From London to San Francisco

March 14
Monday 14th March was the beginning of the 3 month adventure. The start of caprinihas, big fat steaks and trying to figure out the spanish lingo. The date had slowly been approaching and weirdly enough came along without a nervous, excited feeling in sight. We are off to South America. Really? It all seemed a bit surreal. Somewhere I had dreamt about going to forever, and here was the chance to make it a reality. We made our separate ways to Heathrow airport, thankfully without a glitch occurring. Me with my mini hiking rucksack (god knows how I managed that) and Jen with her err not so mini rucksack, (who would have thought a denim waistcoat would be needed at some point of this trip!). We flew American Airlines (avoid these guys at all costs, they are the worst airline in the history of the world) and landed in New York at 9pm. As Jen had never been to NYC, she hovered at the airport doors watching the yellow taxis fly past, where she uttered the words 'oh if only we could just go and explore for a day'. Little did we know that this exact wish would come true. Lesson 1. Dont mess with the Denster. Some words come out of her mouth and within a few minutes that exact thing miracously happens!
Sat waiting at the gate, watching our plane infront of us, this AA announcement happened seconds later: ´The flight from New York to Rio de Janiero is overbooked. We need seven passengers to give up their seats in exchange for an 800USD travel coupon to use within a year to any destination, and free overnight accomodation and meals´.
A few hours into our 3 month trip, the answer was easy. Yes please. An hour later, hungry, tired and waiting for our bags to turn up I was wondering if this was actually as good idea as it first seemed. Two hours later with no bag, (which not one member of staff in the airport knew the whereabouts of) and forgetting that it is March, meaning New York would be COLD compared to Rio, was this actually a good idea? New York, 5 degrees. Rio, 30 degrees. Rio seemed a more appealing place at that point in time. Clothed in only leggings, a tshirt, new walking boots (that hurt and were too big and bulky to pack), this next 24 hours would not be the greatest ever!