In a recent trip to Italy, someone suggested taking a day trip across the Adriatic to the small coastal country of Montenegro. Not thinking twice about it, the offer was casually turned down. The image of Eastern Europe that came to mind was stereotypical – you know, what you see in movies like Behind Enemy Lines. Let’s face it, the Balkan area of Southeastern Europe does not get the best reputation, it has been a war torn hotbed of revolution and instability since it’s Yugoslavia days.

Picturesque Montenegrin villa nestled in the snowy confines of the Dinaric Alps

Should have taken that day trip.

Upon returning to the states, I stumbled upon (literally) a couple of sites mentioning Montenegro’s current upside and growing potential. Then and there I decided to make it up to the small country the only way I know how – via blog. This one’s for you Montenegro.

The size of Connecticut with about one-fifth the people, this haven will not overwhelm you like many big city destinations around the world. Along the coast, which is accessible by a number of means including regular ferries from Italy, there are several tourist-friendly cities such as Budva, Bar, and Kotor.

Budva is Montenegro's premier destination for tourists, featuring exquisite beaches and an exciting nightlife. Not bad considering the city is 2,500 years old.

The beautiful city of Bar, as perhaps the crossroads of Montenegro, serves as the principle seaport for the country while perhaps being the most culturally diverse city in the area.

Kotor is the most isolated of the three mentioned cities, as a medieval wall still stands between the city and the rest of the world. Beautiful and secluded, Kotor is a knowledgable tourist favorite. (Check this blog out about Kotor)

Besides breathtaking views, Montenegro has a lot to look forward to. Economically, it has to be the most stable country in the area (save maybe Greece). The GDP increased almost 20% in the two years leading up to the global recession that hit in 2008, but you can’t blame little old Montenegro for that. The most impressive part is they resiliently have kept their heads above water and are almost completely recovered from the economic blow nearly everyone has taken.

Even better than that, tourism is the foundation of their economy and future, so a good chunk of the almost 500 million dollars (around 330 million Euros, another check in the pro column – they’re an EU country) Montenegro makes from visitors has gone right back into tourist friendly upgrades. This means better roads, cleaner beaches, and attempts to make the area as safe as possible.

That being said there is of course crime, but hey nobody is perfect.

Montenegro has both a beautiful coastal and mountain region, not bad for such a small country.

The biggest city in Montenegro is around 120,000 people, so there is always a quiet and calm feel to the towns and beaches. Perfect for the global aspiration to “get away from it all.”

While quiet in feel, Montenegro is loud in history (for you history buffs, check this out), so there are plenty of enriching attractions that will help you get something more out of your vacation than just a tan.

On top of that, the Mediterranean climate encourages great wine and brandy production, both of which are musts for first-timers and seasoned Montenegro veterans alike.

Montenegro's Mediterranean climate proves perfect for grape production used in brandies and wines.

Montenegro still has a ways to go, but it’s hard not to admit that their path is a very promising one. A success story is just what this region needs, and the beautiful and breathtaking country of Montenegro could be just what the doctor ordered.

Don’t do like I did, Montenegro is more than worthy of consideration.

For travel information to Montenegro: http://www.visit-montenegro.com/transport.htm

Summerfest
(www.summerfest.com)

This first featured festival, and largest music festival in the world, resides all the way in… Milwaukee, Wisconsin (I didn’t see that coming either). This festival is a monster – ten days, ten+ stages, hundreds of artists, and nonmusical festivities including science fairs, scenic views, art exhibits, and thirty or so vendors. Also don’t forget to celebrate the 4^th of July when Summerfest activities take a daylong break accordingly. Don’t be fooled though, this festival is all about the lineup.

Artists: Peter Gabriel, Matisyahu, Kanye West (with Kid Cudi), Toby Keith, Styx, Third Eye Blind, BMX Stunt Team, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, Kid Rock, Wiz Khalifa, The Wailers, The Black Keys, Peter Frampton, Katy Perry, Goo Goo Dolls, Dropkick Murphys, Britney Spears (with Nikki Minaj), The Flaming Lips, De La Soul, America, 311, and many many many more.

Where: Milwaukee, USA

When: June 29 – July 3, July 5 – July 10, 2011

Though you won’t find nearly as killer of a lineup in these next two, you will find good music, incredible scenery, wildlife, and adventure as we go to Switzerland for Le Cinquième Edition du Weekend au Bord de l’Eau (“fifth edition of the weekend on the water’s edge”) and to South Africa for the Eshowe Music Festival.

Le Cinquième Edition du Weekend au Bord de l’Eau
(http://www.aubordeleau.ch/festival/le_festival.html)

“Standing in the middle of the Alps surrounded by mountains,” the website states so matter-of-factly. I find this does little justice. Just imagine a music festival here – http://www.patchographe.ch/20100625_week_end_au_bord_de_l_eau/ – and it’s easy to see why this location right on Lac du Gerond is perfect for a summer celebration. The music won’t be heard on a radio near you anytime soon, but I will tell you it is contagious. A mix between jazz, hip-hop, dance, funk, techno, and maybe a little calypso, you will find it hard not to be on your feet. When you’re not dancing, there are street art shows, a variety of foods, and a petanque tournament (petanque is a little like boules, bocce ball, or lawn bowling).

Artists: Kid Koala, Quantic. Belleruche, Goldfish, Tortured Soul, Jazzanova, Prommer & Barck , Motor City Drum Ensemble, Rainer Trüby, ASM, Joe90, Taz, Tal Stef, Funk Ya Mind, and more.

When: July 1-3, 2011

Where: Sierre, Switzerland

Eshowe Festival
(http://www.eshowefest.com/eshowe_008.htm)

South Africa has plenty to offer, and finally a festival to exhibit those offerings. What’s the best way to escape the summer heat? Try going to the southern hemisphere, like Eshowe, South Africa. Tomorrow the high is 72 degrees Fahrenheit with a low of 50, perfect weather for a romantic night of jazz under the stars or a walk through the beautiful Dlinza Forest. Also, for you history buffs, be sure to check out the local battlefields on which the Zulu, Boers, and the British fought, it’s fascinating and rich in history.  If all that isn’t enough, there will also be the Miss Eshowe and Junior Miss Eshowe 2011 competition as well as a decorative float competition and karaoke competition. This festival is in its first year of what could be a long-running, exotic music festival unlike any other.

Artists: The Factors, Beat-Route, Robin Lee, 5th Season, Henri Asant, Angus, The Zululand Gospel Choir

When: July 1-3, 2011

Where: Eshowe, South Africa

Fuji Rock Festival
(http://www.smash-uk.com/frf11/index.html)

Originally held at the base of Mt. Fuji, Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival has since been moved to the isolated Naeba Ski Resort, where each year over 100,000 people flock for Japan’s largest music festival. This year’s lineup personally makes me the most envious of attendees out of any festival on this list. Similar to Bonnaroo in Tennessee, festival-goers camp out in tents of all shapes, colors, and sizes during this 3-day celebration of music. While there is plenty to do in Naeba and neighboring cities, this festival is enough on its own to keep you occupied, check out the lineup.

Artists: Buddy Guy, Fuji Blues Project, Cornershop, Widespread Panic, Todd Rundgren, Steve Aoki, DJ Nu-Mark (of Jurassic 5), SBTRKT, Incubus, Big Audio Dynamite, Wilco, Cake, CSS, Asian Dub Foundation, Kaiser Chiefs, Fountains of Wayne, G. Love & Special Sauce, Feeder, Battles, Faces, The Chemical Brothers, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, The Arctic Monkeys, and Coldplay.

When: July 29-31, 2011

Where: Naeba Ski Resort, Japan

Sensation
(http://www.sensation.com/innerspace/)

I couldn’t have a music festival list without mentioning one of the birthplaces of the ever increasingly popular electronic scene. Meet Amsterdam’s Sensation. Perhaps the largest event in the notorious city of Amsterdam, Sensation plays host to a select (and very selective) handful of DJs each year for one day of techno heaven. This year strives to maintain the legendary status Sensation has earned by combining bliss and blistering into one extraordinary lineup. Don’t forget to wear white as the infamous Mr. White will be in attendance and wearing any other color would be, well, kind of embarrassing. Oh yeah, and when you’re done at Sensation, guess what? You’re in Amsterdam, home to one of earth’s most captivating nightlife scenes.

Artists: Mr. White, Fedde le Gran & Martin Solveig, Juan Sanchez & Daniel Sanchez, Afrojack, Sander van Doorn, AN21 & Max Vangeli

When: July 2, 2011

Where: Amsterdam, Netherlands

You can also watch this How To video to get a better idea of what you can do!

Tripeezy: How to Get Started Video

Fun Featres:

1) GPS Tracking: Tripeezy will automatically locate you based on your IP address, but if you want to tag a photo,video or text update to a past location, its easy! Either click on the marker and drag to another location OR click ‘change’ next to the address, type in the location you want and then click ‘save’!

2) Link to Social Networks: You can link to either of your Twitter or Facebook social network profiles by clicking on the blue link in the update box on your “My Trip” page.

3) Create Multiple Trips: On your “My Trip” page click ‘Create New Trip’ to make updates for a new travel adventure. To move between each trip, just click ‘Load Trip’ and select the trip that you want to update or view.

4) Share with Friends and Family: Just click “Get Link” and copy and paste the link into any IM or email to send to your family. You can also give them your profile name http://www.tripeezy.com/yourname for them to view your latest update at anytime!

We have lots of exciting features coming soon so enjoy Tripeezy and let us know what you would like to see in the future! Email us at contact@tripeezy.com!

If you are arriving to the airport, here’s some details that might help you out:

- If it’s your first time in Chile and your country is on this list, when you get off the plane and head down to passport control, you’re going to want to take a sharp left when you get off the escalator to the “reciprocity fee” area. You can pay your fee in cash or with credit card.

- Do not, and I repeat, do not try to bring any fruits, vegetables, spices, honey, milk products, wooden handicrafts or meats in to Chile. If you have these items in your purse, backpack, or suitcase and don’t declare them on your customs sheet, you will be fined. They scan everything at the SCL airport. (this includes the banana they give you for breakfast on the plane!)

- Once your out of the customs area you’ll have a few different options for getting into town.

Most Expensive: Take a TaxiOficial, which you book before departing the customs area. These will run you anywhere from $15,000 CLP to $19,000 CLP ($30-38 US) to get out to Providencia. They are really nice cars and definitely safe.

Efficiency Option: Take a TransVIP shuttle. This will run you $6000 CLP ($12 US) to the Providencia area (less to downtown). This is a shared ride, but it is definitely the cheapest option unless you have more than 2 people.

Cheapest Option: Take the TurBus Aeropuerto that you can catch outside baggage claim on the curb for around $2000 CLP ($4 US) to either Pajaritos west of downtown or Alameda station downtown. From either one you can catch the Metro Line 1 (RED) or a cab from there to your destination.

Bargain Friendly: If you go outside the baggage claim there will be plenty of people trying to sell you a cab ride. If you are good at bargaining this is just as safe an option, and feel free to vet a few of the drivers against each other. Probably best if someone can speak Spanish and you have more than a couple of people.

Once you’re settled into your hotel, make sure to get out and explore the city! And on Friday night, to keep you entertained all weekend, we’re throwing a fiesta with Pathway*Chile to celebrate your arrival! See the facebook invite here or the poster in this blog for more information.There will be great prizes, drink specials and free entry until 1 am!

We’re giving away an iPad and to celebrate the launch of our new website for Travel Sharing! Now you can share all of your moments with friends, family and other travelers while you’re on the road. Easy. To qualify for the iPad and other raffle items, make sure you go online and sign up for an account on our new site and make one update before Friday at 6 pm as well as like the Pathway*Chile facebook page. You must be present at 2:30 am to claim the prize!

We look forward to seeing you this weekend and hope you all enjoy the beautiful city of Santiago, Chile. Drink some fabulous wine, enjoy the scenery and the music of course!

Cheers!

The Tripeezy Team

Santiago: Capital of Chile.

Pub: Public house, a building with a bar and one or more public rooms licensed for the sale and consumption of alcoholic drink, often also providing light meals.

Crawl: To move in a prone position with the body resting on or close to the ground, as a worm or caterpillar, or on the hands and knees, as a young child.

Er…

Dictionary meanings never do anything any justice, so after a night out with the SPC I choose to redefine these three words.

Santiago:

Bustling prosperous metropolis, home to over 8 million people. Currently hot days and cool summer nights. Energetic business capital of Latino America, but also a promising rookie in the fashion and arts scene, recently recommended by the New York Times as the top destination in “The 41 Places to Go in 2011”, and as “an electrifying place of vibrant contrasts” in an earlier travel article this year. Check the links at the bottom of this page for visual confirmation.

Continuing with … Santiago, ‘Jaguar Economy’ and business suits aside is also home to a variety of nightlife including a funky new wave of BARS and CLUBS scattered in and around the well-known party barrio of Bellavista. So If drinks and neon lights tickle your fandango (I just made that up, the saying should be ‘tickle your fancy’) then a good way to get a taste for what this once sleepy city has to offer is to jump on the SPC band wagon and kill a few birds with one stone. Ie. Go out, refresh yourself and get loose.

This brings us to our next word, Pub …

Pub: Yes basically a Bar, Club or Discothèque (I love that word, retro, classy, invented by the French. It has style) where drinking, dancing, socializing and speaking loudly are all recommended.

The SPC night starts on Pio Nono, a sea of red chairs and Santiago’s ‘Main Nightlife Drag’, where students and workers alike inebriate and disconnect themselves from the daily grind.

Here you’ll meet the Pub Crawl team and the other Pub Crawl revelers, usually a mixture of foreigners, locals, Latinos, Gringos, some random Polish guys and of course a few Micronesian fisherman…not really, nothing against Micronesian Fisherman obviously, but I didn’t actually meet any on Saturday night … so it would be a lie to say I did. Moving on.

Upon your arrival the SPC crew lead by Barbara and consisting of crawl leader Katie (on my visit) and fun team of photographers, shot pourers and big helpful guys, will be buzzing around handing out wrist bands whilst getting the gang revved up and fueled on Chile’s finest beverages, namely big bottles of beer and wine with various labels I can’t mention.

Behind the scenes these guys provide a fun and organized evening whilst the travellers, locals, Latinos and Expats mingle, (Expatriates: I hate that word but how else do you describe someone that lives in another country?) swap handshakes, kisses (on the cheek for now) and light conversation  (in a mixture of Spanish and English) about each others countries and other pleasantries.

Katie the lead pub-crawler starts ‘Beer pong’ and ‘Flip Cup’ (games you cringe at then remember how fun they are when you are playing them … see below if you don’t know what these are) then unites the tipsy group by proposing a ‘Salud’ to start the evening in cheery style.
This brings us to the crawl …

Crawl: In this sense, a way of, transporting ones body from bar to bar, whilst the effects of alcohol, good times and good vibes take over your body.

This basically means Bar Hoping. Moving from bar to bar on foot. The Santiago Pub Crawl promotes a specific type of crawl, a group crawl,  a large crawl.  Imagine the results when up to 60 hip-happy gang members take to the streets of Santiago to conquer any bar in their path.

It is quite an amusing spectacle, always flanked however  by the watchful eye and energetic guidance of Barbara and company.

‘Crawling’ you will visit over 5 night spots in and around the heart of Bellavista where ‘Free’ shots at each location and a range of ‘saucy’ games keep the fire going until the effects of fermented grapes and beer hops take over and the real fun begins.

By this stage of the night the crawling turns into jumping, skipping, dancing and any other animated movements you wish to express. Yes, the beauty of Bar Hoping with a group of this size is that you can leave the self consciousness at home as everyone is in the same vibe helping to make the night a blast and leaving a positive impact on each destination visited.

Meeting people is the key word here and as more and more locals (whether part of the crawl or not) tag on and join in the madness things quickly turn chaotic (in an awesome way) when 60+ new friends hit the floor to dance in a range of styles from Brazilian Forró, to Colombian Salsa to Polish Village moves (this was my preferred dance of the evening). The make believe Micronesian Fishermen would also have added their own dance if they actually existed. The night usually ends with ‘star crossed lovers’ pashing and dancing like they are 13, again.

Overall …

Santiago Pub Crawl makes and takes the party wherever it goes and even if this sounds like a typical tourist night out you might be surprised as even for a hip cool alternative cat like myself (I just called myself a cat … Meow), the selection of bars was actually top notch touching on three or four very decent abodes that I hadn’t visited yet and I’ve been hitting the night life scene here in S-town for almost a year.

Anyway, random make-outs with unknown ladies, saucy dances with men and women alike, too many shots and countless ‘Blue Steels’ for the official Pub Crawl camera …plus plenty of laughs, SPC offers a solid night out that won’t disappoint.

Santiago and Pubs and Crawling aside the best thing about The Santiago Pub Crawl is the people, the reason we go out. To socialize, dance, drink and generally to be with other human beings.

To top this off the team who put on the show are a really decent bunch of Chilenos and extranjeros who deserve a good rap, and here it is.

Enjoy – as the photos give testimony, I certainly did.

Massive love

Gino

[G]

PS- Check out …

Santiago Pub Crawl

http://www.facebook.com/TheSantiagoPubCrawl?ref=ts

New York Times – Travel Section – Santiago

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/central-and-south-america/chile/santiago/overview.html

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/travel/25next.html

Beer Pong & Flip Cup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oIZ9bZoi3c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpi1aVZxucI

We booked our tour to Uyuni a few days in advance through Colque tours, a recommended tour operator. Since the land cruisers and 4-wheel drive cars from Bolivia can’t come over the border to Chile, we met our fellow travelers and new friends on the dusty corner in San Pedro to catch the bus to the Bolivian Border. We loaded the bus and headed over to Chilean immigration which is still in the town of San Pedro. A quick stamp and the turnover of the tourist entry/exit paper (never loose this, you will need it to exit the country) we were on our way up the steep inclination to the Altiplano where the Bolivian border control waited.

For those of you with American passports, the crossover into Bolivia is a little more complicated than the rest of the world. Tell the guy at the border you want a visa and he will put your passport away until your driver comes in to retrieve it and hold on to it until Uyuni. Off the record the border control might ask you if you don’t want a visa, for those returning to San Pedro. This choice is up to you and so will be the price based on your personal ethics and/or negotiating skills. For those who choose Visa, on your arrival in Uyuni you will be taken to the consulate so you can get your official visa. This will cost $135 and they might ask you for your Yellow Card (if you don’t have it, usually a $10 extra charge – depending on how they are feeling that day).

Anyways enough about Border Control…so you’re off! You will be quickly assigned a land rover with 4-5 other people (in our case 7, but we were an abnormal exception – lets hope). You will be whisked away only to stop two more times, once for park entry (make sure you get Bolivianos before your departure on your trip – we suggest around $50-80 US in Bolivianos for the whole trip) and then you will sometimes make a quick stop at the Laguna Blanca (White Lagoon) for a quick breakfast.

Then its finally time to get on your way. During the first day you will most likely see the following attractions: Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon), Piedra del Arbol (the Rock Tree),  natural geysers, and at last Laguna Colorado where you will find hopefully thousands of flamingos settled in a lake of contrasting deep red, blue and dark waters.  Keep your eye out around Laguna Colorado for a sighting of the odd and strange looking vizcacha which is a mix of a squirrel and a rabbit…yes very strange.

The second day your tour will move along to 3 other beautiful lagoons, incredible vistas filled with astonishing colors and red rock valleys. There might be a stop in a random small town to grab lunch at a hostel and then most tours will venture off to Uyuni or out to one of the Salt Hotels for a nights stay.

The third day of the tour is by far the most extraordinary. This is the day you get to visit the unbelievable Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flat of Uyuni) which is the worlds largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi). You should probably spend the first 2 days of the tour brainstorming your photo poses for this incredible scene. The salar presents most of the year a view that is endless…the white from the salt flat creates an illusion that everything is on the same viewing field. Therefore fun photos of you holding your friends or optical illusions are quite fun. If you are really lucky as we were, you will find the salar in the rare state of having a thin layer of water. In this case the photos can be nothing but spectacular. The water creates a mirror that goes on for miles and miles which will allow you hours of fun and amazing photos.

When the fun is all over you can either request an overnight transfer on the “highway” back to Chile or you can continue along your way to Bolivia. We enjoyed this trip immensely. The trip from San Pedro de Atacama will cost you around $75-80,000 CLP and around $90-95,000 CLP with a return transfer. From what we’ve heard you can bargain for cheaper, but we’d suggest making sure you have a reliable company with good vehicles. Also they will ask you to buy a 5L water jug for every person that comes on your trip. The rumor is that the trip is about half the price if you are coming from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama.

Enjoy!

The Tripeezy Team

San Pedro de Atacama is the small village that provides the launching pad to the entire amazing area of Atacama. It’s a quaint oasis of a town that plays host to many travelers who make the trek to the North of Chile. You can find an abundance of hostels for good prices as well as luxury resorts up to the highest degree for those who want to splurge. There are a variety of restaurants in the main area of town from the cheap picadas and pizza joints as well as fancy dinners out. Don’t be surprised if some of the restaurants tell you that ¾ of their menu is not available that day…it is very common and just a part of the experience.

In the middle of San Pedro you will find a street (and surrounding area) filled with tourism offices. It is here that you will be able to book any of the day trips that you would like to do. You should have no problem moving from company to company and trying to discover the best price. Please do take into consideration though that some companies run smaller group vans as opposed to larger giant buses, which will provide you a nicer experience. Since I was on a trip with Pathway Chile Tours we went with their recommendation and had booked all of our tours with Incahuassi Tours. We also stayed at their lovely B&B/Hostel which is pleasant walk or bike ride out of the main area.

Most of the tours you will have to book with a company unless you have chosen to rent a car to drive around the area. However being that the tours are fairly cheap, ranging from about $15,000 CLP to $40,000 CLP depending on the experience, time, and type of tour you really won’t be saving much  by renting a car and attempting to do it yourself. Plus its always nice to have someone around the tell you about the changing landscapes.

Atacama is a haven of landscapes. From Valle de la Luna which was named for its close relation to the surface of the moon to the Altiplanico (highlands) which boast thousands of flamingos and birds along with picturesque lagoons. You can spend your day seeing natural geysers, checking out the Inca Trail, swimming in hot thermal baths or climbing up (and running or boarding down) sand dunes. What we’re saying is, its amazing and nothing like anywhere else in the world.

This trip is a must do if you’re in the area and is nicely combined with a quick 3-day hop up to the Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats of Uyuni in Bolivia) or can be done on your way to or from Santiago, Bolivia or Argentina. You can find great deals on flights to Calama from Santiago through LAN (LINK) or Sky Airlines and many bus companies offer service (although about 24 hours) from Santiago.

NOTE: If you want to book a tour up to Bolivia make sure to get it reserved a few days in advance to make sure that you get a spot since the tours don’t leave every day. More to come in our Uyuni Salt Flats

Pichilemu is a very small town and a popular destination for Chilean’s during their holiday season. Expect amazing waves, great surf and dark sand beaches. Evenings are much cooler than in Santiago, so its a nice place to escape the heat. If you’re looking to cool off all you need to do is run into the water, its quite cold.

Stay: There are many hostels to choose from in Pichilemu, you can book some of them on Hostelworld or Hostelbookers. We highly recommend the Pichilemu Surf Hostal. With a beautiful facility, you won’t believe the price to stay in such a comfortable, clean and friendly hostel!

Things to Do: During the day there are many different things you can do. The most popular of course is to take a surfing lesson. You can take one of these on the beach in Pichilemu itself or you can hitch a ride down to Punta de los Lobos! Punta de los Lobos is a beautiful spot to learn or enjoy advanced surfing. We also enjoyed the beach area and watching the waves crash against the rocks.

Eats: There’s quite a variety of food in Pichilemu and one to fit most every budget. The seafood is definitely worth a try and is really fresh. Empanadas are very popular here and if you walk around downtown you can find plenty of places to try one. Our personal take: try the Pastel de Jaiba (crab baked yumminess) or the Congrio (Conger Eel – really just a white fish, excellent).

Drinks: You can grab drinks at your hostel or a restaurant and enjoy beautiful views and sunsets. There are a few clubs in town if you’re in the mood to go out and there will always be a party on the beach with locals until all hours of the morning for the late night fare.

We suggest: Head out to the main beach in town sometime around 11-12, especially on a Saturday, to see the fishing boats cleaning their catch and selling fish and seafood for UNBELIEVABLY cheap prices. You can also go to the small market on the beachfront and purchase fresh ceviche for about $3 US. Incredible.

Watch out for…

THE SUN: the sun is 10x more intense than even Santiago, and probably 100x more intense than you are used to. Use Sunscreen and don’t stay out very long – one hour and we were already starting to burn…

ATMs: There are only a couple of ATMs in town, only one that we could find. Its easier if you bring enough cash with you when you come as they can run out easily. If need be, you will probably wait in line for some time…

Tips: In February, this town will get quite popular and quite busy. Make sure to book your hostel a couple of days in advance and you might consider going and buying your tickets early too. Buses leave a few times a day, make sure you get a direct bus.

If you go to Buses Alameda (Universidad de Santiago Metro Stop) then you can buy from Pullman Sur Buses. Should cost you about $5000 CLP one way (about $10).

Enjoy!

The Tripeezy Team

Let’s get started! No matter where you are coming from or how long you plan to stay, you will first need to buy your ticket. Tickets are up for sale and going fast, so make sure you get in early to secure a cheap price. The prices are listed HERE.

We’ve found that the ticket purchasing system is only in espanol, so for those gingos and gringas that are having a little trouble navigating the system, don’t forget to check out our blog post on how to buy your ticket HERE!

Now we all know that you’ll need a cool and funky place to stay while you are in Santiago. We highly suggest staying in one of our partner hostels, listed in links on the right of our blog or checking out the listings on LetMeGo to find the best rates and deals for your stay.

And because you will be staying in Santiago longer for sure, make sure to check out our Tripeezy Guidebooks to Santiago! We’ll be launching some really awesome things around the festival time, so check back in for the latest and how to try out our new app before everyone else! Sign Up Here to receive the latest news from Tripeezy!

Cheers!

The Tripeezy Team

First: Go to the Ticket Sales page on the Lollapalooza Site HERE Click “Buy” next to the ticket category you would like to purchase,

This will take you to a screen that looks like this. Make sure to click at the bottom where it says “Compra ABONO” – we have circled it in our photo.

Next: You will be taken to a page that looks like this, you will need to click “Crear Nueva Cuenta”: (A RUT is a Chilean Identification Number, don’t worry, you won’t need one to purchase a ticket)

Next you will see the following page that you need to fill out to register:

When finished, this will automatically log you in.

If you leave and need to come back, just make sure when the RUT login page comes up you click “Ingreso exclusivo extranerjo”.

You will now see this page where you can choose your type of ticket and how many:

You will get one choice for the next screen, so fill in the bubble that says you accept “Will Call” for your tickets and then click to go forward:

This will take you to the first confirmation page:

From here you will be taken to paypal, where you will need to sign in and pay for the ticket, then you will be returned to PuntoTicket to Confirm once again. From here you should have your confirmation, make a note of it just in case your email confirmation does not come through!

Happy Ticket Buying!

Cheers!

The Tripeezy Team

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