91 days around the world – dejags and mr dejags are trying to decide and need help

[dejags]

We have been umming and ahrring about this for what seems like forever see our procrastion here

Ok here is the deal. DH (who will contribute to this thread I am sure) and I have got incurable itchy feet. We watched Nappybaglady?s thread with more than a small touch of the green-eyed monster. We want to do the same thing but before making any final decisions and starting the booking process I?d like the input of the www (a totally subjective view provides an excellent sanity check).

At the moment our idea (stress just an idea) is as follows:

1 year from now we will depart South Africa and spend 91 days going round the world with our 2 DS?s (who will then be 5 & 2)

Our preferred route would be:

Cape Town to London
London to New York
New York to San Diego
San Diego ? San Francisco (overland ? we will spend four weeks in an RV touring the west coast of the USA)
San Francisco ? Honolulu
Honolulu ? Tokyo
Tokyo ? Beijing
Beijing ? Singapore
Singapore ? Cape Town

Big factors are :

Weather ? don?t care how hot it is, but hate the cold
Money ? we will only have a budget of around US$200 a day (obviously the round the world tickets will be extra)
Accommodation ? we don?t care how fancy it is but it must be clean with our own bathroom

So for those of you who know these areas, or have any advice or criticism in general , we would be most appreciative
TIA
dejags & mr dejags

that would be procrastination ..

Budget sounds pretty good as well as the itinerary.
Do you travel a lot?
My only advice (as someone who is on the move constantly) would be to think about leaving it for a year. They're bloody hard work at 2...

if i buy a fairly large hold-all, do you think that i could hide in it and come with you??

can I come in your suit case

Sounds fab.

thanks Moondog.

unfortunately we can't leave it another year because DS1 will be in proper school by 2007 - so it's next year or never.

glad you think the budget is ok - it's our biggest worry.

we have travelled extensively but with one child only...

To add to moondogs comment about age, another factor is that at 3yrs old they're more likely to remember stuff later on that they've done, whereas 2 they'll remember little bits but not really that much.

For example DS2 (now nearly 5) still goes on about lots of things we did while on holiday when he was 3yrs old (riding donkeys, playing on the beach and other stuff we only did on that holiday.

The holiday he went on when he was 2 he's never mentioned anything about.

ooops x posts with your comment about starting school in 2007

I would love to do this too. 91 days -that would be August/September/ October 2006 then? Singapore will be hot, either hot and dry or hot and wet, any time of year! I have stayed in Beijing in October, it can be pretty cold. It is a long time since I stayed in Singapore - I paid $5 for a dorm room, but that was in single/backpacker days. There are some decent cheap hotels in Chinatown in Singapore - about $30 per room.

Oh,you'll be fine!
If we allwaited until things wsre ideal,nothing would get done would it?
Just keep luggage to absolute minimum.Dh and I are very proud of the month we spent in Singapore,Malaysia and Thailand with one backpack for the three of us.

Great advice - Gingerbear, how cold was Beijing in October.

On the packing front, how on earth did you manage with one backpack Moondog? Was your DD in nappies? DS2 will hopefully be out of nappies in the day so that should be a great help.

Dd was 14 mths so still in nappies. We had reusables (the occasional disposable). We had about 3/4 outfits each,books,toiletries and a guide book. The clothes were passable as weren't on a shoestring-stayed in a mixture from posh hotles to basic government guesthouses.
Of course,the fact that we were in warm places helped,but I'd rather forgo the fancy gear in order to feel free,which is after all the whole point of travelling it seems.

aboslutely agree Moondog.

My only major worry is carseats. It's really important to me. Obviously on buses etc I will have to forgo them.

If I remember from my previous thread I shouldn't have a problem hiring one in Malaysia/Singapore.

We have a ultra lightweight buggy.

Keep those thoughts coming

How brave! I would love to do that. I did travel a lot pre-children but my itchy feet haven't been cured! My only comment would be to perhaps have longer in SE Asia....Malaysia (great for kids and cheep and very easy) or Thailand (the same). China is fantasic (I went in January and it was freezing) but expensive compared to SE Asia same with Japan.

I am SOOOOO envious!

It was late Oct / early November - it was clear, sunny, but cold - about 5 degrees C, but in early October it is 12 - 15 degrees C. Lovely Autumnal weather, but winter sets in very quickly. Best time for Great Wall etc - the huge crowds tend to be there in the summer (hot and humid by all accounts)

Yes,carseats really worried me too.
Still do,especially every time we have a hair raising taxi ride through Istanbul, which we do often as now live in Turkey.

Malaysia really is fantastic (and I speak as someone who spent their entire childhood in the pacific.)If I were you,I'd do less time in the States and more there. Why Honolulu? I've heard it's no great shakes.

Honolulu is just one of those added bonuses - I haven't got a real interest in going. We aren't likely to be in this neck of the woods for a long time so thought we'd chuck it in. It also breaks an ultra long-haul from Southern California to Japan. We have been to Thailand and spent a fair amount of time there so would prefer to spend more time in Malaysia - certainly a possibility to cut down by a week in the US and add a week in Malaysia.

Oh Gingerbear 5c - that makes me verrrrry . I really loathe cold weather and by SA standards, that is extremely cold. Will have to run this past DH and see what he says.

thanks all

However, a less crowded Great Wall is a big draw. I have heard that this is a real issue and can really ruin the experience.

We can't buy our RTW tickets in SA as they are too expensive - has anybody got any suggestions re. a good travel agent/website in the UK?

Haveyou thought about starting your trip from Frankfurt?

I'm not sure if it still holds true, but it used to be far cheaper to skip Heathrow if you can avoid it and route via Frankfurt instead.

moondog that is exactly how we intend to do our 66 days around Eastern Europe in just under 2 wks - one pack three of us. dd still in nappies. The nappies will be in one of those little gym bags tied to the outside of the pack though.
Try calling flight centre dejags - we have found lachlan good he is just on the phone number on the website - should be able to give you some info and we have communicated by email with him which could be good for you from SA.
PS: 4wks seems like quite a lot to travel from San Fran to San Diego.

thanks SueW, will do.

Chuffed, brilliant. Will give that a bash - we are intending to spend four weeks in the RV but will do a lot of moving around the western side of the US. San Diego and San Fran are just our entry exit points for flying in and out. Good Luck for your trip. Will you be keeping us updated during the trip?

If you do get to Malaysia I highly recommend the east coast, less toursity than say Penag.

will try to keep everyone updated.
I was going to say I did a roadtrip for 3wks at 16yrs down West Coast from Oregon to San Diego. Highlights were Yosemite, white water rafting in Oregon (pretty mild but beautiful weather), disneyland etc in LA. We stayed at a lighthouse Youth Hostel outside of SanFran which was pretty cool, had sealions in the bay just below the lighthouse.
In Honolulu I would try to get out of the main part maybe go up north. In NY and Honolulu $200 a day might be tight but it should balance out a bit with some of the other places.

Dejags - sounds fab, only advice would be to go to somewhere like Maui rather than Honolulu when in Hawaii - much less tacky and you will get good value for your money away from the more touristy places. I would say Maui or the Big Island would be best with small children.

dejags rubs hands together in glee..

I daren't get too excited, as it's a long way off and still a dream.

From what I am hearing, perhaps we should just skip Hawaii and go straight onto China/Japan.

I have just calculated the miles and it comes to 28669 miles GULP!