People who have been travelling...

TFleming

TFleming

TFleming

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Redcar, Cleveland
Hi All,

Just a question for those who have been travelling, or even know others who have.

I'm going travelling to Australia (January) on a working 12 month visa. I'm not sure how long I'm going to be there. I also want to travel to Thailand (and perhaps some other places in Asia) on the way back home.

In people's experience, is it better to book a multi city package, or better just to go by ear and get one way tickets everywhere? Given the fact I couldn't provide accurate dates of when I will/won't be wanting to travel to X place, I'm not sure if a package is the best option. I know you can get flexi passes which allow you to change dates, but upon reading about them, they aren't really as flexible as they make out and you still incur charges if you change dates. Perhaps I've read into it wrong, though.

The main considerations are flexibility around flight dates and obviously cost.

Thanks in advance!
 
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I went travelling a few years back. We bought a round the world ticket from flight centre. I'm afraid I can't remember the exact type of ticket but we flew from London > Bangkok, then flew out of Singapore to Melbourne, then out of Brisbane > Fiji > San Francisco > London.

We knew roughly how long we wanted to be in each place, so we booked actual dates but we made sure we were able to change the dates if we wanted to. We flew into Melbourne as expected, but then pushed out all our other flights by a few weeks and it didn't cost us much (less than £100pp). We did so by going into a flight centre branch in Australia which made it very easy.

As for general advice, I'd suggest booking the main flights like we did (as long as you can get a flexible ticket that will allow you to change the dates) as that can keep the overall costs down, but then travel around the innards of the countries by using low cost airlines like Air Asia (or even buses/trains if you're going to lots of places).
 
I did Aus > NZ > South east Asia using STA and paid 45 (I think) extra for flexipass (upto 3 changes).

Used 2 out of the 3 and was charged I think £10.XX to move a flight to an earlier date.

Give STA a call, or go instore, they'll ahve your answers.
 
TommyV said:
I did Aus > NZ > South east Asia using STA and paid 45 (I think) extra for flexipass (upto 3 changes).

Used 2 out of the 3 and was charged I think £10.XX to move a flight to an earlier date.

Give STA a call, or go instore, they'll ahve your answers.
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This.

I went travelling in May and did everything through STA, flexipass etc. They were very helpful.
 
When I booked my RTW trip I had no idea either so I just put a reasonable couple of dates in the booking. They told me when I booked that changing dates wouldn't cost anything but it did in the end, £40 a time, and I changed it about 3 times plus you have to pay for additional flight seating costs too so be aware.

Original plans:

London > Hong Kong (3 nights) > Thailand (3 weeks) > Singapore (7 nights) > Australia (5 months) > New Zealand (4 months) > Fiji (7 nights) > San Francisco (2 weeks) > London

What actually transpired:

London > Hong Kong (3 nights) > Thailand (3 weeks) > Singapore (7 nights) > Australia (4 months) > New Zealand (5 months) > Fiji (7 nights) > New Zealand (2 months) > Australia (2 weeks) > New Zealand (4 months) > Japan (5 nights) > New Zealand (1 month) > Thailand (6 weeks) > Laos (4 weeks) > Thailand (1 week) > Malaysia (10 days) > London

19 months in total I think. I only went with £5k, got a job in New Zealand for 6 months which helped pay for the rest of the trip and extra countries. Came back with £4k of debt on credit card. I only came back home because I had no funds to continue paying the credit card minimum amount.
 
OK, sounds like most reccommend a company like STA so far.

I've read the reviews online (those which I can find) and they're pretty horrendous so far. 1*/5, and lots of critisism. STA do look very cheap, though.
 
I would play it by ear as you never know what may happen otherwise you are limiting yourself time wise and may not get the chance again. That extra week in Sydney might throw all your other plans out for instance.

I spent 2 months in Sydney (awesome) with some mates and our plans to go to Cairns went pear shaped as 2 run out of money and one had to get the bus up (haha). I still got to do everything I wanted and had a great time as I had no time or money (lots of saving) constraints but the rest of the party either missed out as they had a timetable or had to go home due to lack of funds.
 
I know a few people who have been with STA and they would never use them again. Summaries being they were messed around from the start, told incorrect information and ended up having to hound STA to sort their messes out and reorganised a lot of it themselves...

This is multiple independent parties BTW.
 
Amp34 said:
I know a few people who have been with STA and they would never use them again. Summaries being they were messed around from the start, told incorrect information and ended up having to hound STA to sort their messes out and reorganised a lot of it themselves...

This is multiple independent parties BTW.
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This is a running theme judging by the online reviews. Think i'll avoid STA. Doesn't sound good.

Has anyone used RoundTheWorldExperts?
 
Vtec9k said:
Book your first flight then just make it up as you go along! It's the best way :)
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I had the same dilema back in 2009 when I went travelling for 2 years.

100% agree book a 1 way ticket to Oz and you will quite literally living the dream:cool:

Its the best thing I have ever done, saw lots of the world opened my eyes to lots of different cultures and got married.

Only downside is I'm still not travelling with my wife. Still its got to end eventually:(

enjoy and if you have time post on here every now and again:)
 
Don't go with STA, they're a rip off and charge anywhere from £20-100 more for a ticket above what you'd pay if you went straight to the airline. Ticket prices fluctuate so much that it's almost impossible for them to give you a decent price.

I have travelled around the world and recently returned 2 months ago without planning any flights. All countries let me in without an onwards flight, but be aware that some airlines (Ethiopian airways) wouldn't allow us to fly to South Africa without an onwards ticket to the US. They claim it's South African policy (which strictly speaking it is, but on arrival that don't check your paperwork) but it's actually just an airline policy. That receive pretty hefty fines.

It's a bit dodgier in places like Russia and Belarus where we HAD to have an onwards ticket while we were on the trains and checked out by border guards.

But even if you do need an onwards ticket, just book it in the country you're currently staying in. Everywhere has Wifi and it takes 30 minutes (if that) to book it through somewhere like Kayak or Skyscanner.

We must have saved at least £1000 over about 7 or 8 flights (not including boat and train travel) - it's worth it just to wing it.
 
I'm planning on heading to to Aus/new zealand on working visas around this time next year (1 more year or badly saving needed).

I am planning to just play it by ear, especially if i do need to work.
 
When i went to Asia for a few months last year I just booked my ticket out there and the return back. The flights in between I just booked on-the-go when needed via searching through SkyScanner.
 
Think I'm probably going to just go for one way flights. Priced it up and it's about £1150 with a round the world ticket, and around £1400 without one, but I get complete flexibility.

The flight to sydney is the killer, £750 for a one way. Although, if i fly from London I can get one for £600. Just a killer to get down there from all the way up Norrrrf.
 
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