Day 3: Italiano Camp to Paine Grande Camp GPS data here and here. Italiano Camp is at the base of the French Valley (Valle Frances), which made the hike up the valley our main objective for our third day in Torres del Paine. Unfortunately, it being the very first day of summer meant that weather…
Reaching Torres del Paine is no small feat. In order to enjoy the splendor that is Chile’s top national park, one must fly to the edge of the continent, secure local transport from any number of gateway cities, most of which involve will involve border crossings and indirect routing to reach the park, negotiate the…
Getting to the town of El Chalten entails a three-hour bus from El Calafate, during which time the only evidence of human life is a half-dozen estancias, some sheep in the fields, and the road itself. This is actually true of being five minutes or more outside any town in Patagonia; the steppe is vast and…
Chile is widely considered the most stable country in South America. Santiago, capital to the country and its most populous city, can easily be overlooked when compared to the vibrant, outgoing metropolitan cities of South America. That would be a mistake. Santiago deserves its place amongst the top cities in South America, with appealing cafe…
As part of our preparations for backpacking Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia, my friend Reuben and I had planned on doing a route in the south part of Big Sur that takes in the highest coastal peak on the west coast (Cone Peak). That plan got nixed when we read trail reports suggesting we’d…
It’s now just 10 weeks until my friend Reuben and I embark on the most far-reaching expedition of my adult life. We will be flying through South America’s capitals on a hair-brained itinerary that will get us to the end of the continent for just taxes and fees. When we arrive, in Patagonia, we’ll take…
Mrs. ITP and I really needed to step away from our daily lives last week, if only for a 24-hour period, so we decided to explore the area immediately north of where we live. This led us to the San Luis Obispo area, which is full of vineyards, rolling green hills, and a number of…
After having covered lots of Midtown Manhattan on our first day in New York, we focused most of our efforts on Lower Manhattan for the beginning of our second day in the city. However, since it was convenient to the subway line we would be taking down to Lower Manhattan, we first decide to check out…
When I first looked to plan a spring trip to the East Coast, I was focused on getting Mrs. ITP and myself to Washington, D.C. during that small window of time when the cherry blossoms are in bloom and the springtime warmth banishes the snow flurries and icy winter air. I started by adding a “free one-way”…
We’ve just returned from our week-long trip to the East Coast and that means a wealth of new tips, tricks, and travel reports are headed your way! In this travel report series, among other things, you’ll learn: How we got the most out of a short stay in New York City Taking on the Capital City in a…
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