Travelling

[Happy]

Any comments on the following please.
I,ve had enough of this country and am thinking of going around the world travelling.
Having never done anything like this before, I would welcome suggestions as to what we(My son 21) could or might expect to encounter, tips etc.
The route we are thinking of is France heading towards Asia, onto Oz and eventually America.
We have no time limit.
Russ

[StephenTh]

How are you intending to travel? Have a poke around here - site intended for motorbike travel, but a lot of the sections have useful general info. Good luck - have fun.

[triplefin]

Try The Thorn Tree Travel Forum on the the Lonely Planets web site. Its packed full of information for travelling all over the world from people who have recently been so its up to date with current information etc etc rather than peoples out of date memories of places.
My tip would be do lots of planning but when you get there be flexible have a plan a,b,and c Have fun planning I always find it very exciting.

[Happy]

Thanks guys for the links, will have a look tomorrow when I'll be on a different PC with a faster connection speed.
Russ

[Keith Whittaker]

Mrs W and I did this about 4 years ago. If it is any help, the way we went about it was.

Wrote down a list of all the places in the world we wanted to visit.
Argued a lot until we finally settled on a workable intinery.
Did some research on possible travel options.
Went to travel agents about booking flight tickets, rail passes etc.
Educated travel agents about what it was actually possible to do rather than what they sold in the brochures.
Planned packing etc
Took a brief taster holiday, we went to Morroco, to test our packing plan.
Threw away half of the things that we had packed and took more money.
Set off.
Had the most fantastic time ever.

For the record we: Flew to Copenhagen, travelled by train into Sweden and up into Finland to Rouvenamii, Train down to Helsinki, Train across the border to St.Petersburg, Train to Moscow, Trans-Siberian railway to Irkutsk, (went diving in Lake Baikal), Train into Mongolia, Spent time with nomadic herders living in felt tents on Mongolian steppe, (discovered that I don't enjoy horseriding ), Train across border to China, Visited Huehot, Beijing, Xian, Shanghai. Took ferry from Shanghai to Osaka in Japan. Took advantage of Japan Rail pass to visit Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nigata, Sendai, Sapporo, Biei, Kanazawa Mt Fuji and Tokyo. Flew to Perth, Australia. Rented campervan. Drove to Exmouth, (dived Ningaloo reef, drove back to Fremantle via Gt Northern highway, drove to Esperance via Bunbury, Busselton,Augusta and Albany, drove across Nullabor Plain, drove around York peninsula, drove up Stuart Highway to Alice Springs via Coober Pedy and Uluru, drove to Townsville via Tennant Creek, Mt Isa, Charter Towers, dived on GBR, drove south down East coast via Airlie Beach, Fraser island, Hervey Bay, Nimbin, Mt Warning and a dozen other places until we reached Sydney. Flew to Christchurch NZ, hired another campervan, drove around South Island, ferry to Wellington, drove around North Island, dived Poor Knights Islands. Flew to Fiji, took ferry to Yasawa islands, dived, snorkelled, relaxed and drank kava. Flew to Hawaii, (on New years eve), flew to San Fransisco, Hired car, drove to Monterey, drove into, over and around Sierra mountains, drove across Death Valley, drove down the Extraterrestial Highway in Nevada, drove across Hoover dam, drove around Arizona and New Mexico, along Route 66, doubled back to Grand Canyon, then onto Las Vegas. Flew to Memphis TN, Flew to Washington DC, train to New York, train to Boston, train to Buffalo NY, coach across border to Niagra Falls, coach to Toronto, Flew back to England. (Put bags down, picked bags up again, emigrated to Australia )

[Jay_Benson]

Originally Posted by Keith Whittaker

Mrs W and I did this about 4 years ago. If it is any help, the way we went about it was.

Wrote down a list of all the places in the world we wanted to visit.
Argued a lot until we finally settled on a workable intinery.
Did some research on possible travel options.
Went to travel agents about booking flight tickets, rail passes etc.
Educated travel agents about what it was actually possible to do rather than what they sold in the brochures.
Planned packing etc
Took a brief taster holiday, we went to Morroco, to test our packing plan.
Threw away half of the things that we had packed and took more money.
Set off.
Had the most fantastic time ever.

For the record we: Flew to Copenhagen, travelled by train into Sweden and up into Finland to Rouvenamii, Train down to Helsinki, Train across the border to St.Petersburg, Train to Moscow, Trans-Siberian railway to Irkutsk, (went diving in Lake Baikal), Train into Mongolia, Spent time with nomadic herders living in felt tents on Mongolian steppe, (discovered that I don't enjoy horseriding ), Train across border to China, Visited Huehot, Beijing, Xian, Shanghai. Took ferry from Shanghai to Osaka in Japan. Took advantage of Japan Rail pass to visit Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nigata, Sendai, Sapporo, Biei, Kanazawa Mt Fuji and Tokyo. Flew to Perth, Australia. Rented campervan. Drove to Exmouth, (dived Ningaloo reef, drove back to Fremantle via Gt Northern highway, drove to Esperance via Bunbury, Busselton,Augusta and Albany, drove across Nullabor Plain, drove around York peninsula, drove up Stuart Highway to Alice Springs via Coober Pedy and Uluru, drove to Townsville via Tennant Creek, Mt Isa, Charter Towers, dived on GBR, drove south down East coast via Airlie Beach, Fraser island, Hervey Bay, Nimbin, Mt Warning and a dozen other places until we reached Sydney. Flew to Christchurch NZ, hired another campervan, drove around South Island, ferry to Wellington, drove around North Island, dived Poor Knights Islands. Flew to Fiji, took ferry to Yasawa islands, dived, snorkelled, relaxed and drank kava. Flew to Hawaii, (on New years eve), flew to San Fransisco, Hired car, drove to Monterey, drove into, over and around Sierra mountains, drove across Death Valley, drove down the Extraterrestial Highway in Nevada, drove across Hoover dam, drove around Arizona and New Mexico, along Route 66, doubled back to Grand Canyon, then onto Las Vegas. Flew to Memphis TN, Flew to Washington DC, train to New York, train to Boston, train to Buffalo NY, coach across border to Niagra Falls, coach to Toronto, Flew back to England. (Put bags down, picked bags up again, emigrated to Australia )

Shit, thats one hell of an action packed fortnight. what did you do with the rest of your annual leave allocation?

[Keith Whittaker]

Originally Posted by Jay_Benson

Shit, thats one hell of an action packed fortnight. what did you do with the rest of your annual leave allocation?