Hello,
Good on you Cameron for starting to plan something like this. Here's a few thoughts....
With only 2 or 3 months your list of destinations is waaaaaaay too ambitious. (You also need to do a little more research when considering places like Greenland.)
I would suggest that you forget the RTW action and instead choose an area that interests you and concentrate on that. For example many first time travellers choose SE Asia because it's completely foreign, but it has a fantastic backpacker infrastructure so it's very accessible and non-intimidating. Other people are too intimidated by language so for their first trip they do Australia/New Zealand or North America.
My point is that with only 2 - 3 months you should drop the plan of simply getting a pile of stamps in your Passport and instead concentrate on actually travelling somewhere and learning about a different culture.
Lastly, budget is everything, so instead of saying, "... I have no idea what budget I will be able to work with but I am willing to save as much as necessary..." simply save your dough, decide on how much you can spend and let that be your guide in choosing your destinations.
Maybe you'll have lots of money so your expensive destinations like New York City, Tokyo, Canada, Australia, Easter Island, Iceland and Greenland can be considered... maybe your budget won't be so high so you'll have to look more towards South America, Cairo and South Africa.
Good luck and have fun with your research.
Cheers,
Terry
Okay, that makes sense. I was thinking of a RTW trip and spending a few weeks in every destination to discover the sort of things I like best so that in the future I can concentrate on individual areas. Is this a bad idea?
The list was just a few ideas that came to mind upon opening the thread so they are completely flexible.
Thanks,
Cameron
Yes, I think it's a really bad idea.
10 countries/destinations (some of them MASSIVE) in 3 months maximum (do the math) means you'd be doing nothing except travelling - you wouldn't be learning anything about anywhere except how to negotiate airports efficiently.
Tranquilo amigo. You don't have to try to see the whole world on your very first, fairly short trip.
Cheers,
Terry
Cameron,
I agree and disagree with the responders thus far. I think three months is plenty of time to go around the world....I do think you have alot of countries on the list. Depending on how you travel (from hiking thru planes). In alot less time I've hit seven countries, though many of them I had vistited before, so I did not have to dive into a lot of things. I think a week in each country is enough to get an introduction to the country. You may learn that you like/dont like a particular place. If you use this trip as an introduction to lands you may want to visit in the future, "collecting stamps" as has been said is not the worst idea in the world. I think that Australia may be the bridge too far. I think OZ is good for its own trip, but the 14 hour flight from lots of places makes it a long haul.
I used star alliance around the world ticket to travel. its cheaper than individual flights, you rack up FF mileage, and though they charge you to change locations they dont charge you to change dates/times.
My first RTW trip was HK (few days stopover), NZ (about a month), San Francisco (few days stopover), and home to UK.
So a short RTW is possible and practical, just don't try to load it with too many countries and flights. The time you spend travelling slowly is the most rewarding.
On the budget issue, you could consider a working holiday visa - spend only part of your time playing tourist, working in with it but that's still time spent somewhere interesting. Overall you can afford a longer trip without racking up your debt.
I was surprised at some of the destinations you picked out.
Do you live in the UK? If so you can do America and Canada any time. The same with Iceland. As to Greenland, why would you want to go there? Go to Skegness in winter instead.
People generally go to Easter Island from Ecuador or Chile. It's VERY expensive and needs to be booked early as only a small number of people are allowed there at any one time.
South America is big and you need to decide where you are going. Spending a few weeks there is like visiting continental Europe for a few weeks. For me, Peru has the most to see there.
Japan is quite expensive. Presumably you will get out of Tokyo (not really that much to see there), to maybe Kyoto, Hiroshima and the like? The bullet trains are good there and a japan Rail Pass, bought before arrival is handy.
South Africa is quite dangerous in places and I know people who have been there and their friends who live there go out armed with guns to protect themselves against violent muggings and lethal car jackings.
Egypt still has trouble with fanatics and Brits were targeted by bombs just the other day. I would think Cairo would be safe (?) and you could see the massive museum there and the nearby pyramids at Giza.
Australia is a BIG place with often long distances between destinations so you need to decide where you want to go there, and maybe even book some internal flights. Note: Sydney to Auckland in NZ is about 1,340 miles away but Sydney to Perth is about 2,050 miles away.
As said you should not try to do too much. You could try a RTW ticket to say Bangkok (a month in Thailand costs very little and it's a great place in winter when you can be on the beach every day, or whatever), Tokyo (I have been there twice in winter and it's cold though moderate elsewhere, but not too bad unless you head up north), Sydney and coming back Lima and NYC.
I would want a minimum of 3 months and besides the RTW ticket, maybe £2,000, about £6,000 but that would be doing it cheaply in budget accommodation, very few nights out, and eating and drinking cheaply. I have a nice fairly central apartment booked in Bangkok for a month starting Dec 6, just 230 euros. You would not get many days for that money in Tokyo. Australia and America are fairly expensive.
That's very good. Many many congratulations
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