Where to travel?

Old Jan 29th, 2015, 02:09 PM
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Where to travel?

Hello,

My friends and I are looking to travel internationally for my 30th birthday. We would be traveling in July. We want to do an international trip on a budget. We've only traveled domestically. We have NO idea where to go. Here's what we're looking for:

*Safety
*Culture - not TOO touristy or anywhere "Americanized"
*Nightlife - we're the type that would probably go out almost every night of our vacation - not necessarily clubs but a small lounge or bar - somewhere lively and fun
*Great weather
*Learn new things, meet interesting people

So ideally during the day we'd like to explore - the food, the culture, a little sight seeing (I know that's a bit touristy) and at night we'd like to enjoy the nightlife & if there's a beach - great!

Any suggestions are welcomed! Thank you for advice!
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 04:13 PM
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It might help to know some specifics on what you mean by a couple of your terms, as they can be a bit subjective. "On a budget", for instance means one thing to travelers fond of more expensive places like parts of Europe or Japan, while it's far less, even with luxury accommodations, in a place like Southeast Asia. Perhaps if you have an idea of how long you'd like to go and what you'd like to keep the expenses to (make sure you note if your amount would include or not include your airfare).

"Safety" can also be relative, but I imagine most of us know you generally don't wan't to be robbed or worse.

"Americanized" is the tricky one for me. For instance, I'm an American living in Australia. If you look at a place like Sydney, for instance - modern buildings, things worth seeing... but *I* don't think it's Americanized because Americans had little to nothing to do with how Sydney turned out. But an American is going to find it a very familiar sort of place to visit, IMO. Great beaches and nightlife and very safe as well. (but they aren't going to find it at all cheap).

So you might want to clarify if you mean "exotic".

For cheap, exotic, beachy weather and safe (if you behave yourself, haha, and stay out of the wrong places and off of motorbikes), I'd probably go with SE Asia. Thailand, Bali, maybe Langkawi or Penang in Malaysia if you can find the airfare. But they do all have a fair share of tourism, just not necessarily packed with Americans.
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Old Jan 30th, 2015, 12:26 PM
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Paris. You should go to Paris!
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Old Jan 30th, 2015, 03:59 PM
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Where are you coming from and how long do you have to travel?
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Old Feb 1st, 2015, 08:24 PM
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Hi everyone,

We'd be traveling from different places - some from the west coast and others the east coast...

Our budget for flight and hotel would be about $1,500 each.

We'll probably go for 1 week.

Thanks again for your suggestions!
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Old Feb 1st, 2015, 11:23 PM
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>>Our budget for flight and hotel would be about $1,500 each.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2015, 09:09 AM
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Thanks for the tip regarding the budget but we've been lucky enough to find a few places with that budget including Thailand, Bali and Argentina but Thailand - July is rain season - we're still researching Bali and Argentina. Still welcoming suggestions!
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Old Feb 2nd, 2015, 09:23 AM
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I agree. For that budget, and at that time of year, I'd look at Mexico.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2015, 10:04 AM
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Yes there are often great fares to Asa from the west coast. But wouldn't the fare for those on the east coast be higher?

Same w/ Europe - east coasters have a lot more options/and generally lower fares then the west coast.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2015, 02:10 PM
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Coming from the US? Normally I'd agree Asia is too far for a week.

But..... if you really found r/t airfare and a weeks accommodation to your liking to Bali that still leaves you plenty for transport, nightlife and food, I might take it. That's a rare deal. It's a long, long way and you won't be flying direct from anywhere in the US, so that will make it longer... but at least it's a small island and what's left of a week could be well spent.

btw, nightlife in Bali is going to be mostly young Australians going crazy in Kuta and the beaches are more for surfing than swimming. Not big white sand sort of beaches.
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Old Feb 6th, 2015, 09:57 AM
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Hmm budget for food and air is super low ,, so I think you would get most bang for buck in Mexico.. BUT not in big city mexico since you want to experience a more local vibe..

However you only have a week.. anywhere that you can get to via an international airport is going to have other tourists.. so deal with that.. lol. .even Asia is filled with tourists in the beach areas.. Get this, my daughters friend ( aged 18) is in Thailand right now.. she was sitting in her hostel bar.. and three guys from their highschool walked in.. small world eh, we live in a small city on an island off the west coast of Canada.. and that meeting was entirely unplanned.. the kids were not close friends and had no idea the other group was even in Asia!

Anyways.. my bf likes a smaller more local vibe( I like big resorts ) and he swears by Bucerias .. ( think I may have misspelt that )

Safe and clean he assures me.. and I do love the Mexican sun, sand, and people.. so how can you go wrong.
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Old Feb 6th, 2015, 12:54 PM
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See how expensive it would be to fly to Lisbon. We loved it, and it has a very lively nighttime. Bars and restaurants set tables outside and it was a lot of fun. Also, Portugal is very reasonably priced. Lots of easy day-trips by train from Lisbon.
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Old Feb 14th, 2015, 07:16 AM
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I believe there is one flight per day from Newark (EWR) to Lisbon. Once you are all in Lisbon, take a taxi to the Oriente (east) station and take the train south all the way to the Algarve region.
If you wanted to stay in the Americas, I would look at Panama.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2015, 01:35 PM
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How about Iceland? Direct flights from many US cities on IcelandAir.
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