Hi

I am Ashwin( Ash) and I am a freelance writer based out of India. I am pretty much established in my home country and I pay for my own house, car and all of that nonsense we want to build up during our lives.

However, my heart goes out in search of new exotic lands, people, smells and sights and I very much want to do a RTW trip. I have certain questions for which I never found the answers as yet.

1. I earn about 1500 -- 2000 $ per month from my writing at this point of time and I just need to save about 300 $ for all expenses back at home -- the home and all of that ( think of this as my savings). So, would 1500 to 2000 USD per month be enough to fund my travel across the world?

2. Not many indians venture out on RTW trips -- at least I don't see them doing this much. I mean the hardcore, forever-out-there, on-the-road trips. I am talking about India to Thailand to Vietnam to Europe to .........???? that kind of trip. Most of them do take vacations or move permanently to some other country but not many do the continuous RTW trips. Now, as an Indian, will it be possible for me to apply for a French visa while I am done vagabonding in Thailand at the French Embassy in Thailand?

I will appreciate any kind of help coming my way. Thanks a ton in advance and I must say I am delighted to be a part of a community like this.

Ash

Visas may be tricky. As a USA citizen I often complain about visas, but in reality, if I don't travel to the Middle east or a few other countries, I can pretty much arrive at most places in Europe,Asia, or the Americas. In India, I can get a visa from an embassy anywhere in the world.

Check out the countries you want to visit, and then look on the visa websites. Many may require a visa gotten from your home country, much as US citizens must get theirs from the USA if they want to go to China.

I wish you the best of luck. If you're careful, you'll have a great time!

In terms of visas, you may want to get in touch with Madhu on this site. She has done a lot of travel and I know she holds an Indian passport and didn't always get visas while in India.. she was working on a Lao one when I met up with her in Thailand a few year back....

PhotoChick

Hi People,

Thank you for the help. I appreciate it.

Keeping my fingers crossed as the day to start my journey within India is looming.



Ash

I'll just address your money question -

While there are no guarantees and a lot depends on how you choose to live while on the road, I would say that YES, $1500-$2000 per month would be more than enough to travel on. In almost every place I go I average $1000 or less per month, and even in Europe I only average about $1500 per month. In SE Asia or Central America it is considerably less than that. So even when considering flights and transportation costs, I'd say you can do it pretty easily if you wanted to.

Best of luck!

Hi Bideshi,

Thank you so much for that piece of info. I tend to be ultra-cheap and very below the radar. I think I can live well enough throughout SE Asia, just as you had mentioned. I wasn't sure about the western world. I didn't know if I could live with $1500 in Europe, since I thought that rent or hostel expense for an entire month would be more than 600 Euro per month?

Ash

I traveled for 15 years with my Indian passport (with US residency). Now, I have an American one.

I would recommend that you start in Asia for your trip. Its easier access from India and also visas are easier to get that say starting with a EU one. Many get rejected and loose hope. Build you "visa resume" as I call it.

I got my Thai visa in US and while traveling I got my Cambodia and Lao visa. It was not hard. I just had to wait one day more than others.

I would say go through Asia first, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and then get your Schengen visa..there is no "french" visa. Your schengen visa will allow you to travel in EU countries. Instead of Schengen you could also try first to get to Eastern Europe and then from there Europe.

You can do this if you plan and research a little. Its not that hard with a Indian passport but then its not easy either. I have lived with one for years and I can see the difference now

If you have more questions drop me a line.

-Cheers
Madhu

vapourlock wrote: I wasn't sure about the western world. I didn't know if I could live with $1500 in Europe, since I thought that rent or hostel expense for an entire month would be more than 600 Euro per month?

It depends on where you go in Europe. In some eastern European countries, you can still get dorm beds for around 5€. In Switserland, you'll indeed be paying at least 20€ for the same. And if you want to go somewhere where there are no hostels but only hotels, at least twice as much. Scandinavia may be even more expensive.

But there are alternatives to hostels too. Like couchsurfing. Or camping, but then of course you need to carry a tent, sleeping bag, mattress etc. around.

Seraphim is totally right and maybe I should clarify - I would assume that you would travel a bit in Europe, and hopefully not all in the most expensive countries. Maybe a week in a place like Switzerland and a week in Poland and things would balance out a bit. But if you want to spend all your European time in Western Europe, $1500 would be very difficult. Probably not impossible, but it probably wouldn't be especially enjoyable either. So what I would do is just start out in SE Asia or other less expensive regions and SAVE as much as you can there (without missing out on the fun things of course...) and then you'll hopefully have some extra money for Western Europe. And I would strongly suggest that you balance your time between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, which I find to be just as interesting and amazing as the west...

Best of luck!

@ madhu -- sent you a pm. Thanks for the encouragement

@ Seraphim & Bideshi -- Points duly noted. I had already seen a few places in western europe and I think I will see more of eastern europe now. Also, I won't spend too much time in Scandinavian Countries too.

So anyway, I will need to start out with India and the rest of South East Asia first. YAYAYAYAY -- I am starting tomorrow

Ash

Just to make a correction on a statement above. If you are a US citizen, you don't have to be in the US to get a Chinese visa. They can be obtained very easily and efficiently in Hong Kong which you don't need a visa to go to.