BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello, just laying out this hypothetical scenario for fun, and to give us all some new ideas/places to ponder through our responses.

You have $20,000. Where are you going, what are you doing there? How long could you make that $ last?

$20,000 huh? I suppose I would load all four of us on our bikes and take off again. That amount would last about a year if we stayed away from hotels and camped out. So - when are you handing it out???

If I had $20K, I would do probably the opposite of a lot a people and rather than go to SE Asia or South America and see how long it could last me, I would probably go blow it all in six months in one of the more expensive areas of the world. I'm thinking six months in Europe, Australia, or Japan, or some combination thereof. That would give me a little more wiggle room to do some fun, more expensive activities that I wouldn't normally do on a backpacker's budget, and maybe would allow me to stay a couple of nights in a nice hotel.

Then again, I'm not really someone who has any desire to be gone for more than six months at a time. If I was someone who wanted to travel continuously for as long as possible, I'd go to SE Asia or Central/South America and settle down in a city or town for awhile, rent an apartment, maybe get a job there if I could find something, and then move on when I got bored.

Ok. heres the list.

10 days in Bhutan 2000 dollars entry fee.
Galapagos islands, 2000 dollars for the best boat trips
Antartica ship 2000 plus
Africa, plains africa tour with white photo hunter 2000

Now I've spent 10,000 dollars on utterly luxurious things, the rest will last me a year in CA or SEA.

Las Vegas... 5 minutes.

I think I'd fly to Jordan and then overland it from there all over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and eventually Asia. Just keep going until the money was running out. I'd definitely want to make it to Romania, Tanzania, central Asia in general, Mongolia, Nepal, and Cambodia; the rest of the trip would be filled in as I went. When that leg of the journey was over, I'd hop a flight back to the States, get a motorcycle, and do the Great American Roadtrip: Destination Utah's incredible national parks.

20K can last a long time, if one lives frugally, lives like a native and travels slow. We are a family of three and we traveled all over Europe, plus Morocco and Turkey for 25K and we were living quite large with splurges on fancy hotels sometimes, eating out some and a winter in a beautiful 4 bedroom village house in Spain with spectacular ocean views.

We plan to continue to see the whole world on that approximate yearly budget on our multi-year trip around the world. 20K could last a looooong time for someone who wanted that and did there homework.

Looks like a nice trip you have laid out.

This question always gets me thinking...I know I have $20K right now in assets I could sell.

So what am I still doing here when the whole world is out there?

Waiting for my time to go to India I guess. Find a small village to rent an apartment in, become part of the town, find a way to volunteer, teach, or whatever. Come back when the money runs out and see what the world has been up to since then.

I vote with Europe. I could make that last 6 months on $100 a day, maybe a little longer.

Sadly, Europe has all been cut out of my RTW that starts next September. Even with 18 months to save, I just won't hit the budget I need to do it.

You have $20,000.
Where are you going? A) The bank
what are you doing there? Convincing the bank that the 20 gees is from 5 different people so I dont pay tax on it
How long could you make that $ last? a month
what am I doing with it? adding it to our travel fund for the Galapagos islands and flying 6 friends to join us in the caribbean for a month

20K i'm paying for half a year of law school...jk

20k i'd probably go to eastern europe and some of the less expensive european countries (i'd shoot for 15-20 countries)to see parts of europe I've never been too...do that in 2 to 3 months maybe a little less..go to antartica for sure and south america to complete my quest of conquering all continents...i'd probably go through south america for 2 months, up through central america, into mexico and back home....

probably looking at 5-6K in flights...the rest on traveling...

I reckon that 15K could last me a while, maybe i come back with a little extra maybe i splurge...if i could go 2 months in africa i'd do that also...

This pretty much is my scenario. I had stock in my company and another company bought us. I get a quarterly check now on top of my salary, and while a good amount of the money is being set aside for an eventual down payment on a home, 20k of is it is for a big trip for my fiance and I. The one down side is I have a while before it completely vests and I can't leave my company it does.

We are doing 3 months (x2 people). 2 months are being spent in Southeast asia and the other month is being spent in australia, NZ, and the cook islands. (I've already been to australia for 4 months so we're just stopping in Perth - which was missed previously). Also, we picked southeast asia b/c it was pretty much the one area of the world neither of us had spent time in yet - not neccessarily b/c it is the backpackers mecca.

Well I'm planning on using much more than that. So I guess if I had to limit myself to $20k I would have to stay as long as possible in a place like Thailand.

Well, assuming this is after my current trip, I'd love to take 6 months to a year and travel overland all throughout Africa. I imagine this could go towards a big chunk of that!

Maybe end with a month or two relaxing in Europe

It all depends on where you go and how you travel. You could make $20k last you nearly 2 years in Central America eating out all the time and staying in cheap hotels. With my 20k, right now I'm going to get to do at minimum a year's worth of traveling... maybe more. So far, I've gone to spain for archaeological dig (5 weeks), Central America (with spanish lessons) for 2 months, and now i'm in eastern europe heading to Central Asia (with russian lessons) for about 6 months. I should still have plenty of dough for more travels when that is done... not sure yet where I'm going - maybe Russia. maybe India. (both!) :-) My situation is a little different and I'm spending more money by flying home to visit my boyfriend in between each leg.

If it was a magical 20k that just landed in my lap, i'd probably use it for some things that normally I couldn't do. Going to Antartica would be pretty close to the top of that list. The other thing I would do is use it to lauch a travel microfinance foundation of sorts. I'd also try to travel real slow and really enjoy myself in certain areas.

If I had to work for it (like now) then yeah, i'd be dragging it out as long as possible. Staying in the cheapest areas the longest and going on a gorilla trek.

I have 20 grand, but its my life savings. So Id probably spend 10-12 grand. Can we have a 10 grand thread? LOL I do NOT want return to the US broke.