There are so many things we want to do and so little money.
Here are the facts:
Our vacation time is December 6 to January 3.
We have about $4500 CAN, including flights, and are flying out of Calgary, Alberta.
We are 28/29.
We usually backpack and stay in hostels.
We don’t mind buses, chicken or otherwise.
We have already been to Western Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatamala, Antigua, and Peru.
We speak very little Spanish but still seem to be able to get by (though we are both studying Spanish right now).
We wouldn’t mind Europe, but it might be too expensive.
I’d prefer somewhere with warmer then Canadian winter weather.
Unless they plan on camping out in the Sydney airport, I think the airfare is going to be prohibitively expensive here. Hell, it might take up the entire $4,500 Canadian.
Costa Rica is always good. That is where I went on my honeymoon. It is a lot less 3rd world than most of the other places you mentioned but there is still some of it if you really like that sort of thing. You don’t need to know that much Spanish because English speaking tourism is the major industry but Spanish helps. You can easily do that on $4500 and you would have your pick between everything from resorts to $15 a night rustic hotels. The whole country is safe, pretty clean, and has good medical care if you need it.
I’ve heard Thailand is beautiful. Airfare might be a bit expensive, but there’s not a lot of tourist demand for flights so it’s not too bad. The dollar (and, I would guess Canadian Dollar, relatively) is strong there, so things are rather inexpensive. I’m thinking of going in the next few years and am still working out the details for my trip, so if you opt for this, post details!