Basically, Gap year ideas for myself and a friend. We are working 10 months then planning to traval for as long as we can manage with £5k each. Basically, we sat down, thought of where to go, and didn’t come up with much, so that’s where well travelled and knowledgeable bit techers come in. Places we definitely want to go are: USA Canada Japan New Zealand Australia India Most of Europe Africa (Specifically Mt Kilimanjaro) Quite predictable and unimaginative. I was wondering if people could recommend anywhere else, and possibly predict the amount of time we would need in the places listed. The kind of stuff we would be doing is: Some serious hiking Normal sights (Grand Canyon, death valley, ayers rock, that kind of stuff) Trying to see some cool wildlife - maybe sticking in a mini safari thing. and whatever else would be good.
The amount of time you want to spend somewhere will depend on exactly what you want to do and see there, but as a general rule it's always more than you think it will be. Which is why it would be a good idea to sit down with your friend and distill that list into the places you really want to visit, so if you still have some spare cash left over at the end you could grab a flight somewhere else, rather than running out of cash halfway through and not being able to go to the places you really wanted to. I'll be interested in any advice anyone else has as well, as I'm planning on doing something similar this time next year (except it'll be just me, less cash, and I'll only be visiting NZ, west coast US/Canada, and stopping in Japan - I won't be staying there long as a friend of mine has been several times for karate tournaments and says it's very expensive).
Not sure where you're from, but I think you'll be surprised by the size of some of the countries you're talking about visiting. For example, the UK is slightly smaller than Oregon. To put that in perspective: Also, Australia is only slightly smaller than the US. You may be trying to bite off a bit more than you can chew, at least for one trip. I'd pick a few of the places you really want to see, then just save the rest for some other time. You've got your whole life ahead of you!
you might want to look into this thread oh and Canada is not that big. Don't be fooled by what you see on the maps. 90% of the people live 100km or less from the US border. That's only useful of course if you want to visit the cities only
USA I really only want to go to the west coast. Universal studio's, grand canyon, death valley, lake tahoe I have heard is cool. Canada, I was thinking of a week's skiing (seperate budget for that) in Banff, I'm not sure where else is interesting. Was thinking toronto and Niagara Falls, try and spot some moose. Oh and Hawaii In Australia, we were thinking of Sydney, popping over to tasmania for no apparant reason, then having a look at ayers rock. New Zeland only have one real requirement - Penguins in the wild. Japan I have no idea what there is to see. After having another planning sessions this afternoon we have thought basically the same thing as you guys - we are probably going to keep this trip to North America, Australia, New Zeland, and Japan and do the rest another time hopefully. The real reason I posted this though is to ask the question of where to go. We are reading lonley planet guides and that stuff, but it is not as good as a real person saying one place is really special and worth visiting and another is not really that amazing.
Yellowstone will take care of all the wild life (moose, buffalo, bear, etc) with plenty of hiking to be done. (it is on the West side of the US. not quite the coast though) On the west coast I would highly recommend the San Francisco area. Muir woods for hiking, & plenty of great places to eat. on a side note I have lived all my almost 32 years in the US. and have not seen half of this country, and that of which I have seen I could go back ans spend at least a weeks time exploring each place more in depth. In Europe I can recommend Vienna, Budapest, and Prage (sp?). All great cities that I have visited for a woefully short amount of time, but would not hesitate to go back.
Yellowstone is a great idea, cheers. I have been to San Fransisco once, definately up for it again. That will go on the list as well Europe I can do any time with a eurorail card, so I woudl like to keep this a bit more far flung.
I'd dump the idea of the US personally. Hit south America, walk the inca trail, see machu pichu, visit the galapagos isles, head to aus, see the main stuff, Sydney, Melbourne, jump on a plane hit Nz ge onboard the shagbus and travel the island from hostel to hostel, bit of skydiving, bunjee jumping. Fly north to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, visit the trenches, the killing fields, hop island to island with all the other backpackers, drink limitless alcohol from buckets and ride the tubes from bar to bar. Flight to china, visit the wall, perhas up to Nepal or tibet, grab some putputs and hoon around whilst spending a dollar a night on your accomodation. Back by Moscow, learn how to drink russian style, then Stockholm and eat the delicacies, Copenhagen drink carlsburg in a local visit the hippie region and smoke in a jazz bar or get up and borrow an instrument to join in, Amsterdam and smoke with the weirdos, hit the sex shows, prague and rave all night, Budapest, Berlin for the love parade, Paris for fashion week, Spain for fib heineken festival. Get a Europe train card and go mad! London and definately Edinburgh, perhaps Cardiff, be in the uk for Glastonbury festival! The options are limitless!
Aside from the fact that I wouldn't entertain that volume of alcohol, this is THE way to make your £5k stretch. I was gonna suggest South America. The States is a beautiful country, but a few weeks isn't gonna do justice to it. Just to see the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Yellowstone, Yosemite, San Fran, Big Sur, the Sequoias, the PCH down to LA, the desert and Tahoe would take you several weeks and that would be rushing and massively expensive. Also, you wouldn't get to take in much culture. Don't get me wrong, it'd be amazing and I've only done some of it! I just think you can do that anytime as a vacation later on. You can get tickets to go Peru and about, down to NZ, across to Oz and then a bit of South East Asia. It might be a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. What are you looking to get from your trip - really? If you just wanna hike, sightsee and look at animals you can do that virtually anywhere. What's the "real" reason for the trip?
Real reason. I have lived in one town for 17 years and I have been on 10 holidays, 2 to france to a beach, 2 to spain to a beach, one to the states for 10 days that was way to short to do it justice, and the rest skiing in the alps. I want to go on holiday without my parents, do what I want. See a lot more of the world, indulge in a higher amount of alcahol consumption than usual, see some sights, and chill out before uni starts.
Bloody good plan I reckon. If you do end up in NZ see my tips in wonka's thread (linked above) for a couple of cool spots.
Ok then! For a guy who's lived in one town, you've been to a hell of a lot of places. Consider yourself fortunate. Most people down here haven't even been to Devon. If you want to last a whole year before uni, the states has to go I'm afraid. It's just too damned expensive. If you want to see a lot more of the world, drink more, see sights and chill. Then South America, South East Asia and the former Eastern Block are your friends (not necessarily in that order)!
Without sounding stuck up - money is not a problem. I have recently come across a large amount of money which should cover most of uni, so the money I have for this can stay with this. South America appeals to me, inca trail definately. South East Asia and the former East Block (this is going to sound very nieve) what is there to do there? One thing I dont want this to be is an international pub crawl, sure, im up for drinking, but I dont need to pay to fly around the world to do it.
I was only going on the budget you set. If you want "stuff to do" go to the US and do what you originally talked about. It'll blow your mind and you can drink like a fish in Vegas, LA, and San Fran inbetween. South East Asia and Eastern Europe are places to see for different reasons, but they both offer very cheap accomodation and drinks, hence my recommendation. If you just wanna drink and "do stuff" - hit up the US, Oz and NZ. You'll have a blast. The rest of the world is about seeing it, taking it in and trying to understand it. Rather than just doing stuff and drinking. But it's up to you. Not trying to be funny. That's why I asked what the real reason was in the first place.
I do awnt to see different things. What I might do is check out south east asia because so many people reccomended it, and from what I have heard it is amazing to see the culture and try compleatly different things..
Would the 5k each be all your spending money and flights?! You may find you need to get yourself jobs in order to support yourselves. Sounds like you have quite a varied travel prospectus there , what about Asia too?
Bah, if you want to make the rounds on west coast US you'd be better of dropping California, simply too big. Nevada's not bad, Tahoe has both excellent hiking nearby and the city itself is quite a party... of course for the real deal Las Vegas is the ultimate tourist attraction. Once up out of Nevada you could swing by Yellowstone, which really is a treat. After that Washington and get some real hiking done. Simply stunning rainforests here along with rugged alpine terrain that's more akin to what you'd seen in Nevada. You could even take some coastal trails that follow the Pacific. For skiing, there are several good mountains around, but to keep the trip moving you could head up to Canada, fancy yourself skiing like an Olympic competitor! Victoria and Vancouver are great cities. Maybe not as much a party as LA or something but you'd be hard pressed not to find some canucks ready to drink! Just my suggestion
