required. See the wonder of the roll-away waterproof covering. Marvel at the comfort provided by the cushy straps and the support by the dual spine-things. And don't even get me started on the attachable daypack!

As I serve this post up, there are 26 days, 13 hours and 5 minutes keeping me from my flight Buenos Aires... and I can't wait! If only just so I can swagger around with my Black Wolf.

The road goes ever on and on...

I'm writing this in a burst of excitement!

My cousin Macneil and I have been talking about this trip for a long time now. Well, he's actually done something about it while I'm still just talking about it. We're going on a 5 week trip to... South America!!! <>

Mac's booked his tickets. I'm about 3 or 4 days away from doing so. He's been doing most of the planning and research thus far but I'm quickly getting into my own. You know you're bitten by the travel when you've spent three hours going through websites in foreign languages, you've (finally) created your google calendar and you've sent out an email to the usual suspects to see if they're keen on jumping onto the bandwagon.

A very rough itinerary to follow but for the moment... can you say... CARNIVALE???