BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello, my name is Chris and I am a student very keen to have a gap year. However, I am very ignorant of key R.T.W travelling techniques so i have some questions:

Would you recommend booking on the internet a couple of months in advance particular events eg. touring Grand Canyon?

I have also read people suggest pre-booking a hostel room for their first night in a new city. However, I plan to do a lot of travelling and will not be staying in any one city for long so does that mean i should pre-book lots of hostels in many different countries? I fear this would not enable me to be flexible with my time. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

i haven't gone on any RTW trips, but if you're not going to be staying in any city for that long, i think your best bet would be to just rearrange everything beforehand, or at least keep a list of several different hostels in each city. then, when you arrive, you can make some calls/trips and see which ones are open. booking your accommodations ahead of time does tie you down, but at least it guarantees that you won't have to rush around the first day you arrive trying to find affordable accommodations, if any. but if it's during the slow months, i wouldn't realy worry about it and probably just look up one or two hotels/hostels a day or two before i leave for that city. hope this helped.

are you planning on going around the US? i'm sure you'll be able to find a lot of members here willing to help you out at least with advice on places to stay in their city.

Thanks for the advice. I plan to travel from London to New York in July and then overland to San Francisco before flying to Cairns, Sydney (where i plan to work for 3 months) and then to Shanghai and overland to Delhi.

Hey Chris,
If your going to be in Arizona, for a visit to the Grand Canyon, you will not have to book your tour in advance. A lot of little town's around the Grand Canyon will try to sell you tours from their information booths. These are usually cheaper, as well they are more flexible.
Hope this helps.
-Jeff