AIBU to ask where you would go for 5 weeks, with £7750.

[Dontforgetyourtowel]

NC as very outing! I will soon finish a 9 year long stint of work and study, and to celebrate my freedom (i.e. not having to study evenings and weekends ever again), my DH and I have decided to go somewhere, anywhere, for a period of 5 weeks, in autumn 2018 (we're in the UK).

We have been thinking Hawaii, 'do' all 4 of the main islands. He's quite set on it but I'm being indecisive..! My main worry (not really an appropriate word but ykwim) is that our budget is 'only' around £7500. This would need to include everything (flights, car hire, food etc.) for the both of us (no DC).

I did the maths and I know that we can go to Hawaii on that but we'd have to be very careful (airbnbs, cook our own food, only pick a couple of big budget adventures, and spend the rest of our time hiking and snorkelling). Imo we might be better off going to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Things are so cheap out there that we'd never really feel we'd have to budget all the time.

Where I really want to go is Galapagos or Bora Bora but I know that the budget most definitely won't stretch to that!

So I wanted to ask, if you had 5 weeks and £7750, where would you go? Inspire me! We love adventure, diving, sun, good food, nature and meeting people!

This isn't a stealth boast, we've pretty much been looking forward to this and saving for it for a good few years, scrimping and saving on everything else

What does the biscuit reference mean? I am an elderly (45😆) technophobe lol....
And well done for nine years hard work and saving for your holiday of a lifetime don'tforgetyourtowel where ever you go I hope you have a wonderful time

liminality at least you can afford a car.... lots of people can't. I couldn't afford to run one for a while and spent 4 hours commuting via public transport a few years back and some people have to choose between feeding their kids or heating.
Also people slate me for taking my child on holiday to places like disneyland several times. I argue that I don't go out, smoke,drink,eat takeaway or have sky tv and my tv takes half an hour to get a picture I am only getting internet put on so my son can do his homework but does any of that matter compared to making memories with a child and we all make choices and sacrifices ...

OldUggBoot
I loved The Cooks and agree, it's a great place to start.
We got married on Rarotonga, then travelled to Atiu and Aitutaki.
I'd love to go back.

On second thoughts, if you won’t get that amount of time off again, the Australia / New Zealand ideas sound best.

New Zealand! It really is a beautiful country with something for everyone. We were there for 5 weeks and travelled both islands in a camper staying at a different place most nights so time scale wise it was long enough (would have loved to stay longer!)

Where ever you decide have an amazing time!

I agree with the above posters new zealand and Australia never thought about the 5 weeks off in one go and work....

Return flights to Nairobi with Emirates via Dubai (between £500 & £600) A couple of nights in Dubai. Spend three nights in Nairobi. Get bus to Mombasa (12 hrs) then Tuk Tuk to Diani Beach. You could go by taxi but not only is this the cheapest, it's also a bloody good laugh. Stay at Stilts in Diani, either in a tree house or a cottage (very cheap) and just fantastic(google it). Spend a few nights here getting pissed on Tusker at Forty Thieves bar (again, google it).

Get the bus to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (12 hrs) spend a couple of days here. Get the ferry to Stone Town on Zanzibar Island. Two or three nights exploring here. Travel to the far north of the island to Nungwi (paradise) and spend a week or so here. Again, chill and have a few drinks at Cholos bar.

Travel back to Dar Es Salaam, get the train from here (Tazara) to Kapiri Mpmoshi in Zambia ( 2000km, two nights on the train) between £40 and & £50 for first class (google Seat 61). From here, get the bus to Lusaka, spend some time here. Then, get the bus to Livingstone and a taxi to the Victoria Falls and do a trip on the Zambezi, be warned, if you go in November it may have dried up. Get a cheap flight back to Nairobi and then back home.

Ahh all those lovely ideas! And thank you too for the detailed itineraries :D

I've talked with DH and we have started to veer towards southeast Asia, as looks like we could get a lot more bang for our buck there and not worry about going over budget. Sounds it ticks all the boxes too: jungle, beaches, diving, trekking, culture, gorgeous food...

Decisions decisions decisions!

i arranged my honeymoon through trailfinders, I had no idea where to go but I had a budget and I wanted a bit of adventure mixed with luxury. They suggested where to go and planned my travel and activities all the way.

Fly to Seattle and camper van to LA! Fabulous experience! and as cheap or as expensive as you want to make it.

Wise choice! You could fly into Bangkok and back from Singapore (or vice versa) and easily covers lots in between. I'd especially recommend Chiangmai, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng for tubing, Siam Reap and Ko Samet (my fave Thai island) while you're "up north", and Ao Nang, Langkawi, the Cameron Highlands and Singapore further south. I think you'll come back with change too. I'm so envious!!!

SE Asia is fab but check the monsoons. All of western Thailand (so, many of the best beaches and diving) is very wet in autumn, I have a feeling southern Vietnam is too, don't know about Cambodia and Laos.

Indonesia is another great option. Bali, Lombok, Java. Some amazing diving options. Easy hop to Borneo for wonderful orangutans and landscapes.

Sounds amazing. Check out www.hurtigruten.co.uk/ they have some amazing once in a lifetime kind of trips - no affiliation with them but ordered all of the brochures as want to do a Norway trip at some point.

I also LOVE the idea of a American road trip but can't really face going to that country at the moment so I'd look to Canada.

Depending on how much you want to rough it you could do luxe in Asia easily on that budget or a more longer trip somewhere more western prices staying in lower cost venues.

Keep us posted on what you decide!

Personally I’d just fly one way to SE Asia and plan as you go! Internal Flights are sooooooo cheap (£30-40 ew) and can be booked on the day of travel. you can learn where the best places are by chatting to other travellers. Have a rough idea of where you want to do in your trip, but generally play it by ear...... much more fun!

I would go for 3-4 weeks rather than 5, and go exactly where I want to go to with the hotels/adventures I want. You may want to consider that if you think the budget is too less.

Can't believe people have been rude on here! The op has saved hard for a long time and been working day and night for 9 years....sounds like a brilliant opportunity.
South East Asia is utterly incredible - Thailand, Vietnam, Laos all amazing. Or if I had the time and money I would also love to road trip the USA

Hawaii is amazing OP, i've done the 4 main islands over 2 holidays, i think it can be done cheap-ish, but you'd certainly want a car as there is so much to explore and that can start to eat up spending money. To really make the most of it helicopter and boat trips are amazing, but will of course eat into your budget a lot.
In June we did a 3 week road trip, LA to Seattle, that was amazing, i think you could keep that cheap, we did Yosemite, San Fran, Redwood, Crater Lake, Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier, finished in Seattle for the last night, there were other places but so many i've forgotten a few. Buying groceries isn't massively expensive and plenty of cheaper accommodation, after all you don't spend that much time there.
A friend did a similar trip to what your thinking and has the best time, it really depends what you want to do on those holidays, the US one was a LOT of driving, thought you would have longer at least.
If set on Hawaii could you not just pick 2 islands for now and really enjoy those, save the other 2 for another big trip?
Whatever you do i'm sure you'll have a great time

New Zealand would be amazing for 5 weeks, we did 3 and it was no where near enough, we hired a car and stayed in hotels/motels, was pretty expensive but a friend did an RV trip and that cost more than ours as so many people want RV's i think companies cash in on it a bit, if your going in our autumn though it might not be too bad. It's an amazing country and highly recommend it, same for Canada, the Rockies are breathtaking

Galápagos Islands for me

Galapagos costs an absolute bomb doesn't it? OP would run out of budget very quickly.

Can't believe people have been rude on here!

How are you enjoying your first day in AIBU?

Haven't finished reading the full thread, apologies if doubling up...

You don't necessarily need to use up your 7.5K

We've just confirmed a house swap in SE Asia and are working on a couple more. Found dirt cheap flights by keeping a close eye on hacktheflight.net

Going for minimum 3 months (working remote with a couple of proper weeks off).

Overall it will cost less than staying at home as the lower cost of living pays for the flights, visas and sightseeing.

Have a wonderful time.

Definitely SE Asia! If you were only able to take a week or two and were planning your holiday of a lifetime I'd say yeah maybe Australia, US, Safari etc. With £7,000 and five weeks you could see loads of SE Asia and travel very comfortably. Probably not enough for 5* resorts all the way but you can find really nice boutique hotels for a very reasonable price.

I'd do Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam then end it on a beach in Thailand. Your money will go incredibly far there and you won't have to make any sacrifices in terms of choosing a nice hotel over an activity.
Good for you for saving up and treating yourself after working so hard. Ignore the negative comments.

i know it wouldn't be the cheapest but id want to do Europe.even camping through it.france.italy.switzerland trip.
could you do bar work along the way
or would you do anything like asking people once you ge tthere if yo could work to earn you meals,bed,keep.it might keep cost a bit lower.
if you look on some travel sites there are host houses all over the world aswell.and people that give tours etc.
sites like this
www.homestay.com/vietnam/ho-chi-minh

Bad lad haha I'm an old hand, however I am recently finding some of the responses on Aibu threads astonishingly rude. The op made it clear she had saved hard, it's so not biscuit worthy!