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#180345 - 10/22/13 08:11 AM Travelling the World - some tips please!
TheBrothers Offline
newbie

Registered: 10/22/13
Posts: 1
Hello!

Short summary:
We are two Swedish brothers who are going to travel the world in mid-January. We were hoping to collect an abundance of tips and information before we go, and where else to do this than with you folks who have already done what we’re about to do? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Preliminary route:
Our primary goal with this journey is to do adventurous things; we are going dive, climb/hike mountains, traverse jungles and deserts... et cetera.
We are planning to leave in mid-January, as aforementioned, so we figured Southeast Asia is a good place to start considering the season. We were thinking about starting out in India, then going eastwards through Bangladesh, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Thereafter we want to go to Australia and maybe island nations around Oceania depending on how expensive this is.

Depending on how much money we have left at this point, we have two alternatives here; either we travel to Central- & South America, or we go back towards Europe and Northern Africa.
By this time spring should be prevalent throughout Europe, so we want to climb/hike mountains and go snowboarding in the Alp regions. Also, we want to visit the Red Sea (preferably from Egypt and maybe Sudan).
If, on the other hand, we go to America, we want explore the Caribbean, and the South American countries of Peru and Brazil… at least that’s what our current thoughts are.

Our budget will probably be around 12,500€ (circa 10,500£, 17,000$) and we’d rather live and travel as cheap as possible to save money.

So here follows a series of questions:

Does the budget seem implausible even at first glance?
Is there something worth mentioning regarding the mentioned countries?
How exactly do visas work?
Are there any types of vaccinations worthy of consideration, except Hepatitis A & B, typhoid, Japanese encephalitis and of course tetanus? (Dengue fever? Malaria?)
We have been considering buying a smaller tent to bring with us, in case we come across places where we can sleep in that instead of a room. Any thoughts on this?
Any tips on hotels, motels, hostels etc.?
Are there applications for our phones that might come in handy?
Any tips on things to do and things to not do, in countries specifically or just overall?
What are the cheapest ways to travel around? Any decent guides or booking sites or such?
We both carry lenses. For those of you who know, how much of a problem does this constitute considering the fact that we will be spending some time in the wild? (We do have glasses of course)
How much of a problem will it be to not have a driving license?
What are good places to do parachuting and what is the price, approximately, for a tandem jump? (i.e., not with each other but with an ‘instructor’.)

For divers:
What are the best places to dive?
Any tips at all regarding diving?

For mountain hikers:
Any nice mountains (note that we enjoy a challenge, but we can’t climb with ropes and stuff)?
Regions to go hiking?

Any general tips on things to do? Places to go and see?

We hope you guys can help us! If there is something we’ve neglected to include, please let us know and we will update the post.

Regards,
Sebastian and Mattias


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#180347 - 10/22/13 02:30 PM Re: Travelling the World - some tips please! [Re: TheBrothers]
billstephenson Offline
Moderator

Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
Hey Sebastian and Mattias,

Sounds like a great adventure you're planning and I'm sure you'll have a great time at it.

Here, in the US, backpacking is more what you euros might call "Wilderness Camping" (or something like that). We go out into the wilderness areas that are public land and bring all we need in our backpacks. We stay for days, even weeks or months, and ramble around on or off trails. There are no hostels or motels involved, and generally no diving, parachuting, zip lining, or other such attractions or thrills involved.

So, we can help you with gear choices for stuff like tents, backpacks, food, clothes, sleeping bags, etc. Sounds like you'll be using some of the same gear we use and doing some of the same things.

There are several members here who are avid climbers, and probably some that have traveled to some of the places you two want to go. I've been to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Jamaica. If you do any of Central America I'll suggest visiting any of the many pyramids, and in the Yucatan you should certainly visit the Cenotes. I'm not sure if you can dive in them, but I never saw any restrictions posted against it. Some of them I've swam in were over 40 meters deep and you could see to the bottom.

There a small river in Belize you can float on inner tubes that runs through a series of caves. I think you hook-up with the "Jaguar Paw" resort to do that. That's pretty unique no matter where you go, and it's worth the effort. Off the coast of Belize is San Pedro Island. I stayed at Ambergris Caye which is well known for spectacular diving. There's a spot called "The Blue Hole" there that's pretty well known as a great diving spot. I didn't go there, I don't dive, but one of my daughters has been there and she was amazed and impressed. Snorkeling there is great too, and I did a lot of that.

Jamaica was okay, I stayed in Ocho Rios. I don't recommend it though. There are better places to visit in the Caribbean, I just haven't been to any of them yet.

If you ever decide to come to the US and do some american style backpacking let us know. We can put you on to best there is to offer no matter where you go wink
_________________________
--

"You want to go where?"



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#180354 - 10/22/13 04:05 PM Re: Travelling the World - some tips please! [Re: TheBrothers]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
You'll get better answers for most of your questions from a budget travel website like Lonely Planet, although LP isn't as good as it used to be. As stated in the previous post, this site is all about wilderness trekking, the American definition of "backpacking."

Gear related to wilderness trekking we can help with! You might want to read the articles on the home page of this site, left hand column.


Edited by OregonMouse (10/22/13 04:09 PM)
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

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#180590 - 11/08/13 05:37 AM Re: Travelling the World - some tips please! [Re: TheBrothers]
Peter Sump Offline
member

Registered: 11/05/13
Posts: 18
You might try to consider visit at some point in Australia, Having fun in beautiful beaches with big waves ,Fraser Island,National Park and Whitsundays Island too.

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#180816 - 11/17/13 03:23 AM Re: Travelling the World - some tips please! [Re: Peter Sump]
TomD Offline
Moderator

Registered: 10/30/03
Posts: 4963
Loc: Marina del Rey,CA
Start by doing some heavy reading - Insight Guides and Lonely Planet have extensive libraries of travel books. Spend a lot of time online as well. The scope of your questions says, and I could be wrong, but don't think so, that you haven't done much research, which is a big mistake. You need to make a budget based on actual costs, not guesswork or random answers from strangers on the web.

FYI, some of the countries on your list are some of the most dangerous places on the planet for Western travelers. If you've never done any traveling before, and I doubt you have, based on your questions about visas and other basic considerations, I suggest scaling back your trip and going to some friendlier places.


Edited by TomD (11/17/13 03:27 AM)
_________________________
Don't get me started, you know how I get.

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