The date has been set! August 14th, 2010 is the day I will depart for Tokyo, Japan to begin my 4 week immersion in the country and my long term RTW adventure!
With that being said, I realize its been over six months since I last updated my ideal itinerary, and many, many changes to my savings and budget have come into the picture. As of now I am withholding what they are exactly until they happen, but all I can say is that I am willing to spend a couple months of travel money elsewhere and take away from the trip in order to achieve them. But don't worry - I will have posts regarding these few large events when and if they happen as they are directly tied to my adventure! Short of an economic windfall from the stock market between now and December, it does look like I will have to cut my ideal itinerary back a bit to reflect these new decisions. Rough estimates are putting my spendable budget in the range of $23,000, possibly $25,000 if one option falls through, including purchases made thus far
As a result, my newly updated itinerary will have an ideal goal of 10-12 months of travel time over the 12-14 months that I was intending from the previous iteration. With one of my major changes, I really don't think I can (or want to) be gone for more than 12 months, but, I would much like to hit the one year mark for sentimental achievement purposes. When making these changes and putting together cuts, I had to come up with some ground rules for what I have to see and what I'm ok with missing:
1) Absolutely must finish the remaining 5 of the 7 wonders of the world I have yet to see. That means, at minimum, hitting China, India, Brazil, Peru, and Mexico.
2) Asia was my first reason for doing this whole trip (starting with a 3 1/2 month idea), and since it is most difficult to travel to those countries on an independent 2 week trip, minimal sections will be removed from the region. Best to finish one area up completely than go halfway on everything.
3) Since it is a short $300 plane flight to anywhere in Central America from home, and would be at the end of my itinerary, Panama to Belize is out pending having excess money in my pocket at the end of the trip.
4) From these, South America, I am sorry, you are tentatively being scaled back. Like Central America, since this section is towards the end of my trip, I can easily add it back in if my budgeting holds out pretty well. The 2 day bus rides that cost $70-$130 to get to the Southern tip could be better spent for a few days in another city.
These rules put me in a great position to go full throttle at the beginning, and adopt a wait and see attitude for the rest of the adventure on whether things can get done or not. My sole purpose of doing this update was to not get my hopes up in terms of what I may or may not be able to see with the funding I have.
Itinerary Update Number 4.. Hopefully no more before I go!
Japan (28 days): Tokyo, Mt Fuji, Nikko, Nagano, Nagoya, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Hatsukaichi, Osaka, Nara, Kobe
China (25 days): Beijing, Datong, Xi'an, Shanghai, Chongqing, Yichang, Guangzhou, Yangshou, Guilin
Hong Kong and Macao (7 days): Hong Kong and Macao
Vietnam (21 days): Sapa, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Min City, Cu Chi
Cambodia (15 days): Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, Sihanoukville
Laos (15 days): Don Khon, Luang Prabang, Vientiane
Thailand (35 days): Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Surat Thani, Koh Samui, Ko Pahngan, Ko Tao, Krabi, Phuket, Patong, Kho Phi Phi
Malaysia (14 days): Pulau Penang, Georgetown, Cameron Highlands, Ringlet*, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka
Singapore (7 days): Singapore, Sentosa Island
Indonesia (10-21 days)*: Jakarta*, Yogyakarta*, Denpasar, Bali region or just Bali if 10 days
India (30 days): Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kanha National Park, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Varanasi, Mumbai, Udaipur
Nepal (21-30 days): Kathmandu, Bhaktapur*, Lukla, Everest (18 day base camp trek), Chitwan*, Pokhara*, Bandipur*
United Arab Emirates (0-7 days)*: Dubai, Abu Dhabi
Brazil (14-21 days): Iguazu Falls, Sao Paulo*, Curitiba, Paraty, Ilha Grande*, Niteroi*, Buzios*, Rio de Janeiro
Argentina (10-20 days): Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires*, Mendoza, Salta*, Cordoba, Cafayate*, Purmamarca*
Bolivia (14-20 days): Potosi, Uyuni Salt Flats, Sucre, Cochabamba, La Paz, Copacabana
Peru (14-20 days): Lima, Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Puno/Lake Titicaca, Nazca
Ecuador (0-7 days)*: Guayaquil, Quito
Galapagos (0-10 days)*: Isabela, Santa Cruz, Puerto Ayora, Baltra, Seymour, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
Mexico (10 days): Cancun, Chichen-Itza, Tulum, Playa del Carmen*
*Denotes places that may need to be removed if my budget does not continue on as predicted
When it is all said and done, all that I have certain right now is the following:
Leaving August 14th
Arrive Tokyo August 15th
Leave Japan around September 10th-12th
Bangkok by Christmas - which should be quite easy as this departure date gives me 2 weeks of unaccounted time for whatever I please if I really like a spot, get burned out, or can't do math for the number of cities I want to visit.
The rest will be left up to fate...
11 comments:
Looks fantastic - the last time I checked, hotels in Dubai averaged over $500 a night. How quickly things change - it's affordable now.
Seems like you have everything nicely locked down!
Thanks for checking out my itinerary!
I don't think that they necessarily have dropped down in price. Many of the hotels there are outrageous for rich people's standards let alone my budget oriented one. I have found a few hostels pop up that are seemingly affordable. Now, whether they are good or not remains to be seen. Hopefully it'll all work out well.
Upon further inspection, it seems that the "hostels" in Dubai are more budget hotel or apartment style. I'm seeing some on hostel world with good reviews and 4 share for $28/night+. Double what I want to pay for a hostel, but acceptable when in context of Dubai!
Similar to what Joel found, I cut Dubai out of my trip pretty quickly. I didn't want to spend the money to fly there if it was just for a week.
Also, I definitely think we'll still be in Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam area around the same time (November-ish)!
Yea, I feel you on that. I think my decision will be based on the costs to fly from Delhi -> Dubai -> Rio vs just Delhi -> Rio. When I was planning originally it wasnt that much more so it seemed like a good idea. I really want to go just to see the city. Sounds so crazy.
I'm looking forward to the meet up later this year!
That is a lot of places to go to in Thailand in just 35 days. Also, check your Visa info. 35 days is 5 days over what you are allowed if you arrive by air. Make sure to get a 2 month visa before you arrive! (For free, which I'm sure you can get in Vientiane.)
But in all honestly, your trip looks amazing! FAR FAR FAR more places then we ended up to... but we quickly learned we prefer slow travel and staying in one place for awhile rather then packing our bags every 3 days. If your a solo traveler I think the bug to keep on moving happens much quicker then couples!
Also, We did the exact same cities as you listed (except Sapa, we did Mui Ne) in Vietnam and I think it took us less then 30 days to do it and it was more then enough time in our opinion. Look into Mui Ne! The sand dunes there are amazing! 21 days should be fine as we spent about 8 days alone just in Hoi An. (we got a bunch of clothes and had lots of fittings...)
You're absolutely right about Thailand. I forgot that I was going to call it 6 weeks when I started planning it out a while ago and didn't update it here. I'm going to probably get my visa in Ho Chi Minh City since I'll be far beyond the 15 day border visas and 30 day airport visas that they normally give.
I know where you're coming from on the sight seeing time. My best guess is that I will slow down over time and may have to cut places out. All my older travels have been with organized tours that have had maybe 1.5-2 days in each spot for sight seeing. The fact that I'll have likely have minimum 2.5-3 in each would put me at a slower pace than anything I've experienced thus far. Who knows what will really happen, I'm just assuming a 3 day average is decent for some one as fast paced as I am, but we'll see come August huh!
I'll definitely look at Mui Ne! I love the comments on these posts because now I have a list of new places to check out to look at potential add ons or subs. It's great!
Thanks for the wonderful advice, as usual!
Looks like a great plan! I do have one piece of advice, though. You're hitting up a bunch of places. Make sure you schedule in some down time each month.
Travel fatigue is a very real thing. Sitting down to read a book for a day can cure it, but you'll find that if you don't take some time off, you'll stop appreciating what you're seeing.
Best of luck!
That is so true. I definitely intend to take a few days to do nothing here and there. Right now my first one on the radar is after Osaka when I'm taking the 1 1/2 to 2 day ferry to Shanghai. I'm hoping to just relax, sleep, write a few blog posts, and maybe watch a couple movies on my netbook to unwind and get refreshed for China.
Many of the places I'm going to that involve beaches my major plans for those days is to do next to nothing and scuba dive, so I am hoping that would help me recover from any fatigue I might pick up along the way.
Found your blog through Travelpod and thought I'd make a suggestion or 2.
Are the cities listed for India the order in which you plan to travel? It would probably be better to start in Mumbai, head down to Goa and then make your way north to Varanasi. You could then continue overland into Nepal.
You also mention flying from Delhi to Dubai. It's probably best to look into the budget airlines flying from Kathmandu to UAE rather than backtracking to Delhi. Both Air Arabia and FlyDubai fly cheaply to Sharjah/Dubai.
I stayed in a budget hotel in the Gold Souk in Dubai for 1 night before flying back to London. It cost about $30 and was like luxury compared to the hovels I had been sleeping in in Sri Lanka!
Thanks Richard!
My route through India is actually exactly how you mentioned it. I am going to fly into Mumbai and work my way up to Kathmandu, then backtrack to Delhi. Flying to Mumbai is cheaper, and then the route is a bit easier to backtrack than it is to go one way. Luckily the price of flights to Dubai from both Kathmandu and Delhi are really, really cheap.
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