Thorn Tree travel forum

UK National Getting China & India Visas Abroad?

Hi everyone!

I've been trawling thorn tree and the internet all evening and can't seem to find the info I need! Please help!

I'm setting off on my RTW adventure at the beginning of Jan 2010. I'll be away for about 6 months. The last 2 months of my trip will be taking place in China (I'll be there from end of April to end of May) and then India (end of May until mid June) respectively. For China I will be taking part in an Intrepid tour for the month. My question is: what shall I do about visas?

-Is it best to apply for 1 year visas for each of these countries as 6 month ones will expire before I get there? (Can I get a one year visa for China even? From what I can work out the multiple entry one isn't quite what I need).
-Can I apply for visas in New Zealand or Australia (where I will be for the 2 months before I get to China)? How easy will that be as a non-residen... more »

When is the ideal time for an RTW?

I'm not asking this for advice, just as a question.

When do you think the ideal time for an RTW is? Is it before college, between college and grad school, before first job, between two jobs early on, or some other time? Why?

Travel insurance if I'm already on the road?

I left for my year of backpacking about 5 weeks ago. My travel insurance (that I had previously) has a max trip length of 45 days. So now I'm shopping around for another policy.

Are there any policies I can get once I have already left for my trip?

(details: US citizen, was living in UK until I started trip 5 weeks ago but have current UK and US address)

Our RTW / gap year trip - all advice welcome

So I'm Dutch and I don't know much. But hey, maybe you'd like to shed some light on our travel plans. After all you can't blame the dutch for wanting to flee their flat and small country now can ya? The girl and myself want to take a gap year off and have started planning. After reading a couple of hours on this forum and reading all those extensive replies, I've come to some conclusions. Maybe you could help us validate or disagree with them. Basically all is open for discussion.

We're taking a year off and have the following itinerary.

• Amsterdam - Sint Petersburg by plane and then;
• Trans-Mongolian express for 3 weeks to Bejing
• Bejing towards China's west border (partial silk route) for 3 weeks and then south towards
• Nepal / Tibet (4 weeks)
• India & Maldives (4 weeks)
• Bangladesh (3 weeks)
• Thailand (2 weeks)
• Cambodja (2 weeks)
• Vietnam (3 weeks)
• Laos (2 ...

Round The World advice and suggestions please!

I am a 30 year old female and have decided that as I currently find myself at a time of life where I am single, have no career ties and no property ties, I want to embark on the Gap year that never was, before it's too late. I will be travelling alone and have no time limit.

This is a relatively new idea but I have been researching routes and thinking about ideas, and ideally I would like to do the trip with as little flying as possible. I am really interested in cargo shipping it across either the Atlantic or Pacific (but not both - for time and expense reasons!) just for the experience.

My initial thoughts (very vague so do forgive me if they are ridiculous) are to fly to Moscow where I will begin my journey on the Trans-Mongolian railway to Beijing. First question, can I get off the train to spend time in Mongolia or will I have to stay on the same train right through? I ... more »

Distance ed anywhere in the world. Where would you go?

Until recently I was planning to go on a student exchange to a European country (again). I'm still hoping this works out - I'd rather be in a classroom and meeting new people than taking distance ed. However, I've resolved that I am not going to confine myself to my home university for my final semester; so at the least I plan to take a full distance ed course load.

I'm already spending January in Hong Kong and Thailand. But where I'll go after is up in the air, just mainly somewhere cheap. The main contenders right now are an Eastern European country or South America. I might also consider delaying my return flight from Asia. I'd be interested in other ideas as well.

Where would you go if you could take your courses from anywhere in the world?

Transsibirian Railroad

Hi Everyone,
I am currently traveling in south-east Asia and had recently the idea to travel back to Germany alteratively to a flight by the Transsibirian railroad from Beijing to Moscow. However i have dufficulties to find out fares by using the internet. Because i would like to use this trip only for transport motivation to get from A to B, the touroffers which include stopovers and tours along the way do not interest me. Unfortunately i can not find out what the plain train-ticket is going to cost me. It would be great to hear a field report of somebody who did this journey or has just the least idea about it.

Thank you already for your help.

Kind regards

Kolja

How much would one year of solo travel cost in South America?

Hi All,

I have recently finished a 20month travelling stint in Asia and now have the task to save up for the next trip (South America) and want to know what you would guestimate as a reasonable budget for a solo backpacker for 12months travel within Central and South America?

My intention is to either take a cheap flight to near the Mexican border and travel overland south or find a reasonable return flight from London to one of the major capitals (probably meaning id skip Central America). I want to travel for 12months give or take and ideally would like to travel within the majority of the countries in South America. I would have no time limits or constraints just want to be fairly certain I can afford a full year.

I would aim for budget accom the cheaper the better inc dorms, eat like a local, drink alcohol regularly and dont mind taking local transport. I would also like... more »