Where to start traveling RTW??? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

CLBlack · 12-04-2006, 12:25 AM

I quit work back in June and have been playing poker for a living since-- everythings been fine paying my rent and filling the belly, but since I made my first journey abroad in August I've felt like I should take all my money I've saved up and do a Round the World trip before I head back to a regular job (the stress of a fulltime poker player is not sustainable)...so I come to you all to irk you with questions on how the eff i will go about booking this...

I'd like to spend some time: possibly working in Australia for a couple of months, possibly volounteer in Africa, and possibly travel with a group in places like Hong Kong or Tokyo, Thailand, and anywhere in South America.

In August I spent a little over a week traveling alone in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain before meeting up with a friend in London...and while I did meet some cool people, I'm looking to possibly meet a group of friends on a less casual note and get to know people more-- working or volounteering in one place for a few months at a time would give me that opportunity. Also, while I am friendly, I did often find it intimidating being alone trying to meet people and "latching on" to a whole other group of people, esp. since Europe in the summer is usually people in groups of 2-4. I don't mind if the people I meet abroad are other traveling Americans (rarer than the Dodo bird itself) or people from other places (although I'd like to make friends with people from other countries to understand cultural differences/show that not all Americans are fat, lazy, GWBushloving, ignorant jerkoffs

)

I'm just wondering as a 24 year old American who has a bachelor's degree in Finance (Class of '05), what are my best options for booking this? STATravel.com seems bets for a young American to book tickets and obtain visas, but I'm still somewhat confused on how it all works...I mean should I seek out a roomate or will I be living out of a hostel? What is an ideal temp job for someone like me (if it helped in meeting people that would be a plus)? Is it possible for me to book something huge all at once like a 6 destination RTW ticket with a 3 month Aussie working visa + possibly a spot in an African volounteer program??? I'm open to any types of work....I really just don't know where to start on all of this.

Also, along the way, I'd like to at least try a travel group with other English-speaking people when visiting somewhere like Tokyo where language might be a problem, and even to visit other places where it would just be fun to have a group with me (like Thailand).

I have good friends at home but they are too deep into their office jobs that every young American seems obligated to accept and grind out their college debt, and are unwilling to take a risk for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...Any links, stories, suggestions, etc can be posted for all to see, or you can email me your whole freekin' RTW story if you have done so: christopherleeblack@hotmail.com

ty in advance and much apologies for my longwindedness,
obligatory smiley--

,

CL

**U2fan** · 12-04-2006, 05:39 AM

Your plan sounds exciting. You'll want to check out bunac for your visas (4 month to Oz and I think volunteer up to 8 weeks in S. Africa) and then there are lots of options for RTW tickets, none of which besides STA I am too familiar with unfortunately.

As far as where to stay/meeting people...there are loads of people for example in say Australia who are on working holiday. If you're going to be in a place for more than a few weeks, you probably want some longer term housing. It's very easy to find such accommodation on sites like www.gumtree.com.

Hmm, I can't think of much else to add. I lived in Tokyo and Sydney for awhile and have lived/spent time in S. America and Thailand too, so if you want more site specific suggestions feel free to ask!