Round the World Trip - advice please!
Round the World Trip - advice please!
I'm finishing uni this year (scary!) and am planning on going round the world with a friend next year ...
at the moment we are just talking about it but need a bit of advice to get us off the ground.. we were thinking we would go to america and australia for definite, india, hong kong other parts of east asia, not sure though.. and poss europe..
where are good places to go?
good places to get advice from ? also best place to organise trip (ie travel agents)
how much?
im planning on temping until i can earn enough but how much will i need, i know the ticket will be around £1000 but how much spending money will we need? at the moment we are thinking £2000 but will this be enough?
lots of advice would be appreciated, ive never travelled without my parents so its all a bit daunting, but exciting too!
Answers:
There's a wealth of information you need to know! I would start with a student travel agent like STA Travel, after deciding roughly where you want to go. They will be able to advise you on the best route, and book your flights; you should be a bit flexible in your plans if possible. Then buy guide books (Rough Guides or Lonely Planet) for the areas that you want to go to, they will contain advice about how much money to allow, the best places to see, what to pack, where to stay etc.
As it's your first major trip, I would make the first place you visit a relatively easy one to travel in, like America, Europe or Australia, so you can build up your confidence. I would also book at least your first 2 nights hotel, just so you aren't panicking when you get there. You might also consider joining a group for any parts of your trip where you aren't sure about travelling alone; companies like Exodus and Guerba are great ways to meet people of a similar age and outlook, travelling and sightseeing in the day, camping and partying at night!
Good luck, it will be a year to remember!
Answers:
Re: Round the World Trip - advice please!
Hey!
I travelled around South East Asia, Indonesia and Australia a couple of years ago with a friend. I really wasn’t that interested in going to Thailand at the beginning of the trip but went anyway as my friend really wanted to visit. Anyway I’m so, so glad I did it was the most amazing place and such an easy place to travel around and safe – providing you use your common sense!
We began our trip by landing in Bangkok – we travelled around the north of Thailand, down to Ko Samet (an island only 2 hours from Bangkok) then to Cambodia and Laos (Laos is truly beautiful!) we then travelled around the South of Thailand – you should visit the islands while you are there – but give Pattaya a huge miss! Then down to Bali –and hired an old car between us and some new friends and travelled around the whole island. we were there out of season and so bartered the reservation staff at some amazing 4/5* beach hotels for less than $10 a night. This part of the trip was amazingly cheap and a little can go a long, long way. Singapore was the next stop – you don’t need very long here, 3 days would be fine – it can be very expensive and rooms here on a back packer budget are not very nice for the money (if you could afford it here it might be worth booking a nicer hotel!). Hong Kong again is very expensive (I’ve just got back from there) – fantastic city, again if you could afford to you could book a 3* hotel and it would be like staying in a palace!
On to Australia – Austraila is fantastic – here instead of having your own beach hut, you will be staying in Dorms of rooms for 2, and this is where all of our money went really quickly. We went down the East coast although looking back we wish we had gone down the West coast – more reports of how far more beautiful it is than the East – more unspoilt. Every one here thought it would be easy to get a job… every one found it really hard to get work, especially in Cairns - we all ended up getting work at our hostel which paid for our accom but we never actually made any money to move on anywhere! Fruit picking is horrendously hard work especially in the Oz sun!
In Sydney we rented our own apartment – which was fantastic and so cheap compared to being back here, but again getting work is hard.
We booked our tickets through STA, who we great, my advise would be to try and save as much money as possible before you leave – everyone I spoke to wished they hard worked for a few more months at home so they could have had a better time in Aus.
How long are you planning on going for?
£2000 will only be enough to go for a few months… it will go a long way in Asia though.
My other advise would be make sure you have set up telephone banking – it cost me a fortune calling my bank to check my balance! Calling home from Oz is really cheap they have great, cheap phone cards. If you can take a mobile (for any emergency), check your travel insurance – STA didn’t use to cover horse riding and sports such as bungee jumping!
I met my now fiancé on this trip, made some amazing friends for life from Thailand, South Africa and Australia who are all coming to our wedding this year!
I hope this has been of some help – I was really scared at doing such a big trip, but I just looked at it like a long holiday which I could come home from at any time if I didn’t like it! It really was the best thing I’ve ever done and now I’ve got the bug!
Have a fantastic time and if I can be of any further help? x
Answers:
Hi there,
I'm also planning something similar for next year - but am planning to stay over the NZ/Asia area. I have the opinion that Europe can be seen easily for weekend/week long holidays, so while you have the opportunity to see the Americas, Asia and India etc, I would spend as much time as possible there. Your money will also go a lot further, while traveling around europe will eat it up quickly. You can always go back to Europe at a later date with all those cheap flights, but unfortunately, if you get the urge to see more of Laos perhaps, then its not quite as easy.
How long are you going for by the way?
Answers:
Re: Re: Round the World Trip - advice please!
Hey!
On to Australia – Austraila is fantastic – here instead of having your own beach hut, you will be staying in Dorms of rooms for 2, and this is where all of our money went really quickly. We went down the East coast although looking back we wish we had gone down the West coast – more reports of how far more beautiful it is than the East – more unspoilt.
Yup, thw west coast is the place to see. I should know, I live here.
http://www.australianexplorer.com/western_australia.htm
Lots of baggers go to the east coast and I always post they must come west for a holiday.
Oh, i forgot to mention, it's alot cheaper in Western Australia as well.
I'm finishing uni this year (scary!) and am planning on going round the world with a friend next year ...
at the moment we are just talking about it but need a bit of advice to get us off the ground.. we were thinking we would go to america and australia for definite, india, hong kong other parts of east asia, not sure though.. and poss europe..
where are good places to go?
good places to get advice from ? also best place to organise trip (ie travel agents)
how much?
im planning on temping until i can earn enough but how much will i need, i know the ticket will be around £1000 but how much spending money will we need? at the moment we are thinking £2000 but will this be enough?
lots of advice would be appreciated, ive never travelled without my parents so its all a bit daunting, but exciting too!
Answers:
There's a wealth of information you need to know! I would start with a student travel agent like STA Travel, after deciding roughly where you want to go. They will be able to advise you on the best route, and book your flights; you should be a bit flexible in your plans if possible. Then buy guide books (Rough Guides or Lonely Planet) for the areas that you want to go to, they will contain advice about how much money to allow, the best places to see, what to pack, where to stay etc.
As it's your first major trip, I would make the first place you visit a relatively easy one to travel in, like America, Europe or Australia, so you can build up your confidence. I would also book at least your first 2 nights hotel, just so you aren't panicking when you get there. You might also consider joining a group for any parts of your trip where you aren't sure about travelling alone; companies like Exodus and Guerba are great ways to meet people of a similar age and outlook, travelling and sightseeing in the day, camping and partying at night!
Good luck, it will be a year to remember!
Answers:
Re: Round the World Trip - advice please!
Hey!
I travelled around South East Asia, Indonesia and Australia a couple of years ago with a friend. I really wasn’t that interested in going to Thailand at the beginning of the trip but went anyway as my friend really wanted to visit. Anyway I’m so, so glad I did it was the most amazing place and such an easy place to travel around and safe – providing you use your common sense!
We began our trip by landing in Bangkok – we travelled around the north of Thailand, down to Ko Samet (an island only 2 hours from Bangkok) then to Cambodia and Laos (Laos is truly beautiful!) we then travelled around the South of Thailand – you should visit the islands while you are there – but give Pattaya a huge miss! Then down to Bali –and hired an old car between us and some new friends and travelled around the whole island. we were there out of season and so bartered the reservation staff at some amazing 4/5* beach hotels for less than $10 a night. This part of the trip was amazingly cheap and a little can go a long, long way. Singapore was the next stop – you don’t need very long here, 3 days would be fine – it can be very expensive and rooms here on a back packer budget are not very nice for the money (if you could afford it here it might be worth booking a nicer hotel!). Hong Kong again is very expensive (I’ve just got back from there) – fantastic city, again if you could afford to you could book a 3* hotel and it would be like staying in a palace!
On to Australia – Austraila is fantastic – here instead of having your own beach hut, you will be staying in Dorms of rooms for 2, and this is where all of our money went really quickly. We went down the East coast although looking back we wish we had gone down the West coast – more reports of how far more beautiful it is than the East – more unspoilt. Every one here thought it would be easy to get a job… every one found it really hard to get work, especially in Cairns - we all ended up getting work at our hostel which paid for our accom but we never actually made any money to move on anywhere! Fruit picking is horrendously hard work especially in the Oz sun!
In Sydney we rented our own apartment – which was fantastic and so cheap compared to being back here, but again getting work is hard.
We booked our tickets through STA, who we great, my advise would be to try and save as much money as possible before you leave – everyone I spoke to wished they hard worked for a few more months at home so they could have had a better time in Aus.
How long are you planning on going for?
£2000 will only be enough to go for a few months… it will go a long way in Asia though.
My other advise would be make sure you have set up telephone banking – it cost me a fortune calling my bank to check my balance! Calling home from Oz is really cheap they have great, cheap phone cards. If you can take a mobile (for any emergency), check your travel insurance – STA didn’t use to cover horse riding and sports such as bungee jumping!
I met my now fiancé on this trip, made some amazing friends for life from Thailand, South Africa and Australia who are all coming to our wedding this year!
I hope this has been of some help – I was really scared at doing such a big trip, but I just looked at it like a long holiday which I could come home from at any time if I didn’t like it! It really was the best thing I’ve ever done and now I’ve got the bug!
Have a fantastic time and if I can be of any further help? x
Answers:
Hi there,
I'm also planning something similar for next year - but am planning to stay over the NZ/Asia area. I have the opinion that Europe can be seen easily for weekend/week long holidays, so while you have the opportunity to see the Americas, Asia and India etc, I would spend as much time as possible there. Your money will also go a lot further, while traveling around europe will eat it up quickly. You can always go back to Europe at a later date with all those cheap flights, but unfortunately, if you get the urge to see more of Laos perhaps, then its not quite as easy.
How long are you going for by the way?
Answers:
Re: Re: Round the World Trip - advice please!
Hey!
On to Australia – Austraila is fantastic – here instead of having your own beach hut, you will be staying in Dorms of rooms for 2, and this is where all of our money went really quickly. We went down the East coast although looking back we wish we had gone down the West coast – more reports of how far more beautiful it is than the East – more unspoilt.
Yup, thw west coast is the place to see. I should know, I live here.
http://www.australianexplorer.com/western_australia.htm
Lots of baggers go to the east coast and I always post they must come west for a holiday.
Oh, i forgot to mention, it's alot cheaper in Western Australia as well.