Oh man, a rectangle is honestly more than I got out of my last course. At least now you can say you're a graphic designer, sort of.

Been burned by long intros too, good on you for figuring it out.

Forty hours sounds like a lot until you break it down. That is about 13 hours a month over 3 months, which is basically one overnight ride per city hop. The trade off is real though, since a lost day in each spot plus the sore back adds up to way more than the $300 you saved. But most people never even bother counting, so at least you know where your time actually went. The sunrise over the Andes part is hard to price anyway.