Hi everyone
Ive been travelling in Asia since December, and wanted to share some advice (after reading a lot of posts that these might help with). Im posting it here as it relates to round the world travel as well.
Making Round the World Plans:
- there is absolutely no need to buy a RTW ticket for most trips- i researched my proposed trip using budget airlines and found it to be around 2-3 thousand dollars cheaper.this may require a slight change in plans (like i would have had to go through hawaii, oh the horror), however it means you are free to change your route, not just the timing, and you can take longer than 1 year. It may take a long time researching but its well worth it. If i bought the ticket i had planned on buying i would be screwed. I havent followed what i planned at all. Which leads onto the second point
-secondly, BE FLEXIBLE. I amy have taken this to the extremes, but man have i had fun. I orginally planned this giant 15 month around the world trip and are meant to be in the middle east about now (after having done asia, nepal and India). Instead im sitting at home. I spent my whole time in Asia, with roughly a month per country, and enjoyed those parts much more than the parts i rushed through. I also went to places i hadnt even heard about while planning the trip, and made a spur of the moment decision to head to a beautiful island when i felt i was gettong 'asia-ed out'. Oh by the way im sitting at home because im here for 2 weeks before heading off to Africa...
-feel free to do the unknown. Funny enough the 5 hour motorbike ride i went through to get to one of the Vietnam/Laos borders was one of my best and worst experiences (but the worst part was more to do with a distinct lack of padding around my bum...)
-take your time!!!. I read post after post about people spending one week in this country, 5 days in that country. I was in Cambodia for over a month and only visited 3 places. Other times i wasnt having so much fun so moved on quicker. But i can think of nothing worse then having to rush through a city which you think you might really enjoy. My advice would be to choose fewer countries if your on a limited schedule, rather than just adding countries to your list. Its actually easier spending longer in one country, because you get to know how much things should cost, a bit of the language, and just how things work in general. You also have more of a chance to visit places others skip, and meet some amazing people (including other travellers) who tend to be a bit more tucked away.
-Budget more then you have to. Its much better to have lots of money left over, and longer trips pretty much never go to plan. In my case i lived off a reasonably tight budget all through asia, until i got to Koh Tao, where i spent $1500 in about ten days doing 6 different scuba courses. And it absolutely rocked. Make it so any random urge can be fulfilled (within reason of course- you dont need to go to such extremes as me).
-Do not buy guide books from home. This is especially the case in regards to asia, where they are cheap as. I had maybe 2 at a time, one for the country i was in, and one for the country i was heading to next for research purposes. I left these behind when i was done. And i must remark i found guide books to be pointless in terms of finding accommodation and good restaurants. Firstly i could rarely be bothered finding the places when there are plenty of places nearby that are just as good, and secondly, often as soon as a place gets into a guide book they up their prices due to increased demand. This means that places that are listed as a good option for a certain price bracket, and now way overpriced, and there are much nicer alternatives.
-try to learn where places are before jumping in a cab/on a moto. They will charge you large amounts of money just to go round the block. A good sign your being an idiot is when all the taxi drivers you talk to refuse to use the meter.
-Do not carry too much luggage (easier than it sounds). I had 2 backpacks while travelling. I started off with a 65L backpack. I actually popped home midway, dumped around 17kg worth of luggage!!!, bought a school bag from my old high school and went again with that. Rather thab carrying around a whole bunch of souveniers and crap i didnt need, i had the essentials. My bag was 7kg and qualified as cabin luggage (a great way to beat the ques at the airport). Once more especially in asia its cheap to send things home. That way you dont have to carry them, or worrry about what happens if your bag gets stolen. If you do take too much, and you find yourself travelling for a while without ever using an item, give it away. People will be grateful. And with the amount of baggage there is no excuses about going through different climates. My 7kgs included a ski jacket and thermals (though if you bring hiking boots it may be more, though they were another thing i left at home after 2 months, along with my sleeping bag which i never used), and im taking the exact same stuff to Africa and Europe. Oh and remember important documents can be scanned onto hotmail- brilliant whoever thought that one up.
And finally dont stress. Im a 22 year old girl travelling on my own, and there were only a few moments when i actually felt lonely, and none where i felt seriously threatened. For potential solo travellers: doing trips by yourself actually really is wonderful. I travelled part way with a friend. We fought constantly, and yet spent so much time just with each other. The rest of the time i was on my own. There were no fights. You tend to be a lot nices to strangers then people youve been couped up with for too long. And i had some amazing conversation- from travellers fresh from 6 months in India, to a bikie in Sapa who was just having a vacation (and showed my a multitide of photos of his various bikes). When your on your own you easily change from a shy person to someone who will talk to absolutely anyone. Often with wonderful consequences.
As i said these are just some conclusions ive come up with. None of them are original. People give you lots of advice, and often you ignore half of it (esp. the luggage one). And of course others are going to have different opinions. Its up to you to decide whether or not what ive said may apply to you.
:)
Cat
