Travel Itinerary...

lello

My Boyfriend and i are planning to go away for the year in Jan with this itinerary:

Dublin>
Bejjing>
Tokyo>
Bangkok>
Austrailia>
New Zealand>
Fiiji>
Hawaii>
LA>
New York>
Dublin

Stopping in OZ for 6 months to work....

Are we right to start in Asia or should we start in the states, we want to travel on the money we have and work in australia and get a bit more for the rest of the stops.

How much do you reckon we would need for living on? forgetting the flights.....

Ritchi

I'm planning on doing something similar in September. Starting in Delhi, making my way to Bankgok(unsuer how yet), travelling about SE Asia for a while, then down to Oz, to work for 6 months. Off to New Zealand and then to Santiago in Chile, and making our way up to Mexico and flying home from there. I'm unsure of how much either. The RTW ticket is about 2200, and I'd like to have about 10 grand besides that, obviously hoping to top that up in Oz, but I also have no problems having a few loans.

dory

Ritchi wrote: »

I'm planning on doing something similar in September. Starting in Delhi, making my way to Bankgok(unsuer how yet)

If you can make your way to Chennai you can then fly to Singapore for E80, less if you book well ahead, then train to Bangkok. Totally overland will wreck your head, and you might get a bullet hole in it along the way.

To the OP, that sounds like the main rtw ticket USIT sell. Everyone else seems to be doing it that way so it mustn't be too bad. I did it the otehr way around. Went South America - Aus - Asia. I liked my way cause Im now in the cheapest place at the end of my trip. The only thing was I was so paranoid about budget at the start I didn't do as much as I should have in SA. If you do it the other way I'd say you'd be freaking out even more in North America. So I think the Asia first way is best, then spend whatever you have left in America. It'll also give you a good reason to save in Aus.

Gaz

dory wrote: »

If you can make your way to Chennai you can then fly to Singapore for E80, less if you book well ahead, then train to Bangkok. Totally overland will wreck your head, and you might get a bullet hole in it along the way.

Overland is more a less impossible at the moment, Burma is off limits since the cyclone and Tibet is off limits since the march riots ... you will need to fly.

Ritchi

Gaz wrote: »

Overland is more a less impossible at the moment, Burma is off limits since the cyclone and Tibet is off limits since the march riots ... you will need to fly.

Thanks. Yeah, I've gathered as much. I can get a flight to Chennai with AirDeccan for 56 quid and on to Bangkok for 80 with Tiger Airways. I'd have preferred to go over land, so I'm not missing out on things, but I guess this is the best we can do. Thanks for the help.

Ritchi

dory wrote: »

If you can make your way to Chennai you can then fly to Singapore for E80, less if you book well ahead, then train to Bangkok. Totally overland will wreck your head, and you might get a bullet hole in it along the way.

Actually, has anyone been to Chennai(I think it used to be Madras)? Know if it's worth spending a few days, or should I move straight on?

lello

thanks guys,

ive been speaking to a few friends of mine and they think that im mad doing so much in a year and that i should cut some places out... they reakon that i will be too exhausted to appreciate everything if i put too much in..........

any advice....

Glowing

If I were you Lello, I'd keep the itinerary as is but I'd cut out Hawaii, LA and NY - these locations will be such a downer after seeing Asia, and they will absolutely KILL your budget!

Why not leave NY for another time? Easy to take a 4 or 5 day trip some spring time ... Hawaii, can't be better than Fiji for sure and I've never heard anything good about LA.

Then you could do this:

Dublin>
Bejjing>
Tokyo>
Bangkok>
Austrailia>
New Zealand>
Fiiji> - return flight from NZ to Fiji
NZ - > BKK (for some cheap shopping and beaching before you head home)
Bkk - Dublin.

That way, your budget would stretch a LOT further - and you'd have more time to spend in Asia - which is by FAR the best place Oh, and if you got sick of NZ or OZ, you could head back to BKK early and take a cheap return flight to Malaysia (or somewhere) and get another country in before going home.

It means you're a lot more flexible and have the option of doing some cheap travelling on your way home - not sure if you're particularly interested in the states, but most people just stop there because they think they have to to complete the flight 'loop' whereas infact you can go and come back ......After spending so much time in a westernised country (Oz), it will be nice to go somewhere 'different' - chilled and cheap! Also, it's very unlikely you'll save much, or anything while working in Australia, the wages for casual work are low, and you'll be doing so much drinking and sightseeing in your spare time, you probably won't end up with much left over!

Oh Edit: Very important! When you're coming back next Dec/Jan-it'll be bloody freezing in N.America but lovely hot and sunny in Thailand! I know which I'd choose

Gaz

Ritchi wrote: »

Actually, has anyone been to Chennai(I think it used to be Madras)? Know if it's worth spending a few days, or should I move straight on?

Chennai aint great but I did manage to find a Subway there ! After about 2 months of Delhi belly and some very suspect food .... the subway was like a gift from God.

Whats your intended route in India ? personally I would skip Chennai and stick to the north , Darjeeling was by far my favourite place , followed by Agra, Calcutta and Mumbai .... and of course Goa but Goa didnt really feel like India. Goa is great place to unwind at the end though.
Also Kerala in the south is fantastic.

Ritchi

Gaz wrote: »

Chennai aint great but I did manage to find a Subway there ! After about 2 months of Delhi belly and some very suspect food .... the subway was like a gift from God.

Whats your intended route in India ? personally I would skip Chennai and stick to the north , Darjeeling was by far my favourite place , followed by Agra, Calcutta and Mumbai .... and of course Goa but Goa didnt really feel like India. Goa is great place to unwind at the end though.
Also Kerala in the south is fantastic.

To be honest we don't have much of a plan in India, wanted to stop off in Delhi on the way to Thailand, was only using Chennai as it had cheap flights to Bangkok. I'll look up flights from one of the places you mentioned instead. Thanks.

RATM

I can highly recommend Northern India once you've seen the Taj in Agra. Kashmir is absolutely awesome as is the region of Ladakk where the Manali to Leh 'highway' is well worth a trip. You can also visit McLeod Ganj near Dharmsala, if you are lucky and the Dalai Lama is in town then you can go and have an audience with him which is a cool experience.