Travel FAQ
Amy & Kev
01.11.2009 1 °F
Since the day we decided to take this trip, everyone more or less asks us the same questions over and over again. Hopefully this will answer many of the burning questions that we know you all have:
How long are you traveling for?
We are traveling for roughly four-and-a-half months. We leave for New Zealand on January 12, 2009 and we return from Europe on May 28, 2009.
Where are you going?
We are spending our first month in New Zealand and Sydney, Australia; then six weeks in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Hong Kong); one month in Eastern Europe (Amsterdam, Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Slovenia, and Croatia); one month in Turkey and Greece; and then we then head home after four days in Paris.
How much flexibility will you have in where you go?
We have booked our flights in and out of the three main regions we are visiting (New Zealand/Australia, Southeast Asia, and Europe), and we have mapped out a rough plan for our time within these regions. But we have definitely left ourselves with a ton of flexibility and spontaneity. If we find a place we love, we’ll stay longer. If we hate it, we’ll move on quickly. And if we get tired of traveling, we’ll spend more time in the places we visit—or just find the nearest tropical beach and chill out in the sun for a while.
How did you choose those particular places?
Our primary criteria was to find (1) places that we could afford to visit for an extended period (i.e, places where the U.S. dollar still means something), (2) places where we were unlikely to otherwise visit once we start a family (i.e., places that are a bit more out of the way), and, finally, (3) places where we could see and do a lot of different things without requiring a ton of travel (we felt that we would get burned out if we were on the go too often). We settled on New Zealand/Australia because Amy pretty much demanded it. And, since Amy has never visited there, we couldn’t omit Europe entirely (hello Eastern Europe!) Plus, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia provide access to many different countries and experiences—with minimal (and easy) travel.
We initially included Central Asia on our itinerary (India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives), but we ultimately decided that six months of travel might be too long—so those places got left out.
What places are you most excited about?
Wow, tough call…. Amy is most excited about New Zealand. And Kevin, if you twist his arm, would probably say Turkey or Laos. (And would probably have a different answer if you asked him tomorrow.) But we’re extremely excited about each and every country on our itinerary.
Did you have to quit your jobs?
Yes, we did. Both of us requested an unpaid leave of absence from our employers…. and both of us were denied. We will have to quit our jobs and then re-apply when we return.
The nation’s economy is in a deep recession, and you’ve decided to quit your jobs to travel? You must be nuts.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the fear of regret is a powerful motivation. We can find jobs when we return. But we’ll never find experiences like those that lay ahead on our trip.
How can you afford a trip like this?
It’s not as difficult as might think. Long-term travel is available to people of almost all budgets, occupations, and means. The key is simply to pick the right locations. For example, for the average cost of a long weekend in Hawaii, you could instead spend a month in Thailand living in a beachfront bungalow ($12 per night), getting a daily massage on the beach ($5 per hour), eating like a king (good luck spending more than a few bucks on a meal), and enjoying some of the best scuba diving in the world ($25 for two dives). Tough to beat.
Plus, the U.S. Dollar has finally bounced back in the past few months against most of the world’s currencies. New Zealand and Australia are more than 25 percent cheaper than just six months ago; Turkey and the Czech Republic are 20 percent cheaper; Poland is down 26 percent; etc., etc. The world is on sale!
Did you buy a round-the-world plane ticket?
No, we did not. We were lucky enough to use frequent flier miles for our two flights in and out of the U.S. (thank you, Jenn and Rob!), and our original plan was to then buy a multi-destination ticket from AirTreks.com. However, thanks to the rise of budget airlines (especially in Asia and Europe), we ultimately decided it was cheaper to book everything separate on our own. Much of the world has budget airlines that you often won’t find on Expedia or Travelocity. Check out AirAsia and JetStar for Asia, Virgin Blue for Australia, and SkyEurope and EasyJet for Europe. (We have priced 17 different flights for our trip, and the wide majority of the flights are $75 or less.)
Uh, you're calling this an "excellent" adventure?
It's a Bill and Ted thing.
OK, any parting words?
Let's go with some wise words from Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
Exactly.
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Alright, that’s it for now. There are probably a slew of obvious questions that we didn’t answer yet---but we’ll post another FAQ sometime soon, we promise. Our next post will be from New Zealand!
Posted by amyandkev 12:52 PM Archived in Preparation | USA Comments (0)
