BootsnAll Travel Community

I'm getting ready to shell out 5k for Kilimanjaro/safari and another 5k for a RWT plane tickets. So, my budget is up near 25k for a 5 month trip. Is that the cheapest??? I mean...the more I read, the more $$$$ I see I'll need to spend! Like in Australia (spending a month there)...I thought I could hop on and off a regular bus. Now I see I have to buy passes by kilometers?!

And the Europass in Europe because I'm >26 is $1378.00 for 2 months, plus I'd have to buy a European East, and a Chunnel thingy, AND a britrail...holy...I've been VERY stupid! I totally thought it would be cheaper to get around, and that most my budget was mostly going towards food, hostel, and airfare.

In order to cut cost's should I not attempt so many countries in Europe?

After 1 month in Africa, a month in OZ, a month in NZ, 3 weeks in Greece, then on to Rome I was going to travel buy train for a month all through Europe, like 6 countries. Perhaps I should cut that down to 3? Like Spain, portugal, and Switzerland?

Anyone with advice specific for me, I've been reading everything on the board, and I'm begining to get dizzy with info overload, which is reeeeally scaring me.

I'm feeling the FEAR of perhaps I'm taking on to much at one time. I don't want FEAR of the unknown to scare me out of doing this.

I do the same thing. Depending on how many train rides you're planning on taking in Europe and where, you may not need a pass. Paying as you go may be cheaper. Based on the research I've done. Look at the railway websites for the countries your interested in, not the eurail website. That way you'll get the local price.

Also look at the countries you want to visit, some are just more expensive to go to.

Good god. $25k for 5 months? Yes you can do it cheaper. $5k for RTW Tickets? So far I've bought one-way tickets and spent less than $1k for my husband and myself combined (ok, using airmiles some of the way). That's from the US - NZ - AUS - Thailand.

$5k for a safari? That seems crazy to me - I wouldn't do it. Guess it depends on your priorities. I guess the whole thing depends on priorities. How cheap are you willing to go on accomodations, food, etc? Just do more research - it gets less scary. For instance, I first looked for a bus pass in New Zealand, they were like $800 for a month of travel (each). Looking for individual tickets to where we actually are going has dropped that amount to like, under $500 for both of us for the whole six weeks were there.

I think you just have to keep digging to find better deals. That's my 2 cents.

aloha lei

I can only echo what C Girl said above: sometimes the package, all-inclusive-pay-upfront is just not the way to go. It's often true in Hawaii and for Eurorail I hear that warning a LOT. Esp being older than 25, it may be cheaper just to pay as you go... train travel is not TOO expensive in Europe and there are often different rates for the same route depending on if you take the fast vs slow vs overnight train, what type of carriage, what time of day/week you go. Something to consider anyway. Plus what if you found an even cheaper/more convenient airfare? W/Eurail you're locked in to something you may not want or need in the end.

where in the HI state are you? If you're in HNL drop me a line, maybe we can plot our world adventures over a drink?

I agree you could do this cheaper. Look into cheap airlines in Europe such as ryanair and easyjet. They have specials off season that are dirt cheap. Also, perhaps there are buses you could take? Cutting out countries is an option, but perhaps you could just go to less expensive countries.

Bri, thank you for your response. I know..the prices seem NUTS! I guess the Climb up Kilimanjaro w/ an experienced guide and 4 porters per person carrying all the supplies and equipment (that they provide) up the mountain may contribute to the price? Also, because I'm a single traveler I get the pleasure of having to pay the "single" supplement! GRRRR that SUCKS, and that was $520!! And then there's the 10 day safari which again, they provide everything.

I've never climbed >19000 feet, and just want to be sure there are experienced people guiding me, and would recognize if I develope high altitude sickness. I think that could be part of it I guess?

Then I priced just the flight to Africa alone and that would have cost me $1850.00, After adding the other countries the airfare became $4873.00 I wonder if it's higher because I'm single and EVERYTHING is based on double accupiency (sp)?

Then there's the fact that I don't even own a sleeping bag, or jacket, or backpack even. I'm not interested in anything fancy, just enough to get me by. I'm very inexperienced at this stuff so all your advice is great!

C girl and Keppie thank you, I'll do that. Any suggestions on which countries would by beautiful and exciting for less?

Aloha Mina, I was born and Raised in wahiawa, Hawaii "north shore" but, I moved away when I was 26. I come home to visit my family (yep they are all still there, never have, and never will leave the island) once or 2x a yr. Sucks! I totally would have loved to have a drink! I was just home too, 5 months ago! I have to change my location on my profile. I thought it asked me where I was from...from..like born DOH!

Thank you everybody I'll keep digging for cheaper ways to this.

Lei, it sounds like you've bought into the idea that you need to go to a 3 or four star hotel every single night. In that case, yes, it could run to 5 thousand a month. On the other hand, it could be 30 euros or less a night for a hostel.

If you want to lux it out all the way, about 100 dollars or more a day is about right from a tour company.
I suppose it all depends on what kind of style you want to travel in.

I spent about 1200 dollars a month in europe, more or less, probably a tad more. A lot of it was ultra cheap because Alberques for Pelegrinos were cheap or free. I made up for it by eating three course meals in Spanish restaurants.

Lei,

Have a look around for cheap flight offers. I guess you could get much cheaper tickets from LA, NY or Chicago (where are you now? Get a flight/greyhound/train to one of the big airport cities then fly from there).

We paid a lot more flying to Taiwan because we bought a through-ticket from London (with change in Bangkok). Would have been cheaper to fly to Hong Kong and book another ticket rom there.

The boards here are full of threads about RTW flights and Bootsnall also offers a search and booking service.

About Kilimanjaro: I don't think you would need four porters. Plus you could team up with like-minded people. Check out the Kilimanjaro Forum. With regard to safaris, it is also usually possible to join group tours locally and that will be a lot cheaper.

With regards to European rail passes for the over-26s--don't do it. Pay-as-you-go is almost certainly cheaper, except for the UK. To travel to the UK, I advise booking a cheap flight (Ryanair/Easyjet/Air Berlin etc.) which will be considerably cheaper. You can do that from any internet café and two weeks ahead is usually fine for securing a good deal. Even if you book at shorter notice, these flights tend to be cheaper than the train.

There are also international bus connections, but they tend to be exhausting. Saying that, National Express/citylink is a good way to get around the UK.

Yep, some good advice already given lei and really comes down to making the effort to look at options be it cheaper accomodation or transport.

On your flights, it sounds like you are flying US to Africa and then to Oz, NZ and back to Europe with US to Africa already looking like what some RTW tickets cost.
Africa to Oz is not a high volume route and without the competition that brings, yep, costs can again be high and.

You do not mention when all this is to take place, and so have you looked at alternate route structures like flying over to Europe and then from Greece down to Africa and then Australia, New Zealand and home or the reverse and particularly to try and get best weather.
As whale watcher says, using the Boots facility or www.airtreks.com which can be good for coupling together multiple flights.
www.attitudetravel.com covers most budget airlines that the search facilities do not usually include.

This might sound a bit weird, but what the hell if it saves you a couple of thousand dollars - www.oasis-air.com are about to commence London to HongKong flights from HK$1000 (US$125)and have US ones in the pipeline too.
So a flight to Europe, return to Africa and then to HK and less than US$1000 would get you Australia, New Zealand and back to HK or probably for an additional US$200 its an Australia to home via NZ ticket, either way probably about half of what you intend.

As to transport in Australia, there's passes with various regular bus companies and they work on either km. or just getting on/off along various routes, www.greyhound.com.au being the main national coverage company and similar set-up in NZ is www.intercitycoach.co.nz
I reckon for Australia especially with distances involved that you develop a reasonable idea of where you want to go as bus travel can be long and tiresome and there will be some longer trips that flying would be cheaper - www.webjet.com.au for Australian flights.

You really ought to have some idea of detail for each of the countries you want to go to and understand that especially with air travel you will pay more dearly by leaving bookings to a few days or even just one week ahead of when you want to fly.

As Tt suggests, maybe you're considering hotels for accomodation but single rooms in hostels can be had for E30 and they even have girls only dorms in a lot of hostels and along with pretty reasonable quality accomodation you get to meet other travellers and get real time tips on the road.
Look at getting HI/YHA or other hostel type membership for getting discounts with some bookings.

Even taking your Kili 5000 and RTW 5000 out, that means you have got up to about 3000/m and in Australia and NZ half of that would easily do your basics.

For a backpack, have a look at the travel gear section but essentially get down to a travel shop and if they take the trouble to mention you should get a good fitting one, that will be a good start and then check out the different types etc. and once having an idea of what you want, shop around, look for sales, online and even eBay.
A sleeping bag is pretty much superfluous these days unless planning to camp out independently.

So even if it means you go get some interim work for a few months or whatever, I reckon you could save yourself heaps by taking a bit of time and working through your options, get a buddy for Kili etc.
Have a perusal of country guides/posts to help you out with more detail as well as asking.

And you are planning on trying to cover a fair bit of territory in 5 months especially if this your first time out.

If you are under 31, you could always consider getting a Working Holiday Visa for NZ, doing that as a seperate trip to include Australia and then two seperate trips could be less overwhelming.