If you could go anywhere, where would you go? (Major first world problem alert)

[downcasteyes]

In about 2 years' time, DH and I (40s, no kids) have the opportunity to travel the world for 13 months. We can go literally anywhere. The only limit is money - we will probably have around £25k to spend. Neither of us is particularly a devotee of first class and 5* travel (though obviously those things are nice)- we are happy to fly economy and stay in more basic places if need be. For practical reasons, we are probably looking at several separate trips rather than one continuous one.

However, the options and choice are so vast that we are struggling to come up with any concrete plans! I find myself staring at the map, thinking I just want to see everything and being totally unsure where to staty. We both love historic sites, beautiful architecture and nature. I would appreciate advice from the well-travelled about how to start planning this!

I could possibly help out with a charity I am involved with in Uganda too, which I think would be really rewarding. It's great to hear from someone who has been there and enjoyed it.

I am a bit worried because I wouldn't consider myself a great, experienced traveller. Don't get me wrong, I really love it, but life just hasn't handed me much of an opportunity to do any of it! I have always booked my own trips abroad but with the exception of Japan and China, they have tended to be to places that were pretty easy in Europe or the US. I worry about truly ridiculous things like whether I'll be a victim of crime or get stuck in a situation and not be able to find my way out. (I was the victim of a very minor kidnapping when I was younger, and I think this has stayed with me as a fear, even though it is crazy silly). Whenever I have actually been away, however, I've had an amazing time! I just need to be more intrepid!

Off he tourist route China would be good. They have become westernised relatively recently - in the countryside no one will speak any English so you might need someone with you. Though cleanliness eg toilets can be a bit dire.
Harbin in the north has an annual ice festival. Food is v wierd - interesting though. Also delicious in the biggest cities. Also many cities are huge and roads poor. Tourist spots are v busy. Or plan a trip on the Silk Road which ends in China assuming the other countries are safe to visit.

Personally I'd do central and south America.

Downcasteyes
I love all things Japan we have go every other year now (can’t afford to go every year) I would live there if I could!

What a wonderful situation to be in! I don’t know if this helps or not & it’s just from my own experience but if it was me I’d do 2/3 separate trips. Like many others I’m sure commenting on Longhaul I used to backpack in my late teens & twenties for long periods. After a month or so, you can develop a bit of a malaise & there is only so many extraordinary temples, old cities & busy street markets you can see before they blur a bit into one and you don’t really appreciate what’s in front of your eyes as you’re comparing it to the most spectacular one on your trip. I think the volunteering option is a brilliant idea. With £25k you are going to have to be careful - if it was me I’d go for South East Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) using trains as much as possible & volunteering at an animal sanctuary. Then a separate interrailing trip around Europe using a mix of Airbnb and hostels. I’ve not been to Uganda since I was small - it sounds great but not sure from a safety point of view that East Africa is a completely safe place to be a budget traveller. If you’re going to go there (I’d suggest Uganda/Kenya/Tanzania/Zanzibar) then from a comfort and safety point of view I’d imagine it would be pricey (not that I’ve looked!)

Buy a round the world ticket and head left. 12 months fly as often as you need as long as you keep going left.

Would work my way through Asia then to Pacific and finish in Oz or Nz

Or the one thing I’d love to do put would take lots of planning is to buy a big 4x4 and the drive to Cape Town over several months.

If you like history and architecture, go to Ethiopia. A lot of historic churches including Lalibela, some museums, very interesting place. Lovely food, calm and gentle people.

Patagonia, heading north then to Peru and Bolivia, out to the Galápagos Islands, well for one leg...

Travel republic are very good for bookings, you can still book online through them but there's real people of bookings need to be altered, we had an airline go bust and they were brilliant

I would include Australia for one of trips for the wildlife and due to distance - often you don't get a long enough period off to travel there. At different times of year it varies where best to see - I would also price everything out for all trips in advance and see if can get round world tickets. With BA when we did Australia multi flight was a lot cheaper, second flight was almost free though really don't know how that business model works

I would recommend Great Barrier Reef (Cairns is good destination to fly to though other options) and around there also loads of wildlife - we saw tree kangaroos, pademelon, possum, bettong, kangaroos, cassowary, wallabies, platypus around Atherton Tablelands in wild and crocs in Daintree Rainforest. Magnetic Island is worth visiting for wild koalas and rock wallabies - we didn't make it but want to one day. We did East Coast to get there but just Sydney Blue Mountains Port Stephens (accommodation there very cheap Treescape Deluxe apartment £40 per night and lovely - everywhere else £100 a night or special ones £200 a night for 4 of us).

Would also consider around Cape Town and South America though not sure on how much everything would cost altogether. The Tripadviser forums for each country usually have locals on who can advise when going down to detail.

"After a month or so, you can develop a bit of a malaise & there is only so many extraordinary temples, old cities & busy street markets you can see before they blur a bit into one and you don’t really appreciate what’s in front of your eyes"

I think this is really useful advice. I've sometimes experienced it when I've been looking at huge amounts of art every single day - I think they call it 'Stendhal syndrome', after the French writer who experienced symptoms amounting to vertigo and nausea on being overwhelmed in Italy. I can see how this would be a danger. I think one of the things about writing is that it's quite an isolated thing to do - you are very much wrestling with your demons while you work, and I am not a particularly confident person so my demons are big and hairy. I don't want to put myself in a position where I'm constantly disoriented (culturally and geographically) on top of dealing with that, which may mean smaller trips work better??

I love the idea of 'just keeping left'!! In many ways, it's so simple!

So central/southern America and south east Asia are emerging as places people have really enjoyed. This is useful! Ethiopia is a country I am ashamed to say I know almost nothing about - I will check it out.

Japan was the most different place I have ever been Northern. It was wonderful, but I was never sure that I was actually grasping what was going on in any situation, and I am sure I did things that were inadvertently ill-mannered and rude by Japanese standards, simply because I didn't understand the rules (I did have a friend who used to live there brief me on some of them beforehand - e.g. taking business cards with two hands, the etiquette of the lowness of bows etc His advice was "Don't worry - you'll be a weird foreigner even if you get it all right!" ).

you could go right as well, as long as you keep going in the same direction

i know exactly what you mean about large national art museums & get similarly overwhelmed! If you’re interested in Ethiopia, Romesh Ranganathan has been there recently - think it was on the BBC. I’ve always liked the idea of going - I did a course on travel writing at University & this is a great book -www.amazon.com/Ethiopia-Mule-Dervla-Murphy/dp/0719565111

a totally different option is maybe is to volunteer with VSO or similar

Totally understand re Stendhal syndrome! Agree Ethiopia is amazing. The Balkans/Ukraine/the Caucasus are on my list, as well as South America.

I'd actually suggest you rent an apartment somewhere really cool for a couple of months (Vancouver?) and do 2-3 days a week work plus day/shorter trips. Getting in a routine with your favourite cafe etc is actually really nice and will reduce turnout and exhaustion.

Did you watch Race Across the World? If not I really recommend it, it's still on Iplayer. I found it so inspirational to watch and it really opened my eyes to travelling the lesser-known path. South East Asia in particular looked incredible, but also Eastern Europe and China which I wouldn't have contemplated visiting until that programme.

Burnout not turnout!

I know you said short trips but I would do one long trip if I were you and travel overland. You could try to get from the UK to Australia that way? Or from Cairo to Cape Town?

SE Asia is really easy - Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia are easy to combine - cheap flights with Viet Jet or Air Asia and good value accommodation. Some of my favourites - Hue, Hoi An, Siem Reap, Luang Prabang. Vietnam is visa free for UK citizens for stays of up to 15 days which also saves some cash.
China is an amazing country - highlights for me - Guilin, Chengdu, Xi'an, Tibet, Jiuzhaigou and inner Mongolia - train travel is easy with some fabulous high speed trains.

Another vote for not doing the standard Oz/NZ with Far East/USA stopovers

Instead ,if it were me, I've always dreamed of doing Africa from top to toe. Dependent on current FCO advice, obvs, I'd love to visit/revisit:

• Morocco (Fez, Marrakesh, Essaouira)
• Eritrea ( suspect this isn't safe these days )
• Lebanon (again not sure what current advice is )
• Egypt ( Alexandria, Aswan as have done Cairo and Luxor a lot )
• Namibia
• Botswana
• Madagascar
• South Africa

Not sure I'd go back to Zanzibar, amazing as it was. Drooling just thinking about it

I'd do Australia/NZ because despite the fact it's on every backpacker's list it really is fab. Piggybacking off another poster's idea I'd maybe stop over in HK for a week on the way, do some Oz/NZ (and don't skip NZ) and then settle somewhere for a couple of months. For me that would be Melbourne without a shadow of a doubt but that's just me. Do some writing, see what it's like actually living there etc, then come back via somewhere else, Korea? Or maybe West Coast US. Work for a bit then go somewhere a bit less Western once you've realised how fab it was (don't mean to be patronising at all, sorry, it's just you said you're not the most experienced traveller so maybe somewhere easy first would be good).

I actually would spend ages in Europe on a road trip but I totally get why you might want to go further afield.

The poster who mentioned Race Around The World gave good advice, I thought the programme was really interesting and I'd maybe look at Central Asia off the back of it.

I don't think 25k will cover 13 months of travelling so you might have to prioritise.

Just wanted to say thank you for the book recommendations. I'm now the proud owner of Lonely Planet's The World and Travelist books. They are proving to be surprisingly helpful in starting to develop a plan!

I'm going to check out Race Across the World too!

DH and I are discussing the options when it comes to travel. He's of a mind that a number of shorter trips would work better. There's a lot riding on our writing in this year, and he thinks we will get more done if we work in hard, sharp bursts and then have time away. I do feel in my gut that he's probably right, unfortunately, but I'm also disappointed at the idea of losing the opportunity to travel for a longer time.

Hope you find a medium solution that suits you both! If you want to add to the book list, I’m currently reading ‘Around the world in 80 trains’ by Monisha Rajesh which could also help with the inspiration!