h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello!

I hope you can be of some assistance....I am intending to travel to various countries around the world starting at the end of April and I don't really know where to begin researching the trip.

I have heard lots of great stories about airlines with great deals for multi-stop flights, but have been finding it hard to locate the information about them online.

My intentions are somewhat vague. I think I will start in Australia and then Canada, maybe down the east coast of the USA and on to South America. A visit to South Africa at some point is greatly desired but might be a bit of a logisitical nightmare.

So, basically, any advice or information you might have would be greatly appreciated. I suppose I should tell you that I am UK based and female and will largely be travelling between destinations on my own, though meeting with people when I get there...

Thanks in anticipation. Ferino

Vast sums of ready cash and friends in all of the places you want to visit with spare sofa space Not that you would visit with spare sofa space, I meant your friends would have spare sofa space - for you. Of you know what I mean.

Are you really Saturnine in disguise? Or are all young females looking to travel?

Liam.

Well, there is something called round-the-world tickets. Where you for example head to Germany, then a few weeks later to Russia and onwards. The basic idea is you are supposed to be going in one direction all the time. You can then decide how long you want to stay in each place. And they are apparently really cheap. After having talked to some people about it, I've realized I should probably have done that. Would only have costed twice what my ticket to one place has costed.

If you want to go to Africa, I can thoroughly recommend Namibia. It's just north of South Africa, has a good infrastructure, is generally fairly safe and is currently a stable constitutional democracy. As it used to be part of South Africa, English is the official language, though Afrikaans and other tribal languages are also spoken. I visited a friend there, so I had a bit of a head start, but I know that many travellers go and stay at one of the backpackers places in Windhoek (the capital) and meet up with others to self-drive safari or (better) take a tour with an experienced guide. I'd thoroughly recommend the Cardboard Box in Windhoek as somewhere to stay and a good source of information. Post a note on my personal space if you'd like more any more info.

TTFN

Otto

Hey, Liam, I dont know about all young females travelling, but its looking good for when I get my travels planned!!!

Ferino,
I have plans similar to your's, missing out the US, but if you are starting in Australia, do you know about the 1 year young travellers working visa? This allows you to work and stay for up to a year(with some restriction on length of time you can stay in one job etc, to keep you travelling). You can go with someone like BUNAC, who will sort your visa and flights, give you a two day stopover in Hong Kong with all of the other WorkAustralia people and then starting accomodation and permanent advice/help if you need it.

I've got lots of things about travel in my head, any questions just ask...

Oh, and to all the young females who want to travel, feel free to drop by Malaysia and say hi I might have some free bed-space

cool! First post on 'ask' so a little over-excited at the concept and at getting replies!!

I am not Saturnine in disguise, sorry, but I will get on and see if she has any useful tips floating about out there.

I am working on the lots of cash thing at the minute by working in a mind-numbing job with only BBC websites, thanks to restricted internet access, to keep me going (thank heavens for h2g2!!) and am living like a bit of a hermit and counting my money daily!

I have tried looking up round the world tickets, but haven't come across the plethora of information I was expecting. Can you point me in the right direction to get some??

Bob, I may well try to pick your brains for information as I continue on my quest. It's a good way for me to pass the time until 5pm every day!

The internet is often not the best place for "round the world" tickets, as humans are much better at finding the best deal for what you're after. STA Travel aren't bad, and there's also a company called Flightsomething. The back of the Travel Section of the Saturday Guardian is good for flight ticket ads.

Otto

There is also another company called....ummm...bum can't remember it right now, they're based in camping shops and specialise in travel for young people and students. gottit USIT Campus Travel, my experience with these people has been excellent their staff are all very well trained and know what theyre talking about.

Where in the country are you? http://travel.susu.org/article.php?sid=68 does worlwide tickets for anyone who can get to it...maybe your local uni would have something similar?

I'm in Belfast....

Will check out those companies and see what they say. Thanks for the advice.

Search for BUNAC on the net to get their website, work Australia is the program to look at for what I was talking about, they also do work Australia, but for all their other programs (North America etc) you need to be a student i think...

Interesting point that schools often have a huge amount of world travel and gap kinda stuff in their careers library, i know mine did. Im sure if you ask theyd let you back in to have a look, I checked that I could before I left...

S'not me. I have no desire to visit anywhere but the US/Canada right now...

Its the same with unis, any ex-student can have access to the careers library at any uk uni.

Most public libraries will have some careers stuff, there are a few websites devoted to gap years too.

I've checked the websites there is a branch of STA in belfast (although I've just closed the window so I can't tell you the address ), theres also a branch of USIT at queens uni so it might be worth gatecrashing queens and exploiting their travel shop and careers library at once

Bob,
Not a student any more but did the BUNAC thing to a camp in USA a couple of years back. It was ideal at the time, but I think I might rather be a bit more independent this time, now that I've had more experience travelling about. I didn't like that they deducted the cost of my flight from my wages and charged me rather a lot for my insurance etc....Mind you, I wasn't doing it for the money and I think i'll look up their website for inspiration and maybe other contacts. Hadn't thought of them for this but it's probably a v good source of info.

Excellent idea to check out the old school libraries! Good plan, I'll give it a go - might even rope my younger sister who is still there into doing it for me.

Cheers Pencil Queen! I will bluff my way round Queen's one of these days and pretend I studied there. they'll never notice....
I think i know where the STA office is so will get at it very soon.

With the work Australia program you pay for your flights beforehand, and after the first day or two, when they help you set up a bank account etc, you are free to do whatever you want, the main disadvantage appears that you have to pick your route back before you go...

oh, didnt know that. thanks for telling me. That sounds much better than the way I did it in the states, which basically left me with about £300 after just over 2 months work...I'll check BUNAC out, though I think that flexibility of the route back would be the main thing I'd want.

Same here, I think what I would do is plan the route back with them, and then customise it to suit me and my funds after my time in Aus.

eg, if I picked the Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio route back, could go anywhere in between, as long as you make connections...

Same here, I think what I would do is plan the route back with them, and then customise it to suit me and my funds after my time in Aus.

eg, if I picked the Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio route back, could go anywhere in between, as long as you make connections flights

Bob, where are you going when you finally b****r off?