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aveguard
Joined: 11 Oct 2006
Location: Dongdaemun Seoul
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 Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:44 pm Post subject: World Travels |
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Has anyone traveled around the world after their contract ended?
Do you know anyone that has?
I am planning a 1 year trip starting in August ...
Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated 
For example do you know of any sites for trip planning?
I would ideally like to start in Asia and end in Latin America.
Thank YOU |
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plynx
Joined: 03 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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i'm planning on doing the same thing next year in august (same route, also - asia to south america) 
bootsnall has some great blogs and planning advice, along with an overview of hostels and budgeting. you could start there. i googled round-the-world trip and alternate phrases and came up with a lot of useful sites.
good luck! |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:51 am Post subject: Re: World Travels |
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| aveguard wrote: |
Has anyone traveled around the world after their contract ended?
Do you know anyone that has?
I am planning a 1 year trip starting in August ...
Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated
For example do you know of any sites for trip planning?
I would ideally like to start in Asia and end in Latin America.
Thank YOU |
I did!
I finished last September and did it for a few months. Flew from Seoul to Kathmandu, spent a week there and headed down to Chitwan for a couple days. Then flew to New Delhi in India and did a big circle including Agra, Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur, and Jodhpur.
Flew to Dubai and spent a week there, then flew to Amman, Jordan and spent the next month working my way through Israel and Egypt. Then flew to Istanbul and spent another three weeks making my way up through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Austria and Poland.
Flew to the States for Thanksgiving, then flew down to Peru with my dad for two weeks to do the Inca Trail. Back to the States for Christmas, up to NYC for New Year's, then back here to Korea for Feb.
I used www.airtreks.com to figure out plane routes and major hubs where I could find cheaper flights. Then I went and bought each ticket individually, some from the Airlines sites, some through discount sites. Worked out to be about 3200 bucks with the U.S. to Peru RT flight making up 1000 of that. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:41 am Post subject: |
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I recently used that site to get some rough quotes, and indeed my dream trip can almost all be done.
I might have to nix Rio and Quito in South America and Jamaica because I had a hard time finding multiflight schemes that avoid the USA and all the hassle that accompanies airport security there these days, especially given some of the places I'll be travelling through beforehand.
Still, I'm happy with the online flight price scenarios I'm considering, the SIMPLEST barebones one is:
Seoul-Melbourne-Mumbai-Nairobi-Cairo-Budapest-Amsterdam-London-Seoul for 3915-5167 u.s. Don't let the flights fool you, it's not about visiting cities, which holds very little appeal to me, but those cities are good nexus points for travel thereabouts.
There's also one (I call my 'childhood dream' trip) that has me going overland (mostly by trains) from Darwin to Perth, overland Colombo Sri Lanka to Delhi India, overland from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi with a hike up Kilimanjaro, overland from Rome to Budapest and overland from Moscow to Vladivostok.
I have the money, I have the time... storage for all my stuff for a year here is an obstacle, as is mental musings about other things to do instead with the money. But I turn 40 this year, am not married nor have kids (despite a desire to) and while my biological clock isn't ticking my world travelling the way I want to places I want IS ticking and I feel this may be the last real chance for that big one-year-long journey across lands and to small, offbeat places far away, you know, taking that side train or bus to the one name on the local route you've never heard of before. I do that kind of thing. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:55 am Post subject: Re: World Travels |
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| aveguard wrote: |
Has anyone traveled around the world after their contract ended?
Do you know anyone that has?
I am planning a 1 year trip starting in August ...
Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated
For example do you know of any sites for trip planning?
I would ideally like to start in Asia and end in Latin America.
Thank YOU |
I think it is a repetitive pattern for ESLers in Korea to travel extensively after contracts...I certainly did that for years and years.
Sites for planning trips....Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Forum, Lonely Planet guides that you can find at Kyobo Bookstore, www.hostelworld.com for hostels or lowerpriced lodging, etc. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
I recently used that site to get some rough quotes, and indeed my dream trip can almost all be done.
I might have to nix Rio and Quito in South America and Jamaica because I had a hard time finding multiflight schemes that avoid the USA and all the hassle that accompanies airport security there these days, especially given some of the places I'll be travelling through beforehand.
Still, I'm happy with the online flight price scenarios I'm considering, the SIMPLEST barebones one is:
Seoul-Melbourne-Mumbai-Nairobi-Cairo-Budapest-Amsterdam-London-Seoul for 3915-5167 u.s. Don't let the flights fool you, it's not about visiting cities, which holds very little appeal to me, but those cities are good nexus points for travel thereabouts.
There's also one (I call my 'childhood dream' trip) that has me going overland (mostly by trains) from Darwin to Perth, overland Colombo Sri Lanka to Delhi India, overland from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi with a hike up Kilimanjaro, overland from Rome to Budapest and overland from Moscow to Vladivostok.
I have the money, I have the time... storage for all my stuff for a year here is an obstacle, as is mental musings about other things to do instead with the money. But I turn 40 this year, am not married nor have kids (despite a desire to) and while my biological clock isn't ticking my world travelling the way I want to places I want IS ticking and I feel this may be the last real chance for that big one-year-long journey across lands and to small, offbeat places far away, you know, taking that side train or bus to the one name on the local route you've never heard of before. I do that kind of thing. |
That sounds like a really great iten. Budapest is one of my favorite cities in Europe and in 5-8 hours you have quite a few other countries that are readily accessible.
With the Airtreks thing, I actually went through and contacted someone to try and buy it through them. They ended up quoting me a thousand bucks over their high "estimate" though. I searched around myself and found all my flights for about $200 less than their low estimate. Very happy.
My next trip will probably be south of the Equator. I want to do a SE Asia, then on to Oz/South Pacific, then on to S. America jaunt next.
If in five years I'm not married and haven't started a full on career, I might plan on doing one of these three epic jaunts.
1). Start in Tibet, train through China to Beijing, then Trans-Mongolian to Moscow. From there, train to Helsinki, boat to Tallin, overland to Morocco.
2) Capetown overland to Nairobi, maybe continuing up through Cairo.
3) Mexico overland to Tierra del Fuego with a boat ride from Panama to the San Blas Islands and then on to Colombia. |
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Forward Observer
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Location: FOB Gloria
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| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Great thread |
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XAdamX
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Location: Yeongtong-dong via Orlando, FL
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Forward Observer wrote: |
| Great thread |
Agreed.
I have a question pertaining to money. What is the most efficient and cost affective way to deal with your money. Obviously you can't carry a ton of currency on you and some countries (Iran for example) you can't use ATMs. What do you feel is the best way to deal with money? |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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| XAdamX wrote: |
| Forward Observer wrote: |
| Great thread |
Agreed.
I have a question pertaining to money. What is the most efficient and cost affective way to deal with your money. Obviously you can't carry a ton of currency on you and some countries (Iran for example) you can't use ATMs. What do you feel is the best way to deal with money? |
I didn't know there were no ATMs in Iran. That's different. I have a Korean ATM card, an American ATM card, a Visa credit card, and usually about 200 US dollars. I used to do traveler's cheques but didn't like them, although they would be a good option for some.
ATMs all the way for me. Never had to use my cash on the last trip. |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:21 am Post subject: |
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| runthegauntlet wrote: |
| XAdamX wrote: |
| Forward Observer wrote: |
| Great thread |
Agreed.
I have a question pertaining to money. What is the most efficient and cost affective way to deal with your money. Obviously you can't carry a ton of currency on you and some countries (Iran for example) you can't use ATMs. What do you feel is the best way to deal with money? |
I didn't know there were no ATMs in Iran. That's different. I have a Korean ATM card, an American ATM card, a Visa credit card, and usually about 200 US dollars. I used to do traveler's cheques but didn't like them, although they would be a good option for some.
ATMs all the way for me. Never had to use my cash on the last trip. |
Iran does have ATM's, just not for foreign use, thanks to the USA led economic blockade. You have to enter with cash for your whole trip. The good thing is, Iranians aren't likely to try and steal your bag. |
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