Two days into 2023, I packed up my bag and left a cold England for the distinctly warmer climes of South America. Having travelled for 7 months with Remote Year back in 2019, I wanted to get back to exploring the world and compare the benefits and challenges of travelling by myself vs. with travel companies.
My initial plan for this adventure was to travel around South America while working for a few months, which snowballed into visiting 7 countries over 6 months. I coupled this new work-and-travel adventure with starting a YouTube channel to document some of the places I visit and activities I experience, which is probably a little easier than writing a blog. And I’ll leave links to all the videos from across South America beneath the blurbs about each of the countries below.
Country 1: Chile
I started out living in Santiago, Chile, for six weeks by myself, which was a real test of my fledgling Spanish skills. This was also the same city where I began my travels in 2019, and it’s a city I’ve grown to love.
This time around, the Santiago experience was very different. Four years ago, Santiago was an interesting place to live in as there were protests across the city that saw riot police on our doorstep (quite literally). But now there were no riot police in sight and I explored much more of the city than I did the previous time, venturing out to new neighbourhoods like Providencia and Yungay. I also went to the very top of the continent by visiting Sky Costanera, the tallest tower in South America. And the weather was also amazing, regularly up in the high 30s, which always helps!
Walking to Estadio Santa Laura
Sky Costanera – The Top of South America
Country 2: Uruguay
I had a two-week gap between Chile and the next country I’d booked in advance, so I decided to visit a new country by stopping over in Montevideo, Uruguay. I also travelled to Urugauy alone and knew very little about the city before going there, but I really enjoyed it.
The city is very safe – and is commonly regarded as one of the safest to travel around in South America – and there’s plenty to explore. I stayed in the Ciudad Vieja region of the city, which is the traditional city centre, and probably didn’t venture out of it as much as I should have. But I did walk out to explore the national football stadium Estadio Centenario then, on my final day in the city, had a really good time exploring areas like Pocitos and Cerro, because my friend who lives in Montevideo had a car.
Country 3: Argentina
After two weeks in Uruguay, I jumped on a boat down the Rio Plata (River Plate) to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’d also never been to Argentina before and was really excited to visit Buenos Aires, which I’d heard great things about.
This time I wasn’t doing it alone as I travelled with a company called Hacker Paradise, which, similarly to Remote Year, organises accommodation, a workspace, and events for a community of travellers. I was travelling with a group of around 25 people, nearly all of whom were Americans, and staying in the Palermo region of Buenos Aires.
The big benefit of travelling with a company like HP is having a group of people around to help you quickly settle into a city and go exploring. We had a busy four weeks, going to a Tango show in our first week, going to my first football match back in South America, and sampling great Argentinian food like the famous Asado meat.
Vélez Sarsfield Football Match
Country 4: Colombia
At the start of April, I was back on the move, flying from Buenos Aires in the very southwest of South America up to Medellín in the northeast of the continent. This time I was back with Remote Year, with whom I also visited Medellín back in November 2019.
Medellín is a pretty amazing place, which is lovingly known as the City of Eternal Spring due to its appealing year-round climate. It’s almost like living in the Jungle, with plenty of greenery and water all around the city, and huge hills at seemingly every turn – and we lived at the top of one of them, which isn’t particularly fun!
Independiente Medellín v Deportivo Cali Football Match
Envigado v Nacional Football Match
Country 6: Ecuador
My third new country on this trip was Ecuador, where I stayed in Quito for two weeks. I really enjoyed Ecuador, the people were really friendly, the food was great, and there was lots of chocolate. There was also lots to do in the area I lived in, which was very residential, and the old city was really nice.
Universidad Católica v Deportivo Cuenca Football Match
Country 7: Peru
I then moved on to spend two weeks in Lima, where I also lived for a month back in 2019. The weather in the first few days in Lima was stunning, and made me fall back in love with the city. I stayed in Miraflores and there’s so much to do in this area of the city alone, but it’s also worth getting into the city centre and neighbourhoods like Barranco. I also went to my first-ever Copa Libertadores match, which was also my first-ever time going to a match in top-tier continental football.
First Copa Libertadores Match: Alianza Lima v Libertad
Country 8: Chile (again)
I finished this adventure by heading back to Santiago, staying outside of the city centre in the Providencia neighbourhood. I really enjoyed my time back in Chile, and Providencia is probably favourite region of Santiago.
Solo Travel Considerations
Going back to the conundrum of travelling alone vs. traveling with companies, it really depends on what works best for you. Of course, a major consideration is price. Remote Year’s upcoming trips to Lisbon cost close to $4,000, a four-month trip will cost $12,000 and a year-long excursion will set you back $32,000 (which is around $2,600 per month). While Hacker Paradise has months available in Japan for $3,390, Brazil for $2,690, Thailand for $2,390, or India for $2,190, which is decent.
My HP and RY trips were heavily discounted as I purchased them during last year’s Black Friday sales. As a result, I paid $1,992 for my HP trip to Buenos Aires – but the upcoming November trip to the city costs $2,990. I paid $1,349 for my RY trip to Medellín, which should have cost $2,250, and upcoming trips are close to $2,500. It’s also worth noting that the “month-long trips” are actually only 4 weeks, so you might only get three weekends. And the month-long trips don’t include flights and travel to your accommodation, whereas RY’s four-month and 12-month trips do.
If that sounds a little too pricey, the other option is to do it yourself. When I travelled alone, I booked apartments on Airbnb and typically worked out of cafes. By comparison, my Airbnb apartments cost:
- Santiago for 6 weeks: £1,283 ($1,611)
- Quito for 2 weeks: £464.90 ($583)
- Lima for 2 weeks: £440 ($552)
- Santiago for 5 weeks: £1,106.79 ($1,389.67)
So it’s significantly more cost-effective to travel alone. However, the big challenge then is finding things to do by yourself, meeting new people, and exploring the city alone. And that can be difficult. So the big positive of going with companies like HP and RY is you already have a community of people that you can go with and pre-arranged events that enable you to easily explore cities.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this very brief summary of my time in South America. My Spanish has improved no-end during 6 months on the continent – although listening to people speak Spanish is still really challenging! And I generally had a great time exploring the continent, travelling around largely on my own, meeting new people, and going to lots of football matches!
And a reminder that if you want to check out my videos and playlists, just visit the One Bag Traveller YouTube channel.
Robilaz Writes 
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