Open-jaw tickets to South America

pickarooney

Hoping to go to South America in August for a few months. I'm not sure how long we'll be staying, as it depends on how far the money stretches. The plan is to fly into Costa Rica, go down in an anti-clockwise arc through Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil and fly back out from French Guyana, although some of this might change. What's the best way to organise an open-jaw ticket, with as many allowed date-changes as possible?
Is it possible via the net or would I need to go to a travel agency?

Also, if anyone has spent time in SA, what kind of budget would one need per month? We'll go with the cheapest possible accommodation, and try to limit travel as much as possible, although we do want to take in at least five countries. If anyone has any tips about Colombia (should it really be avoided or is it reasonably safe? It's kind of in the way between Panama and Ecuador!), please share. In fact, any information about any aspect of the trip would be hugely apprectiated.

Flinty

OK, I have no advice I can give you personally, but check out http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categories.cfm?catid=22 . It's the lonely planet's message board (the link is to the South American part) and it's brilliant for finding out stuff. You can search it for key words as well. Some of the posts can be annoying and written by travel-nerds, but it's usually very helpful.
Good luck on the trip!

NikNik

With regards to your ticket - open jaw tickets cannot usually be booked over the internet. It would be best to go directly to a travel agency, or to various travel agencies to see which can offer you the best price. The ticket will be more expensive than a normal return, obviously, as you would have to buy one with more flexibility. You can either buy a ticket with set dates that is changeable paying a change fee, or a fully flexible ticket without change fees - the latter being more expensive.

Another option is to buy your international tickets seperately and get a pass which allows you to go to a certain number of destinations or travel a certain number of miles inside South America for a fixed price. There is one called a Mercosur Airpass done by a Brazilian airline called Varig. Here are the prices according to mileage flown:

1200-1900 225USD
1901-2500 285USD
2501-3200 345USD
3201-4200 420USD
4201-5200 530USD
5201-6200 645USD
6201-7200 775USD
over 7200 870USD

Check with the travel agency to see if you're elligable as there are only certain airlines that can be used and some of them may not fly to the places you want to go.
Good luck !

bleary

Hi
last year when i was going to sa Flight prices dropped quite a bit from august to september so might be worth leaving it till a bit later.
Columbia is meant to be a bit difficult to get a visa for now if you are irish thanks to our famous 3 compatriots . i can honestly say that I have never had so many people say about any country that it is not safe to travel there
I met a lot of hardened travellers who just said it was extremely dangerous also people in ecuador told us that as non hispanics it would be a nightmare
Saying that if you really want to go and are an experienced traveller then decide your self .I met girls travelling on their own who were planning to take it in in the its never as bad as people make out vein.
In regards to budget I travelled with a friend who had 700 euro for 6 weeks in Ecuador ,Peru,Bolivia and flying from Chile that was with bargaining places down quite a bit and not doing the macchu picchu trek . Deffo doable on a budget I spent quite a bit more but couldnt pass up 5 dollars a nights hotels with pools and multiple ice cream meals mmm
Do check out the thorntree all ur questions have been asked before and it may help with deciding what to pass on and what is a must do ,I found it was great to check on visa situations before I went and aslo the general political situations in Bolivia and with crime etc ,

pickarooney

Thanks a million for your replies so far. Going to check out thorntree now.