Traveling the World
 

My wife and I are planning on traveling the world for an entire year within the next couple of years. We plan on traveling as if we were still in college with an occassional stay at a hotel and an occassional nice dinner. I know that it depends on many factors but we would appreciate anyone's comments, suggestions, ideas. Does anyone know how much money it would take for two people.

I think you need to brainstorm your trip a little more BEFORE trying to estimate a dollar value. Case in point: <BR> <BR>--Stops/Route? <BR>--train, car, plane? <BR>--Home base (any relatives you could stay with? <BR> <BR>Without knowing anything else, I would guesstimate $400/week for both...this does not includes transportation.

Maira, thanks for your response. It is a great starting point.I know that I did not provide much details because quite honestly, we don't know them yet. Although we plan on having a rough outline as to what "places"/"regions" we want to see, we do not want to plan exactly what we want to see so that we can "discover" things as we go. For example, one of the "places" we plan on going to is Tuscany but we want to leave a lot of the detail out and sort of go with the flow. Maybe we will bike around, maybe we will take a cab, maybe we will rent a car, etc. What we don't want to do is plan this thing to the nth degree and as the time comes, feel as though we have already done it. We want some mystery! Obviously, going without doing any research will be irresponsible too. Maybe asking, "from your travel experiences, taking the same mindset as I have explained above, how much money would you take?". Takes for suggestions.

Maira, thanks for your response. It is a great starting point.I know that I did not provide much details because quite honestly, we don't know them yet. Although we plan on having a rough outline as to what "places"/"regions" we want to see, we do not want to plan exactly what we want to see so that we can "discover" things as we go. For example, one of the "places" we plan on going to is Tuscany but we want to leave a lot of the detail out and sort of go with the flow. Maybe we will bike around, maybe we will take a cab, maybe we will rent a car, etc. What we don't want to do is plan this thing to the nth degree and as the time comes, feel as though we have already done it. We want some mystery! Obviously, going without doing any research will be irresponsible too. Maybe asking, "from your travel experiences, taking the same mindset as I have explained above, how much money would you take?". Thanks for suggestions.

Have a look at some of these travelogues from other people who have done RTW's. Maybe you could e-mail some of them for some help. <BR>http://rec.travelmate.com/rtw/html/rtwtravelogues.html <BR>Happy reading! <BR>

The problem is that givng yourself the flexibility to say "Maybe we will bike around, maybe we will take a cab, maybe we will rent a car, etc." makes budgeting very difficult, if not impossible. Renting a car can be sooo much more expensive than taking a train, and taking cabs in Tuscany--scary (financially speaking). <BR>RTWing costs also depend on how much time you want to spend in the various parts of the world. In other words, do you want to spend a lot of time in Europe, but include a quick swing through a few places in Asia? How many places do you need to see for it to count as travelling around the world? Would cutting out Australia be cheating, for example? <BR>Don't worry about planning so much that you feel as though you've done the trip before you've left. If planning were a substitute for travelling, the people on this forum would be able to save a lot of money!

hmmm, I think the answer to your question is how much money have you got?? :-) Seriously, although I've never tried to do this kind of a trip, I think you may have it backwards. Set your budget, and then make your arrangements with that budget in mind. You may have to make tradeoffs, like skip some of the more expensive cities, or stay outside of them, or plan to be in certain places in the offseason. There are just so many variables, I don't see how anyone can make a blanket reply to your question. <BR> <BR>I think some things would have to be cheaper if you book themin advance too. You may want to rent a place for a week or two or three, and settle in for a little while. I would think you need ot arrange that in advance. Also car rentals are far cheaper if you do them before you go. You may want to pick some weeks when you are pretty sure you will want a car and set it up in advance.

Thanks for your comments.Beth your suggestion to stay in a particular or "special" place for a week or few is a good one. I have heard that no matter how much you enjoy traveling, after a while it might become tiring. Staying at a particular place for a few weeks, where we can "catch our breath" and enjoy, will be considered/implemented. Maira's suggestion of a budget per week is also a good one. Brainstorming is good so I would appreciate them coming!

Check out the book "One Year Off" by David Elliot Cohen -- he and his wife and three children did this. They had a somewhat higher budget than you're anticipating, but it might give you some ideas, and they still said it was cheaper for them to travel the world for a year than it was to live at home (if you turn a blind eye to the lost income, that is). The website is www.oneyearoff.com

Paciano: I admire your spirit of adventure and your willingness to step out into "the unknown" on such an ambitious journey. Personally, however, I can't see how you can take such a trip without at least some basic planning. Areas you want to avoid or make sure you hit? How to "connect the dots" in a relatively cost efficient way? Transportation across water barriers? Doing at least some planning can save you significant $$. Having been created from the extremely anal retentive nth degree planning mold, I'm out of my element considering travelling without guidelines, I'll admit, but how can you really drink in an area such as Tuscany just by dropping in and saying 'here I am'? It'll be a crapshoot as to whether or not you stumble on the better locales/sites/restaurants. Buzzing by Siena on the highway you might never suspect that it holds some of the treasures that attract oodles of visitors. Some of the small towns are very mundane, though certainly rustic in their own right, but some are dripping with charm. How will you make decisions about the relative cost-effectiveness of train vs. bus vs. plane vs. car without knowing which options are available and how much they cost? There is such tremendous variability from one country to the next. <BR>Hate to be so rigid. Again, your desire to travel unfettered by plan restrictions sounds decadent and tantalizing. If cost is an issue, however, you might want to do some overview planning. Keep us posted as things come together! Good luck.

Go for it! Last year I started out back packing in Europe, but I had lived there while I was in high school so I'd seen pretty much everything I wanted. So, spur the moment, while I was in athen, Gr. an Aussie that I had met along the way was trekking around the world and invited me to join! It was the best decision of my life! We flew to Egypt then to India, Bangkok, Hong Kong, to Australia, then I continued home to the USA! I reccommend having some sort of an itinerary though! We had some problems because we didn't have the visa in advance and sometimes had to wait in a city while they came through(which wasn't that bad) or pay to have them expressed! The biggest cost is flying from country to country!!! I think I ended up spending about $2200 total on airfares. You might want to look into travel agencies that book around the world airfares! I wish I had, I would have saved some time and $$. This year I'm doing it again, this time with a little bit more planning and a little less time to spend (only 4 months!) Have a great time and relax as you go, don't rush to see everything if you're enjoying where you are!

Thanks again for all the great ideas! Lisa, thanks for the book suggestion. I read about this family you refer to previously but lost their name. I will definitely look them up.Bram, I understand what you are saying completely. We will do some planning. For example, in some of the more "dangerous" countries, we will definetly plan more and probably not camp out. We will have a route (connecting) the dots and will decide on such things as how to get to Australia. I don't want to say much as far as our details and restrict peoples ideas suggestions and comments. However, we will not go blindfolded. WOW Lyn, maybe you are a perfect example that if you had planned a rigid schedule and stuck to it, you would have never discovered what you did. This is along the lines of where I am coming from. I want to be flexibility so that if such thing is a life adventure presented/happens to us, we might do it! Lyn, can I keep in touch with you and/or email you directly with some questions?

I have to say, I'm also a planner, although my husband is a fly by the seat of his pants kind of person. We're planning a (6 month) abbreviated RTW trip from next April and I think it's essential that you do some planning. At the end of the day, the better informed you are, the more you'll get out of your trip. You can always decide to ignore what you've been told/ or read and be spontaneous. I think having some information just gives you more flexibility in the long run. Also, for me, it's a lot of fun. As I'm the planner in the family I also get to be the decider... <BR> <BR>Finally, you're probably best to work out how much money you can spend and then you can work out where you can go. For example, Asia and South America are cheaper destinations. Italy is not. Finances demand that I alternate cheaper destinations with more expensive ones (as I want at least one month in Italy in spring) and very expensive destinations are probably out of the question. As I hate the cold but also hate crowds, we are picking destinations based on (1) relative cost, (2) weather and (3) crowds. If all these things are OK, then I look further and plan places we might want to go. After all, you could spend one year in any one country and not see it all. A little planning ensures you don't miss out on the best things/ places. As Italy is my main priority for our trip, I've planned the early part of our trip around ensuring we get there in time to relax for 5 weeks or so before summer comes and the peak season. It means sacrifices, but if I didn't do it that way, I might miss out on it all together because of lack of money, illness or some other problem. <BR> <BR>Once you work out a figure for how much you'll be able to spend in total, you can work that out as a daily budget and that will give you an idea of the sorts of places you can afford to go. That, of course, is once you've deducted the costs of actually leaving - tickets, insurance, any bills you'll need to continue paying while you're away. <BR> <BR>All this is not to say that you can't just get on a plane and see where you end up, but if your time and money are limited, as most people's are, you'll probably get better value if you do at least some basic planning. <BR> <BR>Also, there's no way that planning is a substitute for going. I planned a 3-day trip to Cinque Terre in what my husband would say was an obsessive fashion. When we arrived in Milano, I think he was grateful because I knew what I was doing and we got to our place in minimum time and with minimum drama. I knew where I wanted to start exploring and the sorts of things I could do. We also just wandered around and had a relaxing and spontaneous time. He was very grateful for my planning and was impressed with the end result (which was that he had a great time). <BR> <BR>I've got a bit carried away here, but I hope you have a great trip and at least open the atlas to discuss where each of you wants to go. That, in itself, is more difficult than you might think. <BR>

Jac, Thanks for your imput. I am very interested in knowing where you are planning on going, how much time you are spending in each place and why are you going there? We have started listing some places of where we "must" go and realize that we will probably not see all in one year. I am also curious why you are going for six months instead of a year or two months? I have suggested to my wife that maybe we do two 6 month trip, one to Europe, Asia, Australia and surrounds and the other Central America, South America, Canada and surrounds. It might allow us to "catch our breath" as I have referred to in an above message. What do think? Also, and if you don't mind, I am curious how much you have budgeted for your six months( I will assume for you and your husband0? Thanks in advance!

Well, the main reason we are going for only 6 months is that we have decided to try to live in Israel for one year. My husband is Israeli and has lived with me in Australia for the last nine years. Once we started planning the trip, I think he saw the opening and it's gone from there. I didn't want to skip the trip altogether, so we decided to cut it down, primarily because of money. It will cost us quite a lot of money to relocate to Israel and wouldn't want to turn up there with nothing (or to return to Australia with none). The 6 months is a rough guide - we will go to Israel and stay there when the weather in Europe gets too cold or when the money runs out. I am thinking of a AUD$20,000 budget, excluding flights etc, but this is flexible. For 6 months, that gives us a bit more than AUD $100 a day. As we're alternating more and less expensive destinations, I think this will be enough. Italy will totally blow the budget though. Just 3 days in Sept. proved that to me. Asia, Nepal & South America should even things out. <BR> <BR>The rough plan (for the week - it seems to change constantly) is: leave April 17th 2000 (after my mother's 50th b'day - to keep people happy), New Zealand 5 days (visit sister & husband), Vietnam 5 days (Mum is from Vietnam and I want to check out places of familial significance), Thai Islands 10 days (to relax and get into the mood), Nepal 21 days (trek Langtang - Gosainkund - because I want to see the Himalayas and once I started reading about this place, I couldn't give it up. Also my husband won't go to India, so this is a compromise), Italy 5 weeks (because I have wanted to go there for more than 10 years. I want to leave by end of June before it gets really hot and crazy - not that it won't be too crowded even then...), New York 5 days (visit friends, just to check it out), Jamaica 2 weeks (for the sun & reggae - my husband will love it), Peru & Equador - until the end of August, so about 5 weeks (I've always wanted to see some of Sth. America and, according to a friend who spent a couple of years there, these countries are a good place to start. Also, the futher south you go the worse the weather seems to get at this difficult time of year). Then back to Europe for September (still reasonably warm we hope, but less crowded) starting north in Amsterdam (visiting husband's sister in law) and working our way south (probably by train) to Portugal (thereby maximising sun), through Switzerland & Annecy, France to visit friends. Probably Hungary (husband's father is from there) and whereever else takes our fancy. From there, when the $ runs out or it gets too cold, we'll go to Israel and stay there for one year. <BR> <BR>I hope this is helpful. As you can see, we have missed out a LOT of places. These are just a representation of our idiosyncratic interests. For example, can't explain the Italina fixation, but I would have been happy to spend the whole time there - that is, until I started reading up about Nepal. Places I thought I wasn't interested in took on a whole new dimension as I started researching and considering all the possibilities. For us it was a matter of prioritising - what could I not do without. I would for example love to go to Antarctica, but it would blow the whole budget, so it went out. We tried to pick places moderately expensive at best, as there are so many places to see, we didn't feel we needed to be in places that were very expensive. I would prefer a longer trip than a short and v. expensive one. Anyway, I would love to hear where you're planning to go and why ?

My best tip - as a preliminary base for planning, is to browse the lonely planet site (Fodors may have a similar one - not sure) <BR> <BR>http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ <BR> <BR>under "destinations" and you can readily see if a destination is going to fit into your plan. <BR> <BR>This was how I began picking destinations (apart from those I had been dreaming about for years). Each country has a menu close to the top and you can click on money & costs, when to go and activities. From there, you have a pretty good idea whether this is a place you want to look into further. For example, as I wanted to trek in Asia, I looked up Bhutan only to be told there was a USD$200 charge each day no matter what you did. There it went - no matter how great it was, we could NOT afford to be there. The "when to go" worked similarly for me, as weather is a primary concern. I went crazy downloading heaps of info and printing it to look at later. Lots of it hasn’t even been touched. It’s funny actually, how your plans develop. In 3 months of discussions, our trip has taken so many different turns. We would have spent more time in SE Asia (originally thought 3 months), but delays in leaving and the overriding priority of being in Italy for at least one month by the time the end of June came around meant our Asian trip was dramatically cut down. I figure we can always return if we want, as it’s fairly conveniently located from Australia. <BR> <BR>I hope you have as much fun researching all this as I have. As you can see, I’ve only researched the first part of our trip so far. I think the schedule for the rest of it will be pretty flexible, as I will have fulfilled my Italian dream. Apart from anything else, how can you predict how you’ll feel after a few months on the road ?! <BR> <BR>Re taking two trips, I think the main problems with doing that are money and jobs. The main expense seems to be flights, so paying for two may be a problem. Then again, it depends where you live. As an Australian, it costs about AUD$2,500 per person, maybe more depending on the season. If you live in the States, I guess it would be nothing like that. Also, once you’ve left your job, isn’t it easier just to stay away as long as possible and then to try to return to "normal" life. To return, resume your job and then take off again may be more difficult than it sounds. I guess that depends on your job and your stage of life. For me, it would be very difficult. Well-meaning people tell me we should be worried about returning and getting jobs, even though I’m just 29 and my husband is 32 - they say "you’re not young anymore". I refuse to give up the trip based on fear, especially as I think it’s unfounded. We’re both qualified and have served our time at university. I would hope things would work out in the long run. Regardless, we’re going !! <BR> <BR>

Remember that while you don't want to plan every minute that you should have some plans! We got hassled quite a bit going through customs because either we didn't have a set itinerary to declare, or we didn't have a plane ticket out of the country! If you have any questions just e-mail me!

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