If given 6 weeks to travel the world starting from North America on the second week of July, what's the best route and countries to hit?
thanks
Reply to this Diana,
Welcome to Travelblog, and the adventure of travel! Unfortunately, there's no simple answer to your question. The "best" route and contries depends entirely on your interests and budget. One traveller may visit, for example, India in two weeks, while for another two months is not enough. What are you most interested in experiencing?
Six weeks for a RTW is really pushing it. You'll get a week per country at most, which is barely enough to experience a place. Picking one or two continents will lead to a better experience, for example Europe followed by the Middle East, or East Asia and Australia.
Your trip will be amazing. Please remember to blog it.
Reply to this Having just finished a four week RTW due to time constraints, I agree with Roosta that even six weeks is too fast, but we have to take what we can get and make the most of it. Depending on your budget, you may want to have a mix of expensive and less expensive countries. Given that you are starting in North America, I would head west with the sun...I find it easier to adapt to time zone changes. Your options are the South Pacific route to New Zealand or Australia (both expensive and not enough time to do both), Indonesia, and Malaysia (both inexpensive); or the North Pacific to Japan (expensive) and/or China (inexpensive). You shouldn't spend more that 10 days on either of these routes. Both routes merge in Southeast Asia...with Bangkok, Thailand as the more popular hub from which you can travel to all the adjacent countries of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos (all inexpensive). With only 22 days in SE Asia, you will have to use the quickest forms of transportation between countries, using discount airlines such as Air Asia which are fast and cheap. From SE Asia you can fly to Europe, where again you can use discount airlines such as EasyJet or RyanAir to get from one capital to another...you will likely only have three days left in each of Rome, Paris, and London for a total of 10 days...or whatever other capital you wish to substitute for one of these. If you have 60,000 frequent flyer miles you could use them to cross the oceans, and pay separately for flights within Asia, between Asia and Europe, and within Europe...which will be cheaper than paying for an RTW fare. Let us know what you plan...and blog your trip!
Reply to this Hello Diana, I agree with both comments above, insofar as that you must pick and choose. Better to see fewer destination more thoroughly than a lot of them briefly. If you choose the latter, you will need another holiday at the end of your holiday, it will be tiring.
Agree with travel in the westward direction, it is easier to adjust than the other way. Just think of it this way, travelling west enables you to effectively sleep later at every new time zone, whereas heading east means earlier and earlier mornings.
Depending on your finances, you could combine the Japan/Korea route, and then head directly over to Europe and pick three of four countries there (my favourite combination is Spain/France/Switzerland/Italy). Both these destinations are not cheap, but an around the world ticket bought with just these destinations would be one of the cheaper types on offer.
Heading to the Southern Hemisphere and trying to combine it with a 6 week Round the World ticket is really pushing it. Either stick to the Northern Hemisphere, or concentrate on Oceania/Asia - to do both is at least 3 months.
Reply to this Hello Diana and welcome to travel blog,
Great question and you can see no easy answer.
We have to agree with the others who have already responded. Six weeks will limit where you can go. Don't be disappointed. It is better to go a bit slow and enjoy what you see. This won't be your last trip.
Our suggestion is to go to Central or South America to explore for 6 weeks. It is close to North America, which will decrease your airline expenses. There is plenty to keep you happy and on the move.
Reply to this Thank you all for your responses.. With your feedback, I have a better plan/route..
Reply to this Finally!
July 14 - LAX to AUH
July 18 - AUH to MLE
July 24 - MLE to ATH
Aug 6 -ATH to IST
Aug 18 - IST to RAK
Aug 30 - RAK to LIS
Sep 3 - LIS to LAS
any blogs on guesthouses in Maldives?
Reply to this An interesting choice of countries...Abu Dhabi, Maldives, Athens, Istanbul, Morocco, Lisbon and home. You didn't really need our advice as to where to go as each of your selected destination is wonderfully unique. I haven't been to Mahe, but many TBers have so you can click on Asia and then Maldives to read some of their adventures. You should also read blogs from the other destinations.
Reply to this Bob, so happened that i was contacted by a friend who lives in Abu Dhabi and is going to Maldives. Got an invite to join her after a short lay-over in Abu Dhabi. Maldives is a little pricey but it'll be a trip once in a lifetime...
I'll check out other TBers for Maldives.
Thank you!
Reply to this I was curious how you decided on the Maldives...thought there might have been a personal reason. I checked Kayak.com which links to all the other search engines to see what the hotel options were in the Maldives. There are a few less expensive options, but if you are going with a friend, she probably has already made reservations or this will be your splurge for the trip. Have fun!
Reply to this agoda.com and http://www.guesthouses-in-maldives.com have great rates. might end up on a guest house as most of them are located in inhabited islands. experience a bit of the culture.
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