After cycling along the Cuesta de Miranda in Argentina, I decided to take a day off in Villa Union. Here's my travel blog post from the day.
I've made a decision to finish the trip early
Blog post written in February 2011
I used my time off here in Villa Union to rest my legs, and also to book a flight back to England. Does that sound a bit premature?
I had to come to a hard decision…. That decision being that I will not make it to Ushuai, the southernmost part of Argentina. It was a hard one to make, but I do have my reasons, one of which is I've been offered a job in the UK that may not be there in a few months time when I had actually planned to finish cycling.
It's all about the money
So it comes down to the money situation. In all fairness, considering I ran out of savings in Mexico in 2010, I haven’t done too badly! However, there is only so much more that I can beg or borrow for this trip.
In addition, although I can earn money through the freelance writing gigs, I need to remain in one place whilst doing it. This would mean that I would almost definitely miss this year's narrow window when the weather is most suitable to get to Ushuai.
It basically boiled down to three choices:
- Try to borrow some more money for the approximately remaining 2 months of cycling to get to Ushuai
- Continue picking up online writing jobs, but I'd end up bouncing around between Argentina and Bolivia because of visa issues
- Return back to the UK, pick up a well paid (by my standards) job straight away, but not reach my ‘final goal'
On balance, option 3 made the most sense, but obviously, it goes without saying that I am a little bit irritated!
Just as I was starting to enjoy things as well…
However, that said, I have come to enjoy the lifestyle more and more, and the goal of a “final destination” has really become less important.
Basically, if I had the cash, I would just continue cycling year after year! As it is, I will be at nineteen months on the road when I return home… Not bad for someone who has never really earned more than minimum wage during those times that I have actually been working!
So, I return to England during the third week of Feb. From here, I will cycle the three or four remaining days to Mendoza, have a McDonalds in celebration, and then look at buses to Buenos Aires.