Around the world travel

Football Friend

Hi,
Just looking for some insight from people who have done a lot of travel before. I have 6-7 months and approx 10k to do as much travel as possible. I have a rough idea of the things I'd like to see/do.

All in my schedule would probably be
Africa-3 weeks (not much traveling around..Cape Town and a safari)
Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia- 2 months
New Zealand - 2 weeks.
South America. 2-3 months (inca trail, Peru/Bolivia/rio/Galapagos)
USA - 2 weeks. (Have friends so just to visit them).

Is it too rushed/going to be too expensive to do all this? I have a few more side things I'd like to see also which I might try to squeeze in but that should hit most of the bucket list.

Can anyone share there travel tips/stories/experiences? Thanks.

spurious

Talk to Trailfinders about a Round the world ticket.
http://www.trailfinders.com/around-the-world

As long as you don't double back anywhere, the RTW tickets are much better value than individual flights. The African bit might cause an issue as it's a little bit in the wrong direction.

Actually, looking at that link you could combine the 'Really wild show' ticket for £1709 with your own add on flights from Vegas to South America and from Singapore to Thailand and do what you want to do.

Stem1ve

Me and a mate are planning on doing the Slumdog to Samba trip available on Tralifinders

Route: Dublin - Dubai - Delhi - Singapore overland Jakarta - Sydney - Christchurch overland Auckland - Santiago - Lima overland Rio de Janeiro - Dublin

Having never done anything like this before - how long would you recommend going? How flexible are flights? What type of budget should we be thinking?

Andrewf20

I did the Galapagos in 2012. You should save a fortune if you organise from Quito or Guayaquil in Ecuador rather than booking from Ireland. But bare in mind you may have to wait a a fews days or 1-2 weeks (if peak season) for your tour of choice to start. So what we did was arrive in Quito then booked the Galapagos trip and then went off and did some hiking and touring around for nearly 2 weeks between booking the trip and its start date.

We booked from Quito. Give yourself a day to shop around and haggle them down. Most tours are 5 or 8 days. Aim for the 8 days if the budget allows as the 1st and last days are really only half days. Double hulled boats are recommended as they are less rocky on rough seas so you can sleep better. The tour companies will very likely organise flights also.

I did a few bits in South America and the no.1 destination iv ever been to was Torres del Paine. In fact its my favourite place ever. Id recommend this if you are into the outdoors / hiking. It blows away anything I saw in Nepal, other places in SE Asia, USA, Canada or Iceland etc. Internet photos do it no justice.There are hidden jems there like glacier grey that you need to hike to. Combine it with the Perito Moreno glacier and Mount Fitzoy in El Chalten for some amazing sights. We used El Calafate as our base for these. (Will need to bus across border to Natales, Chile for Torres del Paine though. No biggy, 5hrs).

Watch out for the monsoon seasons in Asia. Dont miss Co Phi PHi island in Thailand. You can fly from Bangkok to Phuket and boat to it.

In Rio id recommend to stay near Ipanema (rather than cococobana) beach as its considered the safest it seems. We stayed at the lighthouse hostel (in 2010) and would defo recommend. Do a Favela tour in Rio. Hostels should be able to organise when you arrive,. A bit nervous starting on it but its amazing.

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attraction_Review-g303506-d1637149-Reviews-Favela_Tour-Rio_de_Janeiro_State_of_Rio_de_Janeiro.html