My girlfriend and I have made the decision to travel around the world. Redundancy talk at work made us look at our life and although we both have good jobs, we want something more.
So, from Jan 2011 we're going! It's a long time away, but it gives us a chance to pay off some debts and save the cash we'll need. We're hoping £10k each will do the job - thoughts anyone? We'll probably get a RTW air ticket.
At the moment we're just making a list of the places we want to go. So far:
China - 3-4 weeks,
Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos - 3 months.
Then onto Oz (we're excited by the thought of hiring a campervan and going where we like - anyone done this?) - 2 months
NZ - 2 months
Fiji - 3 weeks
USA - We're thinking land in LA/San Fran and travel across the US to New York. Anyone done this? Looking for travel options (e.g. hiring a car, campervan or train) and an idea of cost - 6-8 weeks.
What do you guys think?
Reply to this Hi Chris,
Welcome to TravelBlog.
It's never too early to start planning/saving for a trip, and although it does seem ages away the time will eventually come around - meanwhile you would have had loads of fun planning, and be really well prepared.
Of your list I've only been to Thailand, Oz and NZ (home). It's good to see you allowing 2 months in each of Oz and NZ, though you could easily spend more. I loved Thailand, but was only there for about 10 days which felt too short.
Look into regional tickets as well as RTWs, they could be a cheaper option.
Wwoofing and
couchsurfing are a couple of ways to stretch your money too.
Reply to this chris, I have done the usa twice. recently this past fall and I highly recomend the west coast PCH 101 all the way to WA. Then go east and see yellowstone, Sout Dakoda Little Big Horn was really cool. There is so much to see and if you fish, you can get a 3 day license in most states. Good fun there but watch the rules.
have the time of your life!
Shea...
Reply to this Seconded on US 101, it's an amazing drive and Oregon and Washington are not to be skipped! Going east, Utah is very beautiful and has tons of national parks and great hikes, amazing sandstone; if you're into cheap outdoor entertainment you can spend a lot of time there.... Vegas is a good stop if you don't gamble (much); you can get hotels and dinners for dirt cheap because the city's supported by gambling income. Colorado is also amazing; what time of year are you thinking of going? Probably better to hit the Rocky Mountain states by summer; skiing gets a lot of the coolest towns crowded and expensive. If you're going in the winter, it may be better to swing south instead and go across Arizona and New Mexico which will have great weather and just as good of scenery. The Grand Canyon is *not* overrated.
The midwest is kind of the tough part. The hills are beautiful and rolling, and it gets boring fast, and towns are really spotty and camping is limited so that might be a good portion to do by train.
I've done this in portions, Illinois to DC, Illinois to California several times, and Illinois to Washington state by a different route. Not sure how much a rental car would cost, but it won't be cheap. Trains (Amtrak) are an option but you don't have near as many options with them as you do in Europe. A lot of lines are being cut right now too, which is unfortunate. If you're adventurous and cheap, you could look into a Greyhound bus; I've met people on them before who have travelled cross-country on them. Not as nice as a train, but much much cheaper and you don't need reservations. Again, they will only run like once a day in smaller towns so they will require some planning.
Whatever you end up doing, you're going to have a blast in the US! (And everywhere else too I'm sure 😊 )
Reply to this Cheers guys. It all sounds great. There are so many options, which in itself is part of the fun. I think the main thing I'm concerned about (in the US) is the cost. It will be the final leg of my trip and I want to be sure I can afford it.
Timing is also an issue. Starting in Jan, i'll basically be hitting OZ & NZ in Autumn/Winter (April/May - Sept) & the US in winter too (Oct-Dec). I'm sure they're all still great but don't want to freeze my ass off if I need to camp.
Reply to this Sept to Oct is ok if winter is late. the fall colors will wow you up to the north. my last drive ended in Oct and the coldest spot was yellowstone, 20 degrees one night! really try that park! at that time it is uncrowded and bufflao and elk were all over the place. you may see a bear jam! I started camping and found out that after I bought everything for camping, the hotels were cheaper, they will deal out a lower price for you if you haggle a bit. I had some $29.00 nights at motel 6, they were clean but not a luxguery. priceline "name your price" can be an option. see mount rushmore also, hotels were dirt cheap also in keystone.
the last person to add was right, utah is really nice and try the colorado river also, lots of camping there!
peace shea.
Reply to this Thanks chaps.
We're constantly tweaking our plans. Now thinking about adding a couple of weeks in Japan. There's just too much world out there!
Reply to this For China - 3-4 weeks, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos - 3 months
It is better to arrange every destination in order:
* China: 3 weeks
* Vietnam: 13-15 days (North to South)
* Cambodia: 7-9 days (Siem Reap - Phnom Penh)
* Laos: Vientaine - Luang Prabang (6 days)
* Thailand: 7 days
Tour time on Aug - Sept is more great
Reply to this Cheers. Still early in the planning stages, but I agree with the layout above. We're starting to look into countries in more detail to get an idea of what we want to see. I think we're cooling on the idea of travelling across the USA, mainly because of the cost, but also because people are telling me it might be a little bit of an anti-climax after seeing China, Japan, SE Asia, Oz & NZ etc. I hope I haven't upset any Americans with this comment.
Still plenty of time to consider (and reconsider) our plans. Ta.
Reply to this appro,
naww it is all good! you are young and there is pleanty of time to see the u.s. in the future! just go and have the time of your life. I took more trips out of the u.s. in my youth, then saw the u.s. as I got older.
beers and cheers! shea 1
Reply to this i booked a round the world trip yesterday and i cant wipe the smile off my face 😊 i am from the UK and our flight plan is fly london-hong kong, hong kong to hanoi in vietnam. then we travel overland around asia overland and fly from quala lumper to bangkok, the next flight is bangkok to melbourne then we travel up coast and get flight from cairns to auckland travel round there and get flight to fiji. fly back to auckland to get flight to santiago. travel about south america and get flight home from rio to london. this cost me ~£1800 and was booked through STA travel. you should defo go into one of their shops and check them out. you can book tours with them and they have brochures about the camper van thing that your interested in which is available in Oz and NZ. if your worried about cost of the US then why not try SA as its supposedly cheaper than asia in parts. you can get a flight to new york ot LA or whatever anytime in my opinion as a holiday but you have opportunity to do so much in SA
scott
Reply to this South America interestes me a lot. But, and please forgive my niavety, aren't large parts of SA a little dangerous?
Reply to this i would imagine that parts of SA are dangerous but i suspose with everything its a calculated risk. if your sensible and keep to the tournist areas of cities etc then you should be fine. the hostels or hotels you stay in will have good local knowlegde of areas to avoid. its the same with any city though as there are areas in glasgow and london etc that i wouldnt go to but i wouldnt necessarly say they are dangerous cities.
Reply to this Hi,
You have way cheaper than a RTW ticket.
Fly Air New Zeland to Hong Kong, form there travel on low cost airlines. Next HKG-AKL on NZ....from there, one way tickets are cheap to do Australia and NZ, you may want to do a pass if you have Fiji in it.
After this, AKL-LAX on NZ.....cross the States and buy a cheap on way ticket NY-LAX...or you can make a round....depending of seasons, start with the northern states, hit the east coast, go down to Florida and come back by the souther states.
Fly LAX-London.
On NZ, your LHR-HKG-AKL-LAX-LHR should cost you less than a 1000 pounds each. Take the frequent flyer program from Thai airways, as they give you silver level on Star Alliance from only 10,000 miles...which means on the second part of your trip, you have 10 kg more allowance! And the all trip will set you few thousands miles ahead for you next holidays.
Have fun,
Peter
Reply to this Scroosko - I suppose you're right - a good way to think about things.
Cheers Peter, definitely something I'll look into.
Reply to this Appro, I can only speak in regards to the Australian winters - I'm in Brisbane and have a few friends who have recently come from Ireland and England (I assume you're from England am I correct?) and they have found our winters to be about the same as British summers in terms of temperatures.
Obviously, they might be exaggerating a little and since I haven't been to the UK I can't comment (and it also depends where you will be travelling eg. Canberra - you're not gonna get away with shorts and flip flops in winter) but don't feel you need to change your trip around just to get around the Aussie winter because it really isn't that cold :P
But I definitely think that planning to hit Australia in our winter time will be more comfortable for you -----> because the summers are sweltering.
In regards to travelling through Australia have you considered coach buses rather than camper vans? You don't see a lot of caravan parks lately and when you do see them they charge a lot from what I've heard from family etc; you'd be better off looking at coach buses that can get you from A to B and then staying in hostels; would also allow you to see a bit more as a campervan can be quite inconveinent at times especially when in the middle of nowhere.
If you're after a popular (and with a good reputation) bus coach service with a variety of routes and destinations I can give it to you through PM.
Reply to this Krystie, cheers for the advice. Yes I am English, and although I love a bit of sunshine (because our summers last 1 weekend if we're lucky!) I don't think I could cope with the kind of temps you guys had this summer. Maybe the winter would be a better idea. Actually, I think we should be hitting Oz in the Autumn (Melbourne) and then we plan to head north. So as it cools we should be following the better weather anyway. It might work out quite well.
As for the campervan - we're quite excited about this. After 3 months in SE Asia on dozens of buses the thought of travelling on more buses isn't a great one. But I appreciate your point and it's something I'll consider. Ta chuck!
Reply to this 1 post deleted. 1 URL blacklisted. 1 account deleted. No spamming on these forums.
Reply to this 
