Scared,excited?You could say that!

lilirish

Hi all, like lots of peeps in this forum 2010 is my get away year...I am gonna lay out my itineary as I see it and would love any feedback, advice!

So, 23, female, travelling solo (the mammy's very upset about this,I said to her last night "would you rather see me miserable in a job and living an uphappy existance??"...she said "yes"....:))

Dublin - Bangkok (Feb - Apr)

Spend three months in Surin doing a volunteer programme (starfish) and vsiting other places in and around south east asia.

Somewhere in SEA - Perth / Sydney (May - Sept)

The idea is to get a working holiday visa, be based in Sydney and combine work and travel over 5/6 months.

Sydney - NZ (Oct - Nov)

Probably spend 1/2 months in NZ depending on funds just on a holiday visa.

NZ - Home via wherever.

All of this is subject to change but thats the base plan at the mo. The questions I have are:

1. The budget is 8k that's to cover everything. Nothing booked yet. I'm aiming to have at least 5k in the bank leaving the country. The volunteer programme is gonna cost about €1500 for the three months but this covers transfer from bangkok to surin, accomdation and the whole volunteering jazz.
2. Oz in the winter months? What do we think?
3. Round the world ticket? I like the idea and security of having flights pretty much sorted before I leave and I reckon with my route and number of stops it might not be a bad plan. I'm budgeting another €1500 for my RTW ticket - am I kidding myself?

I'm trying not to plan too much as I know that the best thing to do is just go with it. My main concerns are finance but I think if I volunteer to begin (its only day to day costs as above) , work a bit in the middle and then holiday again at the end (work is cash is an issue) then I'll be ok??

Work is so much more fun when your planning to escape . Thanks for reading, any feedback, experiences or advice will be muchly appreciated.

Take care x

macca1983

lilirish wrote: »

Hi all, like lots of peeps in this forum 2010 is my get away year...I am gonna lay out my itineary as I see it and would love any feedback, advice!

So, 23, female, travelling solo (the mammy's very upset about this,I said to her last night "would you rather see me miserable in a job and living an uphappy existance??"...she said "yes"....:))

Dublin - Bangkok (Feb - Apr)

Spend three months in Surin doing a volunteer programme (starfish) and vsiting other places in and around south east asia.

Somewhere in SEA - Perth / Sydney (May - Sept)

The idea is to get a working holiday visa, be based in Sydney and combine work and travel over 5/6 months.

Sydney - NZ (Oct - Nov)

Probably spend 1/2 months in NZ depending on funds just on a holiday visa.

NZ - Home via wherever.

All of this is subject to change but thats the base plan at the mo. The questions I have are:

1. The budget is 8k that's to cover everything. Nothing booked yet. I'm aiming to have at least 5k in the bank leaving the country. The volunteer programme is gonna cost about €1500 for the three months but this covers transfer from bangkok to surin, accomdation and the whole volunteering jazz.
2. Oz in the winter months? What do we think?
3. Round the world ticket? I like the idea and security of having flights pretty much sorted before I leave and I reckon with my route and number of stops it might not be a bad plan. I'm budgeting another €1500 for my RTW ticket - am I kidding myself?

I'm trying not to plan too much as I know that the best thing to do is just go with it. My main concerns are finance but I think if I volunteer to begin (its only day to day costs as above) , work a bit in the middle and then holiday again at the end (work is cash is an issue) then I'll be ok??

Work is so much more fun when your planning to escape . Thanks for reading, any feedback, experiences or advice will be muchly appreciated.

Take care x

I was in the exact same boat 12 months ago - miserable in a job and desperate to go travelling. Well i headed off last January solo and i had the time of my life. Was INCREDIBLY nervous about travelling on my own but it worked out to be the best thing ever. My only piece of advice would be to try leave some money in the bank ie don't come back completely broke. It will ease the pain of being back. I know you have not even gone away yet but you will return sometime and no harm in planning a little bit.

Also, and only my opinion, but i wouldn't do Australia in the winter, especially Sydney. People have this idea of Australia being warm all year around. IT AIN'T! Sydney for me without the good weather is somewhat boring(in fact i'll include all of Australia in that!). It will be damn cold there in the months you mentioned. Might be better to spend winter in NZ, get into skiing/snowboarding, etc. and there is more casual work in NZ.

€1500 may be a bit little for RTW ticket but you never know as you are only going a few places. Ring USIT, SAYIT, TRAILFINDERS and get quotes off all three. In times of recession it is good to be prudent!

Best of luck!

Neamhshuntasach

Well from my experience i never spend much money while volunteering. Especially if the hours are long and the town is remote and away from nightlife. Surin is a horrible looking town and i doubt you'll have the urge to spend too much money in it. So you shouldn't spend that much there exceept for the program fees. Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos are also cheap. Your expenses will only be noticeably high if you find yourself drinking most days. Travel, accommodation and food is cheap. The visas are expensive enough though. Also make sure you have your Thai visa sorted out too. You only get 30 days on arrival by plane.

I personally don't like Australia so i can't offer much advice there except for that it will be pretty cold there in the winter months. Well more so in the southern half of the country. New Zealand is amazing and any time of the year is good. Minus the snow the climate is similar enough to Ireland. But both countries are expensive in comparison to Asia. You will notice a big difference. Travel, eating out, drinking and accommodation will eat away at your budget. So the job may be a wise thing to tie you over. Also i have a good few friends over there now and all have left Sydney. They said the job scene there isn't great at present.

8 grand will really be pushing it if you can't find work in Oz/Nz. If you do find work you should be fine.

If you know you are definitely only going for a year or less a RTW can work out well. You could also stop off in Singapore or Bali on the way down if you wanted to. But bear in mind that you would have to come back through the US. Most likely LA. Once you head in a particular direction on a RTW ticket you can't go back. You must complete the circle. So you could factor a few days or weeks in the US as well if you were looking to see elsewhere. Or you could just use it as a stopover back to Ireland.

lilirish

Thanks for the replies

The feedback re the winter in Oz is great. It might sound fickle but I need some sun in my life and facing into the winter here I dont fancy it in Oz. From what you've mentioned NZ for those months sounds good. I'm going to speak to trailfinders etc to discuss a RTW and see what they can offer me.

Going back through US is definately an option so will look into that.

Re Surin I've a good friend who did the volunteering and they give great support when it comes to spending weekend in Laos etc. She loved it so I'm happy Ill have a good experience.

jank

All I can say is give yourself loads of time to do OZ as it is massive!
Maybe a one way ticket may be a better option as a RTW ticket has to to be used up within the year.

darrenh

I was in Sydney for the month of august this year and it was 20 degrees+ every day with clear blue skies. Think of a perfect Irish summers day. Further south it is cold. To say Australia is cold in the winter isn't exactly right. Anywhere between Sydney and Cairns should be good.

Australia is really hard on the wallet though. Everything is still about half the price of Ireland. If its €5 in Ireland it will be Aus$5 in Australia.

Enjoy!

hollyday

I'm thinking the same thing as you lilirish...hoping to go to Aus/nz early next year, but travelling alone was putting me off...to hear about so many others going it alone is warming..

What bothers me is the flight...being stuck next to someone I don't know for 12 ish hours is so not appealing!!

Money is also an issue, it's so hard to determine how much you'd need. Gives you the incentive to work hard at saving!! Im sure your mother will come around to the idea once you're there and she sees how much fun you're having!!

Good luck!

jus

im heading off alone in december too can't wait i was quiet nervous before i booked the tickets but now its all booked im so excited no going back now go with the flow

dory

I went it alone in 2007, shortly after my 22nd birthday. And I'm also female.
I was a lot happier going it alone than all the people I met along the way who were sick to death of the people they were spending 24/7 with.

If money is an issue just cut out Aus/NZ. I've never been to NZ but Aus for me was boring as hell after South America and Asia. It'll be great when I'm 50 and need more home comforts for travelling. But if you're young and agile you might as well go to cheaper countries. If you get work in Aus you'll be fine, but I've heard of many who can't right now.

Also, about the tickets. You could try to use things like Air Asia so you could either go all the way with cheap airlines like that, or else book absolutely bottom grade RTW ticket and use them to fill in any gaps. The basic one on trailfinders in E744 plus tax. Add in a few cheap flights along the way with Tiger Airways, Air Asia etc and you have yourself a lovely little RTW trip for under 1500.

NoQuarter

dory wrote: »

Also, about the tickets. You could try to use things like Air Asia so you could either go all the way with cheap airlines like that, or else book absolutely bottom grade RTW ticket and use them to fill in any gaps. The basic one on trailfinders in E744 plus tax. Add in a few cheap flights along the way with Tiger Airways, Air Asia etc and you have yourself a lovely little RTW trip for under 1500.

Great idea, I woulnt mind if you could tell me as much as possible about this if you dont mind dory! Thinking of heading RTW myself in june!

Doc

I traveled solo too got a one-way ticket to Bangkok for about 300 pounds through lastminute and then used busses all over SE Asia. I then flew from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne for about 90 pounds sterling with Air Asia. I spent about 4 months in Asia and did pretty much everything I wanted to do including learning to dive and a lot of drinking. I had 5000 pounds sterling going when I arrived in Australia I was low on funds but I found a job here and am saving again although it did get to the stage where I had to decide if I would buy my ticket home or risk staying on and not finding a job (it took longer then I had planed to find one). I gambled stayed and found one the next day. It was kind of scary only getting a one way ticket but I’m really glad I did

dory

king-stew wrote: »

Great idea, I woulnt mind if you could tell me as much as possible about this if you dont mind dory! Thinking of heading RTW myself in june!

I think I've already said all I know. When I did it I bought a half RTW ticket. Got me from Ireland - Brazil and then Chile - Australia. I could have stopped in NZ as well if I'd wanted to. I then did what Doc did and went Air Asia from Oz to Malaysia and then it was only 80 Euro on Tiger to get from Singapore to India and India home is quite cheap nowadays.

The best thing to do is spend ages on the websites of the individual airlines and see how much it would cost to a flight from say, Kuala Lumpur to Vietnam or whatever. You can never say how much it will be when you actually go to book it but it'll give you an idea.
For security, and ease of knowing exactly how much it will cost you to get home I would always recommend going into USIT or somewhere and asking for their cheapest rtw ticket. Then get around whatever continents they will get you to using other means.
The only place you really can't fly around cheap is South America.

I blogged about my trip and all the different flights and everything I got. It's all here: http://blogs.bootsnall.com/cybersusst

lilirish

Hey OP here,

All this advice has been great, its definately comforting to hear so many stories of travelling sucess!

I'm now factoring a month in Dubai at the very beginning into the equation - have a gaf to stay in so no accomodation costs.

Am going into USIT/Trailfinders during the week to have a chat about the RTW ticket so will let you know what they come up, prices advice etc.

dory

Good idea to stay in once place for a month. I've heard of SO many people who have given up and gone home after 7/8 months of constantly travelling. People don't believe me when I tell them but it's so easy to get sick of it.
After just 2 months I didn't want to use my camera again, didn't want to sit on a bus, and didn't want to have the same 'Where are you going' conversation with more new people. I was all ready to go home until I set up camp and stayed somewhere for 3 months.
I've just recently heard of a relative of mine who is coming home early because after 6 months he's had enough. You probably don't want to hear my rant but really, staying in one place for a while is the absolute best advice I can give anyone.

lilirish

dory - yes I'm pretty keen to saty in one place for a while. I would much prefer to have a kind of base and travel out from there. i.e a month in Dubai, then three doing a volunteer programme in Thailand and then a few months in Oz.

Has anyone ever gone to Dubai on a RTW? I have heard this could be a problem?

dory

Why would it be a problem? I've been there a few times, just as a stop over to India but it seems like a great place.
Just today I heard of another person comng home early after a few months living out a backback. So you really should pencil in a bit of time here and there. I did some random things like stayed in Kuala Lumpur for a month doing a pottery course. It was great! Definitely recommend that kind of thing.

lilirish

Hi all,

Once agin thaks for the replies, just thoguh I'd update on how my discussion woth both usit and trailfinders went.

Firstly, usit (or useless as I'd like to call them) ... sat down and explained the route I was planning to take.

I was told pretty much straight off that adding dubai into the equation was going to be a problem. I figured ok, but surely we can work something out, its not a million miles off the beaten track. They offered some metal option of flying to bangkok then to Abu Dhabi then to Oz then back to Abu Dhabi to go on to NZ (WTF like!!!). She also showed me this mad screen with loads of flight times/dates etc which I couldn't understand and when I asked for a print out (to give a rough idea of dates/costs) I was told no you'll have to write it down. Which I did as they read each stop etc out to me like I was a child.

They offered me the absolute minimum ammount of information and very little else. Nothing about the conversation was straight forward and I left asap because I was actually uncomfotable. So after a calming fag I thought right off to trailfinders to see what they can offer me.

This I have to say was an entirely different experience. The RTW was explained just like this:

"you have 7 stops and it will cost you €1800 including tax give or take a hundred each way" Trailfinders book all there flights through Quantas or BA. All I have to do is pick my 7 stops and its all sorted. They also sorted my Dubai issue no problem. The guy I had been talking to had loads of advice and was really helpful.

The one thing I took from it was that there seems to be a commmon minconception that you have to travel in one direction with a RTW. This is not the case at least from trailfinders point of view. You can go where-ever you want just as long as its only seven stops (or more if you chose, thats just the number that suits me for my budget).

So I'll be booking with Trailfinders. I've probably left loads of stuff out but I really just wanted to have a rant about USIT.

Wuggectumondo

dory wrote: »

I did some random things like stayed in Kuala Lumpur for a month doing a pottery course. It was great! Definitely recommend that kind of thing.

Cool!!!!!!

I'm just back from KL but only for a day on a stopover back from Oz. I didn't really think many Irish people would live there. There were loads of signs on shops etc looking for staff (written in English) but I'd say they only take on locals who can speak the language

dory

Wuggectumondo wrote: »

Cool!!!!!!

I'm just back from KL but only for a day on a stopover back from Oz. I didn't really think many Irish people would live there. There were loads of signs on shops etc looking for staff (written in English) but I'd say they only take on locals who can speak the language

Not at all. The lady who was teaching me was a 50 something year old Malaysian woman who didn't speak very good Malay. She could speak a fair bit of Cantonese because her family were from China. But her first language was English. It was a British colony just like us, so she did all her education through English and was encouraged not to speak any other language because the job opportunities would be in English.

Throughout my entire pottery course everything was in English, and because the people are a mix of Malay and Chinese everyone is spojen to in English so no one feels left out. So you could certainly go live in Malaysia, it's only wonderful!