RTW Travel Advice - 6 Month (Solo) Trip

I don't think it's too much, but it's not very well balanced.

Only 2-3 weeks for Colombia and Peru, but 1-2 weeks for Buenos Aires?

5 weeks is fine for New Zealand, I'd even say too much unless you plan to do lot of hiking. Not many ancient sites there! :-)

Only 3 weeks for Australia? Just compare the size of Australia to NZ! Not to mention it's bloody hot in summer, you might want to skip it this time.

Again 2 months is not bad for Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Cambodia is really about Angkor and you can do it in a few days. But only 1 week for Japan? Not to mention it's totally out of the way. It's not worth to go for only a week if you have to pay a lot more in ticket cost for this big detour. If it would be right on your way home than it would be worth to stop even for a couple of days.

Do you know this website?

http://www.travelindependent.info/

Welll...on your 'worries'...

You will miss a lot..its inevitable.No point worrying about that! Even if you had 2 years you would miss things.

No need to 'rush around' unless you want to.For me that is far too much for 6 months...I'd rather see things in more detail and depth than have a taste of so many different places,but maybe you feel differently.It is all possible certainly.

On the individual places....based on MY interests and travel style,which may well be different from yours.

3 weeks in Colombia is not bad.Its a great country,but not the easiest introduction.If you have no real travel experience I might moss that out and start in Peru,which has a better infrastructure for tourists,and far more travellers to meet.

3 weeks for that part of Peru is fine.So too 3 days for Iguazu,and a week for Rio.BA is a big city..interesting,but 2 weeks on a first trip may be too much.Having said that,my first ttrip there I liked it do much I stayed nearly 3 weeks ;-)

Overall your SA part is doable,but 'bitty'....lots of flights and short tastes of different countries and cultures.Personally I'd rather stay more time in one area,rather than fly from highlight to highlight.

The rest is all doable.1 week for that part of Japan is short..I'd either miss out Osaka or just see Osaka and Kyoto (next to each other) and miss Tokyo.Or else expand to two weeks and see something of rural Japan too.Or leave it for another trip.....

3 weeks for just Brisbane-Cairns is fine..of course you will be missing the vast majority of Oz.

5 weeks NZ is ok,if you like outdoor activities/trekking etc.

Many thanks to both of you for getting back to me so quickly.

balkanexpress: I think you're right, Buenos Aires is only going to be a week, rather than 2. It reminds me of a European city and usually a week is enough there.
That's interesting about Cambodia, maybe I could spend more time in Thailand or Vietnam. I only reallly wanted to go to Siam Reap / Angkor and Phnom Penh.
Thanks also for the link to the travel independent site, I hadn't seen that before, and it's very helpful.

lucapal: I see what you mean. It may pass me by if I try to do too much too fast, but due to limited time I want to do as much as I can, without suffering from burn out. I can't have it all though, hence the dilemma. A lot of people have said the same about Peru, maybe that is the place to start.

Colombia - I was only thinking about visiting Cartagena, but it seems 'out of the way' almost. Regrettably I may have to drop it.

Regarding Australia, I forgot to mention that I've been to Sydney and Melbourne before (we drove between cities along the coast) so wanted to try somewhere different there. But I'm unsure whether a Brisbane to Cairns road trip was going to be worth it, and if my time is better placed elsewhere / not in Australia at all.

NZ I thought the hop on hop off tour buses sounded interesting. Any experiences with that?

I am definitely re-thinking more time in Japan, based on both of your comments. It's the one I'm most excited about, and I think it would probably need at least 10 days then. I don't mind going all that way, as I'm unlikely to have the opportunity again for a long time.

Thanks again, I really appreciate your thoughts!

Based on my interest then I would skip Australia as the northern part of the country is best seen during the european summer and spend the 3 weeks in SE Asia or add some extra days to the Japan part of your trip. You can easily go to both Tokyo and Kyoto in 7-8 days as the Shinkansen between the two cities only takes 2½ hour, but with 2 weeks you´ll have time to head to the countryside as well as just seing cities.
Also only one week in Bali/Indonesia? Why not skip Indonesia for this trip as you only really get a tiny taste anyway.
I know you allready have a lot to see and do your proposed itinerary, but I would like to suggest Laos as well now that you are in the region anyway. It´s such a stunning country with some extremely nice friendly people and Luang Prabang is very special indeed.

pia2am - are you kidding? There are plenty of other places in Australia that the OP can go to, if they feel it's too hot at that time of year. But I agree about skipping Bali if its only for one week.

aks uk - I'd suggest, if you find heat hard to bear, that you head to Tasmania or travel from Melbourne to Adelaide, or Brisbane to Sydney at that time of year, which I presume will be in summer. If you will be here in school holidays in December/January it will be peak season, so you'd need to pre-book any beachside accommodation, but if you head inland it won't be an issue (though it'll be hotter).

Don't forget to build in downtime. Travelling is tiring, and in 6 months you'll need a break. I'd recommend a 'long weekend'-type break of 3-4 days once a month. Perhaps you could also add in a week by a beach.

You will never see everything, no matter how much time you have, but don't forget to stop, put down the camera, and smell the flowers as much as you can. You don't want to see the world through the lens of a camera.

julie_l - I clearly wrote based on my interest in my responce above. Maybe I´m a bit biased about Australia as it certainly wasn´t the highlight of our round the world trip a few years ago. In particular the strech between Brisbane and Sydney was a let down. I loved the area round Melbourne and the mountains plus western Australia.
Agree with julie_l about holiday time within your trip. It can be extremely tiring to travel all the time, so make sure you take your time to do nothing at all as well.

Pia -I know. Its just that as a proud Australian I find it hard to believe that someone wouldn't love all of my beloved country :)