Dublin to Argentina for £275 Return [Threads Merged]

Birneybau

Great 2 days in Buenos Aires and amazing couple of days in Patagonia, El Calafate and then El Chalten of which we are leaving this evening.

Have never seen anything as spectacular as the views here. Had a couple of hikes, 18km round trip yesterday, feeling it today.

Birneybau

Another bloody 14km? today! Knackered, sore, back to Buenos Aires tomorrow for 6 days.

HeidiHeidi

Birneybau wrote: »

Another bloody 14km? today! Knackered, sore, back to Buenos Aires tomorrow for 6 days.

Feck off complaining, some of us back here are jealous!

Birneybau

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Feck off complaining, some of us back here are jealous!

Not complaining, honest, just feel my old bones are a bit shook. : D

6 days of r'n'r left.

HeidiHeidi

Birneybau wrote: »

Not complaining, honest, just feel my old bones are a bit shook. : D

6 days of r'n'r left.

I only wish I could tell you the cafe where we finally, FINALLY found the definitive, delicious, melt in the mouth steak and malbec combination..... was a little nondescript place with red chequered paper tablecloths, and I seriously thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Hopefully you find it or somewhere equivalent (I'm sure there's loads of them!).

I am VERY jealous!

jim lahey

Heading over in June if anyone is out around then? any good tips on what to do?

C2911

Just arrived in Salta after three days of glorious weather in Buenos Aires. Feels a lot more humid up here and was noticeably less developed on the drive in.

Speaking of drivers, they are nuts here. Every time I use a taxi I'm certain we'll crash.

deepsilent

i'm coming back to dublin tomorrow
i've spent 5 days in bs as then around 9 days between salta and jujuy, going to many small towns there. it was really beautiful, then another 5 days in bs as.
I ate a lot...

Birneybau

C2911 wrote: »

Just arrived in Salta after three days of glorious weather in Buenos Aires. Feels a lot more humid up here and was noticeably less developed on the drive in.

Speaking of drivers, they are nuts here. Every time I use a taxi I'm certain we'll crash.

Think taxi driver thought he was playing Grand Theft Auto when we were heading to airport to Patagonia.

Lane markings are optional apparently! : D

Birneybau

johnnykilo wrote: »

Me and a friend flew out on Monday also, we're heading to El Calafate tomorrow. We booked this tour: http://m.viator.com/tour/el-calafate/6-day-tour-of-patagonia-el-calafate-el-chalten-perito-moreno-glacier-and-los-glaciares-national-park/0-3851PAT6DAY/info.htm as it seemed to cover most of the stuff we wanted to see. We probably could have booked all the stuff ourselves and saved some money but we didn't want to worry about the hassle especially with trying to book places out of season. Just another option if anyone was thinking of going to El Calafate.

Check this trip out Jim Lahey, I'm here with JohnnyKilo, great trip. One of, if not the, most spectacular trips I've ever taken.

hmmm

I've used this company before for trips in Argentina and they were good - not the cheapest however.
http://sayhueque.com/

MagicMarker

For those who have been thus far, are any of you with meteor? And if so do you have coverage in BA?

Did you all bring Euro's with you or did you bring US Dollars?

How do you get on with day to day stuff in terms of the language? Stuff like ordering a coffee, jumping into a taxi etc?

C2911

MagicMarker wrote: »

For those who have been thus far, are any of you with meteor? And if so do you have coverage in BA?

Did you all bring Euro's with you or did you bring US Dollars?

How do you get on with day to day stuff in terms of the language? Stuff like ordering a coffee, jumping into a taxi etc?

I brought a mix. I've only exchanged US so far as I don't want to go home with loads of pesos as its difficult to get anyone to buy them back. My hotel bought them off of me at a rate of 11 pesos to the dollar. Could have got more on the street but I thought it would be safest and the least hassle to do it in the hotel where I could put them straight in the safe.

As for the language, I've struggled a bit as I have very little Spanish (just a few essential phrases) and the Argentines speak very quickly. Outside of the hotels and walking tours I did I haven't found anyone with much English (which was to be expected I guess). Taxis are easy enough. Learn the numbers for the Kioscos etc as for all I knew at first I could have been getting the wrong change. I learned to 100 the other day and it wasn't too difficult.

johnnykilo

I'm with Tesco Mobile and I have coverage through Movistar here, so I reckon you should be OK.

Bring euros! I got 13.1 on Florida last week. The Euro is so weak against the dollar it's not worth changing euros to dollars and then into pesos.

My Spanish is pretty non-existent and no one apart from tour guides and airline staff speak English, you can just about get by, by pointing etc... but I'd recommend anyone coming to at least try and learn the basics as it will make things a whole lot easier.

MagicMarker

I just checked meteor's roaming charges, €10.41 per mb :eek:

EuskalHerria

MagicMarker wrote: »

I just checked meteor's roaming charges, €10.41 per mb :eek:

On that note, I plan to get a sim when I get over there. Any suggestions as to best network and plan? For Internet rather than txts/calls.

johnnykilo

MagicMarker wrote: »

I just checked meteor's roaming charges, €10.41 per mb :eek:

Bargain compared to the €11.99 per mb Tesco Mobile charge, although that does thankfully include vat, otherwise it would be a f**king ridiculous rate

acquiescefc

EuskalHerria wrote: »

On that note, I plan to get a sim when I get over there. Any suggestions as to best network and plan? For Internet rather than txts/calls.

Go back a few pages

Birneybau

Palermo is a great little area, had an amazing burger there in a place called Burger Joint, only 90 pesos with fries and a drink. 90 pesos = approx €7:50 or less if you swap money on blue rate.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g312741-d4170372-Reviews-Burger_Joint-Buenos_Aires_Capital_Federal_District.html

C2911

Still have 5 nights left and already know that I want to come back. I love Argentina.

Going to take Spanish classes first though haha.

Birneybau

C2911 wrote: »

Still have 5 nights left and already know that I want to come back. I love Argentina.

Going to take Spanish classes first though haha.

Yeah, only so far you can go with gestures. I got very flustered in Burger King when I had no idea what the young fella was saying to me. Got an orange juice that I didn't particularly want.

Off to Colonia in Uruguay tomorrow for a couple of hours, yay!

acquiescefc

Was nice of the President to meet me when i arrived there. Shes the one next to the horse.

johnnykilo

For those of you who went to Tigre, how much time did you spend there? Would you do it in half a day? We have tomorrow and Sunday left and just trying to decide how to spend them. Thanks!

christeb

For anyone with even a passing interest in art I'd recommend MALBA in BA. Their Experience Infinity exhibit is I've of the coolest things I've ever seen. Left me smiling for hours. 2 for 1 if you tell them you've a Samsung phone (to continue with the original theme of this thread!)

SNNUS

johnnykilo wrote: »

For those of you who went to Tigre, how much time did you spend there? Would you do it in half a day? We have tomorrow and Sunday left and just trying to decide how to spend them. Thanks!

Half a day is loads of time I think, go on a river cruise and chill out. Hope the weather is still good there. Miss Argentina

C2911

If anyone is interested and has a ridiculous amount of money, Landing Pad have some spare tickets for Boca River later. $475 USD, which is about $200 too much for me.

C2911

Just had my first somewhat negative experience of Argentina in the Microcentro. Forgot how quiet it can get on Sundays with nothing open and was walking down Avenida Cordoba when these young guys approach me with no shoes on and start putting their arms around me and muttering away in Spanish. Of course, my first instinct is to put my hands in my pockets and I start telling them not to touch me and to leave me alone in Spanish. Then all of a sudden their friends appear from further down the street and I'm being forced into this doorway against my will while they're laughing away. At this point a few other pedestrians walked by and they eased up a bit, at which point I sh*t it and made my way back to a busier street.

Think they might just have been messing around but shook me up a bit nonetheless.

MagicMarker

That sucks man.

Probably best to have a wallet with a little cash and old atm cards in it. But keep most of your cash and a credit card separate. Just in case.

C2911

That's what I have generally been doing, especially in Buenos Aires. I just happened to have a bit more cash on me today as I was on the way to Galeria Pacifico to look for a Boca jersey. And my camera.

Could have happened to me in any city though. Just serves as a reminder to keep your wits about you.

DoctorDre

I'm so amazed that I created this thread, not even expecting a response and it may be the reason that some of you have gone to Argentina :eek: Love coming to read what everyone has to say about it