RTW Trip - Budget

Caked Karen

Hey guys,

sorry if this has been done to death but just in the stages of finalizing plans for a RTW trip

2 of us are starting off with North America (simply cause we love it!) and plan on roadtripping/amtrak/greyhounding it over a month or so, then onto hawaii or fihji, to Auckland for the Semi finals/final of the Rugby world cup and then onto Oz for a year.

At the moment, i've have a quote pretty similar from both USIT and Trailfinders coming in for about 1100 for all the flights inclusive of tax- what you think of that?i shopped around and check independantly and didnt seem to be getting any cheaper.

my biggest thing is budget wise. at the moment, i am just saving as much as i can but realistically need to plan a budget so just looking for any ideas? we've places all going well to stay in NYC, Boston, Chicago, Vancouver and San Fran all going well so thats a bug help. Also have a place in Aukland to crash and friends already set up with apartment in Sydney

I am thinking maybe 10k+ to do things....is that realistic or am i being very naive? (im thinking with conversion rates etc which might help....

Any help appreciated!
Thanks
Karen

Four of a kind

Caked Karen wrote: »

Hey guys,

sorry if this has been done to death but just in the stages of finalizing plans for a RTW trip

2 of us are starting off with North America (simply cause we love it!) and plan on roadtripping/amtrak/greyhounding it over a month or so, then onto hawaii or fihji, to Auckland for the Semi finals/final of the Rugby world cup and then onto Oz for a year.

At the moment, i've have a quote pretty similar from both USIT and Trailfinders coming in for about 1100 for all the flights inclusive of tax- what you think of that?i shopped around and check independantly and didnt seem to be getting any cheaper.

my biggest thing is budget wise. at the moment, i am just saving as much as i can but realistically need to plan a budget so just looking for any ideas? we've places all going well to stay in NYC, Boston, Chicago, Vancouver and San Fran all going well so thats a bug help. Also have a place in Aukland to crash and friends already set up with apartment in Sydney

I am thinking maybe 10k+ to do things....is that realistic or am i being very naive? (im thinking with conversion rates etc which might help....

Any help appreciated!
Thanks
Karen

Deadly trip!

I've no experience of a RTW trip only smaller 3 month stint ones.
However, going from what I've read of other peoples RTW trips from their blogs and also word of mouth, somewhere in the region of €20,000 seems to be the budget.
This of course depends on whether you plan to work at some stage? and also the cities/countries you plan on visiting.

Maybe I'm wrong with that euro amount, i dunno. But there'l be plenty of folks here who will set you on the right path for sure.

Enjoy your trip, sounds amazing.

breadmonkey

€1100 for all flights sounds good to me. Doubt you could do much better than that. €10k could go very far but it's not like you're taking the cheap option. The money you'll burn in North America in a month would go so much further elsewhere (i.e., Asia, S. America). Also, I think travelling in NZ during the WC might be a bit annoying since the huge influx of tourists will mean more demand for everything and hence more planning/spending required.

All in all, it sounds like €10k would be plenty to get you to Oz with a few months cash in reserve.

Enjoy!

NoQuarter

Thats a great price for those flights with tax included.

Watch your money in North America, it can go very fast. You might think NZ is cheap, and it is...to live, but if you want to see places and do things it quickly becomes as expensive as everywhere else.

Civilian_Target

Agreed, if that price includes everything for the flights, that's pretty good. You need to budget 2000 EUR + transport a month for most developed countries - and you can double that for NYC, LA or most other major cities.

So, crossing the USA and Hawaii for 7 or 8 weeks, think 6000 EUR... and then that leaves you with about 6 weeks to find work in NZ or Aus

Coeus

Four of a kind wrote: »

Deadly trip!

However, going from what I've read of other peoples RTW trips from their blogs and also word of mouth, somewhere in the region of €20,000 seems to be the budget.

I had a budget of about 20K when I did my RTW 6 years ago. The trip was SE asia (1 month) - Oz (8.5 months) - NZ (1.5 months) - Pacific islands (1 month). I hadn't intended on working much as it was more of a career break hence the big budget...

In the endI worked maybe 3 months in backpacker jobs in Oz which basically covered my living expenses for those months. We bought a car and drove round Oz, seen nearly everything we wanted and did everything we wanted to do, ate well and had a fair few nights out

If U spend more time in SE Asia and South America and party less U can knock a few grand off that. And of course the more U work the less U spend off your budget.

Enjoy the trip :cool:

Caked Karen

thanks a million guys for all the replies...

glad that the flights seem to be ok price wise. i thought they were but then kinda wanted to be sure...going to be going working in Oz so checked up on the visa and they are saying for about 1500, i can get my visa and insurance (woldwide inc america) which seems good so think im pretty happy with that. or would i be better getting visa direct and insurance independant?

I know money would go alot further if we went via Asia but the thought of the American Roadtrip is just too tempting and we seem to have a few places lined up to stay in so happy enough. Does anyone know re: Amtrak in America, if you are booking a multicity trip, do you need to give dates/times while booking? i was kinda hoping could kinda so my own thing and hop on a train when i wanted to move on but doesnt seem to be the way with them.

i think we are gonna leave hawaii/fiji and maybe head for fiji for xmas or something then.

agree with NZ but looks like we have accommodation 10 mins out of the city (auckland) for the week which is just sweet.not even pushing going to a game (as to get tickets for semi/final will be crazy money!) but just to take in the atmosphere etc will be good. hopefully will do the a drive around the north island while we are there for the week then.

people say work seems to be plentiful in Sydney (i work in IT) so hopefully will get something straight away if worse comes to worse financially.

sorry with all the questions and random thoughts...just this is my first proper backpacking travel kinda thing and want to make sure i aint just fooling myself re: money, trip plans etc!!

Coeus

Caked Karen wrote: »

Does anyone know re: Amtrak in America, if you are booking a multicity trip, do you need to give dates/times while booking? i was kinda hoping could kinda so my own thing and hop on a train when i wanted to move on but doesnt seem to be the way with them.

I assume U will be getting a multiday rail pass. U only have to have a reservation on the train U want to go on. Just make the reservation the day before U want to leave. The greyhound discovery passes are cheaper if U dont mind travelling on the bus. Lots of flexability with passes so thats the way I'd go. Plenty of overnight buses in the states aswell so U can save on accom that way...

As for buying insurance and visa. I applied for the WHV on the Oz IMMI website and got it approved before booking the flight. I got the 1 year backpackers insurance included with the RTW flight...

Caked Karen

hey guys,

back again...ok so looking at booking the flights in the next week or 2 just wondering though, do you know if USIT want all the payment in 1 go or you know the way trailfinders look for 1/2 and you can pay the rest off up to a month before you go?

be perfect if they do as it would avoid me needing to dip into savings for the flights etc...

thanks
CK

mickoneill30

Caked Karen wrote: »

hey guys,

back again...ok so looking at booking the flights in the next week or 2 just wondering though, do you know if USIT want all the payment in 1 go or you know the way trailfinders look for 1/2 and you can pay the rest off up to a month before you go?

Ring them. I know I was going on a big trip a while ago and deposit was all they needed till pretty close to the time I was heading off. Can't say for sure about yours though, I don't know what criteria they have for doing that.

mac123

Caked Karen wrote: »

thanks a million guys for all the replies...

glad that the flights seem to be ok price wise. i thought they were but then kinda wanted to be sure...going to be going working in Oz so checked up on the visa and they are saying for about 1500, i can get my visa and insurance (woldwide inc america) which seems good so think im pretty happy with that. or would i be better getting visa direct and insurance independant?

Im assuming that 1500 was for flights, insurance and the visa? If so then id say its a good deal. Probably looking at about 400 or so for insurance for a year and as far as I know the OZ visa is over $200.

aliocroc

Im thinking of doing my own RTW trip-froom what Ive found its very much down to your destinations!!! My bro went on his 3 years ago, made his way across the US, spending time in NY and tripped around there for a while (pricy), flew across to west coast, was in Las Vegas, San Diego,San Fran and popped to Tiawana. Then he flew over to New zealand, done literally everything there, whole way down from North Island to South, the over to Sydney, up the gold coast as far as the Whitsundays, spent time there, then he got a job offer in Melborne so he went back, and hes there since but he was travelling about 5 months and spent close to approx €9000 all in tickets and all!? If he had went to cheaper places like south america thailand he could have stretched it even further!!! so it comes down to destination and what time of year you're there! (He was in NZ just before the start of their main summer season (Sept/Nov) and there was a load of activities on deal and half price!)
Really depends on how adventurous you're gonna be i suppose!

Caked Karen

hey guys,
just to update at the moment, i am going to go with USIT. they have come in at 1503 for flights (Dub =- NYC (overland) LA - Auckland (during the world cup) - Sydney, Insurance and Gold Insurance. Read through the insurance and looks pretty good so happy enough...all going well my first payment will be made by friday and i will have officially started the countdown to my trip

at the moment, i have go through America and looking at NYC - Boston - Toronto - Niagara Falls - Chicago - Nashville - Memphis (fly to Denver) - Mounment Valley - Grand Canyon - Vegas - Death Valley - Yosemite NP - San Fran - PCH to LA and got it all in at about 1600 dollars each (2 of us going) for internal flight, amtrak, greyhound and car rental...to me that sounds pretty great value but i dont know if its me just being over excited aswell...

i should really start looking into New Zealand and Oz soon