Hello everyone, I've been planning this trip since the beginning of the year and ever so slowly it's becoming more solidified. As of now I plan on leaving in October 2006 for a year of round-the-world travel. I cobbled together a nice little spreadsheet so I can get a handle on sort of budget I'd be looking at, so without further ado, here it is:

html:
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~lh359198/RTW.htm

excel:
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~lh359198/RTW.xls

Everything should be linked so changing one figure changes them all. I had a much more detailed per-day budget but I upped everything to at least $30 a day to be safe. It did push my grand total a bit higher than I would like though. I'd really like to travel for a year on around $15,000, will this be possible? Do you travel experts see any problems with either my budget or destinations? (Note: the duration per city is not set in stone in the slightest, I don't plan to micromanage so strictly. That's what the 90 days unplanned time are for at the bottom ) Some locations are meant as hubs too, for example I plan to visit Angkor Wat and Laos while I'm in the area as well. I'd don't mind staying in the cheapest places and eating the cheapest food at all. But will this budget leave enough for some random excursions or beers with locals and travel buddies?

As for airfare, I'm planning to purchase the oneworld explorer 3 continent economy (LONE3) as my main method of transport. It seems like a great deal, what's the consensus on this deal?

The medical section refers to the travel insurance I plan to buy as well as any vaccinations.

Thanks for any advice, it's all appreciated!

Well I cant critique cuz i havent been away yet... still in the planning stages at the mo.. so on that note i just wanted to say a huge thanks for the excel sheet! it's brilliant and will be much more useful and more readable than my scribbled notes (crossed out, written in again, changed so crossed out again etc etc) in my notebook!

Have a great trip!! SOOOO jealous you're off in October... i have another 5 months or so to wait... although its well needed with the amount of planning I still have to do!

Well Laopooh, since you are asking for a critique, I have one question for you: Are you sure you want to go to all of those places? And why? One thing about RTW travel is that opportunities come up to go to places (sometimes with great people you meet) that you never expected. It is a shame to pass up those opportunities for the sake of stubbornly sticking to a pre-conceived plan. I know this, because I have made that same mistake. Traveling is about freedom and following your intuition. At what other times in life do you get a chance to do that?

The links are not working for me.

quote:

Originally posted by JustLookin:
The links are not working for me.

Me either

Sorry about the links, it appears that my usually reliable old uni hosting is down. Anyone have any quick/free hosting alternatives?

edit: They appear to be working again. Hooray!

quote:

Originally posted by scoots:
Well Laopooh, since you are asking for a critique, I have one question for you: Are you sure you want to go to all of those places? And why? One thing about RTW travel is that opportunities come up to go to places (sometimes with great people you meet) that you never expected. It is a shame to pass up those opportunities for the sake of stubbornly sticking to a pre-conceived plan. I know this, because I have made that same mistake. Traveling is about freedom and following your intuition. At what other times in life do you get a chance to do that?

I'm not exactly sure, I suppose I won't know whether or not I like a place until I actually get there. My more basic plan goes like SE Asia => India => Eastern Europe => South America. I just broke it down into more detail to be of use for budgeting, and planning airfare/travel route. Of course on the road I don't plan to be adverse to changing my itinerary.

Hi,
I don't know, I'm so confused with my own plan I can't comment on anyone elses, but it seems like a lot of stuff to see in a year.... but I've never done a RTW so I'm not sure. The appeal of RTW tickets is that you DO get more mileage for your money, and you can alter travel dates (for a fee) with some companies. I was originally gonna go to NZ to chill/walk/work outdoors for a year, but then for £300-£500 more I can go to loads of other places as well. I'm just not sure WHERE... I give up my flat at the start of October so I have to get my arse in gear, I haven't booked anything yet, just done a lot of thinking and research and going round in circles. I'm kind of panicking now....

The shortlist of ideas is NZ; Peru-Chile(couple of months ish)-NZ-(few months)-maybe Thailand or Vietnam??? The two major things putting me off this idea is (in order of importance)... I'm really scared of getting the jabs and the after effects of them and the malaria tablets etc. I only ever take paracetamol once a year or something. The second thing is my practically non-existant Spanish.Maybe (and I never thought I would say this) I should see the US, you know bus travel across and stuff. No jabs needed for that, I don't think. Maybe Mexico. Oh, there's the Spanish thing again.

I guess like Scoots said earlier, I have to think about WHY I'm travelling. I don't really know why anymore. I thought it would be good to have an adventure, check out new places and different landscapes, walk a lot, try out some stuff like canoeing, climbing etc, connect with people...I feel so despondent at the minute, maybe I should just stay at home coz its all too much hassle... Oh, except that would mean moving in with my Mum, DOH!

If anyone has any suggestions about what I should do with my life, it'd be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

qwertygirl X

Oh Laopooh, the spreadsheet is cool, cheers for sharing. I just need something to put in it.

hey there-
I do those numbers include the airticket/transportation prices in between destinations?

Some of those cites it will be on the bubble if you can keep under your budget, particularly if you want to do things, not only to be there (eg StPetersburg, Singapore). Activities with the "foreigner prices" can suck up a lot more money than just hanging around. For example Taj in Agra (if I remember correctly) 750 Rupees (v. the 20 for locals), if you would check out every single peace of the garden/palace complex at Starey Petergoff it is $75 v. the about 15 for locals. BTW, let me mention that Agra is one of the most annoying places for tourists, as 180 degrees different from Darjeeling in the same country.

Nevertheless you should be about right with your money. You have a good number of inexpensive places on the list. I think in 1 year our cheapest day was one in Peru, in the middle of the Andees. $10 for the two of us, incl. lodging, bust tickets and food.

Have a great trip!

Thanks for the reply D-Evil. The budget doesn't really include ground transportation money. But at the bottom you'll see I have $3000 set aside for airtravel.

So far, it's really just a rough budget. I'm hoping that I'll be able to spend under budget in some places (SE Asia, S America) to save some extra money for excursions, treks, or other bonus activities.

I'd also like some advice as to where to start my trip. If I leave in November would it be best to start in China like I have mapped out so far? That might put me in India in March and April, would that be a big problem? If instead I start in April '07, where would be the best place to start from, considering weather? I don't mind a little heat but I don't want it to interfere with daily activities.

the only word of advice I have for you is try to plan so much. You clearly have the ability to budget, but your initery looks a little too fixed. You will likey want to stay in certain places longer then you expect and maybe not as long in other places.

In some of those places in Asia you wont really need as much as $30 a day. You would be living fairly high class on a budget like that.

Are you buying a RTW ticket or purchasing your flights along the way? I would recommend NOT buying a RTW ticket. Its too restrictive...but thats just my opinion

$30 a day may be too much for Asia, but in Europe it won't get you far.

To followup on what rmeg said. $30 a day in europe these days is wishful thinking with the euro as strong as it is. I would reevaluate Austria and Greece in particular. I found Austria to be outrageously expensive even in the off season. As for Greece remember to factor in a good chunk of change for travelling on the ferries between islands as that can add up quickly. You might be ok if you go to one place and stay there but what's the fun in that. Also friends who have recently traveled to Prague say that the prices there are inching up as well. To summarize, I would avoid places with the euro - austria will still be austria in a couple of years when you have more money to visit. (On the other hand if you have a free place to stay go anyway)

Oh, my god! That spreadsheet is just what I've been looking for! You should get one of the Boots guys to stick it on the site proper. It's terribly helpful.

30$ a day in Europe is nothing unless you like sleeping on the streets or with locals. If you really want to keep costs low, I'd recommend looking into volunteering part of the time or joining an organization like SERVAS so that you can escape the costs of room and board. I just spent three and a half weeks in Scotland which I could never have afforded by volunteering on a plum orchard (through VFP). I got to see all the cities, meet a bunch of great travellers who were volunteering too, and see the Scottish countryside with some locals to guide me. I paid about 200$ for food and a room, or about what I would have paid for a nasty hostel bed compared to the 14th century home the farm provided.

Anyway, I'm jealous that you're as far along in your planning as you are! Congradulations!

When and if we hear from you again Laopooh, be great to get your comments on how the spreadsheet worked for you when out there - not just on whether your pricing was about right, but did you go online in your monitoring or just take a hard copy of your last update when home.

And in updating, did you apply forward estimates as you may have developed them from new info attained while on the road.