BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello all.

I Have decided to go traveling again and i am starting to figure out my budget and plan. I want to leave September of 2010 so i do have plenty of time to plan.
This is the Trip that i have in Mind at the moment and the prices i think i will have to Spend.

China 2mths (Sep/Oct) $30/d
By land trhough Tibet to
Nepal 1mth (Nov) $20/d
by land to
India 2mths (Dec/Jan) $20/d
Fly to Thailand traveling Cambodia, VietNam, Laos back to Thailand 3mths (Feb/March/Apr) $20/d
Fly to
Europe not to sure where. Untill my money runs out $60/d
I am also Budgeting $200 per country for land transportation. (Doing this to help with those unexpected trip costs)

Im think $13,000 at the moment with the fights

Now Question Time
Are my per day prices alright?
How cold will Nepal be in November?
Are my times in each place long enough?
Is $13,000 feesable for this trip?
I also would like to do WWoof volunteering aswell does anyone have any ideas about where?

I would love to here any comments supportive or telling me im crazy.

1. You'll need more money in Nepal if you want to do trekking. I'd budget 80 dollars a day in Europe to be on the safe side. (who knows where the dollar will be. The rest seems right but grossly overbudget. You always need more than you think. Worst thing that happens is you have extra money! (ohh noooo)
2. yes very. You might not get a lot of trekking in, especially towards the end of the month.
3. Seems ok to me but be flexible. Maybe you want to leave one place, or stay in another place longer.
4. Again overbudget. If you think it will cost you 13000, save 15000.
5. Don't know anything about that.

1. They sound alright. I've got to respectfully disagree with 'more to hike in Nepal'. Yes, if you hire a guide and porter you'll need more. But if you have spent time hiking in the woods and climbing around here at home it'll be easy to go on your own, easy. I spent maybe $10/day. Nearly about the same just traveling, maybe $15.

2. It will be cold, there will be snow, you can still hike though, they do have some low areas as well.

3. That's a personal choice, not for me.

4. Yes. Fully. But it could always be more, could be less.

5. There are WWOOFing opportunities nearly everywhere, Europe, for sure.

Have fun!

You can absolutely trek in November! In fact, I'd say it's preferable to September and October - the trails will be less crowded and the monsoon will have had even more time to burn off, which means the skies will tend to be that much clearer.

You just need to accept (and be prepared for) the possibility that you might show up and find your preferred trek is snowed in - or that you'll be on said trek and encounter some snow along the way. Chances are good that both Everest Base Camp and the Annapurna Circuit will still be open in November though. And, even if they're not, Langtang and Helambu undoubtedly will be.

I was in Nepal last December/January to do the Everest Base Camp trek and the weather was beautiful: mid-60's F in KTM, and sunny and mostly in the 50's on the trail - right on up to base camp. It got very cold at night, and on the early morning climb up Kala Patthar, but the days were perfect.

I've also done the Annapurna Circuit in October, and it was maybe 15-20 degrees warmer than that, up until around Manang.

I agree with Matt about the budget: $20 a day won't be enough unless you're going bare bones and carrying all your own stuff. Count on $50-75 if you hire a guide and/or porter through a Nepalese company and do any flying (e.g. KTM to Lukla). If you book through a company back home (totally unnecessary), it'll be even more.

If you do the Annapurna Circuit and take the bus to Besisahar instead of flying to and from Pokhara, you can save yourself a little money.

Have fun!

p.s. Just read Travis's reply. I agree with him too: if you forego the guides and porters, you can do it for $20 a day.

That said, I think hanging out with those guys on the trail and in the teahouses is worth the cost of hiring them. Having someone to carry your gear is just gravy.