Trip around the world advice

Bummer1234

Hi All,

Myself and my girlfriend are thinking of hitting a trip around the world
in about two years or so,and wanted to start saving if it was possible,
We seen on trailfinders at different packages where
they went to different locations and i had in interest in "The classic"
package (Dublin - Dubai - Bangkok overland to Singapore - Brisbane
overland to Sydney - Los Angeles overland to Boston - Dublin).
I am thinking of doing 6 months to a year if possible.

So traveling forum, My questions for you is,

How was your trip?
Where did you go and could you recommend any other travelling agents?(Prefer dublin based offices)
How much would you recommend me saving for a trip away?
What accommodation did you stay in on your journey
How long did you go for?

Ill have more questions over time as i get this trip into action.

All advice welcome

keithclancy

Perhaps something like:

http://www.skyteam.com/en/Flights-and-Destinations/Round-the-World-Planner/

Sam Mac

I'm looking to do this too - next year after the Leaving Cert, for about a year. I'm lost on how to plan it! :P

AndersLimpar

Go for as long as possible. If you can afford to do 12 months then do that otherwise it will feel rushed. You will be sorry afterwards you didn't take your time.

Bummer1234

cheers for them,Anybody else got any advice that you'd like to pass on?

nosietoes

We went with trailfinders and bought a ticket that brought us from Dublin to India, to Thailand, to Australia, to NZ, to L.A. then from New York to Home. Tho we independently travelled from the U.S. to Jamaica (for the 2007 Cricket World Cup) and then To South America for a few months before spending the summer driving across America camping in National Parks and staying in Motels in between.

I would make sure to visit New Zealand. I far preferred it to Australia. The overland in South East Asia is a great idea. The busses/trains are a good way to travel about.

In general we stayed in hostels and small hotels. I used hostel world at the time to book a lot of them but that was over 8 years ago. In South East Asia there was no need to prebook accommodation, just ask to look at the room before agreeing.

We spent a lot of money. More than we thought... Not that I can remember how much now. Extend your time in cheaper places like Cambodia or Laos in order to make your money go further and be flexible.

We took a year.

RegisteredMice

Another, less exciting idea would be to use your holidays to travel around the world. Reason being; money. You'll spend loads and more than likely have to work during your year break.
What we did was;
yr 1: 8wks aus&nz
yr 2: 4wks Thailand
yr 3: 5wks Peru&Bolivia
yr 4: 4wks Vietnam
Benefit to this approach is you get to travel the world on your terms.
Drawback would most definitely be feck all holidays for the rest of the year... Unless you're a school teacher!!

Might be an option or something to think about!
Enjoy!!

Bummer1234

nosietoes wrote: »

We went with trailfinders and bought a ticket that brought us from Dublin to India, to Thailand, to Australia, to NZ, to L.A. then from New York to Home. Tho we independently travelled from the U.S. to Jamaica (for the 2007 Cricket World Cup) and then To South America for a few months before spending the summer driving across America camping in National Parks and staying in Motels in between.

I would make sure to visit New Zealand. I far preferred it to Australia. The overland in South East Asia is a great idea. The busses/trains are a good way to travel about.

In general we stayed in hostels and small hotels. I used hostel world at the time to book a lot of them but that was over 8 years ago. In South East Asia there was no need to prebook accommodation, just ask to look at the room before agreeing.

We spent a lot of money. More than we thought... Not that I can remember how much now. Extend your time in cheaper places like Cambodia or Laos in order to make your money go further and be flexible.

We took a year.

Cheers for the nosietoes,Al sounds class,Did you buy a car to go across america? Mind me asking how much you think you spent overall for the year?

RegisteredMice wrote: »

Another, less exciting idea would be to use your holidays to travel around the world. Reason being; money. You'll spend loads and more than likely have to work during your year break.
What we did was;
yr 1: 8wks aus&nz
yr 2: 4wks Thailand
yr 3: 5wks Peru&Bolivia
yr 4: 4wks Vietnam
Benefit to this approach is you get to travel the world on your terms.
Drawback would most definitely be feck all holidays for the rest of the year... Unless you're a school teacher!!

Might be an option or something to think about!
Enjoy!!

Cheers for that RegisteredMice,Splitting it up into different years is always another good idea, But think when im travelling id like to do it in one go if i get the money right. Unfortunately im not a school teacher so don't get the holidays over the summer.

nosietoes

My brother who lives in the US gifted us the car and insurance. I know, spoilt rotten.

My OH reckons that we spent between 25k and 30k but you could have done it a little cheaper if you didn't always do private rooms, and nicer hostels.

Our entire trip was:
3 weeks India
2 months SE Asia (would spend longer)
3 months (working holiday) Australia
1 month NZ (would spend longer)
2 1/2 weeks Jamaica
2-3 weeks Brazil
3 weeks Argentina
10 days Chile
10 days Peru
2 weeks Mexico
3 months US

Approx of course. sept 4th 2006 to Sept 4th 2007

AgileMyth

I wouldn't like to book too much before setting off. You never know what might change. I'd rather spend a little more to be flexible.

Fol20

I'm currently doing a rtw trip and booked all the flights myself.

Ireland to Malaysia 4d
Malaysia to Australia 1yr
Australia to New Zealand 3w
New Zealand to Indonesia 1w
Indonesia to Singapore 4d
Singapore to Vietnam 1m
Vietnam to Cambodia 1w
Cambodia to Thailand 1m
Thailand to Hong kong 4d
Hong long to South korea 1w
South Korea to Japan 3w
Japan to China 3w
China to usa 1w
Usa to Costa rica 3w
Costa rica to Puerto Rico 1.5w
Puerto Rico to Mexico 1w
Mexico to Cuba 1.5w
Cuba to England 4d
England to France 4d
Back to Ireland.

All of the above flights for 2 people costed about 4500€

Sam Mac

Fol20 wrote: »

I'm currently doing a rtw trip and booked all the flights myself.

Ireland to Malaysia 4d
Malaysia to Australia 1yr
Australia to New Zealand 3w
New Zealand to Indonesia 1w
Indonesia to Singapore 4d
Singapore to Vietnam 1m
Vietnam to Cambodia 1w
Cambodia to Thailand 1m
Thailand to Hong kong 4d
Hong long to South korea 1w
South Korea to Japan 3w
Japan to China 3w
China to usa 1w
Usa to Costa rica 3w
Costa rica to Puerto Rico 1.5w
Puerto Rico to Mexico 1w
Mexico to Cuba 1.5w
Cuba to England 4d
England to France 4d
Back to Ireland.

All of the above flights for 2 people costed about 4500€

Can you PM me some links of where you bought these?

Fol20

Sam Mac wrote: »

Can you PM me some links of where you bought these?

Apologies. It costed 5800. I booked my outbound flight to oz with a connecting flight from Malaysia(stayed 4) with usit.

All of the flights around asia and nz were through Expedia.com.au ( I found the au site to be cheaper than the Irish site) i also watched flights like a hawk to get the best deals and was fairly flexible on arrival and departure dates. i used sky scanner as well and if I found the same flight cheaper with them incl a checked bag, Expedia would price match. I like using their app as I can check all of the Asia flights in app and when some of my flights have changed. It's handy just printing out my updated boarding pass direct from Expedia instead of checking mails to see which email is correct for my upcoming flight.

I used jet blue for my American flights. They were cheaper than Expedia but may not have been the cheapest if say I booked separate flights with different airline for each flight. Instead I linked all of my Americas flight together into one flight plan with them so again it's easy for me to track and I didn't pay much more than say get one flight with spirit another with another airline and so fourth.

My flight to England was with condor and I just chose this flight as it was the cheapest.

Eu flights are with Ryanair.

I'm currently in Vietnam.
Most people I have talked to told me to just book a hotel/hostel when you get there.For me though I found so far that I could still get it for around the same price online. I book a week or two in advance. I use hotels.com.au and I avail of their discounts such as 10pc off, welcome rewards(every 10 nights you get the 11th free), double welcome reward code( if you say stay 7 nights in a location, your welcome rewards will be 14 instead of 7). I found so far that at least I have piece of mind that I know I will have a roof over my head when I get to a location. I have been lucky so far but I know if I found a terrible place and had to stay there for 2 weeks I wouldn't be happy at all.

Anyways. That's my 2 cents and looking forward to what everyone else says.

Sam Mac

^ thanks for that. How much do you think you will spend on accommodation during the trip? budget overall?

Fol20

I'll pm you with the info.

Sam Mac

Fol20 wrote: »

I'll pm you with the info.

Cheers.

nosietoes

I wouldn't book internal SE Asia flights before getting there. You might decide that you would like to stay longer or shorter in certain places. Also bussing between Phnom Penh and Saigon is super easy and cheap. And do not, whatever you do, miss out on Laos. Amazing country.

Skyscanner is a great resource for flights as well.

Bummer1234

Many thanks everyone,

Fol20 could you also PM the details of them flights,Im interested in your route. Was there a specific spot where you where just wowed by that you would have never thought of?

Also thanks nosietoes, Ill add Laos to my list.

bungaro79

just a suggestion but would you consider dropping the usa at the end?? thats what we did on our way back and did south america instead and the money lasted soooo much longer! we booked our round the world as usual but in south america we booked with lan airlines and we got the flights (first ones in the morning admittedly). we did chile, peru, bolivia, argentina, uruguay and brazil. brazil and chile were the dearest, the rest were pretty cheap (buenos aires can be dear though).

south east asia was fantatic. would've loved to spend more time in vietnam and cambodia and we didn't do laos at all which is a big regret

Fol20

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Many thanks everyone,

Fol20 could you also PM the details of them flights,Im interested in your route. Was there a specific spot where you where just wowed by that you would have never thought of?

Also thanks nosietoes, Ill add Laos to my list.

Im actually doing my rtw trip right now.. In Vietnam at the moment and i have to say so far New Zealand has been a must. Theres no doubt there will be more though

Im afraid i have too many flights to pm you the details.. I would just have a look on skyscanner and expedia.com.au. Pick the countries you like to go to.. Be flexible with your dates and the order you want to visit the countries and im sure youl have a blast.