Trapattoni wants to know...

Trapattoni

Ok I want to go travelling in August of this year, I need to be back by the end of January and would consider coming home for xmas to spend with my family.

Basically I have done a little travelling around Europe but very little and need to know if anyone can give me some advice:

1) How much will I need to travel (without working) for 4-6 months?

2) Can anyone recommend a vague schedule, I would like to see the likes of Thailand, Oz, China etc

3) Am I safe to do this alone and would it get so lonely I would want to come home ? I have friends that wound up on their own for one reaosn or another but only for a few weeks.

Thanks in advance for the help!!

Trap

Glowing

Where to start!

Firstly I think you need to decide what you want to achieve by going travelling? Are you looking for culture, food, lazing on a beach and chatting up women?

Secondly, forget the idea of coming home for christmas! I did that a few years back and it was the worst decision I ever made, talk about an anticlimax! If you're coming back in Jan, stick it out until then, a return flight home from somewhere like HK or Bangkok will cost a fortune.

So you could for example fly from Dublin to BKK - spend 10-12 weeks in South East Asia, doing a loop and finishing in BKK - then fly from BKK to HK and do another loop through China, I did 2 months there and it was an ideal amount of time. So that brings you out to December - you could go home if you really wanted, or spend a month somewhere like NZ or Australia, or perhaps India .... the world is your oyster!

For a trip like that you'd be looking at 2000 for flights with Trailfinders - budget about 800 euro a month in SEA (taking in trips, tours etc), China is cheap, about 600/700 a month incl. trains/flights/eating out - but you'll quickly rack up expenses in NZ or Australia so I'd be inclined to leave that until the end when you know what money you have left ... and keep the time reasonably short.

Oh and you'll have no problem meeting people, you'll have more travel buddies than you know what to do with

Trapattoni

Glowing, Thanks a million.

When you say you meet many travel buddies, do you geniuinely meet good people who are on their own also looking to travel somewhere with someone?

I just wanna see the world to be honest, experience the cultures - forget the women

Is 6 months a good amount of time to go travel - will i not want to stay on for another 6?? (taking a career break so need to establish time before leaving the job)

Thanks again

T

Glowing

Well as I travelled with my boyfriend, I didn't do the solo thing, but yes, you'll meet loads of people, solo travellers as well as groups. You'll also find that you'll keep running into the same people as you travel along since everyone more or less goes the same route. And sure if you have to spend a day or two alone, you'll probably find you're more approachable to the locals and have a bit of craic that way!

6 months would be great, but 12 would be even better! With 12 months you could add on South America or Tibet and India, or perhaps stop and work somewhere if money was getting tight. Honestly you're probably only going to do this once, so why not make the most of it? 12 months will fly by - I travelled for a year back in 2006, loved it so much that I took another 3 months off just last christmas and saw Japan and South America! Not everyone has that luxury so take 12 off if you can afford it and the job will let you. Assuming you're in your 20's, you'll stil have another 30 ish years of working anyway - why rush back!

Budget wise, I spent about 14 grand in the year (afraid to look too closely), and I don't regret spending a penny of it. I did everything I wanted, stayed in reasonably nice hostels and guesthouses and ate out apart from in NZ and OZ. My only regret is staying so long in Australia/NZ - for the fortune I spent there, I could have travelled half of Mongolia and Tibet - *and* extended my trip another few months. You get so much more for your money in Asia - food wise, culture wise, experiences etc, so I'd think twice about going unless you specifically want to see those countries.