<span title="Backpacking/travelling/gapyear">Backpacking/travelling/ga...</span> advice..?

Question

i am hoping to spend a year out travelling around the world, (still in very early stages!), but have a few questions for people who have done/are doing this, as it all seems abit easy in my head...any other information is also useful as im bound to have forgotten about some kind of important info!

Money. i dont have any. quite bad. but was thinking of saving a bit up first, and getting a loan out? anyone done this? realistic costs of a 12month trip?

i want to work when im away, such as fruit picking in Aus or bar work etc, but realistically how easy is it to actually find a job when travelling..?

i dont want to book a rtw ticket, as i just want to sort of take it as i find it. if i want to move on from a country as im not keen of the place or whatever reason, or on the other hand if i really like a certain place and want to stay there longer, i can do so easily rather than having to stick to a plan: again...realistic?

any other info is much appreciated. thank you...

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Answer 1

i agree with not getting a rtw ticket. that will just pressure you and time would not be in your control. But with the loan, I&#039;m not sure about that. I strongly advise that you save up first. About work, that differs from country to country. so that depends on where you want to go. Jobs are hard to get by in some countries and takes weeks before you get hired. so it&#039;s always good that you have backup cash. i know this site that can be helpful for first-time travelers  - socialtravellersite (dotcom) check it out

Answer 2

I would save up your money - don&#039;t take out a loan since the monthly repayments will start immediately and it is very hard to come back to debt.

You will be able to find small amounts of work when away but it won&#039;t be anything that pays that well and make sure that you sort out working visas before you leave.

The best and cheapest way of doing it is to book a round-the-world ticket. This is nomally £6-700 depending on where you want to go. You will need to book dates for your flights but I think you can change them when you are away. If you book individual flights when you are away it will be very expensive and not realistic at all. what happens if you run out of money when you are away - how do you get home?!

Answer 3

If I were you, I would postpone it a year and start saving. Taking out a loan will prove to be not only expensive, but might be hard too. Who will give you a loan if you have no steady income to support it? Asking a loan within your family could solve this problem, but how sure are you that you will be able to pay it back later if you can&#039; save money now either?

Countries like Australia and Canada have so-called Working Holiday visas for people who want to do some work when on a holiday of up to a year I think. You could fly to Canada, move from east to west (say you start out in Québec City or Montréal since travelling is easy from there) and work along the way. I would try to get some contracts beforehand though, since it will be difficult to just go knocking on doors for a little job. If you reach Vancouver, you can easily hop to some Asian countries, and from there on to Australia, where you can work with a Working Holiday visa again. If you&#039;re on a tight budget, I would suggest something like that, but you do have to save up a substantial amount.

A trip through &quot;poorer&quot; countries might be cheaper if you&#039;re not working, since accommodations will be much cheaper.

Oh by the way, besides all the travelling you will also have to spend a lot of money when still at home. Just think of vaccinations, equipment, insurances, etc. And will you have any costs at home when you&#039;re travelling? Will you have unpaid debts, running cell phone contracts or rent to pay?

I think you really have to dig deeper into this. I have been in Canada for 6 months now, and have been to South Korea before that, and it costs a lot believe me.

What I would recommend you is to study abroad for a year, which will probably give you government loans and scholarships. These are easier to repay, and you will learn a lot along the way. For more information about this, see the link below. It may notl be exactly what you want, but may prove to be a good compromise between going without money or not going at all :) I also added a link for some information about working in another country.

Feel free to contact me about any other information, or you can browse my website for loads of information about countries. I will give you a link to a contact page since I don&#039;t like putting my e-mailaddress on the website.

Answer 4

I&#039;ve been travelling myself and my best advice to you is to join the Lonely Planet forum. When I went travelling in 1996 I wasn&#039;t aware of the Lonely Planet forum and I read and re-read the Lonely Planet guide I took endlessly. But had I known about the forum, I would&#039;ve gone there and saved time by asking people who&#039;d been travelling themselves, all the question I needed answering. My best advice to you as a traveller is to join the Lonely Planet forum.

(With regards to money, if you don&#039;t have any then don&#039;t go. Put it off for a year and save hard. Even if you work abroad you still need savings to fall back on. No money - no travel).