[poozers]

at the moment, i am unemployed, 26, female and i am going back to college for 4 years next september.
like many other young people, i wish to travel and see as much as i can before i commit to 4 years of college (especially because i want to start a career and a family not long after i finish college...depending on the economy of course!!!). Being unemployed obviously makes my goals to travel A LOT more difficult.
I want to go to South america (my first choice in the world to see) for one month between now and september!
Has anyone here ever travelled to south america for a month? and how much it cost averagely??? Any and all advice for someone like me who would be on an extremely tight budget (if its even possible)??? thanks in advance!!
p.s. i am actually really willing to travel anywhere...but South America is the main choice! but if anyone has any experiences in other parts of the world, id still love to hear

[Mad4road]

Myself and my friend (24) and (21) are also looking to do something similar.. Travel to South America but we only have a month to play with also, so were are very interested on any info available.. I did a month in Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia last year and it cost roughly €2500.. Flight €800, Vacinations €350 and i spent €1300 on accommodation, internal travel, food, clothes, tours ect.. Id imagine you would want someplace in the same region as this amount ?? South america is a very big continent, id imagine you would only see a minute fraction of it in a month ?

We were also considering tripping around Europe on motorbikes for a month, visiting Cuba or even Travel Central America from Panama to Cali ? If anyone has any other month long travel suggestions or success stories they would be much appreciated ?

[Civilian_Target]

Taking a trip before college is a good plan. 4 weeks is short, but not impossible.

I've never been but, in a month, realistically, you'll probably only have time for 3 countries in South America... and 2000-2500 EUR budget sounds reasonable (assuming you're including all in), if you haven't too much luxury planned.

Other options, if you're already a seasoned traveler, Morocco or Western Africa (Sengal-Mali-Burkina Faso- Ghana) could be an interesting adventure, although not necessarily relaxing. Also, if you go in the summer, the Balkans (Slovenia - Croatia - Bosnia- Serbia - Albania - Macedoina - Greece - Turkey) are lovely, with some great parties!

[jobless]

hi poozers..... south america is a great choice for a cheap holiday in as far as your money goes a long way in certain countries....
the problem is if your budget is tight is getting there plus vaccinations etc....your talking 800 - 1100 for flights depending where you go...

bolivia is by far the cheapest and you could get by on 1000 euro for the month staying in shared rooms in hostels, peru(for the most part), ecuador and colombia are also very cheap..... brazil is expensive and argentina also can be in some places

what kind of budget do you have?...... also three countries is way too many.... even two may be pushing it...

[battleaxe1]

I found Air france the cheapest Dublin- Paris-Rio return was 700 euro for March/April. Can also fly out of Buenos Aires or Santiago for about 1000euro with Air France.

[themacman]

1000euro a month is doable, aim for 1500 to make things more comfortable (or if you are going to Brasil). I really wouldnt try to take in any more than two countries in a month - actually exploring just one more thouroughly is probably the way to go.

[billyhead]

Originally Posted by Mad4road

Myself and my friend (24) and (21) are also looking to do something similar.. Travel to South America but we only have a month to play with also, so were are very interested on any info available.. I did a month in Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia last year and it cost roughly €2500.. Flight €800, Vacinations €350 and i spent €1300 on accommodation, internal travel, food, clothes, tours ect.. Id imagine you would want someplace in the same region as this amount ?? South america is a very big continent, id imagine you would only see a minute fraction of it in a month ?

We were also considering tripping around Europe on motorbikes for a month, visiting Cuba or even Travel Central America from Panama to Cali ? If anyone has any other month long travel suggestions or success stories they would be much appreciated ?

I am considering travelling to Thailand for about 3.5 weeksfrom the middle of March. I was just wondering if anyone did something similar and if so how much did it cost overall. what owuld be a suggested itinery for this length of time did you arrange accomodation in advance, where did you fly into (airport) and back to Dublin from. Total noobies to the travel lark so as much advice as possible would be appreciated. Also what vaccinations would I need and would it be safe/advisable to travel on my own? Thanks in advance

[JayC5]

Hey billyhead,

I'll keep this short and add more later as I'm stuck for time

I was there for about the same length of time last August, flew with Turkish Airlines to Bangkok (think the tkt cost around €650ish, anyway it was cheaper to call in to the office in Dublin and collect by hand than purchase over the web). Bangkok is a lively spot but it all depends on what you're looking for, I only stayed for 3 days and then flew to Chiang Mai for 5 days, a bit more relaxed than Bangkok. Did the ziplining, night-safari, night markets etc, a search on here and google should throw up suggestions for you. After CM I flew back to Bangkok and got a bus from there to Koh Chang (around 250 bahts not including the ferry, took about 6 hours). Really liked this spot, but not sure how old you are so you might prefer one of the islands in the south as they're more lively, if that's your thing. From here I went to Cambodia but I'll stop here as it's not relevant to you.

As for shots I got Hep A, Hep B, Tetanus, Polio, Diphtheria and Typhoid. Some of them were multiples in one, 3 in 1 / 2 in 1 etc. I got these done in the Travel Health Clinic on Dawson st, good service and very friendly staff. Can't recall the price however. If you're getting the Hep B shot you should enquire soon as you have to get 3 over a few months.

As for malaria tablets, they were recommended but I didn't bother in the end. You should def get a strong mozzie repellant and cream to treat bites as they itch like hell!

Accomodation wise, check out agoda.com, some really good deals on this site and there's an iphone app which was really useful to me over there. I booked in advance mostly, but towards the end of my trip I booked a day or two before I arrived at various destinations without any hassle. Check out Travelfish.org, it's full of really good info on Thailand/South East Asia and was a great resource during my trip.

Travelling alone, it depends what you end up doing ie. falling around drunk on your own at 4am might not be the most sensible thing to do. But if you keep your wits about you I can't see why travelling alone is an issue...! It wouldn't be for me anyway

Whatever you do make sure you get travel insurance, it's not worth the risk of going without...

Finally, in terms of budget, again it depends on what you're doing. You could get by on €1000 and have a great time (that's not including flight btw), but you could really live it up on €2000 ie. stay in really nice places, drinks and dinners out each evening (out as in a restaurants and not from a street vendor, not knocking street food either - anything I had was really really good!!), internal flights and ahem... indulge a few ladies to a wink and a drink!

Misc info:
You can get toiletries easily, don't bother bringing loads with you.
Don't bother bringing too much clothes either as you can get stuff very cheap over there.
Bring sun lotion.
Don't make the mistake of getting a bag that's too big as remember you'll have to drag it everywhere with you.
Bring an mp3 player with some good tunes leave the ipad and laptop at home, not worth the hassle!!
Don't use internet banking over there or any other sensitive and personal web usage. I brought a thumbdrive with me with portable firefox (portableapps.com)on it and some software like no script etc, worked well for me. I don't trust any browser outside the EU
If you don't want to carry cash around you can load your credit card with it and take it out over there from an atm, check with your bank on charges, I'm with BOI and I think it was either a reduced charge or no charges when I had credited money on my card before withdrawal over there.

More useful sites:

Travelblog.org
Teakdoor.com
Stickmanbangkok.com
Travelindependent.info



If I think of anything else I'll add it later

[billyhead]

Originally Posted by JayC5

Hey billyhead,

I'll keep this short and add more later as I'm stuck for time

I was there for about the same length of time last August, flew with Turkish Airlines to Bangkok (think the tkt cost around €650ish, anyway it was cheaper to call in to the office in Dublin and collect by hand than purchase over the web). Bangkok is a lively spot but it all depends on what you're looking for, I only stayed for 3 days and then flew to Chiang Mai for 5 days, a bit more relaxed than Bangkok. Did the ziplining, night-safari, night markets etc, a search on here and google should throw up suggestions for you. After CM I flew back to Bangkok and got a bus from there to Koh Chang (around 250 bahts not including the ferry, took about 6 hours). Really liked this spot, but not sure how old you are so you might prefer one of the islands in the south as they're more lively, if that's your thing. From here I went to Cambodia but I'll stop here as it's not relevant to you.

As for shots I got Hep A, Hep B, Tetanus, Polio, Diphtheria and Typhoid. Some of them were multiples in one, 3 in 1 / 2 in 1 etc. I got these done in the Travel Health Clinic on Dawson st, good service and very friendly staff. Can't recall the price however. If you're getting the Hep B shot you should enquire soon as you have to get 3 over a few months.

As for malaria tablets, they were recommended but I didn't bother in the end. You should def get a strong mozzie repellant and cream to treat bites as they itch like hell!

Accomodation wise, check out agoda.com, some really good deals on this site and there's an iphone app which was really useful to me over there. I booked in advance mostly, but towards the end of my trip I booked a day or two before I arrived at various destinations without any hassle. Check out Travelfish.org, it's full of really good info on Thailand/South East Asia and was a great resource during my trip.

Travelling alone, it depends what you end up doing ie. falling around drunk on your own at 4am might not be the most sensible thing to do. But if you keep your wits about you I can't see why travelling alone is an issue...! It wouldn't be for me anyway

Whatever you do make sure you get travel insurance, it's not worth the risk of going without...

Finally, in terms of budget, again it depends on what you're doing. You could get by on €1000 and have a great time (that's not including flight btw), but you could really live it up on €2000 ie. stay in really nice places, drinks and dinners out each evening (out as in a restaurants and not from a street vendor, not knocking street food either - anything I had was really really good!!), internal flights and ahem... indulge a few ladies to a wink and a drink!

Misc info:
You can get toiletries easily, don't bother bringing loads with you.
Don't bother bringing too much clothes either as you can get stuff very cheap over there.
Bring sun lotion.
Don't make the mistake of getting a bag that's too big as remember you'll have to drag it everywhere with you.
Bring an mp3 player with some good tunes leave the ipad and laptop at home, not worth the hassle!!
Don't use internet banking over there or any other sensitive and personal web usage. I brought a thumbdrive with me with portable firefox (portableapps.com)on it and some software like no script etc, worked well for me. I don't trust any browser outside the EU
If you don't want to carry cash around you can load your credit card with it and take it out over there from an atm, check with your bank on charges, I'm with BOI and I think it was either a reduced charge or no charges when I had credited money on my card before withdrawal over there.

More useful sites:

Travelblog.org
Teakdoor.com
Stickmanbangkok.com
Travelindependent.info



If I think of anything else I'll add it later

Thanks for the very informative and insigthful info Jayc. Much appreciated

[Balmed Out]

Done a few 1 month trips in South America.

Southern Peru and La Paz in Bolivia.

Venezuela - requires at least one internal flight. Poor nightlife but amazing variety of things to see. need to bring cash as money you withdraw out there is at a terrible exchange rate.

Rio to Buenos Airies taking in Buzios, paraty, sao paulo and iguassu. most expensive.

In central America. Start cancun through Guatemala and fly home from Belize.

All great trips and ok for a month key is to fly in and out from different cities.