BootsnAll's Travel Community

Hello all,

I'm currently in the planning/deciding stage of my trip, and I wanted to see what y'all would do.

I can spend up to $5k USD, and be gone any amount of time [I'm thinking 2-3 months min]. I plan to leave on June 1 2005 or about from Los Angeles, CA. I have 0 debt or obligations [no gf, lease, etc] besides 2 cool cats for whom I've already made arrangements.

Where would you go?

I'm thinking about buying a round trip ticket 1June-31Aug [$500] to Guatemala and start off in Antigua for 2-4 of weeks, taking a spanish class [already somewhat fluent] and see what happens from there, but I'm totally open to the world of opportunities that anyone might suggest.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Generz.

P.S. I thought about posting this in Central/South America forum, but I'm don't want to limit the suggetions peeps might provide to just those areas...

Dude, it's been a week and 86 views and NO ONE has any ideas? weak.

quote:

Where would you go?

Bro, it's not about where we would go. Think about what parts of the world interest you the most and where you would love to go and go there. If you like watching Bourne movies visit Berlin and Moscow. Wing it! Improvisation is the key to vagabonding.

Jimmy

Generz-
You are in a great situation. You have no debt and toatl freedom. 5K is a good amount of money...but it don't believe it's enough for Europe during the Summer time. I went backpacking last year through Europe and spent a lot of money. I think your idea of traveling trhough S. America sounds great. You appear to allready know the language and it would be a great way to brush up. A frined of mine spent about 13 months going through Central and South America and then made his way to SE Asia. Asia is also another place I would recommend. I have heard GREAT things about Thailand and it is very inexpensive. The DOllar goes along way in Thailand. Anyway man...best of luck and happy traveles.

[/QUOTE] Bro, it's not about where we would go.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I just wanted to see what random ideas might come up in such a discussion.

Thanks.G.

If you're thinking about heading down to Guatemala, why not fly down (1 way) there as your idea was, and make your way south..to wherever you end up. Maybe take a flight to avoid the Darien Gap, unless you want a real adventure See how far you make it...of course, save some money for the flight home!

I'd highly recommend South America. It'd be a great way to practice your Spanish skills!

Fly to wherever you wanted to go one-way. Hang out there hike meet the locals and have the time of your life, get tierd of it or wanna see more just go. when your down to like 1k scheduel a return trip for however long you think you can stay without spening the difference. Or stay and try and find work or whatever you heart desires.

quote:

Originally posted by Generz:
Dude, it's been a week and 86 views and NO ONE has any ideas? weak.

You've got so many options that we don't know where to start. I'd say stick with South America, you could stay there for a years and not see everything.

I concur.

5000k can get you really far, for much longer then 3 months. A friend of mine went around the world for a year and a half on about 8000k. That trip included Europe, Africa and Australia. Granted, she was able to do this because she asked for work everywhere she went and would stay in places where she received food and board in exchange for helping out here and there.

If I were in your shoes I probably wouldn't worry about where I would go with the trip, but more about where I would begin. It sounds like you have that part figured out. From there, I’d just go where the wind blows, and not worry about anything except for creating new memories and having new experiences. I’m not sure if you already bought the RTW ticket, but from what I’ve heard from friends they’re not that worth it. They tend to be pretty expensive, and very limiting. If you can get a cheaper ticket abroad, why not give yourself that extra flexibility. Just my .02$

Air Tahiti Nui is offereing Tahiti, New Zealand and OZ for $1000 flight (LAX)

I thought that was a great deal, which would next lead to the Indonesia.

Just a thought!

Cheers.

If your first inclination is Central and South America then I say go for that. Lots of inexpensive travel to be had and it looks like you are in LA wich means you could probably get some fairly inexpensive flights into Central or South Amer. I spend 5 months travelling in SA last winter (don't ask me how much I spent though...I'm horrible with a budget).

Bolivia and Peru are very inexpensive, and unless the economy has changed much in Argentina, that's inexpensive too. . . And AWESOME. Argentina is just the best. Chile is more pricey.
I'd say start somewhere like Guatemala and work your way south ... catch a flight into Quito, Ecuador maybe (another amazing country with a lot of variation in landscape and super nice people). I took language class there and had a really nice time.

....of course, in Southeast Asia your dollars may even go further. . .

I'd consider a month or so working on your Spanish in Antigua followed by another month getting my Divemaster certification on Roatan.

Then I'd get a job teaching Scuba or bartending and never come home.

But that's just me......

WOW, you have an awesome opportunity. $5000 can defiantly keep you going for more than 2-3 months. I’m at work and bored so I will be as helpful as possible. Most people say where you go determines how long you can stay. I don’t agree with that viewpoint. I think its all about your comfort level and how outgoing you are. It’s easy to find free/cheap places to crash and really free/cheap meals anywhere in the world. When I am deciding where to go I watch the travel channel, ha-ha just kidding, they should call it the Las Vegas Channel. You could go to the bookstore here are some things I have looked at to decide where to go.

1. Through the Lens: National Geographic's Greatest Photographs (ISBN: 079226164X)
...this has beautiful pictures from all over the world that are especially good at portraying a places culture through a photograph. One of my favorites.

2. The Travel Book (ISBN: 1741044510)
...This is by Lonely Planet and has pictures of every country in the entire world, and all the pictures come with a very interesting story. I like this one a lot.

3. Rough Guide to First-Time around the World (ISBN: 1843530570)
...Awesome book, this book is for vagabonding newbies. It breaks down the world into Africa, Asia, Australia New Zealand and the South Pacific, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe and Russia, Middle East, North America, and South America. For each of these regions It gives things like main attractions, maps, when to go, costs, common overland routes, and so-on and so forth. In essence it’s the highlights of the guidebooks for all the regions listed above. Would not recommend using this as your guidebook for the place you are visiting, for me it’s more to help find somewhere that interests me.

4. Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts (ISBN: 0812992180)
...Same thing as above but the author’s ideas of vagabonding are different, worth the read

5. The World Awaits: How to Travel Far and Well BY Paul Otteson (ISBN: 1566912431)
...Yet another Vaga-how to. This guy seems a little more adventuresome than most. Really fun read though. Teaches about bribing border officials and such...lots of fun.

6. O.K. Reading not your think...Hit up some streaming audio on the internet. The Savvy Traveler is a U.S. radio show that was aired on N.P.R., it is wonderful!!! It has been cancelled due to the lull in travel after 9/11. But over 100 1 hour episodes are available for free to internet users to check this out go to http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/, click on archive, and it will take you to all the past shows (helpful hint: at the top of the web page for each individual show there is a button that says "listen to whole show" that’s allot easier than clicking on the sections of the show 1-by-1. There is a show from almost every conceivable destination, even Antarctica. These radio shows have a 10-1 traveler to tourist appeal ratio, which I find awesome; I usually listen to a show almost every day.

7. Not a radio fan? Watch some movies to spark some interest.
If you are going to Central or South America: Watch the Motorcycle diaries
or check out bootsnall's community "Look, Listen and Learn: Books, Movies and Music Related to Travel" located on the message boards section (http://boards.bootsnall.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/263098755). Or you can search for movies on www.imdb.com (internet movie database) you have to register but it’s free. Tons of film geeks all you have to do would be post a message in I need to know that says, "What are some movies about traveling or movies that make you want to travel or moves that spark an interest in exotic places???", and wait for some responses, hell ill do it for ya, here is the link, http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000001/nest/18127503.

8. Also, if you live in a city or close to one you could go to a hostel and chat it up with some travelers, some of us can be supper friendly and will be glad to help. You could make a little weekend trip to a hostel and spend a night just to chat it up and get some travel ideas if you were really enthused about the whole "interaction" thing, hahaha. Some hostels won’t let you stay unless you are from out of country, or at the very least out of state.

Welp, hope I was a help, and gave you some ideas on what to do with your 5k, of course you could always sponsor me for a trip to Nepal to hike the Everest base camp trek, hahaha...I wish. Have fun in your travels.

Damn Alex...that was a fine reply.