Itinerary and Budget advice needed

Ok so the last few months i have posted a few newbie questions, gotten some helpful replies and did a lot of soul searching and decision making and below is what i come up with. a few changes in my work situation due to having to take some unwanted time off work for some serious dental work have hindered my savings and as such i wont be able to go away with as much as originally intended. That and i don't really want to work any longer, I need to get away from here ASAP.

So i have 20,00 AUD (12000GBP) saved so far and about 5000 AUD in benefits to be paid on termination of employment.

My itinerary below reflects the 10k change in funds available as was the plan at the beginning of the year to have 30k saved for a RTW trip of about 800 days. I'm now thinking that i will only have enough for about 12mths ( maybe 13-14mths) available.

Heres my Itinerary and pre departure budgeting

Starting in Sydney January 29th 2011 fly to Cairo, Egypt - £600 ( AU$1100)

Egypt 6 week(s) £600 ( AU$1100)
Jordan 2 week(s) £300 (AU$550)
Syria 2 week(s) £300 (AU$550)
Turkey 4 week(s)£500 (AU$450)
Greece 1 week(s) £200 (AU$450)
Italy 1 week(s) £200 (AU$450)
Spain 2 week(s) £400 (AU$700)

Fly from Madrid to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - £600 ( AU$1100)

Argentina 3 week(s) £400 (AU$700)
Bolivia 3 week(s) £300 (AU$550)
Brazil 3 week(s) £500 (AU$450)
Chile 3 week(s) £500 (AU$450)
Ecuador 4 week(s) £500 (AU$450)
Peru 4 week(s) £500 (AU$900)
Colombia 2 week(s) £250 (AU$450)
Mexico 4 week(s) £600 ( AU$1100)

Fly from Mexico City to Tokyo, Japan - £850 ( AU$1400)

Japan 2 week(s) £600 ( AU$1100)
China (Mainland) 3 week(s) £400 (AU$700)
China (East Coast Cities and Hong Kong) 2 week(s) £400 (AU$700)
Cambodia 3 week(s) £350 (AU$550)
Laos 3 week(s) £350 (AU$550)
Vietnam 4 week(s) £500 (AU$900)
Thailand 6 week(s) £800 (AU$1400)
Malaysia 3 week(s) £400 (AU$700)
Indonesia 6 week(s) £800 (AU$1400)

Fly from Bali back to Sydney Australia to finish my RTW - £250 (AU$450)

Trip Length - 76 Weeks - 532 days

Cost of Flights - £2400 AU$4050 ( will be paid out of my termination and tax return allowances )
Pre departure Costs ( Vacs /Insurance / Gear ) - £600 (AU$1200) ( already paid for )
On the Road Costs - £10650 (AU$18500 )

Both the cost of flights and pre departure costs are not reflected in my day to day budget of around £12000 (AU$2000)

Overall i think it averages out at AU$40 per day if am to visit all the places listed over the time frame given, obviously this is open to change, i could spend more time in one place and less in another ect

I'm also thinking of dropping the Japan, Colombia, Greece, Italy and Spain Sections altogether, i don't want to but it would free up around 8 weeks and about AU$2500 giving me a bit more leeway on the overall budget, Alternatively i could spend 3 months in the UK working and maybe pay for 2-3 months gallivanting around Europe but its not an idea i want to play with at this time with the economy the way it is, probably gonna be to hard to find a job to be honest and would hate to suck dry my funds on a no goer

So what do you guys think? budget and time frames about right? anything please. whether it be something i have missed, not taken into account, ideally i want to book my tickets the end of next week once the dentist give me the all clear, so glad it happened now and not in the middle of my trip. I'm a little disappointed i had to drop the majority of the European and African parts of my Trip and a good 10 months but i think it will give me something to save for when i get back from this trip.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

I think you're in the right ballpark, but you'll have to forgive me as I'm just converting in my head from AUD to USD. All rtws are made up of a compromise between time and funds and what you want to see, which it sounds like you realize.

One thing I'm not fully clear on is your priorities here- you sound like you want to travel for a lot longer, so if you were under budget at the end of the trip would you travel longer? In which case I will strongly recommend something I'd say anyway, which is do NOT buy your flights now! I can't think of any reason to buy them all except peace of mind and have that money already spent as most prices I found were pretty comparable while traveling to rtw ticket ones when you're flexible, which you will be. Plus the awesomeness of just hanging out and moving along as you please can't be overstated.

Besides that, the way it stands right now I really think you just oughta skip Europe. 1 week each in Greece and Italy?! Even picking one of those countries for two weeks wouldn't let you scratch the surface (I was sad to leave Italy after 3 weeks and missed out on LOADS, a week in Greece would only be enough for maybe one island and Athens), and just seriously isn't worth it for the time you're talking about. Not what you want to hear I know, but picking one country would also cut down on prices due to traveling around a fair bit (and if ancient ruins are your thing you'll be seeing way better Greek ones in Turkey anyway).

Another idea if you want to see if you can last longer on your budget is switch the order around first- SE Asia first, then South America, then Middle East and Europe. Money just plain goes longer in cheaper countries and you can be surprised how quickly you spend it in the last two (due to expense+ tours), so it's usually a better way to organize the budget. Plus if you do it in a "I'm going to spend x amount in South East Asia" sort of way and don't have your flights in advance I think you have enough wiggle room planned in that you may be going longer!

Ok hope that helps!

I'll just cover the countries I know, and go from there. In general, I think your budget figures tend to the optimistic side. The averages seem workable, but a lot of the details aren't adding up to me. This could just be typo issues, though...I notice the GBP/AUD exchange rates are extremely inconsistent (£500 is AU$450 in Ecuador, AU$900 in Peru), and I'm not sure which number you're actually using in your official budget. So if my commentary is based on a wrong number, feel free to disregard.

Others may disagree, but if it were my trip, I would rather travel less and have more budget flexibility.

Ozzie Traveller wrote:Egypt 6 week(s) £600 ( AU$1100)
Jordan 2 week(s) £300 (AU$550)
Syria 2 week(s) £300 (AU$550)
Turkey 4 week(s)£500 (AU$450)

When I did a multi-month trip, this was the focus. Time-wise, I think you're good for the total amount, but I would shift time, I'd say 2-3 weeks, away from Egypt and add it to any of the other 3. I won't go into the nitty-gritty (it can be found elsewhere on this site), but I didn't much enjoy Egypt, and loved the other countries I visited in the region. Probably more to Turkey, a bit to Jordan, and only add more to Syria if you want to spend one of your days at the police station to register your visa for a stay longer than 2 weeks...easy to do, and probably worth it, but it is an extra chore.

The budget for Egypt is, I think very ambitious. Egypt is a pretty price-flexible country, so I think you might be able to pull it off if you're a very good bargainer, have an ISIC card (real or not), and do everything yourself. Egypt isn't an easy country to travel in, so I think the value added by a backpacker tour (someone in Cairo arranges for accommodation, sightseeing and transportation) is worthwhile, but it does restrict your options, and may or may not inflate prices (depends on your bargaining ability.)

For Syria, it looks pretty workable, and is quite close to what I spent there. Syria's very pleasant to visit, and is certainly easy on the wallet.

Jordan and Turkey...these budgets I'm not convinced can be pulled off. These are not world's cheapest countries, and $27.50 per day in Turkey will almost certainly not work. $35/day for Jordan is a little closer, but I still think very challenging to hit. I'd suggest at least doubling your Turkey budget, and an extra $5-$10 per day in Jordan would go a long way.

Greece 1 week(s) £200 (AU$450)
Italy 1 week(s) £200 (AU$450)

As others have said, this is very short time for these countries. Also, being Eurozone countries, I think your budget might leave you having to decide between eating a third meal, sleeping somewhere indoors (ie, not a park bench), or actually seeing something with an admission fee. It doesn't look like fun to me.

Ecuador 4 week(s) £500 (AU$450)

Wow. 4 weeks on about US$400? Ecuador's fairly cheap - you can probably find a room for $15-$20 most places, 1/2 that if a shared room is available - an option in bigger cities and popular destinations, but not everywhere. 3 course meals cost about $2 each, and transportation is also quite cheap. But $14/day just won't do. Double that would probably work for the mainland.

Also, what do you want to see in Ecuador. While the Andes and the Amazon are fantastic and worth seeing, the main attraction - with good reason - is the Galapagos. And a trip there would probably add about $1500 to your budget, ($650 for flight and entrance fee, $750 for a cruise). The week I spent in the Galapagos was probably my most expensive travel week ever, but IMHO, worth every penny.

That's it for things that line up with my personal experience. I hope that was helpful.

Andromeda wrote:
One thing I'm not fully clear on is your priorities here- you sound like you want to travel for a lot longer, so if you were under budget at the end of the trip would you travel longer? In which case I will strongly recommend something I'd say anyway, which is do NOT buy your flights now!

Yeah i do want to travel longer the original plan was just shy of 2 years but due to unforeseen dental emergency my funds where slashed close to the tune of $10k as to your question yes i would travel longer if the funds permitted. Also i must have implied i was buying all my flights up front which isn't the case. the only flight i will be purchasing in the next few weeks is my outbound Sydney to Cairo flight, what i meant by my comment more was that the flights costs have been put away into separate account and not included in the $20k budget

Besides that, the way it stands right now I really think you just oughta skip Europe. 1 week each in Greece and Italy?! Even picking one of those countries for two weeks wouldn't let you scratch the surface (I was sad to leave Italy after 3 weeks and missed out on LOADS, a week in Greece would only be enough for maybe one island and Athens), and just seriously isn't worth it for the time you're talking about. Not what you want to hear I know, but picking one country would also cut down on prices due to traveling around a fair bit (and if ancient ruins are your thing you'll be seeing way better Greek ones in Turkey anyway).

Yeah that's what i was thinking. cut out the whole Greece/Italy/Spain/Colombia/Japan 8 weeks, save the money to add to the other sections of the trip that i may have under budgeted, i do want to travel a lot more and skipping these sections will give me something to save for when i get back
If i where to drop those countries how how much would you budget 20KAUD into the 3 remaining segments of the trip planned, my original budget allowed me close to 45kAUD which i think would have been enough for 2 years traveling and maybe 7 continents if done slowly and roughing it.
Do you think it may be better if i drop the Middle east portion of the trip and add it to the next trip as part of the European segment, save that money and do more of South / Central America and SEA???

Another idea if you want to see if you can last longer on your budget is switch the order around first- SE Asia first, then South America, then Middle East and Europe. Money just plain goes longer in cheaper countries and you can be surprised how quickly you spend it in the last two (due to expense+ tours), so it's usually a better way to organize the budget. Plus if you do it in a "I'm going to spend x amount in South East Asia" sort of way and don't have your flights in advance I think you have enough wiggle room planned in that you may be going longer!

I had thought of this in planning, i was thinking of just picking 2 regions say SEA and SA and doing Europe / Middle East and Africa in a follow up trip. The biggest issue i have had is cutting countries, after working with a budget over 2 times my current one its been hard to adjust and after doing all the initial research on the above itinerary i thought my dollar would stretch a lot further. hmmm this gives me alot more to think about.

I think your budget figures tend to the optimistic side. The averages seem workable, but a lot of the details aren't adding up to me. This could just be typo issues, though...I notice the GBP/AUD exchange rates are extremely inconsistent (£500 is AU$450 in Ecuador, AU$900 in Peru)

Yep that was a typo i don't know how i missed that in proof reading, haha.

Others may disagree, but if it were my trip, I would rather travel less and have more budget flexibility

In a lot of the countries listed the total of weeks could be a little out, The amount of dollars posted is what i would ideally want to outlay for each country and is a rough guideline of my budget the weeks can be adjusted up or down or as you suggested "shift time, I'd say 2-3 weeks, away from Egypt and add it to any of the other 3" I think when posting the weeks and budgets i was being a little ambitious and instead of being realistic it was more this is how much time i "WANT" to spend here not "HOW" long is this going to last me here. Overall the trip length as posted is around 72 weeks, if i drop the 8 weeks mentioned above and drop a few weeks here and there to even it out closer to 52 weeks in total, i think the budgets quoted will be more realistic and in line with your advice.

I think if i follow any of that then the other glaring budget issues such as the one you pointed out with Ecuador and Peru will fall into line with being able to add a few dollars more to their budgets and maybe a week or so less across the board.

The other idea may be (1) just to pick one or the other. do SA only and add some CA to it for 12 mths or just do SEA adding maybe a few more countries to it over 12 mths 0r (2) cut back from 6 months in SA/ SEA and just do 2mths Middle East / 4mths SA / 4mths SEA


What do you think?

My advice would be to pick a region. I'd probably pick one based on the season of when you are planning to start your trip. And then travel around the region until you are ready to move on. Also, recognize that the AUD fluctuates quite a bit in the current state of the world markets so expect your costs could easily go up/down 20% or more. When you tire of a region move on to the next one and when you start running out of money fly home. And while travelling don't skimp out on doing things you really want to do, because you'll just regret it later.

Do you think it may be better if i drop the Middle east portion of the trip and add it to the next trip as part of the European segment, save that money and do more of South / Central America and SEA???

Haha well I'm really not in a position to qualify- if traveling for the longest time possible is your main priority then sure, do so, but no one travels like that exclusively. So I guess what I'm trying to say is you seem to be interested in the Middle East, so you have to balance that interest with the realities of your budget and no one here can really do so.

Honestly I'd probably just do what halfnine said, place a priority on picking a region and hanging out there until I was bored and move on. Adventures aren't half as fun when you're always obsessed with a schedule and budget, and I've always felt that my "slush funds" got well spent even if I wasn't 100% certain where I'd be spending them!

There is one more thing I'll add. I'd arrange the dates of your trip so as to maximize your tax breaks. And for that, you'll likely want to ensure that between 7/1 and 6/30 (the Australian tax year) that you earn at least 6000 AUD. Simply because you won't pay any Income tax on that money. At a minimum (15% tax bracket), this will net you 900 AUD extra than you would likely otherwise ever see.