Hi there,
You could fly in to Bangkok and then do a bit of a trip through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand (maybe if you plan a bit better you could go to Hong Kong, Macau and some of southern China like Yangshuo and Guilin which are really scenic areas of Southern China). North America will be a lot more than South East Asia but you can get by on a budget, but you'd certainly want to save a lot more money up especially given the current rate of exchange is pretty bad.
Places to go would vary from person to person and vary greatly depending on what your interests are and what you hope to get out of your trip. For example most people from the UK doing a RTW trip have Australia as a must visit country but you have it as a "I'm not too bothered about visiting Australia" country.
Getting a RTW ticket from any agency is normally a much of a muchness. If you do travel on a RTW ticket you should at least include a couple of stops in North America. Maybe Los Angeles and New York or San Francisco and New York especially if it will be your first time to the US. Doing the Los Angeles option you could possibly even go overland to Las Vegas and then do a bit of a tour to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Death Valley etc. In New York you could take a trip down to Washington DC which is interesting for history. Then up in the other direction of New York you could take a side trip to Niagara Falls (you'd want to cross to the Canadian side of the falls as that is heaps better). That would be a taster of some of the things the US has to offer.
Keep saving hard doing everything you can to save any extra pound and give up some luxuries to svae that bit more. The more money you have when away the more of a wicked time you will be able to have. If that 3000 pounds you mention is total for the two of you, you need to save loads more money before even considering quitting your job! I was working on $20-$25USD a day in South East Asia (more for places like Hong Kong), $50USD a day for the US (I haven't been there since the Global Financial Crisis started so I've heard prices are a bit better since that started), $30-40USD a day for South America and 40-50 Euro a day for most areas of Europe except Scandinavia. These prices were all based on one person living in Dorms and living it very cheap with the food but doing many of the touristy things that were not too expensive. If you plan to drink alcohol you'll need to add more to that daily budget I was working on.
[ 04-Jan-2010, at 03:29 by aharrold45 ]
This has been very helpful...
emma, you are similar to me! I'm looking into travelling from the UK to Bangkok overland to Singapore, then into Cairns and travelling down the East Coast to Melbourne. I'd really like to visit Fiji and New Zealand next, then stop off in Los Angeles overland to NewYork on the way home.
Due to commitments at home, i'm only about to do this for 3-4 months so i am trying to squeeze alot it. Better than not going at all i think.
I have £3000 saved so far... flights are coming up at roughly £1900, and i would hope to take roughly £6000 with me so i have a bit more to go!
Paula
I used STA travel to book 2 RTW trips. both times very helpful, believe they specialise/cater for under 26 and students.
They do a route as follows for £1500 ish i believe: UK - Bangkok overland to Singapore - Sydney overland Cairns - NZ - Fiji - and a stop in North America (LA or Sanfrancisco i think).
I paid £1600 in Feb 2009 and spent 3-4 months doing the following: UK - Johanesburg - Singapore (ventured to Thailand overland) - Sydney overland Cairns - NZ - LA - UK.
Hope that helps.
w33wils. i would suggest RTW experts online. im going on a very simular trip which you are looking for in june 2010. the ticket cost £1388 and tht goes frm london to L.A, hawaii, fiji, into auchland, out of christchurch, sydney, out of cairns, singapore, out of bangkok and back home with free date changes.
Hi Emma,
we're planning our around the world trip for mid Feb. One of the most helpful sites I've found is hobotraveler.com. The writers provide great guides on getting the most bang for your buck by flying into what they call 'jump gates' http://www.hobotraveler.com/aroundtheworldairfare.shtml
best of luck!
Hiya,
Thanks for all the tips it's been really useful to me.
At the moment we only have £4,000 saved between us so we do have a fair while to go yet! We still have 6 months worth of saving but I imagine we should be able to get around £8500 for the both of us. Do you think that would be enough for around 4 months travel? I guess we would mainly be interested in the food, culture and sightseeing, going on a couple of trips etc and perhaps going out for drinks 1-2 times a week...
I'm certain that I want to spend around a month in India, and if we do visit America I think it's more feasible to only spend about 2 weeks there, will have to see what tickets there are available! We are yet to decide on other countries. Does anyone recommend anywhere, apart for New Zealand and Australia? I am really keen on visiting Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam but my boyfriend needs more convincing!
Thank you for all your help!
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