First Trip
I posted a question regarding this a few months back when me and my girlfriend first decided to start planning to go travelling together. After a lot of researching, I now see that we made some errors, mainly trying to see too much too soon. So we know have a revised plan and I want to get an opinion of someone with more expertise.Our plan is to leave the UK in December this year with $10000 between us and fly to Sydney. Mainly we want to see the new year in year before start our main travels. From Sydney we want to progress to do south east Asia, start at bali, working our way to kuala lumpa with as little flying as possible and then onto Thailand. We then plan to take a route through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Our last stop will be more off the beaten track in the phillipines.
From there we have not decided, we are fully commiting to the trip so there is no time frame, we will go till we run out of money. We might come home from the phillipines or if we have money left we may go somewhere else. We will decide that at the time.
Is the budget realistic? We will be travelling as cheaply as possible so hostels, street food you name it any money saving idea we will be taking it. We want a long, authentic as possible trip.
Any ideas are welcome as are any errors I have made.
Thanks in advance.
3
You might be better off doing a NYE 'full moon' party in Thailand considering you want to travel through SE Asia.My friends did it for this NYE just been and loved it! I calls it a 'full moon' party because the full moon was on January 7th so it is all a bit of a marketing stunt but the party was incredible nonetheless, from what I was told
4
I second gawkabout, why would you go all the way down to Australia and only see Sydney?If you have anything you want to ask about the Philippines, feel free. I lived there for 5 years, and can speak the 3 major languages there, I also traveled all over the country.
Good luck!
5
Thanks for your comments.The reason for Sydney is its a place we have always wanted to visit, and also as this is our first backpacking trip we thought it would be a good place to get used to the lifestyle. We would go to Sydney at beginning of December so we would be spending around a month there with every intention of see as much of that region of Australia as we can. Obviously without breaking the budget, cos I am aware of how expensive it is. Following your advice this could change.
Horto- thanks for the tip on the full moon party.
Updownallaround- thanks for the offer of advice, where would the best place to start be within the phillipines?
Thanks again for your comments its appreciated.
Cheers
6
It depends on what you are after? Snorkeling/Diving, laying on the beach, jungle trekking, City life, ruins, etc. there is so much to see in the Philippines.Anything specific you would like to know? If you tell me what your after, and how many days you would like to spend in the Philippines I can come up with a nice itinerary for you if you like.
7
Oh righto a month in Aus makes more sense!I am an Aussie so if you do come this way I can help with some of your plans here if you like? What ideas do you have?
8
Sydney is a really nice city(and OZ is a great country),but a month there for 2 people is going to eat up a big chunk of your budget.If you really want as long a trip as possible,you could probably do 4 months more in SE Asia for what you will spend in Oz in a month.
10
GTood poi8nt. Oz deserves to be a trip (sadly limited) all its own. You have thingsn to learn, just taking a plane somewhere way north. Just talk with regular folks. You'll get invitations to see how vsome live. (if they think you're really a sicere bloke. If you look and talk down to peoplem you will be treated accordingly.12
Thanks for the advice guys.I understand what you are saying and seeing more of Oz in its own Ttp does sound like a better idea. I think that for this trip we will just stick to south Asia and the phillipines. That way we can go back to Oz and see more than just Sydney too- cheers gawkabout.
Updownallaround- regarding the phillipines we want to experience the culture and cuisine and relax away from the main tourist areas. I think we plan to spend at least a month there.
Cheers again people.
14
Gamble - The great thing about the Philippines is that you can pretty much jump on a plane and get to any place in the Philippines in less then 2 hours.So "non-touristy" Hmmm .... Presumably you will land in Manila, I would suggest you stay a couple days first before jetting off to another destination. Perhaps 5 days will 'break you' into the culture of the country. From there you could catch a bus down to Batangas port and take a "banca" boat to Puerto Galera, on the island of Mindoro. It takes about 4-5 hours to get there.
You could go to Palawan Island, its not too touristy but make sure you get enough money for your stay when you arrive at Puerto Princesa, as it is one of the only places that has an ATM on the entire island.
Cebu is touristy, but its a nice island, lots to do, and if you get bored which I don't think can happen even if you stay for a month you could take the 2 hours long ferry to Bohol.
Of course theres Boracay but that is one of the most touristy places in Asia, let alone the Philippines.
Anyways its your call, enjoy your trip!
Edited by: updownallaround7
