paper_wings

Spinning my wheels! I have read a couple of books to get me started but i still can't figure out a route to take. I will hopefully be leaving from Calgary in February but i can't decide which way to go first. I was hoping i could find some others that could share some stories or places to start and end with me. I will be goin to asia, europe, australia, new zealand, and south america. I just can't figure which order to go in.

thursdaysd

I've done this through Europe, Asia and Australasia - my itineraries and some trip reports are at www.wilhelmswords.com/rtw2004. Have you read Jim Roger's books? He's done it twice, once on a motorbike and once by car.

I didn't include South America, but if I were going to, I'd put it between Canada and New Zealand. Biggest consideration on which direction is the weather. It's been very hot in parts of Europe in the summer, recently.

WillTravel

Have you looked at www.bootsnall.com and thorntree.lonelyplanet.com ?

samisamismi

Weather is the biggest concern. If you go to SA, then NZ, OZ then Asia to Europe, you will miss the worst of winter (and the baggage of warm clothes). Also, if you've never done this before, you'll get your feet wet with less stress. The Aussies are great travelers, and you'll meet plenty of travelers--not tourists--in Oz and get good info. NOTE : check out the bookings from SA to NZ. Sometimes the flights are booked up to a month in advance.
Have fun!! Keep a journal.

Jayna

Have you checked out www.gapyear.com? Some people there can probably give some good advice.

I'm in the middle of a pretty big chunk of time away from N. America right now, but I'm only visiting the eastern hemisphere. I think if I were taking a full-on RTW trip, I'd consider:
1. finances; if you're not so great at budgeting and spend too much early on, trying to live cheaply in western Europe the last three months of your journey won't be nearly as easy as trying to live cheaply in SE Asia
2. what you want to do; if you're going to try volunteering or getting seasonal work, the time of year you're there may be important...also a huge consideration if you're wanting to do lots of outdoorsy things
3. how crowded you want to be; do you like seeing things at their best and not mind being elbow-to-elbow with other tourists or would you rather risk some crazy rain and have places be quite a bit quieter?

Best of luck!
Jayna
travels at www.ususbaby.com

SusanC

I did a 6 month round the world trip from Jan - July. I went Philly, Chicago, LA, Fiji, New Zealand (all over for 1 month), Australia (all over for 2 months), Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Bulgaria, Greece, Russia, Azerbajian, London, Amsterdam, Paris. Awesome trip and I wouldn't make any changes to what I did - and I made a lot up and added as I went along!

paper_wings

I have a rough plan. Leave March 1st to Amsterdam, germany, poland, greece, italy, spain, then to france to fly out of paris to Africa. 3-4 months in europe. i hope to do a safari in kenya or tanzania then to south africa and hopefully to madagascar. 1 to 1.5 months in africa. From there to nepal to start the asian trip. 6 months in asia. Then to australia, new zealand, fiji, cook islands, for 3-4 months. Then to south america or home. I don't like anything written in stone and don't want to be a place for for a week, go to next and so on. I want the freedom to stay or leave when i want. What are the costs like to buy flights as you go? Through europe i would take the trains or try to find cheap flights and the same as in asia. Africa is gonna be a tourist trip. Australia, New zealand, and the islands will be bus or train. Looking for replies or hints for getting around and visas to have prior to arriving.

thursdaysd

Congratulations! Great that your trip is coming together.

Talk to the folks at airtreks.com about flights. Some visas can be arranged well ahead of time, but places like China have visas that expire and have to be bought on the road. Other places, like Russia, you have to give specific dates and stick to them. Sorry, but you'll need to check the embassy site for each country. Make sure you have lots of space in your passport - you may need to have extra pages added.

You should also check on vaccinations and malaria risk. When I did my RTW I traveled with three months worth of Malarone. I'd already had all the shots for previous trips.

suze

I'm clearly no expert here, but I thought people normally bought some kind of a special "round the world" plane ticket, but that allowed flexibility of itinerary.

I would think one-way tickets bought as you went along, would be an extremely expensive proposition (excepting budget airlines within Europe and the like).

Jayna

The cost of RTW tickets vs. one-way tickets depends on a lot of things. You're paying for time flexibility with the RTW tickets, so they're sometimes more expensive than one-way tickets bought at a discount (that was my case). I did a skeleton of one-way tickets for the first half of my trip, and I've filled it in with a few inter- and intra-country flights (no more than $135 each) and overland travel. The rest of the tickets I'll purchase as I go along.

There are many low-cost flights in Asia now, so flying around the continent is fairly cheap as is flying to Australia.

Also, if you're a student or were recently a student, definitely check out an STA. They have RTW trips but can also get student tickets, which are cheaper and offer much more flexibility.

itsv

Here is a great website about a woman traveling the world for a year by herself. I think she is in eastern europe right now. I love reading about her trip.

http://llworldtour.wordpress.com/about/

You could email her with your questions.

Also check out gonomad.com. The editor did a around the world trip. I think her name was Lauren.

Have fun. Its a dream of mine to do such a trip.

llworldtour

Hi! That's me--i'm LLworldtour! I have been traveling for 11 months and it's been the most amazing time of my life. Like many suggested--I did follow the 'warm weather' and headed to the southern hemisphere first (S. America and NZ/AU) first since i left Chicago in the fall.
Please check out my website at www.llworldtour.com. THe "How LL" section may help you and then you can see the countries i've been to if you have more specific questions. Feel free to email me! And good for you!!!
LL

travelgirl2

Just want to wish you good luck. We spent 11 weeks in Europe and Asia last summer - now it's my dream to travel for a year some time.