Too adventurous?

[ShyBoy]

How about this for a year out?

UK - France - Spain - Morroco - Egypt - Kenya - S.A - Madagascar - India - China - Russia - Ukraine - Hungary - Austria - Germany - Denmark - UK

:chin:

Is it completely ludicrous? I'm only thinking abuot it very far ahead, can change or not go at all, I was thinking of spending a few days to a week or two in each place and hoping to go for not too long, so rather than actually going somewhere and living like they do, just travelling the world and seeing what there is to offer.

[ShyBoy]

sounds excellant- you can never be too adventurous... can you?!

I'm just wondering if it's completely impractical. I know I can grab trains around though, boats, planes and such - none of which are incredibly expensive (well, planes can be sometimes, but from here to France it's £15 or so). In a lot of the countries it's not going to cost a lot to buy the food to live on, but I don't know if it's going to be possible. The bit I'm especially not sure about is from Russia back to the UK. All the countries as far as Russia... <3, but then I don't really want to be travelling through the baltic states, or round eastern europe, which (might only be a reputation) are supposed to be bad for crime, kidnappings, murders etc.

Although I know a few of them aren't that much better :p but I think in the whole in will be an adventure. I'm planning on taking 2 passports just in case (my irish and british) so if in some countries the feelings aren't pro england at the time I can just say I'm irish :) woohoo. As long as the chinese authorities don't start asking me why I have two passports and lock me up for spying...

I think I'd need a fair amount of money, but Im not planning a luxurious holiday, more like visiting major cultural sites and things like that. Pyramids in Eygpt, etc etc. I think most of money will be spent in europe so I'm not planning to spend too long here.

Anyone been travelling and know whether it's possible or not?

[ShyBoy]

of course its possible.

you can find out and plan all your routes on the net etc.

or go in to your travel agent and they'll help you get an idea of flights etc and give you lots more info.

they also have gazateers about the places too.

are you going alone?

i'd be careful about taking 2 passports. they might get suspicious if you get randomly searched. just take one.

Might travel on my irish one then, just for security, I know a lot of people don't like British people and they can 'mysteriously' get kidnapped. I'm not sure, at the moment it looks like I'm travelling alone, I mean I haven't talked about it to anyone really it's just places I would love to go. I think most of my friends are planning to go straight to Uni anyway :p but I might look into one of these schemes where you meet up with other backpackers and stick together (read about it on thesite's info). I'm not planning every single journey, because I don't know how long it's going to take me, but will probably plan flights or ferries (main journeys). I am really hoping to get a boat across the indian ocean to india, don't know how much it's going to cost me yet, but there you go.

Anyway, if I did go, it would not be for at least another year, probably would work summer 2006, set out after xmas 2006, so a long way off, but it's a nice plan to have in mind :p :)

[Tim the Enchanter]

I think there's some kind of round the world plane ticket available that will get you from place to place in a certain time period. I don't know much about it and it wouldn't be as good as boats across the Indian Ocean, but it may be worth looking into.

With regards to kidnappings, it's very very unlikely to happen, particularly on the strength of your nationality, but traveeling on an Irish pass port is no bad thing!

[The Matadore]

Piece of advice - Dont go by yourself. Go with friend(s).

[Mist]

It sounds very fast. A couple of days is not enough to appreciate those places properly. I could easily while away three weeks in Egypt alone, for example, and, with the size of some of the places, you'd be spending more time on the road than you would enjoying the places you are in.

A better idea may be to cut down the number of places in exchange for spending longer in fewer places. Or just accept that you will need to spend longer on the holiday in general. (If you're spending over 90 days away though you may need specialist insurance as a lot of annual policies only cover max 90 days away)

I would be slightly wary about some places in Morrocco, kenya and South Africa and would probably try to arrange those bits in advance unless you have a guide or friends there.

[Mist]

Also buy or borrow some rough guides and check out the various places and the climates and what time of year you would be visiting to see if it is suitable (eg not too hot or too cold) If you can avoid it you don't want to be leaving a massively hot climate to go to a cold one or vice versa, as it will mess up your climatisation.

[kate2419]

Your trip sounds amazing, and definately worth further research to see how viable it is, but please please dont just scrap the idea, go and do something, even if it is much less extravagant.

As already pointed out, maybe a scaled down list of countries so you really get to see them and travel around within their borders would be better than just a couple of days or weeks in each

[mystifymysoul]

Yeah your plans sound mega exciting. I'd love to do that, but I doubt I would ever have the guts to go it alone tbh. Just make sure you do loads of prior research and planning, which I'm sure you will anyway. :)

[twisted_trinity]

sounds great to me...only possibly exspencive...though you know you always have a place to stay in spain with me...

[Namaste]

I'd personally focus on one or two because it's all very well seeing the touristy areas, but to get the real feel of the country you'd have to stay longer.

[Franki]

If you go to Kenya, I *may* be able to arrange for you to stay with my dad...

[budda]

It sounds like you are trying to fit in too many places, you can easily spend a month in each country and still find theres more to do.

I spent 6 weeks in South Africa when I went round the world and I didnt really do all I wanted too.

[Fiend_85]

Do it do it do it do it!

If you don't you'll regret it.

[Kentish]

I agree with the above sentiment, but I do think you're trying to cram in too much.

I spent 3 weeks in Australia and only scratched the surface. If I were you, I'd stick with one continent at a time. Maybe have two big trips - one at the beginning of the GAP year and one at the end.

[Wyetry]

Its not too adventuours at all but it requires loads of planning - in my gap year i visited, Greece (Twice), Turkey, Malta, France, Hong Kong, China, Austrailia, New Zealand, the US, Mexico, Spain, Portuagal and the Netherlands (hum i think thats all) But i didnt' do them all in one go.....

My advice would be to investigate interrailing - go do that for a bit at first - you can even do morocco on some of the passes - i'd recomeend getting several passes for 14 days rather than the whole of europe for 22 days!!! You will get the hang of travelling, staying in hostels etc will meet loads of people to travel on with etc etc it will be a good preparation for the rest of your traveling experience and if your going alone will give you lots of experience.

Then i'd say work for a bit and save up and investigate multi stop flights - check out STA Travel for the rest of them - here are my comments:

Egypt - Is really cool and lovley - don't be put off by the religious nutters, but be safe and sensible and dont' only go to the touristy bits.

Kenya- Can be safe and can be dodgy so be extreamely careful, one of my frieds got mugged 3 times on a visit a couple of months ago - he was a really experienced traveller and was with another friend who grew up in africa and her kenyan boyfriend. I'd say go but go on an organised tour - again look at the STA travel website - there are loads of overland tours you can do they are ususally quite cheap and your with loads of other like minded travellers not old grannies and definatley the best way to get around I really wouldnt' recommend travelling to much by yourself.

S.A - As with Kenya can be really cool - i went with my sister for a month after i'd graduated and i really enjoyed it - get the baz bus (a back packers bus) you'l;l meet loads of people and be quite safe.

India - I didn't really like india, i'd had no desire to go in the first place and i'm definatley not itching to go back - i know loads of people think that is amasing but i just wasnt' that blown away buy it - i'm sure its partly because i was a girl travelling by myself - but even leaving the hotel was a bit of a trauma you cant walk anywhere without someone harrasing you etc etc - I dunno

China - Russia - I tried and failed to get to russia because the russian embassy didnt' get round to opening thier post in time - yay - both of these countries are really strickt about where you can and cant' go as a tourist etc etc - you need to provide detailed iteneries, letters of invitation. i do really want to go one day. China was good but i went on a state tour becuse i didn't hve much time to sort it all out myself - i enjoyed it but got the impression that i was being taken to all the nice places as a show case - ohh and the food was horrible.

Ukraine - i had a friend who went a couple of years ago its amasing apparently....

[Replicant]

Do it do it do it do it!

If you don't you'll regret it.

what he said!