Another RTW trip - Advice please!

LegacyUser

Hey all,

I didn't want to crash that other thread that has some awesome info in it which I have read so I just decided to start my own one.

Same sort of buzz...want to go RTW for 10 - 12 months from Mid October 08

Dublin - London to Rio (3 months in Brazil and Argentina)
Buenos Aires to Auckland continuing straight on to Fiji (2/3 weeks fiji)
Fiji to Melbourne (will travel up the East coast for two months from Melbourne up to Brisbane overland.)
Brisbane to Christchurch (Ski season in NZ for three months)
Auckland to Bangkok (And then want to go overland up to Beijing and then on to Tokyo - Is this possible in 2 months? )
Tokyo to London - Dublin

We can do some substitutions on certain places. Flying in to South America could be Rio, Lima or Buenos Aires. Out of South America has to be Santiago or Buenos Aires.
Cairns wasnt at option to go to New Zealand so I chose Brisbane and it can be to Auckland or Christchurch.
Leaving from Asia to London could be from a lot of Asian cities depending on your plans. Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo,Delhi or Mumbai.

Also guys, budget? What do you reckon? Wanted to do it on 8 - 10grand excluding flights

dory

E1000 is what I generally aim for when travelling, and I find that hard to stick to. Also, the places you've named were the places that really screwed up my budget! If you want to save money swap Rio for Lima, Peru's a lot cheaper.

Other than that it looks good. Bit of backwards and forwards but I'm sure you noticed that too. And yes, Bangkok to Beijing is possible in 2 months. You won't see everything a long the way and might be a bit tied at the end but it's doable.

LegacyUser

Hey Dory, do you mean 1,000 Euro for a year or 10,000 Euro? What do you mean those places screwed up your budget? Was accommodation the biggest factor? I was hoping the current exchange rates along the way would help me too...

dory

Sorry I really didn't make that clear. I meant a 1000 a month. In South America I could generally do $1000 which saved me a bit. But usually something comes up and I end up spending moeny. And yes, accomodation is one thing, although being able to share a double room you might save a bit. Also buses in Chile and Argentina were expensive. Every over night bus cost around E50 or more.

And yea, by screwed up my budget I mean I couldn't stick to it there. But maybe you're better than I am at it!

LegacyUser

damn...i thought South America was cheap!

Neamhshuntasach

South America is cheap. But only in comparison to European standards. You can well manage on less than 20 Euro a day or 600 Euro a month. It just depends on what you are expecting to do with that amount of money. If you move around slowly, have no problem staying in budget accommodation, don't drink mad amounts every day, eat and travel as the locals do, take in free sights or cheap sights well then you could easily survive on around 15-20 a day. But i'd budget for over that amount as some days are more expensive than others. Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador are the cheapest countries from my experience. Bolivia being the cheapest. When i lived in Venezuela i managed on around 20 dollars a day. I also done the same in Peru when i was the for a few months. But Peru seems to be getting a little more expensive these days. Especially the tourst areas.

The slower you travel the cheaper it will be. If you want to go from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos it is gonna cost over 50. But if you travel slower and don't want to travel huge distances overnight it will cost much less. And hitchhiking is a great way of getting around for free or really cheap in South America. Obviously not huge distances but from town to town. It's a way of life over there and perfectly safe from my experience anyways.

LegacyUser

Hey guys,

Just checking in to show an itinerary to see what you think. Also have a couple of questions RE: Asia.

Dublin - London
London to Rio - monday 19th january 2009
Santiago to Fiji (one stopover in Auckland continuing directly to Fiji) monday - 6th april 2009
Fiji to Melbourne - 27th april 2009
Brisbane to Christchurch - monday 8th june (SKI SEASON)
Auckland to Bangkok - monday 3rd august
Bangkok to London to Dublin - September (ish)

The total for that plan is going to be 2,416 Euro.

We want to go to thailand, laos,hong kong, shanghai, beijing, tokyo but because our last stop in Asia has to be Bangkok due to mileage restrictions, we would have to fly into Bangkok...travel around Asia and then leave from Bangkok.

Is it possible to get a train from shanghai to beijing? if so, do you know where it can be booked etc?

Also, do you know what the best way to get from bangkok to shanghai would be?

Since our last stop is bangkok, we want to be able to go to the places mentioned i.e. bangkok, shanghai, beijing also tokyo and at the moment, we are just trying to figure out the best ways of being able to see these places before we head back to bangkok for our flight home...

breadmonkey

http://www.seat61.com/China.htm#Beijing%20-%20Shanghai