Arrival bought

Colombia, Twelve Nights Planned, Three Bought

The first three nights, the ride in from the airport and a written route for the other nine. You book the rest as you go, and this office will book ahead for you by telephone while you are out there, at no charge, because that is what the band is for.

the first nights and the ride inbought
every night of the tripopen
the movement between placesopen
meals beyond breakfastopen
the days themselvesopen

A steep narrow street of low painted colonial houses on a hillside in soft afternoon light, empty of people, with no shop signs or lettering — A hillside street of the kind the written route sends you up on the fourth day.

The bottom of the ladder, and why there is only one trip here

The less of a trip is bought before you leave, the less there is for an agency to sell. That is not a hole in this catalog; it is what the ladder means, and printing one trip here rather than pretending to five is the honest version.

What is genuinely worth buying in this band is small and specific: the landing, the first bed, and somebody at a desk who will keep working while you are away.

from$540per person, based on two sharing, land only

Flights are quoted separately, because an airfare folded into a package makes the word from untrue by the following week. How a figure is built.

The five questions

What is bought before you leave, item by item

The first three nights in one hotel, held in your name
The ride in from the airport, which on a first night in an unfamiliar country is the one transfer worth buying
Breakfast on those three mornings
A written route for the full twelve nights: which places, in which order, how long each leg takes, and roughly what a bed costs in each

What is open, and who arranges it

Nine of the twelve nights
Every journey after the first
Every meal but the first three breakfasts
All twelve days
The office stays on the job. Telephone or write while you are there and we will hold the next place for you, at no charge and at no markup. That is not a courtesy line, it is the product

What the open part asks of you

You have to be willing to decide where you sleep in four days' time while you are already traveling. Some people find that the best part of a trip and some find it unbearable. Be honest with yourself before you book
Spanish helps and is not required. The written route names the places where it helps most
Holy Week and the December holidays fill beds everywhere, and in those weeks this band is the wrong band. We will say so
Nine unbooked nights is a real saving and a real responsibility

What it costs to change it or drop it, and whose rule that is

Three nights and one transfer are all that exist to cancel, so cancelling this trip costs less than any other on the site
The nine open nights cannot be canceled because they were never bought
Note. This is the mirror of the top band: the less of a trip you buy in advance, the less it costs to change your mind, and the more of the work you keep

What is not final until we confirm

The first hotel by name and district
The transfer, the vehicle and the driving time
The written route, which is a draft until you say it fits
The total, which is small, and the one hotel's own rule