Travelling the world - where, for how long and how much

[stonehairbrush]

I hope it's ok I'm copying and pasting this from chat - this is probably a good place to put it!

I'm just thinking out loud really. DH and I currently hate our jobs and don't have a mortgage or kids (yet). If we want to take time out to travel is now the time to do it? I'd be nervous about blowing what little we have in savings (about £3.5k), nervous about quitting our jobs... Don't know if career breaks are a possibility.

Has anyone ever done this?

How long is a good time to go for? Three months? Six? A year?

Where should we go?!

How much money would we need to get together? We'd need to have a fair bit stashed for rent and bills if we went for a short period (about 3.5k for rent and bills for three months), or at least money to pay phone bills, a loan payment etc)

Where to begin?!

How exciting!

What do you enjoy doing? Where appeals to you? What would you aim to get out of it?

I am having some time out at the moment and doing a fair bit of travelling, but I find continual sightseeing and moving on all the time very exhausting, so I'm doing shortish (2-4 week) trips rather than travelling non-stop. It's more expensive, though.

Could you save like demons for a few months before giving up your jobs to ensure you had enough money?

RTW tickets will probably cost £2.5k at least. Have a think about where you would like to go. Tickets usually mean you have to keep going in the same direction so usually though America towards Australasia, Asia, Europe then uk. Look at hostels for accommodation.

I did it 20 years ago and my year cost me £9k.

I did San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Dubai and the UK. I took internal flights to Fiji and Bali.

I'd either start off with a map and some pins and talk about where you fancy (then go there) or go and have a chat with a RTW specialising travel agent (like STA). Find a good one and take their advice.

I've done it a few times and never regretted a moment of it. Stash furniture and leave the house behind (save the rent to spend on bungee jumping) and make a go of it. If it doesn't work out, you just come back wiser and sleep on someone's floor for a week until you can find a place to live.

If you go during the tax year, you may get a rebate because you won't be earning a full tax year and that's extra money you can claim before you go. Buy a good ruck sack, or a cheap one. I did both, both were fine. Pack your bag then take half out. Take copies of your passport for when you lose them. Take a journal to record the amazing and terrifying things to tell your children about.

I went to SE Asia for 6 months 15 years ago on £1k, we had a brilliant time and forgot to leave Thailand neglecting the rest of SE Asia completely. I came back in the winter, tired but full of energy and my dad whacked up the heating so I wouldn't feel too cold (bless him) then took me out for a Thai meal. It spurred me on to travel further all round Australia, NZ then on through Russia, Mongolia and China.... and you don't need to hear my stories, go an make your own.

I've done quite a lot of this, as a 'gap year' that turned into nearly a decade from my late 30s on. Two aspects; how to pack up your life and how to take a long holiday!

to answer your first question; six months is a good time, we found that was the point at which you stop being able to take in new wonders and get a bit fed up with being on the move. Think about weather where you want to go and don't try to pack too much in! £3.5k is certainly nowhere near enough for six months.

you need to budget for flights, travel insurance, visas, jabs and the living costs while you are away. Lonely planet forums and rough guides will give you approximate daily budgets for places.

prices have rocketed and the poor exchange rates for Brits in places such as Aus and NZ don't help.

if you rent your property, your landlord may not be insured if you leave for a long time. Talk to him/her to work out an idea. If you own it, you have bigger issues - all solvable but needs work.

phone bills? You take a simple unlocked PAYG and use internet cafes for skype. Or maybe a tablet thing which picks up wi-fi and use that.

be aware that it may well change you; for instance, after months living out of one rucksack you won't want tons of clothes again. Going back to 'normal' is very hard afterwards and the trip may change the course of what you do with your life.

just do it. :-)

feel free to ask more.

Oh, how exciting!! Our longest trip was for three months and it was just long enough for us. Maybe if we'd been younger, not been backpacking before and felt we could spend more money we might have wanted to stay longer. We found two months in SE Asia exhausted us, even though we love it there, and we were vv glad to move on to Australasia. Definitely recommend budgeting in a few luxurious hotels along the way if you're not completely hardcore! We also found because we didn't have that much time we ended up doing internal flights more than planned to save time and effort. You will have a ball though no matter how long you go for!

I don't do very long trips but travel in month long blocks - so I can save money in between.

Unless you are planing on working during the holiday (and can get visas, and are sure about being able to find work) your budget is way too low.

Flights: For only four stops you are looking at at least £1500. This may be enough for you but is quite restrictive unless you are going to get trains/buses around continent areas. I'd say you need to budget £2500 each for flights. Check out websites like Skyscanner and play around with different routes - one-way is often expensive, so either book a return for each leg for the date you are coming back (so on your way back you fly E-D-C-B-A) or you can just not use the return leg assuming you've booked all your flights separately - this is against most airlines Ts&Cs though, so it's up to your ethics if you do this or not. I personally don't.

Are you thinking backpacking or hotels? Backpacking can be cheap depending on where you are - even in NYC I only spent £12-15 a night on accommodation but it was in a very rough area and not an experience I'd want to repeat. Parts of Asia are v. cheap for hostel style accommodation. Hotels are going to be much more expensive. I'd budget about £40-£50 a night for chain type hotels - in some places it will be cheaper and in other much more expensive.

Food can be v. cheap in almost all places - in Thailand you can get a decent meal for a few quid from stalls. In more affluent countries such as the USA you can get a 'decent' meal for around £16 or fast-food for normal prices. It helps if you are staying in hostels with cooking facilities then you can buy cheap food and make it yourself.

Make sure you have enough money for what you want to do whilst away and extra for any unforeseen circumstances e.g. paying hospital bills upfront, needing flights home, replacing lost passports.

You will need specialist insurance that will cover you your entire trip (many have 30-90 day limits). You will need money for visas prior to going, as well as money to cover your rent whilst you are gone.

It all adds up and the longer you are going for the more it will cost. I'd say £7k would be a minimum for a hostel type trip.

Do your research and have fun!