Hello!

I am going travelling with 2 friends. We haven't gone travelling before, so anyone who has any pointers, tips e.g. would be helpful. We are hoping to go to places like italy, australia, canada, usa, japan.

Any ideas on how to start planning all this e.g.?

Thanks!

[This message was edited by el on May 18, 2005 at 02:56 AM.]

[This message was edited by el on May 20, 2005 at 03:18 PM.]

I spent 6 months in Australia, it was great - 4 months working and exploring NSW at the weekends (Blue MOuntains, Royal National Park etc) then a month or so going up the East Coast and a few weeks going through the Snowey Mtns and along the Great Ocean Rd (Victoria) The buses are great for moving around Aus, or you can relocate campervans really cheap, eg $1 a day plus fuel, but they set a time limit for the journey, eg 4 days Sydney to Melbourne. Then I did a month in NZ (I would advise longer and focus on the South Island!)

With hindsight I would have: allowed longer in many places (NZ, Fiji & Asia) and also doubled my budget! I started by visiting STA Travel, stating a few of the places I was keen to visit and etting them advise me of the most cost effective itnery - this way I ended up with stopovers in places I hadn;t thought of visiting all of which were worthwhile. Its important to by tickets that are flexible and allow some changes without charges or high fees as you will no doubt change your plans as you move!

Europe is expensive to travel around - accommodation and transport. South America and Asia are very cheap once you're there. NZ is also cheap and they have fantastic hostals.

I travelled around California and found hostels expensive and less friendly than in Australia & NZ - the country doesn;t seem so well set up for budget or lone travellers but perhaps that was just my experience. Yosemite was my highlight there.

In NZ there is the kiwi experience bus which is great for meeting people but has a bit of a party reputation! But it can't be beaten for an easy and cheap way to get around all the key places to see - very flexible, you buy a ticket for a route and you can hop on and hop off the buses whenever, allowing you huge flexibility to stay a bit longer here or there or abandon ship if you don;t like a place! Swimming with dolphins at kaikoura, hiking on Franz Josef Glacier and visiting Mlford Sound were my highlights there.

Favourite other places include Thailand, cambodia (Angkor Wat is spectacular) and Vietnam (Esp Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi - get some clothes tailor made!)Peru and Bolivia.
Italy is beautiful, especially Florence and Verona. We inter-railed around Italy sometimes the journeys were great at others they were nightmares! And cheap good value hotels were hard to come by. Eastern Europe is cheaper, I have had Prague, Budapest & Bratislava recommended to me.

Happy planning!

How long are you going for? A month? A year? You need to decide this, and also which cities or countries you want to go to. Then decide how you are going to travel (eg Round The World air ticket). Specialist travel agents such as Trailfinders and Travelbag are very helpful, but can't tell you where to go - only you and your frineds can decide that. Wherever you get to, have a great trip!

Pete