...travel starts soon.
In a way, and after thinking about it, I'm a little relieved. Right now I want to go back after I return, but traveling may well change me (and my outlook on life) and maybe I will want to take a new direction when I return. I think my boss would offer me my job back, so this way means I'm not committed to them. It's quite a liberating feeling.
I've been saving like a mad-man for a year, which has made me realise I don't need to earn as much as I do. I've been getting by on a small amount of money just fine. So traveling has already changed me and I haven't even set off yet!
Reply to this Just booked my flights! Was pleasantly surprised at the price - £998 including all taxes/charges with Travel Nation. I had budgeted £1500 so really chuffed with this. 😊
Reply to this I've been saving like a mad-man for a year, which has made me realise I don't need to earn as much as I do. I've been getting by on a small amount of money just fine. So traveling has already changed me and I haven't even set off yet!
Yeah, that is one of the major ways that travel changed me too. I discovered how simply I could live. Maybe your next discovery will be that travel is not in fact expensive. You likely used to spend more on your social life every year than 6 months of travel would cost.
Somebody at work once asked me how I afford to travel for 2 weeks every 3 months. I told her we can do an experiment. We added up everything she spends on bars, clubs etc at weekends for a year and compared it to what I spend on travel for a year. What she spent was only slightly less than what I spent on my travels.
Just booked my flights!
Congratulations! 😊
Will you be writing blog and uploading photos, while you are away, so we can all virtually follow you around. 😉
Reply to this Was pleasantly surprised at the price -
Looks like you are discovering already, that travel is not as expensive as you thought. 😊
There are some amazing flight bargains to be had these days. 😊
Reply to this Cheers all. It;s now beginning to feel real. I'm so excited I could do a little sex wee :P
I certainly will be writing a blog. I've been reading the blogs on here every day for nearly a year. They've kept me focused and provided so much inspiration and enjoyment. I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences with you all.
😊
Reply to this I'm so excited I could do a little sex wee :P
We should make a list of 'figure that one out if you can' quotes. This could be the first on the list. :D
Reply to this that sounds like a really good price Chris and I now feel a little ripped off!! I paid 1580 pounds for 6 months away: Hong Kong > Thailand {self travel through Malaysia and onto Singapore} > Singapore > Oz > New Zealand > Fiji > San Francesco > New York > London - does this sound like I've got a bad deal?
Reply to this I think we were lucky. Apparently the 16th of April is the cheapest day in the year to start a RTW trip in terms of flights. No idea why. The week prior, or after, would have added £200 onto this price. Strange. Pure coincidence that we wanted to go that week. Also, our agent was particularly crafty in that she booked one flight in asia with Air Asia (outside of our RTW ticket deal), which allowed us to get the cheapest BA/Quantas deal. All the other quotes we got were around the £1500-£1700 mark because they didn't think to do this.
Pretty lucky really.
I think your price is fair. It's what I expected to pay.
Reply to this I have yet to hand in my notice, but the flights are booked, vaccinations are done, working out the kinks for the visa and then we're off for...... who knows how long haha!!! starting in Bangkok and working out way west as slow as possible!
Reply to this Booking the flights and getting the vaccines is quite a step too. No turning back now. Congratulations! 😊
Reply to this Hey
I think we started posting on this site around the same time so I am super happy to hear you are going. I will be following your blog from day 1. I am going to go subscribe now! Your ticket price is excellent. What does it include and what was the air asia ticket for? As you may remeber, I started a thread about how much it cost people on their trip, could I be cheeky and ask how much you have saved and expect too spend on your travels?
Cheers
Reply to this Scott & Kristy - I'm excited for you. I hope you have a great time.
Tina - cheers chuck. The ticket covers 7 flights. The Air Asia flight is between Hong Kong & Bangkok. We're on BA/Qantas Walkabout tickets. As I'm sure you know, there are a few RTW tickets based on distance covered and/or number of stops, etc. Our ticket is for distances under 26,000 miles. Our itinerary is over 26k miles (as are most) which would move us up to the next tariff In addition, we can only take one flight in Asia on that tariff, hence the Air Asia leg. It's a good job our agent was clued up, as none of the other places could work out how she'd come up with such a cheap price.
In terms of budget (the million pound question!) we've got £10k each (hope to have a bit more). This doesn't include visa/vaccination/etc costs, as these have been budgeted for separately. We have budgeted for each country and the total comes to £8.5k, so the extra should provide a decent buffer. We also have credit cards in case we're running short towards the end of the trip.
Where (& when) are you thinking of going?
Reply to this Hey Chris
Thanks for that. I, unfortunatetly, won't be going anywhere for at least 2 years. Thats how long it will take to save the £30k I have decided we need to do it. Thinking of going to Japan, China, SE Asia, Oz, NZ and South America but I have plenty of time to change my mind 20 times over.
I remember you saying that you like to keep spreadsheets etc, I really hope you will include some of this info on your blogs as you go, it's so helpful but I know its not of much interest to your family and friends who are the main readers.
Reply to this £30k! Blimey - are you flying first class? :P 2 years is a long time (it's been a year for me so far and that's been hard enough) but it will be worth it in the end.
One thing I intend to do is list a few prices/costs in my blog. I've really found these kind of detailed blogs useful for my planning so I hope my blog will be useful for others. Money & costs have been my biggest worry, but I feel fairly confident in my research. Obviously I'm sure things will be different on the road, but hopefully not too different, hehe. I also wanted to do Japan, but this is a budget killer. Maybe on another trip.
Reply to this £30k! Blimey - are you flying first class?
That is to share between you and your boyfriend, isnt it? Or is it each?
Reply to this Michael and Faye,
If you read what I wrote in my two previous posts before your first comment, it does say
"Japan has gone way cheaper than it used to be...even if it more in the league of Switzerland than India"
"To keep cost down in Japan...you need to be creative...and on a diet"
I think these two points, in two different messages are pretty clear...Japan is not cheap.What I did mention is that it is relatively cheaper than it used to be in the past...in yen terms.
Just wanting to make it clear.
Kyoto is anamazing place...you can make it on a budget...well, I guess with less than 100usd per couple per day, it would just above serious creativity and diet...for few days, it's not that bad...I walked a lot there...midnight in Ueno...4am in Tsukuji...discovering Ginza at 2am empty was one of my first contact with Japan...and it was freezing.
Reply to this One bargain I did find was the Kansai Thru Pass...
It gives you unlimited travel on the private railways in the Kansai region (which contains Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Kobe, Himeji)...
It was about £33 (from memory) for three days and you don't even have to use it on consecutive days. It was an absolute steal.
Another bargain was the Karaoke booths... we paid about £2.50 for half an hour in a seriously luxurious booth with a free soft drink. It took us half an hour to figure out the system and find some English songs but it was an absolute blast! 😊
Like PA Leslie said, you can do some things cheaply, you just have to look!
Is it worth putting these posts in a separate thread?
Reply to this To get this thread back on topic..... 😉
Chris, congrats on your decision mate. I've pretty much done the same thing, though I'm having a complete purge of my life and have sold my house, quit my job, got rid of everything so I can take advantage of whatever opportunity comes my way. Ain't it a great feeling?!!
Good luck on your travels and I look forward to reading all about it.
😊
Reply to this I'd love to go to Japan, but the cost is just too great. One for the future.
Wayner - Cheers mate. Blimey, you've sold your house. Good on you. I hope you have a blast! Any plans?
As for exchange rates, the Oz dollar was at around 2.23 to the pound this time last year. Now it's at 1.70 something. Crikey! I'm hoping things improve by the time I get to Oz in Sept.
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