New RTW traveler, trying to plan but need direction

[canadianbunny]

I've recently made the final decision to travel. I have most of my lonely planets and right now I'm just researching the countries and finding out about places I *have* to go. This is my first time doing an independent travel, and for this long- I'm a bit stuck now as to what I should do next. Its cool to read about all these places, but how do I start doing the grunge work (I read on a thread that 6+ months of travel out of Canada can cause you to lose your health insurance?! I'm so sheltered. lol) !?

I'm giving myself 12-14 months abroad, and ideally I'd like to visit these places, in this order, and stay in them for about 4 months: Central America, South America, Australia/New Zealand (I suppose 2 months each or so) and Southeast Asia.
Is this fairly realistic/do-able? We are planning on buying cheap last minute plane tickets when we want to fly to a new continent... I've heard that RTW tickets are good but restrictive, and can be pricy. The point of my taking a year off for travel is to just be totally free from any restrictions or stresses... I'd prefer to do a sort of 'as the wind blows' travel. Again, is this realistic- something that people do?

Is this 'order of go' realistic? Can I start basing my research off this general itinerary... i.e. so I can start looking at the types of clothing I might need to bring? I suppose New Zealand and Southern Australia are probably the least like the other areas in terms of temperature ... but I'm Canadian- I can deal with cold , or what some might describe as "cold"...

All this talk of visas makes me feel like I should go back to kindergarten and start over... does any one have any websites to suggest, equivalent to something like "Visas for Dummies!" ?

Clearly I have a lot to research and learn about, but I'm not leaving until about April 2010, so I've got a good year to start learning!!

Also: would you guys suggest to start buying little things here and there for my travels? I'm a student working 2 part time jobs, so money is an issue. I feel like if I blow all my money at once just before I go, it will be a bigger pain then if I can buy things little at a time, and also ask for things for b-day/christmas. Suggestions?

Thanks for all your help

[worldwidemike]

Actually, the places you picked are pretty good as far as climate goes. Central America and Southeast Asia are going to be warm year round. It is South America and New Zealand/Oz that will have the unusual temperatures. I would try to time it so you hit South America in their summer, so that you can catch cool stuff like Patagonia without freezing your butt off.

When do you plan on leaving, and we can start to work from there...?

As for Canadian insurance questions, we have a lot of them here on the Boards, and they should be able to answer that portion...

worldwidemike

[canadianbunny]

Hi Mike, thanks for the response!! I'm planning on leaving sometime in April, so it will be summer/spring in central america (do they have spring?)- but it seemed logical to just go straight down into south america after that. So I guess that works out perfectly because it should be end of winter in South America. Sweet! That means summer in NZ and Oz too, thats perfect, no?

[mooloo]

Summer in NZ is dec - feb although our best weather tends to be feb-mar,

Depends where you go in OZ but i've been to the gold coast / sunshine coast & melbourne in march / april and apart from a bit of rain in melbourne it has been pretty warm.

Warm in NZ would be like high 20's early 30's (celcius) depending on where your going, and in the north island unless your at the mountain things are unlikely to get past freezing although definately bring a jersey it can be pretty cold in the mornings and at night here when its not summer.

[worldwidemike]

Well, if you spend about 3 months in each, that works out roughly to:

Central America - April-June
South America - July-September
Oz/NZ - October-December
SE Asia - January-March

Of course, I don't know how your flights are arranged, so this may be out of order. The only possible point that's not so well arranged is hitting S. American in its winter. It can be cold in some parts of S. America, but if you hit the more tropical regions first, and then get down to Chile/Argentina towards the end of your stay, that might not be too bad. Plus, as you said, you're Canadian. So, their cold may seem kind of wimpy to you!

I think it sounds like an excellent plan, and I would proceed with buying your RTW ticket, if you haven't already...

worldwidemike

[canadianbunny]

Hi RTWMike!

Great thank you- yeah thats roughly the itinerary. I spoke to one dude and he made me a bit sad and said thats alot of places to visit... do you think its 'rushed' or too ambitious to want to do all these places in 12-14 months?

In terms of RTW tickets... this is where I'm lost. We want our trip to be really lenient and just do what we feel like. Is it plausible/possible/wise to buy last minute tickets when we want to leave? We were thinking of having general rules like from March 10th-March25th we want to have left X and be in Y. Is that realistic?

Thanks

[simply_angelic]

Originally Posted by canadianbunny

I read on a thread that 6+ months of travel out of Canada can cause you to lose your health insurance?!

I see you're from ontario. I looked into this as well, before my last big trip to Africa. The way OHIP works is that you have just under 7 months out of our province or country before you have to re-apply. You're guaranteed it when you get back if you're still an eligible canadian citizen, but it takes like 3 months to process your application, whcih basically means you'll be un-insured for that amount of time (not ideal...especially if you pick up any diseases while you're gone). BUT you can apply for up to a 2 year leave of absence, and when you get back you'll still have OHIP. You can take it only once in your life though, which kind of sucks. Just go to the ministry of health & fill out all the applications. I can't remember what it's called but I'm sure the ministry people will know what I'm talking about when you go. I'd bring at least 2 pieces of ID if you can, just in case it's necessary (you never know with government stuff)...

As for the purchasing of items, I think you pretty much answered your own question. You should do it in pieces if that suits your personality better. Personally, I can never get it together soon enough for that to happen, but C'est la vie.

Hope that helps & good luck,


-Laura

[worldwidemike]

Originally Posted by canadianbunny

do you think its 'rushed' or too ambitious to want to do all these places in 12-14 months?

Nah. I think you shouldn't plan on being gone for any longer. You never know for sure how a year on the road is going to affect you. Not everybody can take it -- everybody is different. So, your more lenient planning is the way to go on this long of a trip. After five months you may need to settle down for awhile, and find some cool place to hang out for a month or so...recharge the batteries, so to speak.

And as far as not being able to see "everything," you will likely never be able to see EVERYTHING, no matter how long you're gone and how small the area you're traveling. Something will always be left off. So, instead, pick out what you want to see, what excites your interest, and go from there. To feel that there is somewhere an official travelers checklist to a certain area or country, and that if you haven't seen everyplace on the list you haven't really seen it, well, that's wrong thinking. Everybody is different. I love ancient history, ruins, temples, forts, etc. A week going from castle to castle in a country may be heaven for me, while others may be "castled out" after a couple days.

So, don't let other folks' opinions on what you must see get you down. Take them in the vein as suggestions, instead. Jot down their ideas, research them on your own, and see if you think they are a "must see." Only you know what your own "must sees" are...

worldwidemike

[canadianbunny]

Thanks worldwidemike (sorry.... I definately got your name wrong like 5 times before this lol...) and Laura!!

Another question...not related to itineraries and things like that- the rents. parents.... who are not into travelling at all, if they could live in a small hole with a bullet proof door and 17 locks- they would.

My mother thinks that going on a backpacking trip will ruin my life.... I'm old enough to make my own decisions I know that... but its hard to know that she doesn't approve of it. Not like its going to affect my decision, but have you guys or anyone else dealt with this? She sends me e-mails about backpackers getting murdered or arrested, and is making me feel guilty for stressing her out (?!??!!). They have always been like this- I've traveled on my own 3 times, and they made a big fuss every time...but this one will probably cause the biggest problem (haven't told my dad yet).

How do you deal with disaproving parents/friends/family? Like I said, I wont' let her opinions change my ideas, but its annoying to have that in your ear or get an e-mail about a canadian backpacker getting kidnapped.

[simply_angelic]

^ I think this is something everyone on the boards have dealt with. There are entire threads dedicated to just this concept (do a quick search). Hell, every time I hit up a new country in Africa my mom would tell me to come home. And there's nothing you can really do or say to change their minds. If they're going to worry, they're going to worry.

[canadianbunny]

thanks simply_angelic- I'll go search for the threads

[worldwidemike]

Yeah, some parents are more vocal than others, but most of them worry when their son or daughter is far away and they are unable to help them (or not know when or if they need help). It's a natural reaction...part of that whole parenting thing.

However, you simply have to let them know that, statistically, you will be safer traveling overseas than if you'd stayed home and driven your car on the freeways. Thousands of people die in car accidents on a daily basis, yet most parents don't prevent us from driving. I'll bet your own family is proof. Do you or your folks know anyone's who's been killed in an automobile accident? I do, my uncle was...and in another accident, a cousin put in a wheelchair for life. However, as many travelers that I've met and know, I know of NO ONE who has been kidnapped or killed while overseas.

Statistically, you are safer backpacking through Europe than driving on the interstate in your own town. Don't know if your parents will believe that, but it is true.

worldwidemike

[millmuff]

Hey canadianbunny,

Sorry I'm a little behind on your thread. It's been a long time since I've been around the forum!

First off your in the right place if your looking for a little bit of help here and there. I came here a few years back in planning a RTW trip for myself. The advice, and more importantly the support, was extremely helpful in the year and a bit leading up to my trip. You should be able to see a few posts from a few years back about my planning, I'm sure it and other peoples post's will answer a lot of questions you have. Let's face it though, going through hundreds of old posts is tough so feel free to ask anything.

I can tell just from reading exaclty how you feel on certain issues, the main thing is to not let all the small thing's build up and make the planning of your trip stressful. Theres going to be a lot of thing's get in your way from now until you head out. Remeber this...... just know that the minute you board that first plane it will have all been worth it.

So first thing. Even after narrowing down countries and regions you want to visit it's hard to really get going until you have that date or ticket to your first location. I found this one of the most stressful parts of planning because you have to take some what of a leap. I wouldn't rule out any possibility in terms of booking. I found the more flexible you try to be in terms of booking the more expensive it became, but there are loop holes here and there. I ended up tweaking things about a hundred times before I eventually settled on a RTW ticket with the Alliance group. They can be pricey but I was able to guestimate my dates and set them before booking which brought the price down a huge amount compared to an open ticket. If you want I can get the details but it should be on another post in the RTW section in regards to RTW tickets and their pros and cons. The idea of having flexible dates and finding seat sales is an attractive one and probably works in a lot of cases, but when it back fires you can be left with a tough situation. The only ticket I didn't have booked was a flight home from anywhere in europe (that's how flexible I was), and it cost me nearly 2000 to fly out of London back to Canada. It was right when the recession hit and no one was traveling. That 2000 was half the price of my RTW ticket that consisted of around 7 flights across the globe. So just be aware of that. The point I'm trying to make is every situation is different and unless money is not an option you migh have to gamble a little. Try and set your time frame and get a few inital dates down, then go from there. Like I said I had dates set for flights almost a year in advance and by no way was my trip structured. I even changed several of them along the way (something they told me I wouldn't be allowed to do) for a small charge.

I'm running out of time here so I'll post a little more later. Once you get the initial timeline and flight plan out of the way you can really get down to the fun stuff.

[Manders]

Hi CanadianBunny, I completely understand what your going through. I've been planing my RTW for going on two years now ( stupid life keeps getting in the way) and for the longest time my grandmother swore, just swore that I was going to get bombed the instant I stepped off a plane and onto foreign soil. Strangely enough the cure to this was her watching the movie "the Bucket List". This trip, this dream is yours, your family stresses because they love you, but this ISN'T ABOUT THEM its about YOU. And that's kind of hard for loved ones to swallow. I have been accumulating gear here and there for what seems like forever now, and the only thing I can say for it is if I were to win the lotto tomorrow I would only have to buy a ticket. lol. Anyways, I have asked all these same questions in one form or another here and always gotten amazingly insightful answers. Enjoy the endless possibilities of planning.