I would love to do something like that for a year or so. Unfortunately, my company has no office or stores in Europe.
I did the whole English teaching thing and travelled anywhere from 6-11 months per year in China for 4 years. Of course, back then, the Chinese were not buying treasuries and my total travelling expense per month was between $2-300/month. Backpacking in Tibet cost, somewhere around $20/month once I was there. And if you’re willing to take a train for 3 days and a bus for a couple of days, it only cost about $20 or maybe $30 and 10 days of your time to get there. So, it would cost me say $100 to go from Hong Kong to Tibet, backpack until I had enough, take the trains/buses back to HK and that would be 2 months of my life. Of course, prices have changed considerably since the 1980’s. That said, if you’re willing to fly on cheapo low season tickets, stay in hostel dorms in big cities, cook your own food or eat very local, and you have lots of time, then it’s possible with planning and determination to travel on the cheap. And if you don’t have a job and a career with a stopwatch waiting for you, then you have a special kind of freedom.
My wife is from Egypt and I have been there about seven times. We have done some touristy stuff, and spend about half the time with her very Western-influenced relatives. I don’t get that much time to just mingle with people on the street, and don’t speak enough Arabic to do that anyway.
Photos from our most recent trip
I lived in Cairo for about five months. The pyramids and sphinx were definitely cool to see. . .the first four times. I got jaded from taking visitors out there after awhile, if you can believe that. I had an apartment that looked out over the Nile and the fountain.
Istanbul was a cool place to visit. When you enter the city, it’s like transporting yourself back in time several hundreds of years. This shot of the Blue Mosque is very representative.
Best trips ever:
Sudan: For two weeks we drove around the north of the country in a 4x4 and camped wild in the desert.
North Korea: Just simply the weirdest place I have ever been.
Iran: Tons to see and some of the friendliest people anywhere.
FWIW: I have lived in the US, UAE, Georgia and Czech Republic.
Funny you should ask.
3.5 hours from now, I’ll be leaving for my second trip to southern France. 13 towns last time, and 14 other towns this time . . . plus meeting with my partner for a few days in Paris, before returning home on the 30th.
The next time you guys hear from me, I’ll probably be in Bordeaux or Biarritz.
I’ll second Victoria Falls, and the Chobe River nearby - hippos and elephants in abundance and fabulous scenery. A couple of other suggestions:
Lamu island, off the coast of Kenya - an ancient, car-free Swahili port town where donkeys the only traffic. I visited when I was 18 and I still have the strongest memory of standing on a sandy street under a clear starry sky as a couple of donkeys wandered past and feeling like I was in a nativity scene. It’s a truly timeless place (or was in 1995, I hope it hasn’t been spoilt).
Tasmania - a lot like England in some ways, but on a bigger, emptier, wilder scale. I see it every day as I have a giant canvas of this photo I took there on my bedroom wall. 
The Balkans - their recent history puts a lot of people off, but the former Yugoslav republics are some of the most beautiful parts of Europe IMO. Mljet island in Croatia, Kotor in Montenegro and Sarajevo in Bosnia are particular highlights.
Oh, where to begin?
I’ve lived in Germany as an exchange student in high school, in Belgium as a study abroad in university, then Ireland that same year as the Irish punt was strong and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to work and live in as many countries as I could before life settled me down. While living in Belgium, I went to every country in the EU at that point except Portugal and Greece.
Also went through all the Baltics, Poland (where I got engaged) and Russia.
After I graduated I worked in an investment bank for 2 years and hated it, but had an ace up my sleeve in that I knew I was going to take the Foreign Service exam.
I did, passed them both, and so far have lived in Sri Lanka (2003-2005, nice country, bit of a problem with landmines and the civil war and the 12/26/04 tsunami wasn’t fun); Peru which I loved and got to travel to most of South America, Afghanistan (can’t recommend it, a bit dusty and the Taliban keep shooting at us), Singapore (loved it, clean and modern, great food, like the Switzerland of Asia).
I’m hoping for Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay or Chile next.
'92 my girlfriend and I left the UK for Japan on a whim. Things didn’t work out there so we went to Hong Kong and got jobs. Did a lot of business and pleasure travel in Asia. 3 years later we left and travelled in China and SEA for 6 months, then went to Ireland. We broke up, I moved to the US. Then back to Ireland where I got married and bought a house. After a couple of years my then wife and I sold the house and went round the world (you can buy RtW tickets in London for around $2,000 - decent airlines too). Travelled all over China, into Tibet, back to SEA and ended up living in Thailand working on tsunami relief for a few months. Carried on through the Antipodes then moved to the UK. Many far-flung vacations later, eventually we got divorced, then eventually sold the house. I recently lost my job and my girlfriend left the country, so guess what I’m going to do now… Can’t help myself.
In this modern world, one of the amazing developments you can take advantage of is cheap and easy travel. It’s so much cheaper than you think, and while challenging occasionally, easier than you too, and the personal rewards are astonishing. If you’re even thinking about it, just save a few thou and do it.
^ written on my iPhone in Budapest Airport. Croatia next…
I totally agree, and you make a good point about just saving the money and doing it!
People will drop a few thousand dollars on upgrades to kitchen renovations, or a home entertainment system, or buying a new car when they could have repaired the old one. Sure, those are all nice things, but in a few years, they will all be trashed. Taking that money and using it for a life experience, travel, will be something they cherish until the day they die.
As many (most) have mentioned, travel doesn’t have to be 4 star hotels and cost a fortune. You can really cover a lot of territory, for a pretty long time, if you just do a bit of planning and have even the slightest desire for adventure.
Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, UK, Greece, Kosovo, Serbia, Turkey, Macedonia, Kenya,
Iraq, Kuwait, Dubai, Jordan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Belize, Grenada, Peru, and Guatemala.
My favorite places on earth are Istanbul, Belize, Estonia, Budapest.
I backpacked around Europe for three months and then backpacked around the Middle East for four months six years later.
Without a doubt, the most important and meaningful things I have done with my life and I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything.
Hopefully, I’ll get several months in India before I die.
I haven’t gotten to do a whole bunch of traveling in my time, but I have had some pretty great experiences.
When I was seventeen I skipped a week of school to go to Montreal for a music festival. It tipped the scales in favor of attending university there, and basically set the course for my life up to now. $15 a night for a hostel and no one checking my ID. Rock ‘n’ roll high school.
Two years later I took my first trip to Taipei to teach English and spend time with my mom’s best friend from high school. My brother and sister came with me, and I’m back here in Taipei now. Maybe my favorite city. I haven’t seen as many of the sites on Taiwan as I would like, but it’s great.
Last summer I went on a self-organized tour with a band I’m in across the US. We were gone about three weeks: Boston - New York - Philadelphia - Chapel Hill - Richmond - Columbus - Chicago - Toronto - Montreal - Burlington (VT) - Boston. We stopped in the fattest town in the country (Charlestown, West Virginia, if you were wondering) and wrote a song called “Fuck Columbus, OH.” Drained all my money, but a totally awesome and important experience.
For natural beauty, I might suggest the Copper Canyon (Barrancas Verdes) area of Chihuahua, Mexico.
For man made beauty, I’m still enamored of Ghent, Belgium.
For a breathtaking combination of the two, Berchtesgaden (and surrounding area) in southern Germany.
I work for large company, but if you were interested in China, there’s a huge demand for (native) English-speaking teachers. And yes, I’m in China now, got here cold, and the language and culture are both unfamiliar!
For most of China, you’d probably have been better off with Mandarin, ya’know. 
Despite that, easily one of the most beautiful places in the USA. Similarly, the water stations weren’t running yet, and I suffered some heat exhaustion on the way back up. After nearly collapsing, a kind stranger gave me a bottle of water. It was a miracle cure. I was able to practically sprint the rest of the way up the trail. I then consumed about 64 oz. of fake-Gatorade, and still didn’t have to urinate for hours.
I think I have visited every country in Western Europe, except Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Vatican state (I have passed it on board a sightseeing bus, though) and the Channel Islands, plus a few more. My last travel abroad was to Aberdeen a couple of months ago and in two weeks time I will go to the Isle of Islay. Scotland beware!