Travel ideas

[meltodowno]

Hi fellow playgrounders, after a bit of a think tank, if I may ?

See, as it is, I have just got my first passport, having not left the country since I was a child many moons ago. So, I have some catching up to do and I would like to do some travelling, and to that intent I am putting together a scrapbook of sorts of places I'd like to go ..... and I'd love to get some suggestions from around the globe.

Here are some guidelines

- I'm not overly rich, so budget idea's are better.
- I'm probably going to be travelling alone, so idea's that work for solo's are best.
- I value experience as high as a value adventure, but I'm not one for just lounging around on holiday.
- I love the idea of doing some charity work (like, I dunno, the 'help build a house for the community' things)
- I'd love to hit up some of the big conventions whilst I'm traveling (RPG, movie, larp ... whichever ... :smallsmile: )

So yeah, I'd love some idea's to add to my scrapbook, if anyone could oblige?

[Corlindale]

If you want to start by catching up on Europe, you might consider getting a one month Interrail pass. This will let you travel around most of Europe freely within the period, which should end up being cheaper than buying individual tickets if you want to visit many different places. Lodgings are still a concern, of course (but I guess you could try couchsurfing, if you're really on a tight budget).

This will also make it easy to reach whatever big events may be going on around Europe within this month, if you plan carefully.

I haven't tried Interrail myself, but those of my friends who have always speak of it as a huge, life-changing experience for them.

[Flickerdart]

Once you get to Eastern Europe, you'll be surprised how rich you suddenly feel. The Romanians say it best - "our draft beer is cheaper than your bottled water." (http://www.channel4.com/news/come-to-romania-our-women-all-look-like-kate)

[thorgrim29]

Yeah, I was shocked at the price of vodka when i went to a grocery story in Poland.

About your ideas... Not sure, maybe you could plan a train journey, visit a lot of places (youth hostels are your friends here) and end up on a beach in the Tchech Republic?

[meltodowno]

If you want to start by catching up on Europe, you might consider getting a one month Interrail pass. This will let you travel around most of Europe freely within the period, which should end up being cheaper than buying individual tickets if you want to visit many different places. Lodgings are still a concern, of course (but I guess you could try couchsurfing, if you're really on a tight budget).

This will also make it easy to reach whatever big events may be going on around Europe within this month, if you plan carefully.


Wow, that looks fantastic (and also more than a little bit confusing once you start paging through the 'how do I do it' pages :smalltongue: )

Budget isn't tight tight, but cheaper is better so I can save up and visit more places :smallbiggrin:



Once you get to Eastern Europe, you'll be surprised how rich you suddenly feel. The Romanians say it best - "our draft beer is cheaper than your bottled water." (http://www.channel4.com/news/come-to-romania-our-women-all-look-like-kate)

Fair point, but I've heard a lot of horror stories about some places (I believe there was a travel warning against going to romania a couple of years ago due to a spate of kidnappings ?



About your ideas... Not sure, maybe you could plan a train journey, visit a lot of places (youth hostels are your friends here) and end up on a beach in the Tchech Republic?

Any particular reason on the czech republic? Anywhere you've been and would recommend ?


-----------------------------------------

One of the things I've been looking at are sights like explore (https://www.explore.co.uk/about-us/about-explore-adventures/holidays-for-solo-travellers) , where you sign on as part of a group of solo travellers for a tour. Anyone had any experience with those ?

[thorgrim29]

Any particular reason on the czech republic? Anywhere you've been and would recommend ?

From what I hear there's a ton of beach related parties there

[Closet_Skeleton]

The Czech republic is landlocked.

[meltodowno]

Then the beach parties must truly be legendary ! lol.

[thorgrim29]

River cruises maybe? Or I'm confusing it for another country "looking it up"... Oh Croatia. I was thinking of Croatia.

[Bulldog Psion]

I was in Turkey briefly once. I was only there for a day, but the place looked interesting and the prices weren't outrageous. You can also buy a visa in the airport on arrival, for $20 if I recall correctly. A lot of nice coastal towns there, I believe. The Russians go there for their vacations all the time because it's kind of like a giant seaside resort around a lot of the coastline, from what I gather from my in-laws, with decently affordable prices and a good climate in the warmer months.

[thorgrim29]

You can also buy a visa in the airport on arrival, for $20 if I recall correctly

That is not the case anymore, you have to get a visa by the internet, costs about 60 USD

[Bulldog Psion]

That is not the case anymore, you have to get a visa by the internet, costs about 60 USD

Wow, they changed it recently, then. I was there in 2013 and was able to buy the visa in the airport when I arrived. How things change in 2 years. :smalleek:

Sorry for accidentally disseminating incorrect information.

[Flickerdart]

Fair point, but I've heard a lot of horror stories about some places (I believe there was a travel warning against going to romania a couple of years ago due to a spate of kidnappings ?
Everywhere has crime. You always want to be informed about where you're going.

[Yogesh789]

What should be requirement for applying viza for UK, suggest me, if someone from Uk here ???????


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[Murk]

If you're looking for a little bit more activeand down-to-earth, I'd propose a well-used cycling or walking route somewhere. Especially if you choose one of the busier routes, you'll find plenty of other solo travellers who are often willing to join up for one, two days, and then go separate ways again.

One I haven't done yet, but was always interested in, is the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella. From the UK, train tickets to Vichy won't cost too much, and from there on if you have some solid cycling experience, you can finish the route in less then a month. You'll come across some nice historic towns, lot of nature, and pretty friendly people. Fun fact: if you've got a pilgrims pass, no matter if you're actually religious or not, a lot of the hostels, hotels and campings along the route give you big discounts (say, a pound or five for a bed, dinner and breakfast).

There's some popular cycling routes along the Rhine, too. Even inexperienced you can cycle some 60 km per day, which means in seven days you can see Mainz, Worms, Bonn and Cologne, all interesting cities, some awesome nature, and the infamous Lorelei. Again: plenty of solo travellers looking for hook-ups, and "senior boat tours", if that's your thing :smalltongue:

I think the "volunteer vacations" are, sadly, not longer "low budget". The days of "you work for us so we'll pay your travel expenses" are pretty much over. To go build volunteer orphanages in Zambia you'll still have to pay the big price for airplane tickets - of course, it does mean you can get all the onions you want for a few pennies.

Interrailing has already been mentioned, and works perfectly in Europe. Especially for city trips it's perfect.

EDIT:
Woopsie. It seems this thread was only bumped up by the spammy dude above me? Sorry. Nevermind me, then.

[akash30]

Hi fellow playgrounders, after a bit of a think tank, if I may ?

See, as it is, I have just got my first passport, having not left the country since I was a child many moons ago. So, I have some catching up to do and I would like to do some travelling, and to that intent I am putting together a scrapbook of sorts of places I'd like to go ..... and I'd love to get some suggestions from around the globe.

Here are some guidelines

- I'm not overly rich, so budget idea's are better.
- I'm probably going to be travelling alone, so idea's that work for solo's are best.
- I value experience as high as a value adventure, but I'm not one for just lounging around on holiday.
- I love the idea of doing some charity work (like, I dunno, the 'help build a house for the community' things)
- I'd love to hit up some of the big conventions whilst I'm traveling (RPG, movie, larp ... whichever ... :smallsmile: )

So yeah, I'd love some idea's to add to my scrapbook, if anyone could oblige?

It does not matter a lot whether a traveler is overly rich or not. You just need to prepare for something before traveling like-
1. Budget and Put Away a Certain Amount of Money Every Pay Cheque - Once you finally decide, “Yes! I am going to take that trip I have always wanted,” the first thing you’re going to need is money. Traveling can be very cheap if you are willing to make sacrifices. You must ask yourself if you are comfortable staying in a dingy hostel dorm, or if you would like a bit of comfort.

2 Keep Positive - Having your financial issues figured out, the next thing you’re going to have to face is keeping positive. Nobody saves up enough to travel in a week, more than often it took me upwards of six months to save up for a trip

3 Buy a Ton of Guide Books - This one is one of my favorite things to do to keep positive between travel times. Guide books give me new trip ideas, teach me about the country itself, and they are filled with beautiful images to inspire me to get there. They are also quite cheap! Depending on where you shop

4 Take Leave or Find a job with high Turnover - So now you must figure out your work situation. This can be easy if you decide on a two-week trip, and work gives you two weeks’ holidays. More than often this is not the case. In the past, I have planned a one month trip.

5 Don’t Buy Materialistic Items - This doesn’t mean cut out all you’re shopping, you do not want your life between trips to suck all together. Once you’ve decided you want a life of travel, you just give up on wanting expensive things.

6 Plan Trips Around Weekends - This one goes for those who must work with meager holiday time. When it comes to planning trips, time is usually always the issue. If your work likes to treat you like their slave and won’t give you time off, then you either quit, or you’re going to have to plan better.

7 Get Creative - You’re probably saying, Stephen, you’re off your rocker. Seriously, though, my creativity has made me lots of money to help with traveling! When I was 19 years old, I started a small business for fun. I had recently visited India and brought back some whole spices. I ground the whole spices into blends which I learned while traveling in India, and I sold them at a local market.

8 Strategic Planning - How much planning do I, the Uncharted Backpacker, put into a trip? The answer is – a lot! Literally, from the day I decide I am going somewhere, to the day I arrive there, I am planning. I plan accommodation, transport, locations, festivals, you name it.

9 Get a Job Abroad - Not everyone can get time off from work and not everyone has the money saved up to travel. If this is your case, then why not consider working abroad?

10 Be Smart when Buying Flights - Your flight alone is going to be one of your biggest expenses when it comes to your trip. If you know the industry, however, you can avoid paying absurd prices to fly!

These are the few steps which one should follow to save money and before planning a tour they should do some research about the place where they wish to visit. This will also help in saving you a lot.

[farothel]

Check out the Wolter's World channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/woltersworld). They have tons of tips on different countries, but also on budgetting and travelling solo and the like. Not all tips are applicable for you, but I found it quite interesting.

A couple of tips I can give you:
-Book early: you get better prices on flights and hotels if you book early. I often book flights more than 6 months in advance

-Go in the off season: if possible avoid peak holiday season (and check for each country when that is, as it's not the same everywhere, but mostly it's around school holidays). Prices can more than double in peak periods.

-check on booking sites, but then contact the hotel directly. They often have a contract with the booking site to not put lower prices than the booking site on their own site, but that doesn't mean they can't give those lower prices if you ask. If you ask, you can get them to lower their price as they don't have to pay commission to the booking site.

-In Europe, you have budget airlines that fly very cheap, but if you count everything it's not Always the cheapest (again, Wolter's world has a video on budget airlines I recommend you check out). As Always, plan ahead and compare prices (and include all hidden costs as well).

[Scarlet Knight]

How about the Caribbean? There is lots of charity work to rebuild hurricane wrecked islands (ie Habitat for Humanity). Airfare is good in the off season. And there are plenty of activities (depending on the island) if you don't like to lie around a beach.

[Jon_Dahl]

I would always go to Brazil, but that's just me.

[Maelstrom]

You could always visit graveyards, solitaires and necropolii, they are, after all, where the dead reside. Now back to the grave with ye necro thread!!

[Qumiol]

Depends on what you really feel like and want. For example you can rent property in Morocco through Tranio and explore the country. It is safe for tourists, lots of charity work is going on there, cheap and local food is amazing. Have you ever been there?

[snowblizz]

This thread is 4 years old.

We need to arrange a rescue party not give travel advice.

[Brother Oni]

This thread is 4 years old.

We need to arrange a rescue party not give travel advice.

Depending on what happens at the end of this month, probably both. :smallsigh:

[Vizzerdrix]

Depends on what you really feel like and want. For example you can rent property in Morocco through Tranio and explore the country. It is safe for tourists, lots of charity work is going on there, cheap and local food is amazing. Have you ever been there?

Ain`t Morocco where those two girls got beheaded recently? Not what I would call safe.

[Maelstrom]

Ain`t Morocco where those two girls got beheaded recently? Not what I would call safe.

Not sure where you are from, but Morocco is *much* safer than most touristic destinations as well as one country in particular...

[darkrose50]

Everywhere has crime. You always want to be informed about where you're going.

One GenCon I picked a hotel room in an unfortunate area. There were other problems, but the sink did not work, as the plunger to drain the sink was missing. I went to the front desk, and the lady was like "People take those to pack their crack pipes." Awesomeness abounds.