My Plane Ticket Is In Hand And My Hostel Is Reserved For Bogota, Columbia
In just four short weeks I’ll be in Bogota, Columbia, starting my next adventure of an exploration of the continent of South America. I’ve decided to start at the top with the country of Columbia, so the day after New Year I’ll fly overnight to Bogota and show up early in the morning at the lovely Alegria’s Hostel in the Candalaria section of the city. I made my reservations right here, through my favorite hostel source: BootsnAll.com.
I know that I’ll be sleepy upon arrival, because my flight leaves Tampa, Florida, at 6:20 p.m. for Houston, and then an all-night flight between Houston and Bogota, arriving very early in the morning. So I searched for accommodations where I could get a bit of privacy for some sound sleep after checking in. I could have reserved a $35 per night single room in a very attractive set of apartments, but in the end, I chose a three-bed dorm room at Alegria’s for $11.51 per night, reasoning that a small dorm room will be pretty quiet and I could sleep three nights for the cost of one at the other place. Plus, the more social aspects of a hostel means that I’ll have plenty of fellow travelers to give tips and advice about my new country. That’s one of the best parts of hostel life and I’m looking forward to being back in the swing of it.
To complete the report on the plane ticket, I decided to fly “open-jaws” in order to fly home from Buenos Aires, Argentina in mid-May. The total cost of the round-trip ticket was only $691.80, which includes all fees and taxes; only a few dollars more than the best quotes to fly in and out of Lima, Peru. But, now I can spend my time going down the West Coast of the continent and up through Argentina, without having to worry about crossing the Andes again just to fly home. I worked with Lucas at Exito Travel and that was so much better than simply buying the ticket off of an anonymous website with no human being to talk to. And, it really was no more expensive.
By the way, I discovered that my book has now made it to the Amazon.com website and is for sale there, as well as here on this blogsite. The photo of my book cover isn’t showing yet and I am taking measures to get it on the listing. Have sent them one and will call on Monday if it’s still not showing. But, this is real progress. I’m asking everyone who has read the book to write a review about it to post on my listing as that’s vital to the rankings and also helpful to potential buyers.
Plus, the book is now for sale at The Boxcar, if you happen to be anywhere near Dunedin, Florida. This is a darling little post office/snacks/gifts boutique located right beside the Pinellas Country Trail, which also runs right beside my house about a mile away. It really is an old railroad boxcar, spiffed up with a coat of green paint and it sits beside the former railroad station which is now a museum. Historically, the trail used to be a train line, but now gets only bikers, joggers, walkers, and rollerbladers, the whole athletic community…many of whom might well be backpackers.
I’m not going to distribute my book to the chain bookstores until I return to this country and can do some more promotion, but they can actually order it now if anybody walks into Borders or Barnes & Noble and asks for Hey Boomers Dust Off Your Backpacks, because it’s on their lists from Ingram. They just won’t have it on their shelves until I change my discount arrangement, which I will do when I get back and have lots more reason to go on the talk shows and boost the sales. I am going to submit the book to Amazon to make a Kindle version, so that should be available for sale pretty soon.
Time flaps rapidly along with much being accomplished.
Tags: 1, Dunedin Florida, flying to South America, Selling a Book, The Boxcar, Tag Index
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