Advice on planning trip to SE Asia and/or South America

Bobon

Dear wise and experienced travellers of the forum,

I'm just looking for some advice from people that have travelled SE Asia and South America. I am looking into travelling for 3 possibly 4 months next summer. I would really like to take as much in as possible as when i get back i will be working and will have a big enough debt to pay back from college so might not be travelling for a few years after.

With this in mind I wanted to take in SE asia along with a few cities in South America such as Buenos Aires, Santiago and maybe bit of Peru. I realise this probably sounds like a lot but i figured if i did 2 months in se asia and then a week in santiago, buenos aires and 2 weeks in peru, that i would cover it. However, I don't have any experience travelling to any of these places or even travelling this long so it is easier said than done.

From your point of view, is this realistic? Is it worth focusing on one particular area (i.e, se asia) or is there anywhere else worth taking in instead of other areas? Again, just to remind you, i'm squeezing it all in because it's all i can afford and would ove to see as much as possible. Cheers

PunyHuman

Hi,

They're very different places. I think that four months is feasible if you want to go to both, though. Anything less and it might be a better idea to focus on one continent. A couple of months is sufficient time in SE Asia to give you two weeks in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, although you'd be rushing it a little (as I did). On a trip like this you need to have a few places where you can just relax and not worry about moving on again.

The thing about S America is that if you don't have the budget to fly around then it takes days and days to get anywhere. One suggestion would be to spend six weeks traveling overland from Chile to Peru, through Bolivia, and then fly to BsAs for ten days or so at the end. I also highly recommend breaking your trans-Pacific flight on Easter Island which is a fantastic place.

Depends on your budget really I suppose.

pH

shrapnel222

personally i would choose one or the other, but it really is down to you and what kind of person you are. As punyhuman said, 2 weeks per country still felt like rushing. I did southern peru to northern colombia then through to venezuela in 4 months and it felt like rushing sometimes, and i know i missed out on tons of things. both are fantastic continents and both will give you great pleasure