BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi everyone,

I'm 16 years old and I'll be graduating from highschool in about a year. When I graduate, I plan on taking a gap year, during which I plan on traveling around the world. The only problem in this is parental consent, which I don't have, so the whole trip is going to be on my own money (making things a bit more difficult). Things I'm lacking now are experience, money, travel partners, and willpower to leave.

What I'd like to get from everyone is some feedback or tips on how to save money (be efficient in spending), stay safe, how to get around cheaply and quickly, and more importantly, where to go.

What I plan on doing is starting out in Europe (around the South), then going down from Spain into North Africa, across to Egypt, North to Turkey, and then from there East to Nepal. Does this sound feasible at all? Any suggestions as to places I should take a detour to see/avoid? I'm going to have about 400 days at my disposal. I can speak Italian fluently, and I have some friends there, so that will help me start off. Big problem is going to be money. I calculated that I'm going to need somewhere between 20 and 40K. (thats spending about 65 USD a day). I don't really knwo what to expect, so maybe i am planning on spending way too much or way too little.

Anywho, my list of 'must see' places:

Italy
Greece
Turkey
Morocco
Egypt
Nepal
India
Jordan
Tunisia

Obviously I'm going to go through other countries, but these are the ones I want to spend a lot of my time in.

Anyway, any feedback would be greatly appreciated (safety tips, destinations, money saving, moving around, places to visit in a country), or even just an opinion on my plan.

My e-mail is holtlorenzo AT yahoo.com; feel free to email me.

Welcome to the travel community! As a young person you may have some more issues to deal with. In the US the legal age of an adult is 18. I don't know if this can be an issue if you're 17 and traveling in Europe... probably not a big deal but you might want to look into it. I recall other high school age travelers asking similar questions on here or on Lonely Planet's RTW forum.

Being young can also make you be/or appear a more easy target for scams. Educate yourself on these forums before you go and talk to travelers along the way. They will be your best source of information.

From your profile it looks like you have traveled and lived in a lot of places so I bet you have a better idea of what to expect and how to handle yourself than a typical high schooler.

As for your route, I don't think it's possible to travel straight across from Morocco to Egypt by land, but I'm not sure. It may be easier with a Singapore passport to get through Libya, check on that. Keep in mind that flights within Africa can be much more expensive than you'd think because there's not so much competition on routes.

From Egypt it would be a nice trip to go by land to Turkey. Work out the Israeli visa issues beforehand. Search on here if you don't know what I'm talking about. So if you start in Italy and head Southwest in a loop you will almost be completing a full circle.

How are you leaving Turkey? Do you plan to fly to India or Nepal? I would probably determine which I go to first based on the weather in the region, assuming you're flying to Singapore from there. I think this is doable in 400 days, assuming you don't linger too long in India (people will insist you have to spend 8 months there but a month or two will give you a good overview).

As for money, it's hard to say. I think your number sounds high because the only real expensive places you'll be are Italy, (France?), Spain and to a lesser degree Israel and Jordan. If you limit your time in Europe your daily expenses will go down a lot, although I would budget a minimum of 15-20k myself.

You got some good advice above so I won't repeat that. I would very seriously look into crossing northern Africa - I know you couldn't do it a few years ago, but things may have changed.

I applaud your bravery and courage - I would have been scared spitless to undertake a journey like that at age 17!! I did my first extended travel when I was 26 - after a couple years in the Peace Corps to build my confidence.

I agree that your dollar figure is probably a bit on the high side, but it will depend on how you want to travel. If you want to stay in nice hotels, you have underestimated. If you're OK with hostels and other cheap places to stay, you've budgeted too much. Just depends on you...

Wow thanks for the great feedback. To adress some of your points:

When I said Morocco - Egypt I meant by sea, but since nancy brings it up travelling across North Africa seems interesting. The only thing I can think of is potential danger. I'm not too sure how safe Libya, Algeria, or Tunisia would be for a 17 year old white boy :P

How am I leaving Turkey. To be honest, I was really considering going by land all the way to Nepal, so I'd get to see Pakistan, Iran and maybe some of Afghanistan, even though I'm sure thats pretty dangerous, especially now.

I'm glad your telling me I won't need that much money, because thats going to be a huge issue. I have about 380 days to raise 8500 USD. So to clarify, I plan on spending as little as possible, living in the cheapest places, and eating the cheapest food. I'll probably blow some money partying in Europe during the early parts of my trip since I'm just a dumb kid and I have quite a few friends there I have to see.

Some other questions I have are concerning Visas and work. For one, how hard to get are visas? Everyone keeps mentioning them and they seem like a real pain. Can you get them on the spot, when your crossing the border? How does the whole visa thing work?

Secondly, since there's no way I'll be able ot have enough money by the time i graduate, I'm going to have to work in Europe and wherever else I go. Highpaying jobs requiring 0 qualifications that you know of? I was thinking oil rig, since that covers food+lodging expenses and pays well.

Anyway, I really appreciate the feedback, I'm going to need a lot of help planning this thing out.

Loz