BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi,

I'm planning to go on a RTW in about 13 to 14 months, with a friend. We have a rough itinairy and about 14 months to travel it, and approx 15000 Euro's to do it with, and I would like to know if this is all realistic. The 15000 is for everything incl flights etc.

I'll be leaving from amsterdam,

Amsterdam -> nairobi, maybe kilimanjaro
-> overland to S Africa, maybe a safari somewhere in between (2 months
->from S africa fly to Sao paolo, def go to the amazone
->overland to quito or Lima, visiting lots of stuff in between (3 months)
-> fly to mexico city, visit one of the piramids
->overland by US westcoast to Vancouver (I have family there this could save us some money)(1-2 months)
->vancouver to Auckland (just travel up and down in NZ, my friend has family there which could save some money)(1 month)
->NZ to sydney
->Australia to bangkok (1 month)
->overland bangkok to Shanghai (3 months)
->transmongolia express shanghai to moscow or st petersburg
->russia overland to the Netherlands. (1 month)

We would also like to do a skydive, bungee jump and maybe some diving along the way somewhere. We're ok with eating and sleeping cheap, but we're wondering if the time and money are realistic for this trip. The times are just a wild guess, and we'd like to be really fluid with this trip but what do you guys think?

Ooh btw, that 15000 per person. So 30k for the 2 of us.

You're probably fine money wise. It is one of the more unusual itineraries I've seen, but doable. What is going to take up most of your funds are some of those expensive flights: Amsterdam to Nairobi, South Africa to Brazil, Vancouver to New Zealand. Depending on your luck on fares, some of those could be really expensive flights.

My first thought is that you haven't budgeted enough time for your overland segments in Africa and South America. I think if you want to overland it in the amount of time you've listed, you're going to end up speeding through some parts and spending a lot of time on buses. Kenya to South Africa is covering a big amount of territory. Are you really interested in all the countries in between, or do you want to go overland here to save on airfare? If you're not that interested in seeing Malawi, or Zambia, or Botswana (though I have a feeling you are -- I would be!), then you might want to hop a flight from Kenya or Tanzania to South Africa. Then you could use the extra time for South America or other parts of your trip.

You said you wanted to be fluid and the time was just a guess. I don't know if you have to be back in your home country after 14 months, or if you can possibly stretch your trip out by several months. If you have the flexibility to make it a longer trip, I think you'll be okay. It's a truism of travel that slower travel is cheaper travel. It's the costs of getting point-to-point that will really eat up your money.

Also, you'll find out that your itinerary changes quite a bit once you're on the road. I left out China and Mongolia entirely on my RTW, though Mongolia was and is one of my dream destinations. When I'd started my trip I fully intended to go to both places. I realized that I just didn't have the time, and instead spent more time in West and East Africa and in India.

The timing of when you will be where is more important than the order.

Going on a safari during the wet season is as bad as being in Mexico City in the Summer.

Ok, so I thought of all the replies, and talked about it with my travel buddy, we changed the plans to spend a few months more in Africa, Asia and South America, and the trip is extended to last 15 months approx. Just wondering though, how the hell do you adapt back to nomal life after 15 months of on the road?

Btw, we've been discussing budgetting and came to this:
africa; 30 USD per day
S America; 30 USD per day
N America; 80 USD per day
NZ & Aussie; 50 USD per day (we will try and get a cheap van through family in NZ this should cut travel and sleeping expenses in NZ)

Asia; 20 USD per day

Do you think these numbers to be reasonable?

While Africa should be cheap, when I priced it I was surprised how expensive some things are, I would bueget more there. (Especially if you are considering Kilimanjaro and such) The rest seems reasonable. You could even get away with $20-25 in S. America in some places. Make sure you also have emergency money in case you need a break from roughing it or need to splurge on an attraction.