Overseas backpacking for dummies (part 2): Planning your trip.
Okay. As stated before, some people like the idea of not planning your trip... and well, it is a good idea minus all of the associated risks involved. Now granted, some can get away with not spending as much time planning... depending on what time of year it is. But if you are young, adventurous, and ready to shake a leg and throw back some shots with other young, like minded people... you will want to go in the summer time in which case, you will want to plan. Summer time is the high season and it is so easy to meet many wonderful, beautiful, adventurous young people... just like you.
The first question you need to ask yourself is how long do you want to go for?:
During my stay, I came across groups of all shapes, sizes, and age groups all staying for different periods of time. There are certain things to take into account when asking how long does one wish to stay for. Some of these things are: how many places do you want to go, and for how long do you want to stay at them(we'll discuss later)? and What is your budget(we'll discuss later)? The longer you stay in a foreign country, especially a western European one, the more expensive it is... Guaranteed. While there are certainly cheap eats in Europe, not only does the conversion hurt, but Western Europe is also just numerically higher than the United States. Most people I came across on my trip averaged a total time of about 3 weeks. Personally i feel that three weeks is ideal as it gives you not too little time, but also not too much time as well. Me and my friend stayed there for four weeks which personally felt was a week too long. Jonathan's brother Fon, typically stays away from home for a few months... and by a few I can mean anywhere from two to eight... When one stays overseas for this long though, many times people will take up jobs to help compensate for meals, room and board expenses. However, I suggest you start with about three depending on how many countries you plan to visit. You can visit roughly four or five countries with three weeks... and comfortably so with four weeks.
Money matters: and don't think that it doesnt. For doing things on the cheap... and by cheap I mean cheap, I would suggest going along this table. If all of your hostels are pre booked, most places will honor the locked in rate that you booked it at. You will save booking money that way.
2 weeks = $1500 - $2000 (comfortably)
3 weeks = $2500 - $3000 (comfortably)
4 weeks = $3000 - $4000 (comfortably)
In a four week period, if you go in excess of $4000 you can do this trip at an extremely comfortable pace... Money matters will also dictate where you want to go. If you want to save money, you can do so by finding a friend's house to stay at (if you know any body) or avoid really expensive cities. By defining really expensive cities, i mean cities where you can make an entire vacation out of spending a week in that city with the budget you have for the entire trip. Expensive cities include: Nice (or anywhere on the French Riviera for that matter), Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, and most places in Switzerland. If you want to sustain more of your finances, eastern europe is a good bet for a cheap five star meal and a good place to rest your head... or so many backpackers say. If you want to cut your budget in the west, I suggest going to the supermarket and getting groceries. Groceries are cheap. You can purchase a liter of coke for cheaper than a small glass bottle of coke in a restaurant. The same applies for meats, snacks, and other consumables. If your hostel has a usable kitchen. Utilize it! you will be glad you did... and you can avoid spending gobs of money in really expensive places like Paris.
Here are the minimum rates for some western european countries.
Minimum budget per western european country (USD)
Spain: 50USD
France: 70 USD
Germany: 50-60
Great Britain*: 20-50USD
*Great Britain, while at a 2 to 1 scale with the United States, is not as numerically high as the United States on most things.
Where do you want to go?: Now here comes the fun part... While this series of posts details arranging a trip for Western Europe, it can be applied to anywhere that moves you. However, I would highly suggest a European (particularly a Western European country) for these reasons:
Next post we will talk about setting it all up so that it meshes together... bookings, boats, trains and aeroplanes!
The first question you need to ask yourself is how long do you want to go for?:
During my stay, I came across groups of all shapes, sizes, and age groups all staying for different periods of time. There are certain things to take into account when asking how long does one wish to stay for. Some of these things are: how many places do you want to go, and for how long do you want to stay at them(we'll discuss later)? and What is your budget(we'll discuss later)? The longer you stay in a foreign country, especially a western European one, the more expensive it is... Guaranteed. While there are certainly cheap eats in Europe, not only does the conversion hurt, but Western Europe is also just numerically higher than the United States. Most people I came across on my trip averaged a total time of about 3 weeks. Personally i feel that three weeks is ideal as it gives you not too little time, but also not too much time as well. Me and my friend stayed there for four weeks which personally felt was a week too long. Jonathan's brother Fon, typically stays away from home for a few months... and by a few I can mean anywhere from two to eight... When one stays overseas for this long though, many times people will take up jobs to help compensate for meals, room and board expenses. However, I suggest you start with about three depending on how many countries you plan to visit. You can visit roughly four or five countries with three weeks... and comfortably so with four weeks.
Money matters: and don't think that it doesnt. For doing things on the cheap... and by cheap I mean cheap, I would suggest going along this table. If all of your hostels are pre booked, most places will honor the locked in rate that you booked it at. You will save booking money that way.
2 weeks = $1500 - $2000 (comfortably)
3 weeks = $2500 - $3000 (comfortably)
4 weeks = $3000 - $4000 (comfortably)
In a four week period, if you go in excess of $4000 you can do this trip at an extremely comfortable pace... Money matters will also dictate where you want to go. If you want to save money, you can do so by finding a friend's house to stay at (if you know any body) or avoid really expensive cities. By defining really expensive cities, i mean cities where you can make an entire vacation out of spending a week in that city with the budget you have for the entire trip. Expensive cities include: Nice (or anywhere on the French Riviera for that matter), Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, and most places in Switzerland. If you want to sustain more of your finances, eastern europe is a good bet for a cheap five star meal and a good place to rest your head... or so many backpackers say. If you want to cut your budget in the west, I suggest going to the supermarket and getting groceries. Groceries are cheap. You can purchase a liter of coke for cheaper than a small glass bottle of coke in a restaurant. The same applies for meats, snacks, and other consumables. If your hostel has a usable kitchen. Utilize it! you will be glad you did... and you can avoid spending gobs of money in really expensive places like Paris.
Here are the minimum rates for some western european countries.
Minimum budget per western european country (USD)
Spain: 50USD
France: 70 USD
Germany: 50-60
Great Britain*: 20-50USD
*Great Britain, while at a 2 to 1 scale with the United States, is not as numerically high as the United States on most things.
Where do you want to go?: Now here comes the fun part... While this series of posts details arranging a trip for Western Europe, it can be applied to anywhere that moves you. However, I would highly suggest a European (particularly a Western European country) for these reasons:
- Reason 1, Singular Currency:You only have to worry about financing the Euro, and not having to switch currencies for all of the places you choose to go on your trip. Also you dont have to worry about running conversion numbers through your head for everywhere you go on your trip because it is one, solid (albeit crappy), rate.
- Reason 2, Governmental Stability: Okay, so not all places you go to outside of Europe are going to be politically instable, however, after some conversations with fellow travelers over some brewskis in London, I found out that many eastern european countries, despite their affordability, are incredibly corrupt. If you are a new traveler, you will have to get used to the language barrier, transportation, lodging, not getting robbed, and a bunch of other things which generally means that you dont want to have to worry about fleeing the country the next coup d'etat takes place.
- Reason 3, A good introduction to backpacking: Look at this experience as backpacking 101. It is the perfect tutorial on how to take care of yourself, set up a budget, and follow an itinerary.
- Reason 4, Free and open travel:Because most of western europe is in the EU, when you visit, you get free and open travel within the european union which means that you dont have to go through customs every time you go over a border and wait to get your passport stamped, and your bags checked.
Next post we will talk about setting it all up so that it meshes together... bookings, boats, trains and aeroplanes!
Labels: Tutorials
posted by Knowledge at 6:08 PM
1 Comments:
Hello Friend,
wow, you must have one good scheme of organization to keep your travel arrangements so well planned. . .haha. if I could do that I probably would have been saved me a few dozen nights of sleeping with my head in the mud haha. Just wanted to send my greetings.
Walk Slow,
Wade
Song of the Open Road Travelogue
Cancion del Vagabundo Website
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