What's an around-the-world-trip where you never come home?
Apr 6th, 2010, 08:04 AM
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What's an around-the-world-trip where you never come home?
Hello Dear Friends,
I was looking over posts from 5 years ago - lively conversations with King, Kavey, Liz, Sandi, and more.
You inspired me immensely.
So I did it. Sold 99.9% of a lifetime collection of belongings. Streamlined my life. Closed my business. Youngest is headed off to college. And in August, am heading out for a BIG adventure.
Thinking of starting out in an intensive French language school on the French Riviera till October. And from there exploring France to sink in my new language skills.
Then explore Europe and hop over to Africa, then Indonesia/Australia/South Pacific diving. Want to hit the top 20 dive sites.
Looking for a new rest of my life - the more exotic the better. Fiji sounds good, grass skirts, you name it.
Just being open to the universe and where it may lead.
I'd LOVE some feedback on where to go and how to plan this. Thinking of picking 12 places and staying a month in each place. REALLY want to get to Africa as soon as possible. Ireland and Greece are calling, too. May even visit an ashram in India.
(Figure you'll want to know this, soo.... Great health and through working)
Can't wait to hear from you.
Yours in happy wandering,
Mariacallas
I was looking over posts from 5 years ago - lively conversations with King, Kavey, Liz, Sandi, and more.
You inspired me immensely.
So I did it. Sold 99.9% of a lifetime collection of belongings. Streamlined my life. Closed my business. Youngest is headed off to college. And in August, am heading out for a BIG adventure.
Thinking of starting out in an intensive French language school on the French Riviera till October. And from there exploring France to sink in my new language skills.
Then explore Europe and hop over to Africa, then Indonesia/Australia/South Pacific diving. Want to hit the top 20 dive sites.
Looking for a new rest of my life - the more exotic the better. Fiji sounds good, grass skirts, you name it.
Just being open to the universe and where it may lead.I'd LOVE some feedback on where to go and how to plan this. Thinking of picking 12 places and staying a month in each place. REALLY want to get to Africa as soon as possible. Ireland and Greece are calling, too. May even visit an ashram in India.
(Figure you'll want to know this, soo.... Great health and through working)
Can't wait to hear from you.
Yours in happy wandering,
Mariacallas
Apr 6th, 2010, 11:32 AM
#5
Good for you! I've done a 10 month RTW, and am getting ready for a 6-8 month one - hardly long enough to count! If you head over to Twitter there are a number of people chatting under #rtwsoon and #rtwnow
Apr 6th, 2010, 03:08 PM
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Rather than plan absolute lengths of stay, why not just follow your nose? Definitely follow the weather. You wiull find great tips from people you meet along the way. If it were me, I'd probably go high-low, switching back and forth between cheap and/or adventurous places, then taking it easy is less taxing, more comfotable sites. But I'm not you.
If you find yourself good at French, consider following FRance with a Francophone country in Africa, or elsewhere. I don't think they have grass skirts in Fiji anymore!
If you find yourself good at French, consider following FRance with a Francophone country in Africa, or elsewhere. I don't think they have grass skirts in Fiji anymore!
Apr 6th, 2010, 05:10 PM
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I'm not sure what the airlines are doing, but it used to be that the only date cast in stone was the departure date. The rest were just dates where you reserved flights but had the flexibility to change.
I prefer going East to West. With the sun. Helps with jet lag. Also, for long flights, tried to arrive in the same day. Previous experience had me walking around like a zombie for a day or two, otherwise. I also liked to try to keep the flights as short as possible. Going overland, boat, whatever, to avoid flying in and out of the same airports.
Doing it again, I would stop in Maui- diving for a few days, Tahiti, including the Tutuamotus again- diving with sharks.Although I suggest you check out how the French dive. There used be a good ticket that you could buy for island hopping. New Zealand-South Island to Melbourne, Sydney, Great Barrier Reef in there, Darwin, to Indonesia. I have visited a lot of small and large islands there. I would suggest you include Suluwesi and Bali. With some research you will find there are some boats between islands if you started like in Flores and went to Bali. In Flores you get a cross the island going West to Labuhanbajo. Boat to Komodo Island making your way to Bali.
Hanoi with an overland- train and ferry to Ha Long Bay, rent a 'fishing boat' to visit the Bay, overland down to Saigon. Phnom Penh - be sure to get the boat one way at least to Siem Reap and Ankor Wat. Thailand. I had friends at a dive resort in Ko Tau that had a house on a coconut plantation there. Dived a month twice in the AM, twice in the PM, a couple times. Then over to the otherside North of Phuket to dive off Myanmar, up to Chang Mai,Fly to Mandalay. There was a paddle wheel that departed in the Am and arrived at sunset at Bagan. MAGIC!!
When I did Myanmar in '96, I hired a boat at the south end of Inle Lake with a couple Frenchmen. We went all the way to the North end- wasn't legal, and the military told us to just that and drove off. But, we sent our driver and car to meet us at a guest house at the end of the Lake.
Fly out of Yangoon. Delhi to Rajistan- couple weeks with a car and driver. The train to Mumbai. That was a experience for me. Don't know if Goa is worth it anymore, but it rocked when I was there. Seychelles-diving and topless.. you get the idea, Kenya and Tanz for safari, maybe diving off Pemba and Zanzibar Islands. Lamu was a good place to visit too.
I prefer Southern Africa over East Africa. But for a 1st time, and it will probably fit better, Kenya and Tanzania safari loop is easy to work in for a month.
Egypt for the Red Sea diving, oh....seems I remember there are some pyramids there too. Greece. Fly to the South of Turkey and take ferries to some Greek islands on the way to Athens. And I missed Ethiopia. Just not enough time. Spent a month there in the 90's, and loved it.
I know. Skipped many good dive locations in the South Pacific. I would suggest that for a separate ticket. The RTW tickets get terribly expensive otherwise, and you would be rushing it at that if you included those dive spots.
France will be there the next go around.
I prefer going East to West. With the sun. Helps with jet lag. Also, for long flights, tried to arrive in the same day. Previous experience had me walking around like a zombie for a day or two, otherwise. I also liked to try to keep the flights as short as possible. Going overland, boat, whatever, to avoid flying in and out of the same airports.
Doing it again, I would stop in Maui- diving for a few days, Tahiti, including the Tutuamotus again- diving with sharks.Although I suggest you check out how the French dive. There used be a good ticket that you could buy for island hopping. New Zealand-South Island to Melbourne, Sydney, Great Barrier Reef in there, Darwin, to Indonesia. I have visited a lot of small and large islands there. I would suggest you include Suluwesi and Bali. With some research you will find there are some boats between islands if you started like in Flores and went to Bali. In Flores you get a cross the island going West to Labuhanbajo. Boat to Komodo Island making your way to Bali.
Hanoi with an overland- train and ferry to Ha Long Bay, rent a 'fishing boat' to visit the Bay, overland down to Saigon. Phnom Penh - be sure to get the boat one way at least to Siem Reap and Ankor Wat. Thailand. I had friends at a dive resort in Ko Tau that had a house on a coconut plantation there. Dived a month twice in the AM, twice in the PM, a couple times. Then over to the otherside North of Phuket to dive off Myanmar, up to Chang Mai,Fly to Mandalay. There was a paddle wheel that departed in the Am and arrived at sunset at Bagan. MAGIC!!
When I did Myanmar in '96, I hired a boat at the south end of Inle Lake with a couple Frenchmen. We went all the way to the North end- wasn't legal, and the military told us to just that and drove off. But, we sent our driver and car to meet us at a guest house at the end of the Lake.
Fly out of Yangoon. Delhi to Rajistan- couple weeks with a car and driver. The train to Mumbai. That was a experience for me. Don't know if Goa is worth it anymore, but it rocked when I was there. Seychelles-diving and topless.. you get the idea, Kenya and Tanz for safari, maybe diving off Pemba and Zanzibar Islands. Lamu was a good place to visit too.
I prefer Southern Africa over East Africa. But for a 1st time, and it will probably fit better, Kenya and Tanzania safari loop is easy to work in for a month.
Egypt for the Red Sea diving, oh....seems I remember there are some pyramids there too. Greece. Fly to the South of Turkey and take ferries to some Greek islands on the way to Athens. And I missed Ethiopia. Just not enough time. Spent a month there in the 90's, and loved it.
I know. Skipped many good dive locations in the South Pacific. I would suggest that for a separate ticket. The RTW tickets get terribly expensive otherwise, and you would be rushing it at that if you included those dive spots.
France will be there the next go around.
Apr 6th, 2010, 05:29 PM
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luangwablondes, Thank you for the intriguing reply. So you're a diver, too. So you think RTW tickets are the way to go, or pay as you go? Have you ever been diving at Wakatobi? Check it out. (It's all the rage.)
So you think RTW tickets are the way to go, or pay as you go? Have you ever been diving at Wakatobi? Check it out. (It's all the rage.)
Apr 6th, 2010, 06:12 PM
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Avid diver. With a RTW ticket, you can get in all kinds of offbeat locations too.
Didn't know about Wakatobi at the time. I went overland via Tana Toraja, Lake Poso,from Poso by boat to the Togian Islands. Then took a small boat across the Togian Sea North. Hired a bus with the people I was traveling with to Manado. Did some diving at Bunaken. I skipped over lots of wonderful experiences along the way. Met a real Sulawesi king, took part in a wedding- those old Polaroids were worth gold then.
On one trip, I was in the Cook Islands. Decided to fly up to Manihiki. A lot of the islanders had black pearl farms. The guest house I stayed in for a week organised air and let me use his equipment- now thats trust in some old dive gear. Let me fill my pockets a couple times with oysters. Whatever pearls were in them were mine for the keeping. A friend designs jewelry in LA. With the minimal flawed pearls, he made necklaces and earrings that looked like a million dollars. My pearls that I found in oysters in Manihiki Lagoon in the Cook Islands. Great gift with a great story, better then I could buy at any price.
Didn't know about Wakatobi at the time. I went overland via Tana Toraja, Lake Poso,from Poso by boat to the Togian Islands. Then took a small boat across the Togian Sea North. Hired a bus with the people I was traveling with to Manado. Did some diving at Bunaken. I skipped over lots of wonderful experiences along the way. Met a real Sulawesi king, took part in a wedding- those old Polaroids were worth gold then.
On one trip, I was in the Cook Islands. Decided to fly up to Manihiki. A lot of the islanders had black pearl farms. The guest house I stayed in for a week organised air and let me use his equipment- now thats trust in some old dive gear. Let me fill my pockets a couple times with oysters. Whatever pearls were in them were mine for the keeping. A friend designs jewelry in LA. With the minimal flawed pearls, he made necklaces and earrings that looked like a million dollars. My pearls that I found in oysters in Manihiki Lagoon in the Cook Islands. Great gift with a great story, better then I could buy at any price.
Apr 7th, 2010, 08:01 AM
#15
I have a new blog post up - Is it an RTW if you fly? (http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com ) My next RTW will be mostly flights between places, and even though I'll be gone for 6-8 months it doesn't FEEL like an RTW. Opinions?
Apr 7th, 2010, 08:18 AM
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MariaCallas, well, our recent trip was a month in the Falkland Islands, which was wonderful.
We have a couple of short, UK trips coming up.
Then the next overseas trip is to Kenya in late August. We've booked the flights using airmiles and I'm doing my best to wait wait wait as long as I can before starting to look for accommodation so I can try and bag a bargain! We went in 2008 so we're not too worried about having to have specific camps...
We have a couple of short, UK trips coming up.
Then the next overseas trip is to Kenya in late August. We've booked the flights using airmiles and I'm doing my best to wait wait wait as long as I can before starting to look for accommodation so I can try and bag a bargain! We went in 2008 so we're not too worried about having to have specific camps...
Apr 7th, 2010, 09:11 AM
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I don't know if anyone noticed, but in those long term travels, I could not have made reservations in advance for any of that. You get to a place and make a plan. Climbing Kilimanjaro, a safari departure the next day- at a price a fraction of what you would be charged from a TA in UK or USA, getting off the ferry in Stone Town, Zanzibar in the AM, pitching up at a dive resort and diving that afternoon.
I found that even top safari camps/lodges will have vacancies in high season. Not 1/2 the camp, but often there will be a couple camps that have a tent or room, that otherwise would be booked out. The local travel agents offer these at great last minute pricing.
I found that even top safari camps/lodges will have vacancies in high season. Not 1/2 the camp, but often there will be a couple camps that have a tent or room, that otherwise would be booked out. The local travel agents offer these at great last minute pricing.
Apr 7th, 2010, 10:49 AM
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What a luxury to be able to travel like that -- without a limited number of days before you have to be back at work, and without having to plan everything out in advance. Good for you! Congratulations.
My sister-in-law did a solo RTW trip for 2 years, and the advice she gave to others was to be sure to slow your pace down (compared with what you're used to for a 3-week trip, say), and expect that at some point you will "hit the wall" and just want to stay put somewhere for a while. If you are lucky, that point will hit when you are somewhere relatively inexpensive -- in her case, she ended up living in a hut by the beach somewhere in Thailand for a couple of months. The other thing I remember her talking a lot about was the need to connect with other travelers throughout her trip (she got very lonely after a while), and how that was easiest when she was in the backpacker world (hostels, etc.) or working on volunteer projects. And she also had a very hard time with "re-entry" when she came back to the US and had to find a job, as did another friend of mine who did a 1-year RTW. (But it sounds like you won't have that last problem, mariacallas! )
My sister-in-law did a solo RTW trip for 2 years, and the advice she gave to others was to be sure to slow your pace down (compared with what you're used to for a 3-week trip, say), and expect that at some point you will "hit the wall" and just want to stay put somewhere for a while. If you are lucky, that point will hit when you are somewhere relatively inexpensive -- in her case, she ended up living in a hut by the beach somewhere in Thailand for a couple of months. The other thing I remember her talking a lot about was the need to connect with other travelers throughout her trip (she got very lonely after a while), and how that was easiest when she was in the backpacker world (hostels, etc.) or working on volunteer projects. And she also had a very hard time with "re-entry" when she came back to the US and had to find a job, as did another friend of mine who did a 1-year RTW. (But it sounds like you won't have that last problem, mariacallas!
)
Apr 7th, 2010, 11:46 AM
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How wonderful!! I would love to do something like that, but I am not sure I could let go of all my stuff!
This last year we fulfilled two of our long time dreams. We left Jan 9, 2009 for NZ for a RTW with a return ticket in May...changed that when we changed our plans for Europe about a month into the trip and came home on June 2. We unpacked, opened mail and packed up our small RV. We headed out again in July to drive the ALCAN and spend time in Canada and Alaska, finally coming home in Oct. Had a great time and we are already planning another RTW.
I agree with luangwablondes that going west following the sun is soooo much easier on the system. We had no jet lag! We are divers too...we had our computer case stolen in Sydney and lost our dive cards, plus all printed travel materials. We have been diving for many years and the cards were issued before the computer age, so #'scould not be acessed on line. Once we got home got that problem was fixed and we got new cards. Besure you can access your dive card # just in case something happens. We did some diving on a previous trip to Vietnam which we really enjoyed, but were bummed that we didn't get to dive in Australia and the Red Sea....another reason to go RTW again! Do look into diving on the west coast of Australia. We replaced the computer in Australia and now get lots of laughs about our Australian plug with a US converter attached...great memory!
Don't think the RTW air ticket will work in your plans as the RTW ticket has to be completed within the a year of departure. We could change any of our tickets to a later date at no charge with space available, but once we set the route we couldn't change a departure/arrival city. We did have other flights besides the RTW air ticket, plus train, car and sea travel from one place to another and did over 39,000 miles by air on the 75,000 mile plus trip.
Our trip blog is found at www.aroundtheworldin132days.blogspot.com
and www.northtoalaskajuly2009.blogspot.com
if you would like to read about what we did and enjoyed on either of these two trips. We loved our time in Australia, NZ Africa, Alaska and western Canada. That was new territory for us.
Happy travels!!!
This last year we fulfilled two of our long time dreams. We left Jan 9, 2009 for NZ for a RTW with a return ticket in May...changed that when we changed our plans for Europe about a month into the trip and came home on June 2. We unpacked, opened mail and packed up our small RV. We headed out again in July to drive the ALCAN and spend time in Canada and Alaska, finally coming home in Oct. Had a great time and we are already planning another RTW.
I agree with luangwablondes that going west following the sun is soooo much easier on the system. We had no jet lag! We are divers too...we had our computer case stolen in Sydney and lost our dive cards, plus all printed travel materials. We have been diving for many years and the cards were issued before the computer age, so #'scould not be acessed on line. Once we got home got that problem was fixed and we got new cards. Besure you can access your dive card # just in case something happens. We did some diving on a previous trip to Vietnam which we really enjoyed, but were bummed that we didn't get to dive in Australia and the Red Sea....another reason to go RTW again! Do look into diving on the west coast of Australia. We replaced the computer in Australia and now get lots of laughs about our Australian plug with a US converter attached...great memory!
Don't think the RTW air ticket will work in your plans as the RTW ticket has to be completed within the a year of departure. We could change any of our tickets to a later date at no charge with space available, but once we set the route we couldn't change a departure/arrival city. We did have other flights besides the RTW air ticket, plus train, car and sea travel from one place to another and did over 39,000 miles by air on the 75,000 mile plus trip.
Our trip blog is found at www.aroundtheworldin132days.blogspot.com
and www.northtoalaskajuly2009.blogspot.com
if you would like to read about what we did and enjoyed on either of these two trips. We loved our time in Australia, NZ Africa, Alaska and western Canada. That was new territory for us.
Happy travels!!!
Apr 7th, 2010, 12:44 PM
#20
<i>What's an around-the-world-trip where you never come home?</i>
Had to laugh at the title. Two answers come to mind: (1) Immigration; (2) Orbit.
We did our first "round the world" thing (actually, a big figure 8) around eleven years ago - northern and southern Europe and the middle east for three months, then home for a few weeks, then Fiji and New Zealand for another month, then three weeks on a freighter from Auckland to Fiji to San Francisco. (HIGHLY recommend the freighter thing if you have the time.)
It whetted our appetites, so we did a flying RTW around five years later (only two months that time) that included Europe, Israel, Australia and southern Africa (SA mainly, also some days in Zim, Zam and Botswana.)
That only made things worse: we've done other (shorter for the most part in terms of time away from home - but see below for a wrinkle on that) RTWs or near-RTWs every other year since, throwing Asia and South America into the mix. Addictive.
Some practical matters to consider if you're thinking about an RTW ticket: Yes, they're only good for a year (and usually tremendous value at that especially in business class.) However, the prices of RTW tickets vary from one country to another, so if you're thinking about spending the first part of your venture in Europe, you could fly one-way there cheaply (look at using Dublin as your point of entry - there are many cheap one-way fares to DUB) then buy and start your RTW ticket <i>from Europe.</i> That starts the twelve-month clock, which sounds like it would give you enough time to complete your itinerary without the ticket turning into a pumpkin.
Should you decide to come home temporarily en route, then starting in Europe you could use that ticket to get to N. America (NYC?) to check on the family, then continue your circumnavigation over the Pacific (or via S. America if you choose) without skipping a beat.
This is what we do now - buy the RTW ticket someplace where they're cheaper than in the US (home) then use it to come home at some point, breaking up the actual travel into two or more chunks (with dreaded work usually intervening) then moving on when the mood/climate/workload permits. RTW tickets are marvelously flexible in terms of dates - even route changes don't cost very much - so it's easy to adapt to circumstances.
Another thing to remember is that RTW tickets earn frequent flyer miles (and in business class a ton of them) so they can be used to leverage lots of subsequent travel down the road. In my case, for example, a typical business class 4-continent RTW (usually N. America, Africa, Europe and either Oz or Asia) will generate around 130,000 frequent flyer miles to my account. Those 130K miles could then be exchanged for a business-class award ticket with a route like JFK - London - Amman - Delhi - Hong Kong - Tokyo - JFK, i.e. another RTW.
The only catch with RTWs is that you have to return to your point of origin within a year. That means re-entry from orbit, even if it's only for a day while they put the fresh shuttle on the launch pad.
Go forth and have a blast!
Had to laugh at the title. Two answers come to mind: (1) Immigration; (2) Orbit.
We did our first "round the world" thing (actually, a big figure 8) around eleven years ago - northern and southern Europe and the middle east for three months, then home for a few weeks, then Fiji and New Zealand for another month, then three weeks on a freighter from Auckland to Fiji to San Francisco. (HIGHLY recommend the freighter thing if you have the time.)
It whetted our appetites, so we did a flying RTW around five years later (only two months that time) that included Europe, Israel, Australia and southern Africa (SA mainly, also some days in Zim, Zam and Botswana.)
That only made things worse: we've done other (shorter for the most part in terms of time away from home - but see below for a wrinkle on that) RTWs or near-RTWs every other year since, throwing Asia and South America into the mix. Addictive.
Some practical matters to consider if you're thinking about an RTW ticket: Yes, they're only good for a year (and usually tremendous value at that especially in business class.) However, the prices of RTW tickets vary from one country to another, so if you're thinking about spending the first part of your venture in Europe, you could fly one-way there cheaply (look at using Dublin as your point of entry - there are many cheap one-way fares to DUB) then buy and start your RTW ticket <i>from Europe.</i> That starts the twelve-month clock, which sounds like it would give you enough time to complete your itinerary without the ticket turning into a pumpkin.
Should you decide to come home temporarily en route, then starting in Europe you could use that ticket to get to N. America (NYC?) to check on the family, then continue your circumnavigation over the Pacific (or via S. America if you choose) without skipping a beat.
This is what we do now - buy the RTW ticket someplace where they're cheaper than in the US (home) then use it to come home at some point, breaking up the actual travel into two or more chunks (with dreaded work usually intervening) then moving on when the mood/climate/workload permits. RTW tickets are marvelously flexible in terms of dates - even route changes don't cost very much - so it's easy to adapt to circumstances.
Another thing to remember is that RTW tickets earn frequent flyer miles (and in business class a ton of them) so they can be used to leverage lots of subsequent travel down the road. In my case, for example, a typical business class 4-continent RTW (usually N. America, Africa, Europe and either Oz or Asia) will generate around 130,000 frequent flyer miles to my account. Those 130K miles could then be exchanged for a business-class award ticket with a route like JFK - London - Amman - Delhi - Hong Kong - Tokyo - JFK, i.e. another RTW.
The only catch with RTWs is that you have to return to your point of origin within a year. That means re-entry from orbit, even if it's only for a day while they put the fresh shuttle on the launch pad.
Go forth and have a blast!
