Firstly, I can use this bag for any length trip. I did 3 weeks in autumnal St Petersburg  with it, including both smart and casual. I did a 3 week trip around Turkey and Bulgaria, no problems. So in terms of size and content it is all you need. But I need to qualify this statement. When I stayed in St. Petersburg I was staying in one place so I packed a lot and it was heavy, not really comfortable to carry around. I also had a problem checking it in as hand luggage due to the weight, which I passed by having a second smaller laptop bag inside I separated out. With some airlines now being more careful over weight, one to check out.

A second issue is it is not a formal bag. Often when I fly I wear my best coat or jacket to save me carrying it and squashing it. But when in rucksack mode it does not look too good it must be said, disfiguring my style !

In terms of storage it is fine, plenty of pockets etc. One downside is the zips get caught sometimes. They are very strong and will not break but are hard sometimes to undo.

Would I buy it again ? No I wouldn’t. It is great for a casual getaway where the weight is not too much, and of course great wherever the pavements are not good enough for a wheelie case, but it is annoying when you are heaving it around the airport and see others effortlessly wheeling theirs around. In short, next time a wheeled version would be better.

Assuming you have received the piece of paper from the store when you bought the item, the next step is to go to nice  (not !) customs man at the airport. London Gatwick South has recently been remodeled making things harder to find. Or more to the point, they want to make sure you spend more should I say. (The free water fountains have been boarded up, so go buy that bottled water).

Immediately you come out of security before you are channeled through what seems like the world’s biggest duty free shop (which is of course not duty free), you need to take a sharp left down the grim looking corridor to find the customs man who will stamp your piece of paper the store gave you. Hopefully he will be in a decent mood Once done, you can go to the travelex fx counter where they will give you cash and take another few percent off you, or if you can, post the form back in the post box situated in the main hall. I would say ask the Information desk but that seems to have been removed too…

Is tax free worth it? Well, the company that does the paperwork takes about 7% and the cash in the hand another 3% or so so just about, but the UK is not the cheapest place to shop so if you can buy in the US!

On a similar topic, no shops airside at Gatwick South terminal are duty free now. They seem to be in some strange zone where they charge VAT but you cannot get it refunded. Sure it makes sense to someone !

Hiring in the city and returning at the airport is a no-no unless you are willing to pay a 30% one way fee. Maybe it can work out though, as often renting at the airport leads to a government imposed airport tax which on a long rental can add significantly to the cost.

What to do; every car hire company has different policies which tend to not work with the big car hire comparison engines like Kayak, so all one can do is run a comparison and then individually visit each site in turn and see if any has a decent rate. Perhaps you will get lucky and they need to move a car to a different location and it will be free

In the USA, some hotels have laundry rooms which can be used by guests. Think of the suites type hotels which come with little kitchens. Staying in the USA, despite being a rich country. people tend not to own their own washing machines. Each block of flats shares a common laundry room, which is great for the environment and is really a good idea. Do we need our own machine that gets a few hours use per week?

In Latin America washing machines are also rare in apartments. Some blocks of flats, the newer ones, have the American model of  common laundry rooms. What is common in countries like Argentina is the local service wash, where you take a pile of clothes and they wash and press it for $5 or so, often the same day. Excellent news for people who pack light!

The UK used to have laundromats like in the US, self service ones, but in the UK they have largely disappeared. You need to search a bit to get to find them now, just Google the area you are in with laundromat to get local listings.

Often listed as one of those things that you have to do, to see a football match in Buenos Aires is a very noisy experience, not the same as the tranquil games we get in Europe, with maybe games in Istanbul coming closest! River Plate have the biggest stadium in Argentina, the venue for the 1978 World Cup which the hosts won, but as a viewing ground it is not the best having been built in a circle, not the  best shape for a football pitch.

On the other hand, the Boca stadium is perfect for football. High tiered stands right next to the pitch and the infamous Boca fans who never stop with the noise make an amazing atmosphere.

But I do not know ! It is not easy to get into a Boca game, they have an odd ticketing system. Most tickets go to the club members, not to the general public. They do have  a ticket office near the Boca stadium where tickets can be sold on the morning of the game where you may get lucky. The common tourist alternative is to join a tourist group where you pay a lot of money to be guided to the game. This has the upside in that you will get in, paying 8 times the face value of a ticket. The other downsides are they take you there hours before, for your safety they say, but I am not sure what there is to be scared about in all honesty, normal scaremongering by the guide books. And they keep you there long after the game too, and I have heard they give you a slice of terrible pizza too !

So I tried to do what I would do in any other country, buy a ticket outside of the stadium. There are lots of warning of fake tickets to be found but about this I cannot say as the game I went to see was the season opener between Boca and Olimpo. This meant that there were no tickets on sale to the public, the only way in was on a tourist group or as a club member. But I had heard that there was another way. Staff can overlook the fact that you have no ticket and let you in anyway for a fee.

So asking the football shirt sellers outside soon found me led to a fixer, a person who can get you inside. I joined a group of other people who had also paid the guy 200 pesos (ouch – $45) to smuggle us inside. I felt better as some of the others were argentinians. The guy went off leaving us near a cafe where he knew everyone and … never came back! It seemed the game on this evening could not be penetrated due to a large police cordon around the whole site, with every single ticket/club card being checked to allow you to even approach the stadium. Sigh, money lost but it was kinda fun in a twisted way and a good experience to amuse friends in a bar with !

As to the logistics. Firstly La Cabrera is actually 2 restaurants about 50 metres apart and the happy hour can be at either of them. Make sure you arrive just before 7pm as places fill up very quickly and if you get there by ten past the chances are the tables will have all gone. You will either need to spot which restaurant the queue is at or ask one of the many staff to make sure you are in the right queue. The staff hand out menus whilst you are queuing, but be aware that all the tables used for happy hour are inside, not the ones on the pavement.

Once you are seated it is a  bit chaotic, as they have to serve 40 or so people in an hour. You have to leave by 8:30 when the normal seating is done at full price. So make sure you know what you want and order it as soon as you can. If you linger over the menu you may find your steak has to wait for 30 other steaks to be cooked leaving you sitting there watching everyone else eat whilst you get 5 minutes to eat yours ! Don’t expect fantastic service as they busy busy busy.

What to go for. I tried a rare rib eye steak which was pretty rare but quite a fatty piece and I have to say it was quite hard work cutting it up even with the steak knife. My girlfriend had a medium sirloin steak which seemed better than mine, quite juicy and the fat around the edge. Each steak comes with lots of tiny sides and a bread basket which is all you really need. The sides are guacamole, garlic, potato salads etc. Not a lot but enough. If you need more than get some fries perhaps.

Our meal of two 400g steaks and an $15 bottle of Malbec with water came to 160 pesos altogether, around $35. Tips are not included and they stamp this on the receipt in English.

All in all a good night except too much wine in the girlfriend ! Make sure you pick a close by hotel in Palermo. I don’t think it would be worth the full price of $70 but then I assume the service would be much better in the evening when they are less rushed.

But there can be a better way… I thought if I travelled the night before on the London Underground or by bus it would cost me all of a few pounds, which I could then put towards a hotel at the airport. Meaning I could wake up at 4am instead of 5am.. hmmm. Especially as I was flying out of Terminal 4, where there seems to be only one hotel actually at Terminal 4. No disrespect  to the Hilton but this is not the cheapest hotel out there where it is likely to be around $180 a night unless you get lucky by finding a better deal on my site !

The other hotels at Heathrow are not suitable for Terminal 4 due to the layout of the airport. It would still entail a taxi ride at 3:30 am, so all I would save is maybe a little stress.

But then I remembered the Yotel chain. When I was passing through Amsterdam Schipol on time I saw they had a Yotel in the departure area and that they had a Yotel at Heathrow too. So I checked and lo behold, there is a Yotel at T4, and to make it even better it is landside, not airside like in Amsterdam.

Yotel offer very small rooms. Micro rooms. Tiny, really tiny. If you are sharing you better be intimate with the other person!

But the benefits are good. They charge by the hour which makes them good value, as it is unlikely you will be staying more than 8 or 10 hours. They offer wifi free of charge, and being in the airport there is no shortage of coffee places or restaurants! But beware that the air quality was poor, a bit like you were stuck in a storage container at the airport ! But then, you kind of are in a way.

After much tasting at many places I think I can now give the definitive answer.There are a couple of chains of ice cream shops, like Freddo and Volta which are fine but not the best.

The best one? Tufic in Palermo on Guatemala and Armenia. In a city full of Dulce de Leche helados theirs stands high above the rest, sweet but not sickly, and none of that bitter after taste, perfection ! Try their ice cream, believe me it is awesome. They have seating inside and out, and a standard quarter kilo is slightly cheaper than the competition!

Most ice cream places have special offers, particularly on Mondays. Mondays are commonly buy one kilo, get a second free, definitely the time to stock up your freezer ! Normally Tuesdays and Wednesdays also have little offers too but as the weekend approaches the offers freeze up !

After leaving your plane. expect a decent walk to immigration, where you may expect to see long long queues depending how many planes have arrived before you! The immigration has roughly 4 lines. I say roughly as it is all a bit of a mess. The first line nearest the entrance is for crew/diplomats/people with babies. If you have the nerve just join this line and you will be out very quickly, just say you have a bad leg/feel sick etc. The second line is for local citizens, again shorter than the others. The third line is for foreigners which as you can expect is the longest. This is where if you can it is best to push in nearer the front, as plenty of people do and it could well save you an hour, but this depends on your morals! The final line may or not be operating, it is for US citizens who have to pay a reciprocal entrance fee.

The immigration is very quick, not much asked, no fee required. Then onto the luggage hall where you can expect to see more long lines ! Every suitcase has to be pushed through a scanner by the customs guys which when they only have 2 working can lead to long lines. After finding your suitcase you have the choice of joining the long line or pushing in near the front which is the same place you will retrieve your case. Again, your choice, but everyone else will be pushing in so if you line up it could be another hour waiting!

After the suitcase scan which no-one seems to watch, out into the terminal. First up are two exchange places where they will really rip you off, please don’t change here unless you are desperate and then only enough for immediate needs. We are talking of rates 20% under the normal. There is no ATM in the arrivals terminal, you need to go the adjacent departures terminal to find one which is a far better bet. Next to these exchange places are some taxi stands where you can pay in dollars for the trip downtown at a not too rip off rate. In January it was about $45 to the centre, and the driver will come to you and hep you to the taxi. No ordering necessary, there are always plenty to go around.

There are of course other taxis around, unofficial and official, and a bus can be found outside which will cost a dollar to downtown, but for this you need coins and patience as it takes a long time to get there!