BootsnAll's Travel Community

Hey Guys

I look at the list of all the places I want to go and there are just so many! I am worried that if I plan a go-go-go trip that although I will see a lot, it will become a bit of a blur and I will probably burn out.

So I wondering how you planned your RTW adventure - did you move on regularly, just spending 2-3 days at each place or did you just pick a few main places to visit and spend several weeks in one spot, really getting to know the area?

Tell me your preference!

Thanks
M

I'm still saving for mine, BUT when I travel I end up being a go go go person.

I can say I'll hang out for a week or two, but in reality I'll get bored and move on to somewhere else.

I haven't gone RTW, but I have travelled long term.

I guess I'm partway in between. I rarely spent more than 4 nights in any one place, and 2 or 3 wasn't all that uncommon. But I don't rush...I stay everywhere as long as I want to, and then I move on to the next place. Except this one town in Greece where it would have taken us a whole day to go and get more money so we could stay longer.

Go-go-go will burn you in the long run. Never plan to be rushed. If you move on in a hurry, it'll happen, but if you have to because you've already booked your next stop or next flight or whatever, you'll only come home and want to return to all the places you just barely got a taste for.

I think the best way is to do whatever you like. I haven't done RTW but I did 6 months in Europe. I stayed as long as I felt like in each place. If I was bored in a few days, then I left. If I was tired of moving, I stayed in a place for a while and just chilled. On average, I was spending probably a week in most places, which is probably a lot more than most people tend to spend in any given place while traveling.

A mixture of the two is best, whatever you feel like. Flexibility is key. We're six months in. The first three months were go-go-go in places like Turkey and Egypt. Then we trekked in Nepal, and after that we spent a week in Pokhara doing nothing - I remember it as one of our best decisions. Now we're in India, and the sightseeing is too much, we want a change of pace. So we're going to southeast Asia so we can do a little less sightseeing, more soaking up a beautiful place at our own pace.

I wouldn't plan on one or the other. As others have said, you'll know when you get there. If you like a place, stay. If you feel like you've seen it and can leave, go. That's what we do, and we rarely feel like we've lingered too long or left too soon.

I haven't been on a RTW Trip yet...(I stress yet! )

But when I've travelled I've tried to factor in some rest days, where I do absolutely nothing or just sleep in late and then get up and chill out with a good book or some friends or surfing the net...

On shorter trips though I tend to be all a go-go as I want to get the most out of my time wherever I am...

Definitely slow and steady for me. (But then again I am a lazy b?????d). I'd rather spend a month in a single country and get to appreciate its 'vibe' (for want of a better word) than cram in three countries in a month and not really have a clue about what any of them are about apart from a ticked-off list of "sights".

I tend to be very go-go-go when I travel. Part of that is because I only a few a days at each place. However, I have lived abroad in a few different cities. I took my time over months getting to know those places.

For my RTW I'm planning on going very quickly in the places that are very expensive, such as the UK and Scandinavia. However, I'm going to slow down when I'm in the cheaper countries. I don't want to make myself crazy, but I do know that I tend to get board quickly.

Part of what I'm looking forward to is to figure out just what I will be like when I rarely have any type of a set scheudule to follow.

We went RTW for one year. Most people just can't go go go for that amount of time.

At any rate, what we found worked best for us was to go go go for two or three months, and then take anywhere from two weeks to one month off.

We actually rented a place on Mauritius for a whole month. Sat back, wandered the island, took buses, bought fresh shrimp from the guy who came twice a week, sat on the beach, or by the pool, got to know the locals, and read all the Harry Potter books..... It is one of the fabulous memories we brought home with us.

Smelling the Roses definitely has some benefits!

slow and steady at first, then fast and furious. hehe.

Most people seem to agree that a mixture is best. It can tire you out pretty fast if you rush around on a tight itinerary. I'd definitely plan a longer stay at a beach or in the mountains somewhere along the way to recharge your batteries and allow your mind to catch up.

Also, when I'm on the road, I prefer slower modes of travel (bus/train/ship) rather than flying, wherever possible. But even though this is a form of 'slow travel' it can get pretty exhausting, so allow a few 'lazy days' in-between hitting the road and going sightseeing.

So what is you guys' pace? I looked back over my major vacations the past [6 months in SE Asia, 6 weeks in the Aegean] and then a bunch of smaller ones - and I came out to seeing almost exactly 5 places every three weeks. Most places I'd stay in from three to five days, a handful we were in and out of, and twice - in SE Asia - I just crashed for almost ten days.

Heck I've spent less than a day in some major cities like
Paris and three months in a tiny village in Belize or Botswana. It all depends but when people tell me the see 12 countries in four weeks and it takes me four weeks just to do one I do believe that I am the slow and steady. I plan on my next RTW to take at least three years.

I guess I am the 'slow and steady' type of traveller. I tend to have 4 - 6 weeks off and I go to one country. I still end up coming out the other side with places I have not seen.

I guess anywhere from 2 - 4 days in one place tends to be it sometimes though I'll spend longer, sometimes less. It just depends.

I do not really travel on an itinerary though so the idea of 'scheduling' time off or breaks is kind of strange.