Ok, now that I have your attention! My boyfriend and I are planning on traveling for about one year. I posted a previous discussion about the best cities in Asia, all of which we are taking into consideration. Thank you so much for your suggestions! We hope to leave at the end of December 2009 and return in December of 2010, however neither one of us has any serious obligation to come home too, so that isn't set in stone... We should have about $20,000 US for the two of us (not including fights or any things we need to purchase pre liftoff).

The "itinerary" will go as follows (maybe, unless I change it for the umpteenth time (many cities not listed yet)

NY to Bangkok (End of Dec.)
~Laos (for a day or two)
~Thai Islands (Jan.)
Ko Pha-Ngan for New Year's Eve and Ko Tao, Ko Samui (don't know which order yet)
~Phuket, Thailand (Jan.)
Ko Phi Phi, Krabi, Ko Lanta, Ko Tarutao National Park
(Boat, Bus, or Train?)
Bangkok to Singapore Malaysia (Jan./Feb.)
~Kuala Lumpur
Satun, Pulau Langkawi, Georgetown, Butterworth, Koto Bharu, Pulau Perhentian, Mersing, Pulau Tioman (Places we might want to check out on the way to Singapore)
Singapore to Jakarta Indonesia (Feb.) -How should we get from Jakarta to Bali?
Bali to Tokyo (March)
~Have no idea what we are going to do for that month in Japan
Tokyo to Hong Kong -How should we get from Japan to China? (April)
-Not sure yet what we're going to do in China
Hong Kong to Nepal (April) -How should we get form China into Nepal?
Nepal to India (May) - What part of India is okay weather-wise in May?
-Some sort of train travel around India
India to Ireland (End of May)
-use eurail pass to get around Europe
Ireland (June) , Amsterdam (July), France (August), Italy (Sept.), Greece (Oct.)
-we want travel the coast, pretty much going along the Mediterranean
(Nov./Dec.)- open to whatever place we want to go back to or a new place that has been recommended

I know this is a bit all over the place, what do you think? I've lived in Europe so at this point I'm more curious about advice for the Asia portion of my trip, thanks for anything you've got!
Ali and Will

Hi
do note that that the east coast of Malaysia gets quite a lot of rain Nov-Feb(NE Monsoon), so you might want to take that into consideration when making your way from Kota Baru down to Singapore.

Have a good trip.

I would say you do not have any where near enough funds for this.

I agree. We are in Asia now and have been on the road for about 8 months. You have a budget of $54 a day for two people? Nice livin' here in SEA, but tough surviving in Japan or Europe.

What do you think about dropping the more expensive countries? Or, shortening the trip to 6 months or so? It's still a long time. I never thought we'd experience travel burnout, but I'm feeling it creep in a bit now.

6 months with twice the daily budget would be much more fun than squeezing pennies and not doing anything.

You have a lot to look forward to that is for sure:-) I have been to placea like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand etc etc. Check out the trip reports on my homepage and I think you will get an idea of what to expect :-)

You don't have enoug money. Get a working holiday visa for Australia, it should only be 200 dollars. Book a two month stop in Australia during the middle of your trip and work a little. This should give you enough funding for a couple more months.

Yep, I tend to agree. You said that money doesn't include airfare, but what about eurail passes for instance? You could have a grand + each in eurail passes easy.

20,000 would be more than ehough for a year in Asia for two people, but Europe for 4 months... Maybe, but difficult. I did the europe backpacking thing in 2003, when the USD was not so terribly weak, and I managed to live for just over 1000 for 5 weeks, but that was not including eurail pass, and I ate bread and butter every day for breakfast lunch and dinner.

I suppose if you've lived in europe you might know something I don't though!

looks like an amazing trip!

Purchase the round the world flight ticket to cover your main flights this will cost less than buying as you go. The only thing is you need to know the dates when you book but some companies are flexibly and allow you to change the dates on route, shop around for the best price.
India will be hot in most cities in May, the climate changes from north to south so you need to look into this. We spent 4 weeks travelling by train in India and it is an experience. Do not book 3rd class none aircon it's not good. You think you have booked a seat and because of a back hander to the ticket collector you'll find you are sharing a 3 seater bench with 5 people. Only book air conditioned carriages. Delhi is a nightmare to get off at, passengers who have not booked seats run to catch the train before it stops, jump on and prevent people getting off my wheeled suitcase came in very useful when we arrived and I can tell you I can push like the rest now. Corruption is rife, watch your valuables like a hawk.
We stayed at the world Inn in Bangkok, stay near the sky train, it's good for getting around, taxis are cheap but make sure you agree a price before getting in. Watch out for your valuables our friend lost his wallet and we had to fund him untill we got home. Spread money around don't keep it all in one place, use money belts. Copy driving license pass ports and take additional pass port photographs with you for visas. Check out our website for the countries we travelled to. www.getjealous.com/trio
Best of luck
Jean

Ali and Will,

No offense but that sounds like a horrible trip. Too many places, not enough time, and although I'm a budget traveler professional that is just not enough money for your itinerary. Period. Laos (for a day or two) what is that, it's a $30 visa, not to mention the transportation. The only way from China into Nepal is across a pass and nearly always on a tour that'll cost up to $500 each, but that was 4 years ago and china is always changing but I haven't heard anything different yet. Japan for a month will completely destroy your budget. Plus that is just so fast, all you'll be doing is 'traveling' the whole time and you'll most likely get burnt out fast.

I don't mean to be a bummer, just being honest and trying to be nice about it.

Sorry