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 Backpacking in the Caribbean, Questions... |
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 Nov 5 2009, 11:01 AM
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Voyager
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Hey everyone, I'm planning on traveling around the world for a year or maybe two, starting next summer... So here is my plan: Starting somewhere.. Ending up somewhere  No I'm not quite sure yet which countries I will travel to, that's why I have some questions.. I would like to take a around the world ticket and travel to maybe 3 to 4 countries (continents).. Is it possible to backpack in the Caribbean? Are there small ferries or something like that from island to island? Boats for tourists that I would be able to take? Is it possible to find a job in some hotel for some days? Maybe just cleaning dishes? Is it save to travel the islands alone, sleep in a tent most of the time (is it even allowed)? Looking forward to some answers... |
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| kilgiraffe |
Nov 5 2009, 02:33 PM
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Hi!  There are no designated island-to-island ferries, there is however the odd cruise ship that will go between so that may be your best bet. The only other ships to my memory that do that would be between the British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands. Also there is on occasion a ship between Barbados and St. Vincent but it's very expensive and not intended for transit between the two countries. There MIGHT be something in the St. Maarten area as well but don't quote me on that. You may also have fun crewing on private boats if you so desire. Can't speak for other islands but in Barbados hotel jobs are irritating to come by - there's a lot of red tape involved, but basically they can't give a job to a tourist as it would be taking one away from a local. Backpacking, the only islands that would be really worthwhile would be the bigger ones - Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and possibly the Dominican Republic. The smaller ones are more geared for tourists unfortunately  Sleeping outside.. I don't THINK you should have many problems, just be smart! Basically - the Caribbean isn't really known to be an easy backpacking location. Maybe thats part of the fun of it though, finding a way to do it! 
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Sarah: Little girl, big dreams. Currently living in Scotland
British born, Barbados raised, slowly but surely getting out there. One day..
Next trips: Australia Late March-April; Europe Late June-Mid August
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Nov 6 2009, 03:59 AM
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QUOTE(kilgiraffe @ Nov 5 2009, 02:33 PM)  You may also have fun crewing on private boats if you so desire. Backpacking, the only islands that would be really worthwhile would be the bigger ones - Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and possibly the Dominican Republic. The smaller ones are more geared for tourists unfortunately Sleeping outside.. I don't THINK you should have many problems, just be smart! Basically - the Caribbean isn't really known to be an easy backpacking location. Maybe thats part of the fun of it though, finding a way to do it! That's a good idea, haven't thought about that yet.. Thanks! How about getting other jobs? Well I would like to be alone from time to time on some island so I'm okay with being on smaller islands, maybe some of them don't have that much tourists?! Be smart? Meaning, be careful cause it is not allowed? Yeah that's why I was thinking about having the Caribbean on my list... QUOTE(jeremystravels @ Nov 5 2009, 03:47 PM)
Getting the logistics of airfare from one island to another is quite a headache too. Most airfare goes from a major hub - like Florida, rather island to island. To be honest I have found taking a cruise much cheaper than island hopping - although you get less than half a day in each place. Then you would know where you'd wanna go back to once its over.
I know I already checked the airfare, but that's too expensive, especially if you try to go backpacking and just make money in some places... Cruise? Humm I bet that is too expensive as well, and it's really not what I was looking for to do in the Caribbean.. I just wanted to take some time off and enjoy life.. |
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| kilgiraffe |
Nov 6 2009, 04:15 AM
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As far as I'm aware camping isn't illegal in the Caribbean, I've never done it and neither have the vast majority of my friends, and the few that might have were in big groups e.g. Duke of Edinburgh hence why I'm not 100% sure. There's nothing that explicitly stops you, but it is quite uncommon so you may be making yourself a fairly easy target. But remember that I can only really speak for the Lesser Antilles here It may be slightly more dangerous in the more problematic countries like Jamaica [massive crime rate], Cuba and Hispaniola [have large populations in poverty].. Which I've just realised kinda contradicts what I said before! There's more backpacking and camping prospects in those ones, just also a lottt more crime.. So as I said, just be smart, don't make yourself too obvious, etc etc. Jobs in hotels like bartending or dishwashing might be easier to come by in the other small islands, but not so much in exceptionally overpopulated Barbados! But because all of the aforementioned legality involved, it's not really something to count on. I think the islands that may have something or the other would be Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada - if you can speak French, Martinique and Guadelope too. Those are the slightly less "popular" islands as far as I'm aware. As Jeremy said - the most common form of transport is by plane, which can be a royal pain in the backside at times.. If the flights don't go through Florida, they go through Puerto Rico, Jamaica or Barbados. The vast majority of the other islands just don't have the capacity to hold enough flights to get to every other island. Major pain when trying to get from Barbados to the Bahamas for example - you fly right over them! Not trying to be a big downer or anything though! It is an interesting concept, but ease of transport between the islands is annoyingly non existant.. Hopefully that will change sometime in the future! It's mostly because some of the waters aren't suitable for mass transport [e.g. between B'dos and Trinidad], but also because most of the islands are sovereign nations so there's a lot of legal stuff there too.. It's not quite as easy as zipping through the Greek isles
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Sarah: Little girl, big dreams. Currently living in Scotland
British born, Barbados raised, slowly but surely getting out there. One day..
Next trips: Australia Late March-April; Europe Late June-Mid August
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Nov 8 2009, 11:26 AM
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QUOTE(kilgiraffe @ Nov 6 2009, 04:15 AM) As far as I'm aware camping isn't illegal in the Caribbean, I've never done it and neither have the vast majority of my friends. Jobs in hotels like bartending or dishwashing might be easier to come by in the other small islands, but not so much in exceptionally overpopulated Barbados! Not trying to be a big downer or anything though! It is an interesting concept, but ease of transport between the islands is annoyingly non existant.. But also because most of the islands are sovereign nations so there's a lot of legal stuff there too.. It's not quite as easy as zipping through the Greek isles Humm I guess I chose something hard here... Well at least it is not forbidden to camp.. One good thing I've also never heard of it either that's why I thought it would be kinda interesting, and it's so beautiful there... So working would be a problem.. Well I really like the privat boats transportation thing, I bet there are a lot of germans as well that would be happy to talk to someone, that might be a way of traveling from island to island, or maybe even farther if you meet the right people... Yeah Greek islands are nice as well I've been there a couple of times.. QUOTE(jeremystravels @ Nov 6 2009, 08:01 AM)
I know cruising isnt want you are looking for, but I was just throwing it out there that it might be the cheapest option first off.. do 3 back to back for $1500, hit 15 different places in 3 weeks.. then buy airfare and go to one or two for an extended period.
The other thing is for cheaper you would probably want to explore some of the countries like the Bahamas that are made up of hundreds of tiny islands. Transport around those would be much easier than from other countries.
Bahamas huh? Maybe a good point.. How about wokring there? 1500 $ really doesn't sound that bad, but I'm really trying to use as less money as possible.. Especially if you travel for a longer time and you wont find a job for quite some time you can't spend that much for just that few days... :S Just don't want to end up somewhere without money QUOTE(kilgiraffe @ Nov 6 2009, 04:28 AM) SWEET! Thanks for the links.. Here we go with something positiv  |
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| allover |
Nov 11 2009, 01:14 AM
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QUOTE(jeremystravels @ Nov 10 2009, 11:06 PM) I just saw this link posted on twitter a minute ago and thought you would find it useful. It is pretty much everything you need. http://koucou.com/c/budget-tips/transportation-sea/Sweet! And it doesn't even cost that much, I mean 45$ one way that's like 30€ so that is a very good price! Thanks for that link! |
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