I’m about to graduate from college. I want to take a year off before grad school, but during that I time I don’t know what I want to do. What I do have is a 12K inheretence. I’ve been planning on saving it for a downpayment on a house or something in the future. But there is something rare and amazing about being completely free of obligations. I could pack up right now and leave for anywhere I want.
Which is what I might just do.
All I really want to do is travel. I want start in Morraco, and go through Southern Europe, then up Eastern Europe to St. Petersberg. Then I could make my way through Russia and then to China. Then I could go to south Asia and then maybe try to get to India. Basically I want to go everywhere that I can, and I’ve got a year and twelve thousand dollars to do it if I want to.
I’ve never traveled alone, but I have traveled for a month or so at a time. I’ve got no problem doing things cheap. I don’t mind sleeping in grungy hostels and I don’t eat or drink much. Do you think I could do it? I know I’d be cutting it close…
Cutting it close with $12,000?!?! HA!
You could live like a king on that money if you play your cards right!
I think that sounds like a grand idea.
Get yourself a good backpack, take ONE extra pair of jeans, socks, underwear, shoes and the basic toothbrush. Anything else you can pick up along the way.
Get a youth hostel card. Get a couple of good travel books. Leave all jewellry and valuables at home. Buy a cheapo watch and a throw away camera. Take a notebook and a pen.
Use your street smarts…a lot of Americans hit other countries and stupidly think everybody is a relative of Mother Theresa and let their guard down…just like here, there are con artists and thieves everywhere…just keep your eyes open. Every person I ever met who was scammed said, “I would never have fallen for that in the States!”
ATM cards are (almost) universally accepted, so just take out the money you need for a day or two…never have more than you can afford to lose.
But you will meet fantastic people along the way. You will have adventures and moments of awe. You will feel depressed and alone. You will quickly learn your strengths and weaknesses. You will learn how to communicate like a mime. You will laugh with little old ladies, get smashed with a few Aussies, have intense conversations with Germans, sexual encounters, fantastic food, bizarre experiences and a life experience you will never forget.
Make a deal with friends and relatives that you will go to cyber cafes and keep in touch on a regular basis…let them know where you are going and what you are doing.
absolutely not a problem depending on your lifestyle. heck, you can go backpacking in Tibet for a few months and could get by with spending about a hundred dollars once you get there.
the month i backpacked in europe (and we did prague, krakow, vienna, salzburg, munich, budapest, thessaloniki, athens, corfu, rome, venice and bologna) cost me $1500, including flights ($300)
interrail pass ($300) all accommodation ($10-15 per night) and food. and most of the trip was in western europe where things ain’t cheap.
if you’re going to india, china and eastern europe it’s much better value for money.
to cut costs even further:
skip breakfast unless it’s included in the accommodation.
eat street food if you have a strong stomach, or cheap restaurant food if you don’t.
travel all your long distances at night, saves accommodation costs and gives you more time to sight see. sit upright, don’t bother with the couchettes.
use trains and buses when you can.
try to avoid any real “touristy” areas when you’re looking for food, sometimes going down the next street over can cut 20% off your bill.
sometimes the big nasty hostels cost more than the small nice ones.
I agree with the above…But I would say quality, not quantity should be thought of while travelling. You could go to 6 to 10 different cities and stay in each for a month or so. You can find a room to rent in Prague for $200 a month, and save more money by being able to cook your food. You can get to know more about specific places and take day-trips to surrounding areas. Plus, you might be able to pick up a spare job here or there and offset your costs.
(my suggestion is to learn how to cut hair- just the basics, crew-cut, bang-trim. Buy a Euro-electricity hair clipper and some good scissors for $30 when you arrive and charge people a few bucks for a quick haircut- tons of backpackers need it done and hate to try and find a place everywhere they go. Two friends have done this and they covered their costs wherever they went.)
Think about this itenerary: 1 month each in Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Sophia, Istanbul, Athens or Crete, then fly to India and do similar rounds there for 4 months. You would have a blast.
If you’re going to places other than major cities in Russia, you won’t necessarily be able to find ATMs, or even cash traveler’s checks. In Novosibirsk, a city of 1.5 million, there was exactly ONE place to cash traveler’s checks, and most of the locals didn’t even know about it. So do your homework carefully.
OTOH, one still didn’t need much cash there, because there is such a huge gap in cost of living between major cities in European Russia and outlying/rural areas. So Russia can be cheap, but it will be more difficult to do St. Petersburg cheaply.
I agree…however, I sometimes “splurged” and upgraded to a first class sleeper…surpisingly, they weren’t all that expensive (back then at least) and the difference in comfort was hay stack vs Four Seasons Hotel…nice beds, sink in the cabin and the porter brough coffee in the morning! All that and cheaper than a small hotel room. However, only do that when you are travelling longer distances and when the scenery isn’t all that spectacular.
Also, the tip about avoiding “touristy” areas to eat is very good. I have always found that if go to the center of the tourist area, and then walk about 5 blocks in any direction, you will find the good, cheap restaurants that the employees at those tourist traps go to when they want to eat.
BTW…I hope you are not left handed if you are going to Moracco…a friend of mine told me whenever they offered food, he reached (with his left hand) and got nasty looks and insulted his hosts without knowing it. It seems that lack of toilet paper means people use their hands - their LEFT hands - for that duty. Food is only eaten with the right hand.