Hello I'm looking for a bit of reassurance with my RTW budget. I am leaving in Jan to travel to Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii & LA. I think I am going to be setting off with around £7k. I want to travel for around 11 months so that I can come home for Christmas. The only plans I have so far is that I am planning to spend at least a couple of months in Thailand and I have friends that I can stay with in NZ - I am also going to get a working visa and spend some time here working and replenishing funds before moving onto Hawaii & LA - What does anyone think about this? Should I be worried? Do I have enough? This is my first time travelling & I am going solo so help and advice is very very much appreaciated!!! Rachel xx
Reply to this Hello Rachel 😊
I think you will manage, expecially since you have frinds to stay with in NZ and are planning to work a bit.
For SE Asia you would need around 20 Euros per day plus 100 extra per month to cover visas, airport tax and any clothes etc replacements etc that are needed.
Australia and NZ without having somebody to stay with would be 40 to 70Euros per day and add on 100 to 200 per month for things that might come up. For the US I would have 100 Euros per day. You may not need quite this much but better to have it anyway. These are backpackers budgets.
If I was in your situation, I would spend more time in SE Asia and in NZ where your friends are and less in Aus and US to make sure your money lasts.
Mel
Reply to this Brilliant, thanks for the advice and the quick response Mel - I feel better already :-)
I was thinking of spending a couple of months at least in SE Asia. I was going to go in on the 30 day tourist visa and when that was nearly running out go out to Cambodia to spend some time there and the go back in to Thailand with another 30 days visa - what do you think to that idea? xx
Reply to this Well, the situation in Thailand at the moment is very uncertain. It is possible that you may end up spending money on sorting out planes that cant land or are delayed indefinately or worse still not being able to get out of Thailand if the situation errupts again, which it well may, since it has been brewing for more than a year now. If I was going in January, I would be condidering landing in another SE Asian country. Malaysia is pretty easy where visas are concerned. Citizens of many countries can get a free of charge visa on arrival. Of course there is the situation that the other SE Asian countries are not as accessable by overland from there as they are from Thailand.
You could also try going to Vietnam first. I heard the visa is easy to get from Vietnamese consulates. As far as I know you can also get it on arrival. It costs around 30 Euros. Then you could check out Laos and Cambodia. Find out first which border crossings are the best to take if you want to do this option.
And India can also be inexpensive. You could get a 6 month visa for 50 Euros before you go. You could travel around India for 10 to 30 Euros per day, depending on how much moving around you want to do.
Reply to this Hmm I'm not sure about India, although I really, really fancy it and the more time I can stay in cheaper places the better I'm not entirley sure I would feel safe there. The other problem is I think my mum & dad would have a heart attack if I told them I was going there after the recent troubles. I am scheduled to fly to Bangkok on 18th Jan. This is already booked on a Quantus 6 stop ticket, which I would need to change if I was to land somewhere else. The other slightly smaller problem is that because I am a first time traveller, going solo I feel a bit panicky about the sudden change of plan and visas - although I'm sure I could get my head round it if absolutely neccesary! What do you think of risking flying to Bangkok but getting an extended 60 day visa before I set off incase I can't get out and back in after my 30 days is up? Would that be a better plan?
Reply to this No need to get a visa before you go. That would really just be a waste of money. I was in Thailand 3 times, 2 of them last year. The visa exemption on arrival stamps are very easy to get. They make no fuss about it at all and it is free of charge. If in the unfortunate event that tourists cant get out of Thailand because of political reasons I think they(tourists) dont have to pay the fine for outstaying the visa. At least that is what is happening with the ones who are stranded there at the moment.
Reply to this If I had the ticket already booked and it would cost something to change it, I would do exactly what you are doing. I would just aim for Thailand and hope for the best.
Reply to this How long is the visa exemption stamp valid for? Will I still have to go over the border and back after 30 days? x
Reply to this It is valid for 30 days. Yes, you would still have to exit and then reenter Thailand to get another. You are allowed to have a certain number of 30 days stamps within a certain amount of time. I forget the exact figures, but you will certainly be able to cross a border and come back to Thailand for a second 30 days.
Another option would be to go to an immigration office in Thailand and extend your stay. This costs something.
Reply to this thanks very much for all your help - it's probably not the last you will hear from me, I'm sure there will be lots more questions before I go! I willl check these threads out. :-) x
Reply to this Thanks Mell, I've just checked that out now - what do you think about my visa now? Do you think that I should now get the 60 day visa beforehand as I was definately wanting the extra 30 day visa by crossing a land border x
Reply to this If it was me, I would tailor my trip to suit the visa time. Of course others prefer to not have these restrictions. It is up to you to decide which you want to do. 😊
Reply to this In my opinion Thailand is very tourist friendly. Lots of Europeans and Australians. Budget-wise Thailand can be super cheap. I think it would be hard to spend more than 700 Euros a month unless you go absolutely crazy on the partying. As for the situation in thailand, I know 2 girls that are there now and they say its fine and dandy. One of them has been there in 2005 and says its more or less the same. As for the visas, when I was there there were plenty of "visa runs" where people would go into malaysia for a day or 2 to get a new 30 day visa. Australia is significantly more expensive, especially big cities like sydney. I found useful info about thailand at
website. Reply to this Thanks very much for your help on this everyone! I feel much better about this now :-)
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