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

Svalbard and the Artic or Antartica

Some sour miserable fuckers on here.
Enjoy your holiday OP.

I love Asia. Vietnam is my favourite place. You could do Vietnam Laos Burma or something like that. Fly out via Malaysia and back via Hong Kong

I'd travel Asia, I got back from Japan yesterday and would love to go back there, visit China for a few days, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia. And if I had time I'd go to more countries in the area.

I managed to get flights with Air China to Japan for £400, wasn't the most comfortable of flights but if you are on a budget it may be a good option :)

I would fly to Moscow, spend a few days there then take the Trans Siberian express, stopping off at various points (including Mongolia) and ending up in Beijing. I’d spend a bit of time in Beijing then head south and explore a bit of Vietnam, Cambodia etc until my time ran out/I ran out of money.

Could you do the motorhome thing in Hawaii? Accommodation and car hire in one bill!

South east Asia, definitely - you will live like kings on that!! We spent about £6k on 4 months "flashpacking" i.e. staying in both $10 a night huts and a few top luxury hotels. Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam all do-able and easy to travel round. Amazing food, beaches, history, people, culture. Anywhere more westernised and I fear you'd be watching the pennies. Sounds like you deserve a great holiday! Do it!

I'd either go from one side of the US to the other in a camper van, or the same through Australia. Sounds amazing, one of my biggest regrets is not travelling before we had our DC.

Seeing as you are planning on going in the autumn, either:

1. Seeing all the amazing autumn scenery in New England, followed by a few days in NY/Washington (if you haven't visited before), road trip down to Florida and finish up with a week or two in Cuba/other Caribbean island for some scuba.

1. A 4 week road trip around New Zealand followed by a week on a beach somewhere in Malaysia on the way home.

1. Travelling around South America. I do think that you could afford a week in the Galapagos on your budget, too - if you book your boat trip quite 'last-minute' you can get big savings.

I've spent time on Bora Bora, and agree that while it has some of the most stunning scenery I've ever experienced, it is very expensive and unless all you wanted to do was lie on a beach, you would be ready to go after a week or two.

Oh, scrap that, massive long railway journey would be even better for the travel+accommodation-in-one thing. All life is on trains, too!

I would agree with Thai;and, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. I might also add in Myanmar into the mix - always regret not going.

I'd also consider Southern Africa, so SA, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique.
USA sounds great but your money would go further in SE Asia and Africa.
A trip up the east coast of Oz might also be fun.
I'm quite envious, it sounds like a fab opportunity.

Galapagos!

Gosh some really nasty jealous people on here.
I don't have this sort of money but the OP has explained she's saved for years and gone without luxuries.

I think my dream would be America somewhere around New England, Salom, I love the history.

Good luck to you OP, hope you have a wonderful time, I'm very happy for you, even though we'll never get anywhere near this for ourselves

Ignore the woe is me pity partiers. I have no suggestions that haven't been made but have a great time and well done.

We looked at Hawaii for honeymoon - decided against it as for the money we could go somewhere different and do/have more for our money. So we decided states then Caribbean.

Seychelles! 7k-8k would take u very far! U could island hop and not even spend half as much!

Or Mauritius!

I'd do Costa Rica - lots to see and do and the prices there are good.

You have £220 per day for your five week trip, divided by 2 is £110.

Just saying.

Didn't get B at GCSE Maths for nothing

I did 3 weeks in South America - Peru Macchu Picchu Andes, then Ecuador inc Galapagos and then Amazon for less than £5k and that included internal flights, transfers, hotels, food etc. It can be done!

Hawaii is lovely but i would combine it with somewhere else in the US. We did San Francisco

Very jealous OP - what a wonderful problem to have! Off the top of my head I think hiring a Winnebago (sp?) and doing an American road trip would be in order....

Whatever you do, have a lovely time!

Ignore the misery miesters OP. The 3 trips DH and i dream about when we are older and sans dc are:

*A cruise round Europe, railing, boat hopping about etc. Entering Venice by boat. Galleries. Food.
*Fly to Vancouver and drive or train (Amtrak i think) down the cost to San Fransisco, stopping at Seattle and various places. You can even Cruise it but i think it stops mid October for the Winter.
*Cruise round the fjords, Norway and Iceland. Northern lights.

We had quite a few holidays in our pre-kids days although I don't think I can say I've properly 'travelled' in the true sense of the word. My holiday of a lifetime was to Kenya, cost us £8k for ten days about 17 years ago, knowing we'd not do anything like that till after our (then only dreamt about) kids would be grown up and we would likely be retired.
I'd love to go back and do another (age-appropriate) safari with the kids, sadly many parts of the world aren't as safe for travelling as they once were. But if I was looking at holidays of lifetime I'd be looking at Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, depending on the current FCO travel advice and then relaxing in some of the beach/island areas. Best of luck in whatever you decide. Enjoy your holiday, you have worked hard and saved for it.

I was in Hawaii (on Oahu) for 6 months. It's expensive but well worth it. You would need at least 3 weeks to make the most of it. Do not go during the rainy season. Don't expect Hawaii-50 when you get to Waikiki. There is a ghetto side to it with some hookers, gangs, pimps... but it's an excellent base from which to get around the rest of Oahu. I felt perfectly safe there. The hookers were really nice and used to make sure we were safe if it was late. The pimps and gangs kept to themselves. North Shore is pretty cool for a few days stay from Waikiki.

Oooh im not well travelled so dont know any of the places you have mentioned but if i were to have a holiday after years of studying etc i would pick somewhere were you didnt have to cut back on anything.

So the one were you say you would have to cook your own food etc would be out for me. The whole point in going on holiday is doing no washing, ironing, cooking or cleaning!

I recommend travelling around Borneo and mainland Malaysia. Beautiful, hot, costs to get there but even the loveliest hotels are relatively cheap once you're there. KL is prices, but you'd only want to spend a few days there at the beginning and end anyway. Lots of little islands to explore off Kota Kinabalu, a mountain to climb, and.... Orangutangs!!!