All By Myself - Part 3: Chile's Capital to Coast

I only had 3 days to sight-see while staying in Santiago, which made it difficult to decide what to do with my precious time there. Since I wasn't sure if or when I'd ever be back to Chile, I wanted to see as much of the country as possible too.  I was not brave enough to rent a car though.  After doing a lot of research online, I came to the conclusion that a bus tour would the best way to cover a lot of ground as easily and quickly as possible.  By no means was it the cheapest option though.  But when traveling, I have found that it can be worth it to sacrifice money for time.

Finding a bus tour that would accommodate a reservation for just one person, and hit the sites that I wanted to see, was quite difficult.  I wanted to visit a coastal town, stop in a handicrafts mountain village, see the countryside, and tour a winery...all in one day.

All By Myself - Part 2: Chilly in Chile

From Panama City, Panama, I took off at around 1pm for Santiago, Chile, on Copa Airlines.  This was the first time I ever flew Copa, so I did not know what to expect.  Due to some strategery by me during check-in, I once again got a seat in a row all to myself.  (It made me start to wonder if all these planes in Central/South America were flying half empty.)

My gate at Panama City airport.

All By Myself - Part 1: Panama Panorama

What to do when you have some time off of work and a boatload of frequent flier miles...and your husband doesn't?  In my case, I chose to travel on my own, all the way to Central and South America.  My decision confused many people, as most people assume that if you're married there is no reason why you should travel alone on vacation, or want to.  But I knew that this was the right decision for me and what I hoped to accomplish with this trip.

First things first, I had to determine my destination.  My goal was to travel the farthest as possible, to a foreign place that I had never been, for the least amount of frequent flier miles.  There were a few contenders, but I set my sights on South America since I had never visited the continent before.  The route I chose was 60,000 United frequent flier miles round trip, and I feel it was a terrific value since, in essence, I ended up with two destinations instead of just one.

UK - London by day

After two weeks of traveling around the UK, my last full day in the country was also my only full day in London.  There are literally thousands of things to do in London, but I had to narrow that down to a select few.  Having not done my homework properly, I still wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to see and do.

Breakfast at the hotel.  Nothing fancy, but still glad that breakfast was included...and I got to try what I assume was a real English muffin.

It seemed like the most British thing I could do was