So many places to go
 

I've been living at an intentional community in Missouri since September, minus a 4 week adventure to Columbus and Delaware (home state). Needless to say, I'm getting antsy. Life is grand living at a 'hippie commune' but the human drama that naturally occurs can take its toll. Also, the fact that I'm a wanderer by nature doesn't help in letting me settle down. I'm starting to feel the need to move on and see what, or who, is in the next town.

My tentative (tentative being a keyword) plan is to stay here at the IC until April 18th (ish). I'm probably going to Langerado Music Festival in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in March and then to a Schwag Fest on April 20th (yeah, fun fest). After the Schwag event I'm going to hitch up to St Louis and catch the Greyhound (or a ride) to Delaware. I'm probably going to stay there until the end of August. My grandfather is still recovering from cancer and my grandma passing away in July; so I'm probably going to live with him. He already told me I could live there rent free and I'd help him with his medication and house chores so my dad and aunt don't have to take off work to help. Probably do a clinical trial or donate some eggie-weggies to get a few grand. Hit up a few of the big festivals by working them or sneaking in. A have a friend whose mom lives in London and he's trying to get a group of our friends to go over in late April, so I may try to swing that for two weeks or so. After all that, back OVERSEAS! Now, the reason why this is posted in this thread, I need some advice. Well, more like an opinion. Where should I go?

Keep in mind the way I travel. I'd get a WWOOF membership and probably travel where ever I go for about two weeks and then settle at a farm or hostel to work for keep for a few months only to move on when the urge hits. Travel for a few weeks and settle again. Money isn't too big of an issue because of traveling this way. WWOOF farms are work exchanges, with some requiring you to buy your own food. So my budget is really only providing for travel between stops and any luxury things I want to do (Scuba cert, skydive, etc). I just want to save up some cash so I don't have to worry about being broke. This is long term travel. Ideally, I wouldn't like to see myself come home for at least a year. I have no obligations to anyone, other than my mom still wanting me to finish college. So here's my top choices (tell me what cha think):

- Hawaii: The big island has several WWOOF farms and ICs where I could happily reside for the better part of a year. Also, good place to hitch yachts & barges to Asia/Australia.

- Back to Central America: I left so many sites and places unseen and really want to go back. This time I'd start in Cancun and take a month of Spanish lessons first in Guatemala. Work my way to Costa Rica and look up a few of my contacts there.

- Australia and NZ: Who doesn't want to travel there? Birthplace of WWOOF, with too many farms to imagine. Downfall, I can only get 6 month visas for each :( I'm not sure if that's only once in a lifetime so I kinda want to save them up if they are.

- Asia: I'm leaning more towards doing this trip after Oz and NZ, so that way I can hitch a boat to where ever I want to go.

What to do?

If you're trying not to be broke I hear many countries in Asia are relatively inexpensive to travel in. If you're thinking of doing that after Oz and NZ, then that's my vote.... Do Oz and NZ for however long then hop on a boat and head to Asia and wander around. That sounds awesome.

Cancun is fun, but I've only enjoyed it from the typical spring breaker style with the all-inclusive resort thing. Chichen-Itza is like a 2 hour bus ride from Cancun though and is imperative if you have not yet seen the Mayan ruins. If you're trying to learn Spanish that's a good place to start though cos so many locals speak both English and Spanish there. I took several years of Spanish in HS and college, so when I was outside Cancun, I only spoke Spanish and the dialect there is so basic ans easy to understand (other dialect of Spanish are insaine, like Cuban Spanish.... it's so difficult to understand). So Central America could be cool too, and you could even venture down to South America if you wanted.

Either of those sound awesome, but my vote is with Oz/NZ/Asia. Though fronting the cost to fly there is much more expensive than flying to Cancun. We flew to Cancun for like 250 bucks out of Columbus when we went.

I think the Oz/NZ then Asia plan sounds the best to me. There is a large population of foreign travelers in NZ and Oz working on the farms, fruit picking or whatever. You would probably enjoy that scene. Australia is just awesome and I want to go back so badly. You could certainly do your SCUBA/Skydiving thing up in Cairns. If you could save some cash, Asia is cheap. You could hang in Thailand or Cambodia for a long time with small amounts of money.

If you do central america, keep in mind Cancun is not cheap, it's almost U.S. prices for most things, so I am not sure how long you want to stay there. Nicole is right, the airfare to Oz or NZ will probably cost you $1,500, which is a lot and a consideration you have to make. If you can get the money together, that is where I would recommend because it is fantastic over there.:cheers:

Can you explain this WWOF thing? I've heard of it but I don't know a lot about it.

Check out http://www.wwoof.org!

I agree Amber...so many frickin' choices. Is there anything that you are particularly drawn to? You probably know best - trust your instinctual passion! :)

I'm personally intrigued by Latin America, having been there and loved it (as you know for yourself too!), and obviously the cheaper airfare..and good diving, and just cheapness in general! I also enjoy the chance to learn a new language (Latin America is good for that because Spanish is EVERYWHERE, as opposed to each country being different in say, SEA), although working on a rural farm without being able to communicate well with hosts might be lonely. In which case OZ/NZ would obviously be better.

When you say Asia I assume you mean south-east-asia, or are you planning the whole China/Japan/Korea shebang, or the Indian sub-continent? Or all of it?

Aight, I'm sort of rambling but I hope you figure out what you want to do my dear. :)

There's a post all about WWOOF in the Volunteer/Working Overseas Forum. Just hit the search link at the top of this page and type in "WWOOF".

I'm leaning more towards Central America right now. I really feel like I left a whole lot of land un-covered which I did. Hwei you were there like a month and saw the whole area minus Panama...and I was there for almost three and didn't leave the same town! I wouldn't dream of staying in Cancun for longer than a few nights to get adjusted to culture shock. Maybe try to snag a cheap flight to Cuba while I'm there, though. I'd probably head straight for Belize, stopping at a few ruins along the way, and cross in Guatemala shortly there-after.

I meant Asia as a whole. If I got half way around the world, why not travel that area until I can't travel anymore. I'd start in SE Asia but I'd love to see every foot of every place. I really want to go to Japan, Mongolia, China...I want to go every where there's no point in listing.

Bah! I can never make up my mind!!

I heart Central America. I was there for over two months and still left a LOT unseen! You know that anywhere you end up going, it'll be awesome though - that's the beauty of these choices. ;)

My policy is...if I want to go absolutely everywhere, I make my choices based on what's most convenient/cheapest at that moment.

id start in hawaii, hitch on a boat to nz, do your six months there, then 6 in aus, then get a cheap $100 flight to asia.

I would probably choose Central America because I wouldn't want the feelings of "what if I had gone to Central America instead"/"I wish I could have seen more of..."/etc following me through Asia. Know what I mean?

I think it really depends on how longterm you're willing to go. I know you said at least a year but if you're thinking more along the lines of simply 1 year then heading back, you're probably better off with central america because it will be easier to get back whenever you want.

My vote's for oz/nz/asia or even hawaii/asia (except hawaii's pretty expensive I've heard) if you plan on going for a looooong ass time. There is just so much to see and do there that will be so different from everything before it that I think you'll really never get bored and be excited to continue on and keep moving.