Going travelling

[Brennan]

Decided with a couple of mates that we're going to go travelling next year, probably late summer/autumn time. Looking at going for a couple of months or more, just wondering if anybody had any experience with this sort of thing. Places to avoid, places to go, general travel tips etc.

There's a load of info out there on the web but it's a bit hard to digest and people on here seem to always have good suggestions when it comes to stuff like this. Any advice would be appreciated.

*waits for Chico*

 

[Goat]

Lived there.

If ever there was a thread for chico, its this.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Places to go - Bulgaria.

Not kidding, just swerve Sunny Beach as it's a hell hole. You can find accommodation for relatively cheap anywhere along the coast of Black Sea. Or if you're not into the whole sea thing - there's still the mountains.

We (me and the gf, she's from England) went to Sozopol this year, my dad lives there but I couldn't be at his place as him and his new girlfriend rent the place out (it's a rather big house) and it was full. He managed to find a place for us for a week (I know, short, etc) but it cost like 100 quid, which you may think is a lot, but we had a full apartment to ourselves, without the kitchen. And that's an expensive one, you can find much cheaper ones if you start early.

Also - Greece.

Try the islands, always great places. Went to Leros this summer, for ~20 days, one of the best holiday places ever for me, I highly recommend that as well. There's also Kalymnos, Kos and the likes, all great places.

To swerve idk, haven't been to that many places really. I'd say the Scottish Hebrides as it's really expensive, unless you're going with your tents and the likes. In general - Eastern Europe is mostly good, and you'll probably be accepted fairly easily; language being a barrier, but most/all people know some form of English and you could always have internet lessons for the basics in a given language.

Travel tips - always double check everything - prices, items, everything. Potentially - every person doing tourism wants to rip people off.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Chico will defo be of better help here though, obviously, but just putting in my 2 pence worth.

 

[riddick]

ive done travelling for almost 10 years in my mid-20's to mid-30's. Brilliant idea too. I dont know if you are staying continental, but if going east, hit up Laos. Basically what thailand was 15 years ago. Or Burma now that the junta is gone. Hmmm...now i want to go to Burma..

If you are going Central/South America hit up costa rica(dominical) and/or Argentina. Argentina is fantastic.

Of course there are the known/easy places like Australia/NZ, but they are ace if you can afford it.

 

[Brennan]

Nice one mate, Bulgaria sounds interesting and we're definitely up for going to the less 'conventional' places, especially if it helps to stretch money further. Just having a look at some pictures of Sozopol and it looks very nice indeed.

 

[Brennan]

ive done travelling for almost 10 years in my mid-20's to mid-30's. Brilliant idea too. I dont know if you are staying continental, but if going east, hit up Laos. Basically what thailand was 15 years ago. Or Burma now that the junta is gone. Hmmm...now i want to go to Burma..

If you are going Central/South America hit up costa rica(dominical) and/or Argentina. Argentina is fantastic.

Of course there are the known/easy places like Australia/NZ, but they are ace if you can afford it.

Been thinking of the east myself, nowhere specific but i've heard good things about Thailand, Japan etc.

Tempted by Australia but it's just the tales of it being so expensive that have put me off a bit, NZ is still very high on my list of potentials at the mo.

 

[Elong]

Australia mate. You'll be balls deep. Absolutely fantastic place to do a bit of an OE though.

 

[Elong]

New Zealand's really cool too mate, depends what you're after in a holiday? There's heaps more outdoors stuff here but not much of an urban or nightlife besides Auckland (and that's not much), if you're into your snowboarding and bungee jumping etc then NZ is the place to come.

 

[Brennan]

New Zealand's really cool too mate, depends what you're after in a holiday? There's heaps more outdoors stuff here but not much of an urban or nightlife besides Auckland (and that's not much), if you're into your snowboarding and bungee jumping etc then NZ is the place to come.

I'm not too fussed on the nightlife aspect as we're planning on probably ending the trip in America so that'll cover that, i'm more interested in experiencing the places we visit rather than just getting pissed all the time if you get me. The outdoor/adventure aspect of NZ is exactly what's attracted me to it so that's good to hear.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Nice one mate, Bulgaria sounds interesting and we're definitely up for going to the less 'conventional' places, especially if it helps to stretch money further. Just having a look at some pictures of Sozopol and it looks very nice indeed.

Sea towns and stuff are always gonna be more expensive, remember that as well. It is summer/near end of summer season and all that!

Pictures from there, taken a month and a half ago.

Just over the houses there (Bulgarian Souvenirs house, etc) is the sea and it's brilliant. This was a tad more expensive as what you see there is the middle of the centre of the Old Town part of it, so it's close to everything in that part! You'd find places around it for less if you call early as well, which is a bonus.


Not trying to sell it, have better pictures from Greece, just giving examples as I've been there, like. Sorry if it looks like that!

I can also say that Turkey (Marmaris/Kusadasi) was quite nice, but we stayed in a hotel for a week and I can't really say anything about prices as it was an all-inclusive, so I'm not gonna go into detail there.

 

[Brennan]

Sea towns and stuff are always gonna be more expensive, remember that as well. It is summer/near end of summer season and all that!

Pictures from there, taken a month and a half ago.

Just over the houses there (Bulgarian Souvenirs house, etc) is the sea and it's brilliant. This was a tad more expensive as what you see there is the middle of the centre of the Old Town part of it, so it's close to everything in that part! You'd find places around it for less if you call early as well, which is a bonus.


Not trying to sell it, have better pictures from Greece, just giving examples as I've been there, like. Sorry if it looks like that!

I can also say that Turkey (Marmaris/Kusadasi) was quite nice, but we stayed in a hotel for a week and I can't really say anything about prices as it was an all-inclusive, so I'm not gonna go into detail there.

Not at all mate, i appreciate the input.

 

[Elong]

I'm not too fussed on the nightlife aspect as we're planning on probably ending the trip in America so that'll cover that, i'm more interested in experiencing the places we visit rather than just getting pissed all the time if you get me. The outdoor/adventure aspect of NZ is exactly what's attracted me to it so that's good to hear.

Good, then you'll love it. Look up Taupo (and the surrounding area) in the North Island, loads of volcanoes, tramping plus a massive lake with rapid rafting etc etc, or Queenstown in the South Island, the adventure capital, it's got everything you could imagine your stereotypical NZ trip to have. Only thing with Queenstown is it's a bit pricey, but that's relatively speaking to the rest of the country, you might find it cheap.

The locals are well friendly across the country, they're used to loads of Europeans doing the OE thing, they know how to show you a good time.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Oh also like 15 meters to the right of that Souvenir thing is this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18334106


That sounds boss there though, Elong!

 

[Elong]

Eastern Europe really interests me funnily enough Dualz haha, we need to do an exchange! The islands off Croatia look breathtaking.