7 Month RTW on $10,000...is it possible?

Hey everyone,

I've never really done a RTW although my last trip might qualify as one. It was February until July through India, Sri Lanka, Canada, Italy, Greece and Benin, West Africa.
This December I may have enough cash to do a real RTW! It's not my dream itinerary but I've managed to work out a plan that I'm very happy with! I have to start in the Caribbean (family trip for a week) and end in Benin (I go every year and love it!)
So here's my rough itinerary:

Dec.7-14: Turks & Caicos (or possibly Bahamas)
Dec.14-16: New York City
Dec.17-April 17: South East Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia)
April 18-May 5: Jordan
May 5-May 15: Holland, Belgium, France
May 16-June 29: Benin
June 29: Benin-France
June 30: France to Home!

I found all the flights taxes in for just under $3500. Is that a decent fare? I think so because Benin throws a loop in things... Jordan was a free extended layover from Malaysia and I've always wanted to go there so it worked out perfect!
Budget-wise I am hoping $6500 will be sufficient. I am very good at sticking to a budget most times and can eat at local joints, travel the cheapest way possible and even miss attractions if it costs too much.
Basically the breakdown I have is:
Turks & Caicos: $500 (1 week)
New York City: $200 (2 nights)
South East Asia: $4000 (4 months)
Jordan: $800 (2 weeks)
Holland, Belgium, France: $500 (10 days)
Benin: $500 (2 months)
Little explanation behind the low estimates...
I have a friend in Holland and will couchsurf the other countries.
Benin is free accomodation and food.
New York City I will likely couchsurf as well.
Turks & Caicos, my family is renting a vacation house...divided by 14 or so the price drops considerably!

So really I'm wondering if $4000 is tight for 4 months in S.E.A. and if $800 is tight for Jordan. I'd like to have $1000 buffer but I likely won't have enough time at work to earn it. I also have $6500 on my credit card if need be.

So what do you guys think? Is this trip possible?
Any advice, criticism or general input is appreciated!

Thanks so much!
Ben

Looks not bad, have never been to Benin or Jordan so can't say on that. SE Asia is tight but doable, spent a bit more in Malaysia but that was balanced out by Laos. Would suggest adding Myanmar, as it was great & tied with Laos as being my cheapest countries at $23/day all expenses except the $200+ return flight on Air Asia.

i think the saying goes "pack your bag, get your funds together, then take half the clothes and twice the money."

all of your estimates seem reasonable in theory, but in practice, i feel like your margins will be suuuper thin, and penny pinching will def detract from the experience. i'd try to rack up 15k, if you can.

just my .02

Hey,
Thanks for the replies. Willw9 that is an awesome saying, I've never heard it either! I won't be able to make $15000 if I plan to leave in December. The other option is to go to Turks & Caicos in December for a week and come back and continue working for a bit (month or two). This would drastically take away from my time in SEA though and ultimately I'd probably rearrange my entire trip because of it...i.e. skip SEA altogether and head to Ecuador/Colombia/Panama instead. Which would also mean skipping Jordan...
Lots to consider. Even if I have to pull out the ole' visa during my travels, that wouldn't bother me too much. I'm still leaning towards leaving in December, even if I won't honestly have enough money to rightfully pull a trip like this off.
Still are my estimates somewhat doable? Tight but not impossible?
Thanks everyone and keep 'em coming!

It sounds like you have enough to see a lot of things, but if funds get low, and you have no job to return to, you could always stretch it out by doing some ESL teaching. It won't make you rich, but you can experience life as a working person, which is also valuable.

If transport is not part of your expensing, then it looks doable.

It may be tight, however.

Hey everyone,

Thanks again for the replies. I've considered and would love to teach English abroad but I don't have TEFL or a degree...
I am sort of thinking I don't have enough money afterall. I probably could do the trip but I would definitely not come home with money...I'd be 2 or 3 g's in debt I reckon.
So lastnight I came up with a new plan...not really a RTW at all, just an extension of layovers and cheap tickets.

Dec.7-14: Turks & Caicos
Dec.14-16: New York City
Dec.16-20: Amsterdam & Brussels
Dec.21-Feb.3: Benin
Feb.4-Mar.3: Morocco
Mar.4: Brussels & Croatia
Mar. 11: Amsterdam
Mar. 14: Portland, Maine
Mar. 15: Drive Home

All flights come to $2375 and I have an estimated spending budget of $4200. After working 4 months I'll probably have about $9000 saved so a total of $6375 seems much more realistic.
Seems more do-able. Then I could come home and work to save for my trip to Benin in June, then come home and work again and start saving for my real RTW! Whenever that will be...
Thoughts?

Hi Ben,

What I can say about SE Asia...

I've just returned from a RTW in which I started in SE Asia. Only in those countries you mentioned (Malaysia, Thai, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam) I stayed 4.5 months (from 7/Jul/2010 to 19/Nov/2010), just a bit longer than you are planning, and spent a total of AU$ 3,297 as follow:

Visas: AU$$ 121
Accommodation: AU$ 599
Food + Drink (excluding alcohol): AU$ 687
Alcohol: AU$ 202
Transport: AU$ 618
Attractions: AU$ 912
Connection: AU$ 28
Massages: AU$ 112
Others: AU$ 19

- "Attractions" includes dive, massage and cooking courses, dives, hikings, lots of entrance fees for islands, parks, hot springs, pools, temple, etc, etc
- "Transport" includes all transports plus all motorbike and bike rentals + fuel
- "Connections" is basically SIM cards and mobile credits, if you have your own netbook or iphone etc you can easily get by with free wi-fi without having to pay for internet

Some things to consider:
- most of the time I was in these countries out of the high season, in the high season prices mainly for accommodation should be higher even if you shop around hard
- I ALWAYS shopped around!!!!!
- I ALWAYS bargained!!!!!
- I ALWAYS slept in the cheapest place and ate the cheapest local food
- I just used flights to get IN and OUT SE Asia. Once there I did the whole 4.5 months without any flight

So, considering what you wrote about your travel style not minding to sleep and eat very cheap and even willing to miss some attractions to keep the budget low, YOU CAN DEFINITELY DO IT.

If you need some more detailed info about costs or anything else let me know as I have all detailed.

Good luck with your plans...

Luiz
"Live you dream, don't dream your life"

Ben2Africa wrote:Hey everyone,

Thanks again for the replies. I've considered and would love to teach English abroad but I don't have TEFL or a degree...
I am sort of thinking I don't have enough money afterall. I probably could do the trip but I would definitely not come home with money...I'd be 2 or 3 g's in debt I reckon.
So lastnight I came up with a new plan...not really a RTW at all, just an extension of layovers and cheap tickets.

Dec.7-14: Turks & Caicos
Dec.14-16: New York City
Dec.16-20: Amsterdam & Brussels
Dec.21-Feb.3: Benin
Feb.4-Mar.3: Morocco
Mar.4: Brussels & Croatia
Mar. 11: Amsterdam
Mar. 14: Portland, Maine
Mar. 15: Drive Home

All flights come to $2375 and I have an estimated spending budget of $4200. After working 4 months I'll probably have about $9000 saved so a total of $6375 seems much more realistic.
Seems more do-able. Then I could come home and work to save for my trip to Benin in June, then come home and work again and start saving for my real RTW! Whenever that will be...
Thoughts?

Sounds like a better plan, SE Asia will still be there another day + Bangkok is a good place to take a TEFL course which will run about $1300 US.

Luiz Brito, thanks for the details. I've decided to save S.E.A. for another time when I have more time (and money). As you say busman7, it'll always be there for me later.

I have again changed my itinerary (and will probably do so many times until my tickets are booked!)
But this option is the cheapest and appeals to me more.
I talked my family out of Turks & Caicos...it'd be about $1000 total for a week...a trip I don't care much to take part in...
So here's my new itinerary if anyone is interested.

Dec.13: Home (Saint John, NB)
Dec.14-16: Paris, France
Dec.17-Feb.3: Benin
Feb.4-Mar.29: Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya
Mar.30-Apr.6: Belgium and Holland
Apr.6-Apr.26: Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania
Apr.27: Paris, France
Apr.28: Home (Saint John, NB)

Flights total at $3049 and I'm budgeting $3900:
$300 Paris
$800 Benin
$1800 Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania
$1000 Europe

So grand total racks up to about $7000 giving me an extra $2000 buffer. If I still have enough cash I might try and sneak in Morocco on my way back to Benin...
What do you think? Much more do-able? Is Eastern Europe too low at $1000 CDN for 3 weeks?
Thanks!

Seeing as CA$1000 comes out to under 35 Euro/month, yeah I'm going to vote that it's too little. Eastern Europe is cheaper, but not cheap! At least the Bulkans and Hungary where I have experience, Bosnia and Montenegro should be on the cheaper side (not sure about Albania), but Croatia is rather touristy on the coast so I thought most things cost the same as they would if I was in the US, ie cheaper than Europe but not that cheap. (I'm actually terrible at guessing prices in Hungary despite spending so much time there as I stay w relatives in a small town 90% of the time, ie not Budapest.) You'd be out of season in April though, so the cost would go down further, I was there in the beginning of May.

Oh and go to Bosnia, Sarajevo is the prettiest city in Europe and on your way anyway.

Also, I was just in East Africa a few months ago and I really think you'd have a hard time sticking to that budget- the interior of Africa is this strange beast whereby you'd assume it's cheap as chips, but really isn't. This is due to a double whammy whereby firstly lots of stuff needs to be imported (unlike SE Asia where it's made locally), secondly when you're there you're going to do a few big-ticket items as a matter of course, like go on safari or loosen up in Zanzibar. Further the distances are not small ones as the roads are so awful- Zanzibar to Arusha takes almost 12 hours but US$70 is about what you can expect to pay with the ferry, for example, and even when you get to the hostel in Arusha the cheapest bed was $10-15.

Thinking about it, is South Africa an option at all? Because there's actual infrastructure there so I found it to be cheaper, and neighbors like Zimbabwe these days are even less expensive. Plus you'd be in off season whereas that timeframe is peak season in East Africa, and I don't think you'd have an issue filling the time there either.