doitwhileyouryoung

My plan is to leave December 2017 so 2 years hard savings. Aiming for 52k Aud. So a budget of 1k a week. Will be 25 when the trip starts. Want to do it before i get to old!

Plan is around 4 weeks in South Africa,Zimbabwe/Zambia (mainly for victoria falls) and Tanzania (trek Mt kilimanjaro to the summit).

Then Fly to South Amercia (probably Rio) for 8-9 weeks.

Have already been to rio for carnival and done the inca trail machu pichu and most of peru so will probably avoid peru. Looking for ideas for the rest of South Amercia im open to anything around my budget from tours to hostels etc. Would like to finish in Mexico Cancun for spring break so guess that will be end of feb start of march.

Then want to get to the Usa and hire a car for 3-4 weeks and check out the usa have been to major cities such as (LA,NY,VEGAS,DC) and done the grand Canyon but happy to see things again from a different perspective but with a short time frame would love to see the country so idea please!

Then i want to do Canada for probably 3-4 weeks this will take me to midish to end of april (please keep in mind weather for ideas)

Then 2 weeks in alaska or around abouts (very flexiable and not sure what to see in alot of spots)

Then i want around 8-10 weeks to see Japan,China,Mongolia,Thailand, and maybe South korea and Nepal if i see nepal id like to do Everest base camp based on proces and budget and time from reading might have to be the start of May. Would like to finish probably in Mongolia and get the siberian Railway to St Peterberg.

Then it will be mid to end of july i guess have seen moscow and St Peterberg before but loved Petersberg so would definitely like a few days there again.

So from there check out eastern europe get to cities like Budapest Krakow the Baltic states (have sone Belarus and Warsaw) travel eastern europe until end of September and probably go to Munich for Oktoberfest. Then make my way to the UK (have done most of western and central europe already) Do England,Scotland,wales,ireland and wouls love to get to Iceland if its still decent weather.


This is a completely rough Itinerary and would love to see what you guys could come up with and how you think id go on that budget.

Notes
Alcohol around twice a week
Treks may cost abit
Also ive heard to try and pack lightly so it may be hard if im going to do things like trek Mt Kilomonjaro.
What are sites that are must dos along the ways treks or cities that are amazing. Thanks guys look foward to hearing from you all.

crellston

Hi doitwhileyouryoung. Thinking of changing my screen name to doitwhileyourold


Your trip sound wonderful However, having done several one RTW tríps and several long tríps to Asia and south América, my first thought is that You aré trying to visit too many places. This will not only limit your time in each place but will increase costs considerably.

Your budget seems fine to me and roughly equivalent to what we spent for the two of us. Costs will of course vary dramatically from place to place and will be heavily dependent on fx rate fluctuations ( although the Aussie $ has recovered somewhat in recent weeks). Most expensive countries we visited included Japan, Korea, Chile and of course Australia and UK! Trips like Kilamanjaro and EBC will clearly add considerably to your daily costs. Cheapest places include Vietnam, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cambodia - all much, much cheaper than our home country of the UK.

My favourite places include Bolivia, Japan, Vietnam, Argentina, South Korea and New Zealan but quite honestly, it is very difficult to single any places.

Highlights of our recent trips include the Bolivian Salt Flats, NW Argentina, biking down Chimborazo volcano in Bolivia. Kyoto in Japan and trekking in north Vietnam. the demilitarised zone between north and South Korea and hiking the quilatoa loop in Ecuador.

A link to a couple of our blogs with more information.

http://accidentalnomads.com
http://www.travelpod.com/members/candcthai

You may find this thread on RTW tickets useful.
http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...n-oneworld.cfm

Buying a RTW ticket is not straightforward or, arguably, necessary but it does pay to do a lot of research.

Good luck with your planning. Warning! Travel is addictive!

doitwhileyouryoung

Haha old is fine! Thanks alot for the advise! I had it in the back of my head i may be doing to many places. I just want to see them all though! Will check out your blog and the RTW tickets thanks alot for all that.

thursdaysd

Hi, welcome to Fodors and love your screen name. (Hi crellston, am sure I have you beat in the doitwhileyourold stakes!)

You are likely to find more RTWers on Lonely Planet's thorntree, and for long distance travel I highly recommend Ed Hasbrouck's "Practical Nomad". You will also get more and better input if you break your trip into chunks and post on the individual area boards. You will also find it easier to plan that way.

I've been RTW three times, and although two were more lots of Asia plus planes, one was Scotland to Saigon by rail. For reports see:

http://wilhelmswords.com/ - Asia2001 and RTW2004

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...-excursion.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...an-sojourn.cfm

My first thought was that your budget might be a bit light. That's 100 USD a day. Should be plenty in Asia, maybe not in Europe. Last year I came in at 125 USD for Romania and that's one of the cheapest European countries. But I'm sleeping more comfortably than I used to. Is it supposed to cover transport? (But it sounds like you've done enough travel to know what your costs should be.)

Totally agree with crellston that you are trying to see too much in the time. (I once had no trouble spending three months just in SE Asia.) When planning a trip I print off blank calendar pages and lay the trip out on those - in pencil, lol! Allow plenty of time for transport, and also for some down time. With a full year's travel you're going to need R&R stops - rest and resupply. If you need something just for one country, buy it on the road, don't carry it.

Don't forget to figure out visas. I don't remember how long a Russian visa is good for, but you might need to get it on the road.

As I said, do post on the country boards, but one thing struck me immediately - if you're doing the US in February, stay south! Florida, Savannah, Charleston, San Antonio, Austin, southern California. Also, don't forget the long distance Amtrak trains. Slow, infrequent, expensive (in sleeper class, cheap otherwise) but great scenery that you can admire without having to drive. And check the weather for Canada, you may be too early for anything but cities. For train info I recommend seat61.com.

Peter_Hasdon21

The most economical way to circumnavigate is to buy a round-the-world air ticket that uses one airline alliance.
Theoretically, any routing is possible, but knowing how the RTW booking system works will make your trip cheaper. For example, the Star Alliance, a coalition of 27 airlines, offers a RTW ticket with a maximum of 15 stops. Its member airlines fly to 1185 airports in 185 countries.

TC

We met a wonderful family on one of our trips who were doing RTW. They used the RTW tickets as mentioned above. However their plan was more immersed than yours. They picked 12 locations and stayed one month in each place..traveling around from the base. That way they were able to stay on farms, homesteads, etc for a real local feel and money savings.

Gardyloo

The "Gap Year and RTW Travel" board on Lonely Planet - https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntr...e-world-travel - is right up your alley. Many topics and plentiful advice for people in your situation.

doitwhileyouryoung

Hey cheers for the advise (2 above posts) im open to anything dont really want a exact set plan. How does that work with RTM tickets if i want to book them later or is it best to have them all booked in at once

thursdaysd

Change fees probably depend on the tickets, tend to be high on point to point. I've only "bought" RTW tickets with FF miles. If I were buying with cash I'd start here:

http://www.airtreks.com

Gardyloo

<i>im open to anything dont really want a exact set plan. How does that work with RTM tickets if i want to book them later or is it best to have them all booked in at once</i>

RTW tickets require a complete itinerary before booking. How changes are handled depends on the specific type of ticket. Most alliance-based RTW tickets allow date changes for free, and charge a relatively small fee for itinerary changes. Tickets sold by the likes of Airtreks are generally much less flexible.

Here's a summary of RTW tickets I did for the air travel board on TripAdvisor - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...ir_Travel.html

sea_s3424

I wouldn't do Brazil if you are interested in preserving your budget. My suggestion would be to do Colombia instead. I am there right now and it is amazing. Plus it is cheap. You could spend 8-9 weeks there alone

I would also spend a lot more time in southeast asia. There is a lot to see and almost everywhere is cheap. Vietnam! amazing. Plus I have been hearing really good things about Burma and because it is just opening to outsiders it is a good opportunity to see somewhere that is somewhat preserved.

OneYearOff

Hi,

Great project, but if I may give you some input (after 2 long term trips):
* You plan far too much in my opinion. The chance you have is to travel much differently, so try to immerse yourself much more. Here is what I wrote about this: http://grandescapades.net/itinerary/#more-836
* I read in the comments about a RTW ticket... I would argue against it, as it is highly inflexible... http://grandescapades.net/rtw-ticket...kets/#more-712
* Budget: here is what I wrote with a detailed budget breakdown for 30+ countries, might help... http://grandescapades.net/budget-for...vel/#more-1689

Hope it helps. Do not hesitate if you have specific questions
Cheers, Gilles

jill_h

Aside from the planning, be sure you're in great shape to do Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp.

Good luck - sounds like a lot of fun!