There are only 111 days until departure.

Yesterday night, I purchased tickets to travel to two different countries this summer. As a university graduation present from myself to myself, I purchased a Delta ticket to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, which is where I will stay from May 13th until May 20th. I will see my sister, Hannah Cranford, when I travel there because she is working in the country as a Peace Corps member. This will be the second time I have visited a country in the Caribbean.

After I purchased my graduation gift, I started using the Frances L. Phillips Travel Scholarship money, and I booked a multi-city ticket, which will allow me to travel from Santo Domingo to Rio de Janeiro and eventually back to Raleigh, North Carolina after my journey abroad is complete.

I booked all of my flights through Delta, and I did so because I wanted the comfort of dealing with a single airline for all of my adventures this year. This journey will be the first time I have traveled to South America and the first time I will solo travel.

The dates are now set, and my next task will be to book or rent a place to stay. I have narrowed my search in Rio de Janeiro, and I will decide later this weekend or next week.

This is an ongoing series of journal entries, in which I will explain and document my preparation for travel and travel through Brazil in May through August of 2015. You can read each journal entry on The Orange Traveler or on ojogobonito.weebly.com where they will initially be published.

Have any tips for traveling through Brazil? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.