Open plane tickets?

Kristoph · 11 Oct 2008 at 13:59

Hi.

It's a long way off, but I'm planning on a bit of travelling early 2010.

I spoke to someone today who said they'd bought an around the world ticket, and could fly where they wanted, when they wanted, for ~£1000.

My original plan was save ~£5000/6000 and fly out and travel NZ for 8 months whilst working until my parents arrived and by then hopefully be a 'Resident'

The guy I was speaking to today said that he managed to travel for 5 months, to Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and San Fransisco and £6000 allowed him to live 'like a king'.

My plan would be to:

Fly from London to
->Vietnam/South Korea, stay for a month. (May)
->Singapore, stay for a month. (June)
->New Zealand, South Island, stay for 2 months. (July, August)
->Fiji, stay for 2 months. (September, October)
->New Zealand, North Island, stay for 2 months (November, December)
->Meet the Parents in Auckland, start renting a house and sit back as a 'Resident'

I'd obviously need to have a bigger budget for all of this. I'd hope £10k would cover it? Means I'll be working my ass off until I leave.

Has anyone done anything like this? Would be cool to hear how expensive certain places are, and whether the time I've set aside would be enough or too much.

NZ is where I want to spend the bulk of my time.

Thanks.

Kemik · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:09

Are you going alone? Where are you planning on staying? Hostels? Are you looking to do loads of events or work more?

Nexus · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:12

'Living like a King' and round the world trips don't go hand in hand, especially staying in big, modern cities.

Slinky1989 · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:14

Pretty much anywhere asia wise is dirt cheap (apart from japan), my best friend has just gone off travelling around asia for two years [/sob] and he and his partner have taken just over £6000 each (with some more in reserve if they need it).

Your most expensive parts of the trip will be new zealand and tokyo so budget more for those areas, (my mate is doing all the "not so seemingly well off" asian countries like vietnam, india, cambodia and so on as well as china so everything will be cheap).

Kristoph · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:15

Kemik said:
Are you going alone? Where are you planning on staying? Hostels? Are you looking to do loads of events or work more?

Will be going alone. Hostels all the way. I'd originally planned to work and travel just NZ. But if I have to I'd be happy to work the NZ stages of the trip.
I'd need to look in advance for work, but I'm happy to do what it takes to get by.

I've done a fair few things in NZ already, so it wouldn't be as expensive as someone who hadn't visited there before.

Kristoph · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:17

"slinky" said:
Pretty much anywhere asia wise is dirt cheap (apart from japan), my best friend has just gone off travelling around asia for two years [/sob] and he and his partner have taken just over £6000 each (with some more in reserve if they need it).

Your most expensive parts of the trip will be new zealand and tokyo so budget more for those areas, (my mate is doing all the "not so seemingly well off" asian countries like vietnam, india, cambodia and so on as well as china so everything will be cheap).

Yeah, I'd love to visit Vietnam. Might be a 'cheap' alternative to the Tokyo leg. I've never really thought in depth about either places, but I've got plenty of time to decide.

Hellsmk2 · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:25

I'd avoid Tokyo just because of the cost; it is ridiculously expensive in Japan. It's a wonderful city, but the costs just don't justify the returns. There's far cheaper places that have a similar vibe (E,g. Seoul).

Also, the subway system in Tokyo was the most confusing mess I have ever seen. Getting around was a nightmare.

Kemik · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:43

Keep us updated with your planning. I've got £3,000 to go on holiday for 4 to 6 weeks with next summer. Might go back to NZ but wanna stop off at Oz on the way. Wouldn't mind going to Asia but just wouldn't feel very safe on my own. Probably end up getting lost.

neocon · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:52

Kemik said:
Keep us updated with your planning. I've got £3,000 to go on holiday for 4 to 6 weeks with next summer. Might go back to NZ but wanna stop off at Oz on the way. Wouldn't mind going to Asia but just wouldn't feel very safe on my own. Probably end up getting lost.

about the worst thing that can happen is that you get too drunk, go home with a hooker and wake up the next day to find your wallet missing.

ive seen vietnam, thailand and singapore. vietnam is far too undeveloped for my liking. saigon is a dump compared to bangkok. thailand is a good place to stay, especially if youre a single male! singapore is pretty boring. i'd rather see tokyo myself if cost wasn't a problem.

tokyo and bangkok

Kristoph · 11 Oct 2008 at 14:53

Kemik said:
Keep us updated with your planning. I've got £3,000 to go on holiday for 4 to 6 weeks with next summer. Might go back to NZ but wanna stop off at Oz on the way. Wouldn't mind going to Asia but just wouldn't feel very safe on my own. Probably end up getting lost.

Yeah will do.

At this stage I'm just creating a rough plan of locations to visit.

I'll gradually look at each place and decide what sort of things I'd like to do, the costs, and then a total budget.

I might decide a month in Singapore and Vietnam is too long and spend 2 weeks in each. Give myself an extra month of earning.

I need to decide whether or not it would be a good idea to go back to England or not?

Basically, if I leave with the plan of staying till December, the last time I'll see England, friends and family will be April 2010.

If I did go home after the travelling I'd be able to say bye and go out to NZ with my parents, but that would be £1000 I don't really need to spend.

York · 11 Oct 2008 at 15:13

I'm planning on doing something similar in the next year or two. My sister does this a lot and her advice is to generally budget at least £1000-£1500 for each month you'll be wanting to travel. Obviously you won't be staying in 5* hotels, but should cover you for decent hostels and actually managing to eat

As others have mentioned most of Asia is fairly cheap, but the more developed countries (Japan, Australia etc) can be much more expensive so remember to increase your budget for visiting those areas.

Finally have a look at round the world tickets. They can be very good value if your planning on hopping between countries, but do take some planning to get the best use out of them. They tend to give you a maximum "mile" limit that you can travel, and restrict you from travelling in one direction around the world (so you can't fly from London -> China -> Africa -> NZ for instance). Travel Supermarket has some good info on the different carriers that offer these types of ticket.