World travelling

Reflector

Hi everybody,
I was wondering if anyone has gone on a year world travelling.
where did they go?
how did they book flights and what would be a good option?
How did they find it and could they share some of their experiences and how they prepared for it.
Thanks,
Ciaran

Four of a kind

Reflector wrote: »

Hi everybody,
I was wondering if anyone has gone on a year world travelling.
where did they go?
how did they book flights and what would be a good option?
How did they find it and could they share some of their experiences and how they prepared for it.
Thanks,
Ciaran

would love to take a year or two and travel the world! A few of my mates travelled to Oz and south american for a year but thats it.

I would like to hear other peoples views on this post as well, as its a grey area in terms of organising etc..

Glowing

I travelled for a year in 2006. It was the best year ever.

There wasn't too much in the way of organising - the most important aspects are your flights, your vaccines, and your list of 'must see' places. Id' recommend going with someone like Trailfinders to get a multi-hop flight (about 2000 for me), you can change the dates as you go along if you want to spend more/less time in one area. The best centre I'd recommend for starters is Bangkok. It's the travel hub for S.E.Asia - I spent 3 months here before taking another flight from BKK to Hongkong where i travelled around China for 2 months. From here I went to Austrailia, Fiji and NZ. Fantastic places but very expensive, the old bank account started to plummit when I arrived in Cairns, absolutely everything will cost you more. If I was going again, I'd leave out Oz and NZ, and spend that cash on seeing more of Asia or South America. Oz and NZ would be great to stop and work, but for backpacking it's just too expensive.

We cut NZ short because of the cost, and took a flight to Singapore. From here we travelled to Malaysia, and took a cheap Air Asia flight over to Boreo, an unplanned but very worthwhile trip particularly if you like wildlife!

I guess you need to decide firstly what your budget is, where you want to travel and what you want to get out of it (nature, cultures, just good fun and boozing etc). I'd seriously recommend dropping NZ and OZ if your budget is tight, cos you get SO much more for your money in Asia!

Four of a kind

Glowing wrote: »

I travelled for a year in 2006. It was the best year ever.

There wasn't too much in the way of organising - the most important aspects are your flights, your vaccines, and your list of 'must see' places. Id' recommend going with someone like Trailfinders to get a multi-hop flight (about 2000 for me), you can change the dates as you go along if you want to spend more/less time in one area. The best centre I'd recommend for starters is Bangkok. It's the travel hub for S.E.Asia - I spent 3 months here before taking another flight from BKK to Hongkong where i travelled around China for 2 months. From here I went to Austrailia, Fiji and NZ. Fantastic places but very expensive, the old bank account started to plummit when I arrived in Cairns, absolutely everything will cost you more. If I was going again, I'd leave out Oz and NZ, and spend that cash on seeing more of Asia or South America. Oz and NZ would be great to stop and work, but for backpacking it's just too expensive.

We cut NZ short because of the cost, and took a flight to Singapore. From here we travelled to Malaysia, and took a cheap Air Asia flight over to Boreo, an unplanned but very worthwhile trip particularly if you like wildlife!

I guess you need to decide firstly what your budget is, where you want to travel and what you want to get out of it (nature, cultures, just good fun and boozing etc). I'd seriously recommend dropping NZ and OZ if your budget is tight, cos you get SO much more for your money in Asia!

very cool trip by the sounds of it. may i ask how much did this trip cost you after you had paid for your flights?

camel toe

go for it...say its gr8

dory

I was travelling from June 07 - September 08. It was incredible. The only thing is I could never have kept moving that whole time, so leave space to 'settle down' in a place for a while. I got jobs, did volunteering, spent 3 weeks in Malaysia doing a pottery course, further 2 weeks scuba diving. Random stuff I wouldn't do at home.
I probably spent the bones of €20,000 all in, but never quite counted it up.

I wrote a blog too if you're interested. Not much in the way of planning, but I didn't really plan at all. Tis here: http://blogs.bootsnall.com/cybersusst

Reflector

€20,000,,:eek: must have been a great trip though. Dory I think you are right though it's good to take a couple of weeks and settle somewhere. Glowing would love to know how much you would recommend for spending money. how long did people save for???

Glowing

I spent about 15,000 including flights, possibly 16,000! Worth every penny of it, it's long gone now

It's not really a case of 'recommending an amount'- some people are happy to scrimp and save on everything, taking the ****ty busses instead of cheapish air asia flights, eating the cheapest meals, not doing tours etc. But for me, this was a once in a lifetime experience and all about balance - I didn't go wild and stay in 5* hotels, but we did treat ourselves to a bit of (well deserved) luxury once in a while - but camped in the jungle among the bugs other times too! You need a bit of variety, and you need to be flexible with your spending. Are you going to turn down that skydiving trip with your mates cos you can't afford that extra 50 euro? Didn't think so I think you need to have enough to be able to be spontaneous, that's why you're leaving work and home right?

What ever money you're planning to spend, make sure you have some kept aside for when you get home! You'll need it

Sigh. I'm so jealous!!!!

martin.j.carey

Hey , I am just back from a round the world trip. I did a blog of all the places I went it might be of some help www.mairt.blogspot.com
Defo agree with the previous post that Oz and Nz are expensive and burnt a hole in my pocket though are very good to work and get good money before moving onto S.America or Asia whatever your plan. I got a RTW flight for about 2000 with usit but only used it twice. But these two flights prob would have cost that if I was booking them while travelling.And also its handy to have the flexibility of it in case you have to get home in a hurry.
Air Asia is really cheap for booking flights internally in Asia.In OZ/NZ jetstar and virginblue are good. S.America doesnt have many low budget airlines but great bus service everywhere.
Defo do it cant put a monetary value on it youd never forget it