Travelling

[NotAGolf]

I've just had a genius thought that I might go travelling after I finish Uni this summer. I will need to work for about 5/6 months at a supermarket or something to earn some money and then go for maybe 6 months travelling around the world. At a guess, I've made a very rough estimation that I will need about £10k.

However I have done absolutely no research at all so i'm after some insipration from you guys. What has everyone done travelling wise? How long did you go for? Where did you go? How much did it cost?

I don't really want to work whilst travelling, maybe a bit of fruit picking in Australia at some point!! So will need to have enough money initially to fund nearly the whole trip.

With regards as to where to go, I've got a bit of dilemna, because I will be travelling with my girlfriend who has quite a different idea of where to go. My plan of places to go are as follows:
- Canada: do the rockies and the like, maybe a bit of snowboarding
- South America: Brazil (Corcovado and Rio) and Peru (Machu Picchu)
- Africa: Game tour and go down the Zambezi, Victoria falls
- Australia: All around! Maybe New Zealand and Fiji
- Indonesia: Thailand, Malaysia, maybe some jungle adventures in Borneo/Vietnam or something similar!
- Japan: Just Tokyo really
- Then back home, Europe doesn't really appeal to me

Her plan is:
- America: New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Grand canyon
- Australia: All around
- Europe: Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Small island around Slovenia
- Japan: Tokyo

Any views/opinions/advice?
Bear in mind we have done no research at all!

 

[gumbald]

Compromise?

 

[ganesh]

Seems that she wants to go to the safer and more civilised parts of the world. For me, that would seem too much like a holiday, and less of an adventure. I'd rather do your list. Though you will have to compromise.

 

[bigredshark]

be careful of too many places, it's no fun spending 2 nights everywhere, you never get to know anywhere. Also, visiting 20 different places sounds great but the actual travelling is tiring and expensive. You can chill out and live comfortably even in reasonably expensive countries for surprisingly little cash, a flight from south africa to australia (for example) could cost you as much as chilling in perth or somewhere for 2 weeks.

My advice, and i've been a lot of places, is take it easy, leave loads of time spare, don't commit to set dates to move on unless you have to. For me traveling was as much about the people I met as the places.

 

[NotAGolf]

Having conflicting ideas as to where to go is not really an issue at the moment, we know we'll have to make a compromise at some point but this is fine. We're really looking for ideas and insipiration for destinations as well as tips and advice with regards to time needed to travel, cost of everything etc.

Since I posted she also informed me that she would like to go to Canada and NZ as well!

 

[bigredshark]

Having conflicting ideas as to where to go is not really an issue at the moment, we know we'll have to make a compromise at some point but this is fine. We're really looking for ideas and insipiration for destinations as well as tips and advice with regards to time needed to travel, cost of everything etc.

Since I posted she also informed me that she would like to go to Canada and NZ as well!

Given six months, I would start in australia, spend 3-4 months or so there, new zealand and the pacific islands, then a week maybe in singapore, tokyo or somewhere like that. Fly to LA,then 2 months to go up the west coast (San francisco, seattle and vancouver) and across canada, down through new england and end up in new york. I'd say given 6 months that'll let you really see everywhere, last time I was in australia I spent 5 weeks and saw victoria and tasmania properly (and thats not a huge area). Tasmania is worth a visit btw...

Seriously, don't try and pack too much in though. If you're looking for additional ideas you could buy a 2 week eurail pass and spend a couple of weeks running round europe before you leave. Or add south africa to the start of your trip.

You should be able to get a decent round the world fair for that sort of journey, I'd expect to pay about 1.5-2k for your air ticket...

 

[tomanders91]

Seems that she wants to go to the safer and more civilised parts of the world. For me, that would seem too much like a holiday, and less of an adventure. I'd rather do your list. Though you will have to compromise.

I wouldnt really call brazil safe, its one of the most dangerous holiday destinations, not only have i heard tons about it being dangerous, but a friend of a relative went to rio, and got mugged by a load of street kids, they cut the back of his leg with a knife (tendons i think) and robbed everything on her.

But, its ment to be a great place, and i would love to go.

 

[ganesh]

I wouldnt really call brazil safe, its one of the most dangerous holiday destinations, not only have i heard tons about it being dangerous, but a friend of a relative went to rio, and got mugged by a load of street kids, they cut the back of his leg with a knife (tendons i think) and robbed everything on her.

But, its ment to be a great place, and i would love to go.

When i said safe, i was referring to his Girlfriends list. And that his list seemed more adventerous.

 

[superplay]

Here is a good travel forum

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

 

[NotAGolf]

Thanks for the advice so far guys. Any ideas as to the amount the whole trip will cost? Will obviously be staying in hostels/cheap hotels and none of this 5* malarky!

 

[Andy100]

6 months to see even half of what you want to see would be a push.

You could easily spend 6 months in Australia and still not see all of it.

I'd prioritize where you want to go from say 1 to 10. Do a lot of research on what you want to see and where to stay but don't set any definite dates past the first flight. Then if you find you want to spend more time in one place your not tied to when your plane leaves and if you're feeling really adventurous you can just turn up at the airport and see what's going cheap.

 

[OSB]

be careful of too many places, it's no fun spending 2 nights everywhere, you never get to know anywhere.

My advice, and i've been a lot of places, is take it easy, leave loads of time spare, don't commit to set dates to move on unless you have to. For me traveling was as much about the people I met as the places.

I second this, as good an idea as it may seem to visit hundreds of places it can really diminish the enjoyment of the whole trip. Its great to get somewhere and spend some time there, explore and not be fixed by set times and dates. And also as bigredshark says it can be far cheaper too.

 

[NotAGolf]

6 months is not a final figure, it's flexible, I don't think I could do an entire year however. It all depends on how much it's going to cost

 

[Van Hellseek]

10k for six months???

That isn't travelling, it's a luxury holiday.

Will obviously be staying in hostels/cheap hotels and none of this 5* malarky!

Whats wrong with a tent? That's what I'll be doing in Japan this spring. All I'm planning on taking is a rucksack with basic stuff, plane ticket, a little money for food and few hundred quid for 'misc expenses'. Will be there 1-2 months.

 

[Feef]

I went for 5 months around south east Asia and China, and figure I probably spent about 2 1/2 grand. Could've cut back on that quite a bit too were it not for random flights to hospitals and such, I got sent a fair way off course, but these things happen.

I'd definitely agree with everyone else on not trying to fit too much in at once, I know a couple of guys who went SE Asia > Australia > NZ > Africa over the course of 2 years and felt they'd rushed it far too much...

It depends how you want to do it really. You can either fix yourself an itinerary and try to book flights ahead (potentially cheaper, but restricting), or say "I have this much money and this much time, off I go!". I got a 6 month open return Heathrow <> Bangkok, so I had a flight booked home, but could change it any time. Of course, that would require starting and finishing in the same place, which doesn't seem to suit your plans.

As said, I'd reccommend trying to narrow down where you want to go, you seem to have fairly conflicting ideas of what you want from the trip. You could get a flight out and a flight back from elsewhere, x amount of time later, but that may end up pushing you to get there in time. If you have a fixed idea, you could get a round the world ticket, but I think I'd find that a bit too constraining. Ideally, I'd say work out where you want to go, at least roughly, and start investigating those places to see how much time you'd really want. Having said that, it's impossible to know how much time you want in a place until you get there and experience it...

I'm not too hot on flexible airfares, but I can tell you that me and all of my friends who'Ve been off travelling have booked nothing more than a flight away and a flight home at the most, often only the flight out, coming back when the money runs out. I'm not sure how that would work out with a girlfriend and if she'd want a little more security than that - I'm fairly sure if I went off with my girlfriend that she'd want more organised than just a flight to the other side of the world

Keep us up to date anyway dude, I'm sure various people will be able to advise on destinations - I've been round most of Europe and SE asia, and will be living in China next year, hopefully going over via India, but I'm fairly stumped on the rest of the world (as yet!)

 

[OSB]

Keep us up to date anyway dude, I'm sure various people will be able to advise on destinations - I've been round most of Europe and SE asia, and will be living in China next year, hopefully going over via India, but I'm fairly stumped on the rest of the world (as yet!)

I love India, spent a month out there up in the north a couple of summers ago, was absolutely amazing! With all my mates going off on gap years atm it really makes me want to go back there!!!

 

[caff]

For the places you've mentioned, 6 months you could probably get away with £6-8k. This is taking into account a mix of low to mid range accomodation.

Personally, I would advise you go to 'cheap' countries rather than places like Canada / US, because whilst these countries are equally fascinating, and easy to get around, you'll probably find it's more fun to find your way around in country where you don't know the language and culture.

When your money goes a lot further (e.g. occasionally treating yourself to a 4* hotel, or a good night out) in a place like Thailand, you'll appreciate it. I struggled to get around places like Aus / NZ / US because the price effectively means you stay in some pretty grim hostels / hotels.

 

[bigredshark]

also bear in mind if you decide to spend 2 weeks skiing in that, add a big chunk of money for that, it'll add up real quickly and accommodation of any kind is expensive in places like whistler. It's well worth doing, but just remember that a week there is costing 3 in san francisco chilling out...

 

[NotAGolf]

That's another thing I havent really thought about. What do you actually do while travelling?

We were originally going to Australia for a month as a holiday but had an idea to go mad and go full on travelling. Our holiday to Oz was looking at costing around 2.5k-3k, that was for 4 weeks staying in cheap hostels, travelling from Sydney up to Cairns and Ayers Rock. The main bulk of the expense was on tours and such (e.g. around ayers rock, excursions to the GB reef, sailing around the Whitsundays etc).

If we go on loads of tours at all these places the cost is going to shoot up pretty quick. But how can you explore these kinds of places without going on tours? I guess in places like Australia it's easy enough to get a hire car and drive around and do it yourself, but if you went to somewhere like a small island in Indonesia how do you get around and visit the sights and such?

 

[NotAGolf]

Sorry for the revival of an old thread but I found out today that I am not limited to a time frame any more so I can go for as long as I want (within reason), but obviously the longer I go for, the more I will have to save up before hand.

The other thing that has pretty much been decided is that we are going to stick with the East side of the globe - we'll only do Australia and around Indonesia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia etc) and maybe do some of China/Fiji/NZ depending on finances.

What would you say is the ideal length to travel for, and what kind of budget would that require? I know this is going to vary greatly depending on what you do but I could get an idea of what kind of range we'd be looking at based on your experiences. Any suggestions of where to go would still be appreciated

Thanks again.