Travels with my laptop

Photo by Frabuleuse

Great things happen when you just decide you’re going somewhere, buy a plane ticket and worry about it later. My favourite method for buying tickets is to sing to myself “La la, I can’t hear you”, as I type my credit card no. in, which works suprising well to silence my ‘sensible’ side.

However when planning a round the world trip or a multi-stop ticket, a little planning is well advised to ensure you make the most of the time and money you have available to you (of course if someone offers you a free one-way ticket to china tomorow, you should take it, run and don’t look back!)

1. Think about where you want to go – write up your dream list. It might not be practical to do everything in one trip but it’s a starting point for a more structured itinerary. My dream destination was Tibet so I started planning my rtw trip with a starting point of Tibet and Nepal. At the time I booked my ticket, the political situation in Tibet meant travel there was impossible. So I started thinking about other alternatives and ended up booking an overland trip through India to Nepal – even though India was somewhere I’d never considered before. Now it looks like I might be going to India and Tibet – a bit of brainstorming away from your dead-set destinations could make wonderful things happen! If you’re stuck for a bit of inspiration, try a few hours browsing around the lonely planet website or some travel blogs – just google ‘travel blog’ and browse away!
2. Think about how long you want to travel for – you might not have a clue but it helps to have a rough idea – a couple of months? a year? longer? are you taking a career break and coming back to your job or are you trying to escape the rat race for good? Are you going to visit the top destinations of the countries on your list and move on or do you want to settle in and get the real feel of how it is to live somewhere and maybe stay put for a month or more? Not an easy thing to decide until you get there maybe but it will affect…
3. How much money do you need? It’s very helpful to work out a rough daily budget for the places you intend on visiting before you leave and then you’ll know how much you need to save up before you go or how long you can stay in each place before your money starts running out. You can always top this up by working as you go along if necessary but trust me, you won’t be a happy bunny if you end up spending all your money 3 months into a year long trip! Your daily budget will depend on where you are and how extravagantly you’re living. You can get by in Southeast asia on a few pounds a day if you’re staying in the cheapest accommodation, eating street food and only enjoying the nightlife occassionaly. On the flipside, if you’re staying in average hotels in Europe, going out most nights and eating in restaurants, you could easily spend £100 a day (Tip – don’t go to Iceland if you’re on a budget!)
4. When do you want to leave? - this is dependent on several factors:
   • The places you’re going: It’s best not to visit India during the Monsoon season or The Caribbean during Hurricane season, so try to factor this into your plans when you’re deciding on your itinerary.
   • Your committments before you leave: This may be work or personal related. I had several things I wanted to be in the UK for, such as a friend’s wedding, before I left on my trip. You may also be restricted by rental contracts and various other things. Make sure you take these all into consideration and plan a realistic leaving date.
   • The amount of money you need to save: work out how much you can save per month. Take your total rough trip budget, as calculated above and divide it by your monthly savings – this is how long you’ll need to save until you have enough money. If this seems too long, you can speed it up by making more money! See my previous post for some ideas.
5. Decide on your route – once you’ve worked out where you want to go, when you want to be there and how long you can afford to stay there, you should have a rough idea of your route. It’s best to put your stops in one direction around the globe, as zigzagging back and forth can add a lot to the price of your tickets. Your travel agent will be able to advise you on different variations of route and you may be able to add in a few extra stops for around the same price ticket.
6. Buy your ticket – Get a few different quotes before you go ahead and book. There are several companies specialising in RTW tickets and you will probably get wildly differing quotes. STA Travel are a popular company for RTW travel and have lots of offices so it’s easy to go in and talk to someone face to face. Don’t assume they’ll be the cheapest though! Trailfinders is another popular company, offering a range of RTW tickets. Remember that the cheapest ticket may not always be the best deal – check that you can change your dates while you’re travelling and if there is a charge for this. You may want to arrange overland trips to coincide with your flight times and it will be easier to do this through one company that can arrange both. I booked my ticket through Travel Nation and I’ve been very happy with them so far – they’ve dealt with all my queries quickly, sorted me visas and accommodation, incorporated my slightly unusual route and saved me several hundred pounds on my ticket. If you’ve decided to go buy one-way tickets as you go, rather than a rtw ticket, use a site like Skyscanner to search for the best deals.

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