10 things a Malaysian/ Singaporean should keep in mind if you want to visit Latin America

10. 

Don’t list shopping first on your list like you do when you go to Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei or Hong Kong, and you’ll be okay.

09. 

If you are female, get a travel partner for this trip because this is Latin America and like Asia, it's not exactly the safest place in the world. Petty crimes and pickpocketing activities are abound here.

08. 

Safety – This is the reason why I chose 02. 

07. 

Travel light – You are doing yourself a great favour considering you will be flying a total of 11 times over a two-week period. See my post on „HOW I PACKED FOR THIS TRIP“.

06. 

Learn how to ask and understand simple directions before your visit - in Portugese (for Brazil) and Spanish (Argentina). So I didn't do this and thought I could ‚wing it‘ like I always do when I travel solo to parts of Asia and Europe. This backfired royally.

Tip: Directions translation from Buenos Aires. Thanks to the kind gentleman that stopped to help us (coz we were looking so embarassingly blur case).

05. 

To have an actual interest in ancient history. Why go to Machu Picchu if you don’t even know the history? For the longest time, I have been so interested in Incan history (actually anything that is ancient and not fully explained, I’m interested) #sonotjustashopaholicokay.

04. 

Be prepared to be tired (but happy!). Seriously, two weeks over multiple sites, two time-zones and three countries – it took me two full weeks after I got home to Singapore to fully overcome my jetlag and tiredness.

03.

 Get Skype to talk to your loved ones at the comfort of your hotel's included wifi.

02. 

Consider getting a travel planner that specializes in Latin America continent. I found mine via Latin America for Less (LAFL - thanks guys!) - See below my post of LAFL.

01. 

Save up $$$. Forget budget airlines. From Singapore to Brazil, you have to do the major carriers – Singapore Airlines (or Lufthansa, or Delta Air) for the long haul and then there is the actual trip expense once you get there.