PLEASE HELP WITH THIS QuESTION!
 

Ok, so this question is not just about Europe, but I really didn't see any other forum with that many knowledgable travelers, so here it is:<BR><BR>If you could do around the world trip starting and finishing in Tampa, Florida going one direction only with between 8-10 stops, what cities/countries would you include in the trip? I'm looking for ideas for my trip next spring. I will have about 3 months and comfortable finances. <BR><BR>Here is my plan as of now, but it's not written in stone:<BR>Tampa to San Francisco<BR>San Francisco to Tokyo<BR>Tokyo to Beijing<BR>Beijing to Hong Kong<BR>Hong Kong to Sydney<BR>Sydney to Bombay<BR>Bombay to Moscow<BR>Moscow to London<BR>London to Buenos Aires<BR>Buenos Aires to Tampa<BR><BR>I will have about 7-10 days at each stop, so I will branch out a bit, but if anybody has any other suggestion or perhaps a dream itinerary, I would love to hear about it.<BR><BR>Thanks

Dahlin' I too live in Tampa. Lets talk.<BR>I'll be your tour guide, you my suga'h mama.<BR>First lets scratch you'll crap plan mentioned above. Drop the nonsense and lets do as follows<BR><BR>Tampa to Calgary (Canadian Rockies)<BR>Calgary to Maui<BR>Maui to Beijing<BR>Beijing to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat)<BR>Siem Reap to Bangkok<BR>Bangkok to Bali<BR>Bali to Greece (islands)<BR>Greece to Rome (Amalfi Coast) Rome to Tampa<BR><BR>Lez do it

Pick me! I am in Tampa too.

Thurston,<BR>Not bad, but the European part - seen it, done it soooo many times. The only reason for the London stop (only about 3-4 days)because of great friends there.<BR>Can't be your sugar mama, sorry, last time I checked, still a man.<BR><BR>Jen,<BR>Any suggestions, if you could do the trip, would you make any changes to my plan?<BR>

hey could you be my sugar daddy?? just kidding. ;-)<BR>Have a good trip.

You have said you have already been to most places in Europe so I won't suggest and French places but if not, I would include a French town. I would include Ireland because I love it so much. I would include Iceland as well. I have heard great things about that place. But again, if you have already been there, you would probably want to skip it.<BR><BR>The other thing is what about including Buenos Aires in the beginning? Seems like B. Aires to London is a LONG flight.<BR><BR>And if you need a date...<BR><BR>I hope you get to do this trip = sounds amazing!

HEY BACK OFF! I WANT HIM AS MY SUGAR DADDY! <BR><BR>HA,HA..... :-| <BR><BR>

Take a number sista.<BR><BR>:)

You know he is probably overwieght and extremely rude in person! ha,ha. Anyways, I hope you get to meet and he turns out nice. I miss old Florida. I think the beaches are so nice. I only worked there for 2 months on a project.

What method of transportation will you be using, i.e., rental car, train, plane, HOT AIR BALLOON!!! lol

Jen,<BR><BR>Actually I will go to Belfast, N.Ireland, that's where my friends live, it's a cheap flight from London. Iceland sounds fantatic, the only problem would be catching a flight from there to S.America. I will have to check on that. The ticket does not allow you to track back. <BR>Anyway, if you got 3 months and about $3500 for the ticket, I would love to have a companion, especially one that loves traveling. Everything else would be covered.<BR><BR>Siesta Key slacker

DFDF,<BR><BR>Be nice :-)<BR>Besides a little beer belly, I still get compliments from young ladies - sometimes :-)<BR>

rlr, <BR><BR>Planes, trains and automobiles. I will have around the world ticket, but as stated before when I branch out at different places, I will use whatever I can.

Just,<BR><BR>I was thinking that you could go Tampa to Buenos Aires to San Francisco - just a thought. If you did Iceland you may have to stop somewhere else in the states like NYC before coming home.<BR><BR>I'd love to go - damn work.<BR><BR>Have fun!

Jen! Jen! To heck with work! How often do you get an opportunity like this? For goodness sakes, girl--GO!! When it's all over how many of us will say we wish we'd worked more? Just think of the wonderful stories you'll have to tell your children and grandchildren. GO!

Thanks Jen,<BR><BR>I will try to post reports as I go, but I will try to set up a website so I could post pictures with the diary.<BR><BR>Come down to Siesta Key, we'll have a Rum Runner at the local watering hole.<BR>

Have you taken local climate and reversed seasons (southern hemisphere) into account? If you're leaving in the spring you might start off by hitting the southern parts first, where it will be autumn - S. America then Australia (and/or New Zealand) via Fiji or Tahiti), then up to Asia and on west. Check the "double back" provisions - they may allow limited zigzagging due to carriers' approved routes (assuming your RTW ticket is through one of the alliances - Star or One World.)<BR><BR>I'd personally try to find a way to add somewhere in Africa to the itinerary - if it was me I'd drop Moscow and add Tanzania or S. Africa to the route, from which London is easy. Maybe your RTW plan won't cover that many southern miles - some don't.<BR><BR>Happy planning!

Ok if I was going on this trip, I would include Africa as well.<BR><BR>Lizzy - you are too funny.<BR><BR>I have summers off but alas Mr. Just will already be gone.<BR><BR>I am planning to be in France in July if he is still around Europe...<BR><BR>Just, make it vodka related and I am there.

Thanks John,<BR>Yes it is One World. I'm thinking about doing the African Safari sometime in the near future. Found a great tour company 2Afrika.com (I think?), anyway the do a 10 day trip to Kenya and the Safari for a very reasonable price. Also I may just drop the southern part this time and just stick to above the equator. <BR>You must have done a trip like that, any suggestions, observations, comments or warnings about anything?

I think I'm in love. Jen, it's funny that you mention vodka, as I'm known around these parts as a vodka conneisseur. I prefer Polish potato vodkas, but have been known to try any vodka outthere, even a black vodka from England 'Blavado' coming soon to this country.

I think I need to start a Send Jen Around the World Fund.<BR><BR>Yum. Vodka - can I say anymore???

Jen,<BR><BR>We must make plans to meet in Paris, I would love to do couple of Lemon Drops with you at some sidwalk cafe. When are you going?<BR>You are a teacher? You are not the beautiful, tall, blonde Jennifer that I worked with at Keyhole? Only asking because she's also a teacher now, but when we worked together we did vodka shots towards the end of our shift at the bar.

France in late June through early July.<BR><BR>Not blonde but a teacher.

Jen,<BR><BR>Unfortunately I have to leave now.<BR>If at all intersted in continuing this conversation, maybe with more suggestions please write to:<BR>andrzej614@(nospamm)comcast.net<BR>My name is Andy.<BR>Hope to talk to you in the near future. The Paris meeting is a possibility :-)<BR>It's been fun!

oooo la la

I did a round the world travel, mainly concentrated upon South-East Asia, Australia and the Pacific and my experience was that 3 months aren't as much time as it sounds before starting to travel. Planning to spend 7-10 days at each destination isn't a very good idea since it doesn't leave enough time to travel around the country. This means that you should concentrate a little bit more upon some destinations while cutting others short. (If it's possible to change flights during travel, it would really help since you could stay longer at places you like.)<BR><BR>Sydney: In my opinion, one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited but I think that few Australians would disagree that it would be a shame to visit Australia and see nothing but Sydney. If you go there for 9 days, you would spend a day to arrive, 2-3 days to see Sydney and one day for departure, leaving you only 4-5 days to get to some other place in Australia (which would probably also require 2 days of travel, finding a place to sleep etc.). Since you spend a lot of time in airports and planes anyway, the desire to be very active is somewhat diminishing after a month or so. So I think that you should look at one of the following alternatives: a) Spend longer in Australia and make sure that you get a flight out of it at another airport. b) Don't visit Sydney at all but go for example to Cairns to spend two weeks at the Great Barrier Reef (in case that you want to dive or learn it there, you need a break of a day or two before flying and the water is pretty much inaccessible for part of the year). c) Don't visit Australia at all.<BR><BR>San Francisco and Hongkong: Both on your way to other destinations and interesting cities. I wouldn't spend 7-10 days in them but rather 3-4 and use the rest for other destinations.<BR><BR>India: never been there but it must be a fascinating place. You would definitely need more time than 7-10 days to visit it.<BR><BR>Beijing and Moscow: It would mean a major change in your plans but the Trans-Siberian railway comes to my mind if I hear about these two places. Never done it but I'm dreaming about it. It must be a real experience and maybe you might want to look into it.

Andy, why do you ask if Jen's blond? Reminds me of the movie, Shallow Hal. Maybe I'm just jealous!

Yikes! I feel like I'm in the Crying Game!<BR><BR>Ok Andy, NO problem, drop Europe and add Kenya and Morocco.

Barbie maybe we should talk about SHALLOW JEN! Why is it always the man? Jen is the one who knows NOTHING about this guy EXCEPT that he can supposedly satisfy her travel dreams. The rest doesn't seem to matter to Jen. Who is SHALLOW?

XXX You mean guy, but she knows he likes vodka...

Or perhaps we should be talking about Presumptuous Hal or Ignorant Hal?<BR><BR>If you cannot see this as fun, then troll somewhere else.<BR><BR>I know a lot about him - vodka, Siesta Key, likes to travel, etc.<BR><BR>Stop taking yourself and me so seriously!!!<BR><BR>There is a lady on the US board trying to find the best US state to get pregnant - are you taking that one seriously?!?!!<BR><BR>With a vodka in hand...have a great day!

Go jen!<BR>Just, besides also being named jen, not blonde, and appreciating vodka, I flew around the world 10 years ago. Somewhat limited by money, time, and my travel companion's work schedule in several countries, we nonethless went:<BR><BR>Amsterdam - NY - San Fran - Bali - Java - Tokyo (2 weeks in Japan) - Bombay - Amsterdam.<BR><BR>If I could do it again I'd add Rio, Bankok, Kathmandu and Morocco, and, like you, Sydney & Buenos Aires. I've been lucky to get to Beijing, Moscow and London since then. But I am green with envy!!!

Good morning,<BR><BR>Jen, I will talk to you soon :-)<BR><BR>Barbie - I did not ask if she was blond, only if she was the Jen I knew, who was blond.<BR><BR>Other Jen - Thanks!<BR><BR>Hans - Thanks for all the info. Perhaps I did not make myself clear. I don't have a set plan. I may just stay a day or 2 in one spot and maybe 2 weeks in another. Actually I did spend some late hours last night going over a world atlas, and if there is one decision I've made, that on this trip I will stick to the northern hempisphere only. It will allow me some more time at many of the places. Also OneWorld offers whats called Circle the Pacific ticket, which in the future will allow me to visit Australia, South Seas Islands Asia and South America in great depth. <BR>Thanks<BR><BR>Keep the suggestions coming, and thanks to all so far!

Jen maybe you should get some sleep, and not drink coffee after 10 pm.

Students, permit me to larn y'all thet there's only a few words in English that have what them furriners call "gender." "Blond" is used fer men, and "blonde" fer wimmens. Get it? 'Course mebbe these folks are doin' it right in the first place.

I don't drink coffee I drink vodka - have you NOT being following this thread????<BR><BR>

Jen,<BR>except for the pissy ones at the end of this thread, I really got a kick out of this!<BR>I hope you do meet Mr Just in Paris and that you both have a great trip!<BR>Jill

sorry-I meant great tripS!

Schoolmarm, ya gotta get out more: 'Blond' is for beer!

Jill: It has been a good laugh for me too.<BR><BR>Well, time for some vodka...