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[travelmonster]

[sianeth]

Wow, Paula, 5 months sounds brilliant... every cloud has a silver lining as they say! Are you thinking about going even longer given that you don't have job restrictions to fit in with now?

[travelmonster]

Yeah, I am so looking forward to it. I don't think it will be any longer than 5 months because John has said that he doesn't want to go for longer than that and I am more than happy because I always thought we were going for 3 months.

However, I do have endless possibilities for when we get back and I want to do some volunteering.

[kathryn77]

Whoah Paula!! I am uber-jealous!! Sounds fab!!!

And Sian, in case I forget to mail you, as I've just logged in briefly *yawn* - are you looking to be based in Stirling for your B&B as well? If so, I know one person in Stirling. She was my best friend in primary school 1,2 & 3....then we moved towns and therefore schools , but I 'met' up with her on Facebook again recently - I could ask for a few Stirling pointers for you?

[sianeth]

That would be awesome, thank you... I can do with any help I can get at the moment!

[greekcypriot]

I'm moving to Scotland this weekend! Eek, I'm so unprepared!

Hi Sian, Why don't you try Etap hotels for a start? Try finding out about them. They are very cheap. I have never stayed in one, but Ihave heard that they are very cheap and good.Are you staying in Glasgow?

Paula 5 months in nothing......very soon you will be chasing your dreams!

http://www.travelpod.com/members/greekcypriot
(Over 4.000 photos in my blogs)

[sianeth]

Yeah I've stayed at a couple actually - they're alright for the price, unfortunately they don't have them everywhere yet! I've been to the one in Glasgow but its a little far out from where I need to be... no worries though, my boss has said I can stay with her till I find something, how nice!

[nixsboys]

Hope you have a good move up to Scotland! Can't wait to hear some of your tips on the places you have found worth a visit...

[durnadupa]

Won't be traveling anywhere until at least the winter, as I am back in school. But my current plan is to take a trip to Chile and Argentina...I've also been having a desire to visit Antarctica and after finding some cruises that are not so expensive I may throw that into the mix.

However, my plans always change. My friend has been urging me to join him in Colombia for two weeks this winter...and I have been having a really strong urge to visit Morocco and Western Sahara. Who knows,

[raniroo]

Paula, I'd be hyper too if I was planning a 5 month trip again......

[flewthecoop]

Since I last reported I did a week cross-country drive and a week in L.A. at the end of August and week in New York City in September. This weekend I'm heading to Indiana for a college reunion. Then the big one - Cambodia for Christmas.

[skylab]

Trying to figure out a way to work somewhere in Asia by next year teaching English. Aiming for Japan, S. Korea, or China. We´ll see how it all goes.

[starlagurl]

I'm going to Ajax, Ontario on Friday! Woooo... girls high school reunion party, no boys allowed!

[travelmonster]

Paula, I'd be hyper too if I was planning a 5 month trip again......

Yep and I thought I had my route all figured out until two things:

1. I rang someone about a round the world ticket and found my routing "isn't possible"

and

2. I got a new travel book for my birthday yesterday!!

Now it all starts over again!!

[sianeth]

Hahah, I love it! How is it "not possible"?!

[travelmonster]

oh apparently there are "rules", which I have to admit I was a bit oblivious to - you can only have so many stops here and so many stops there or it has to be so many miles for the whole trip, but then you can buy so many more miles, but only under certain conditions - then if you go to this place you can't then go to that place

There were alternative routes suggested to me, but I didn't want to do them. The unfortunate thing is I only got half way through my route costing it up with individual flights before it came to more than the most expensive round the world ticket you can get - so not sure what to do now.

Someone suggested Trailfinders to me and said that they were prepared to spend hours with them going through all the options, they have an office in Cambridge which isn't that far away from me, so I'm gonna go over there and pick their brains - then look some more and see what I can do from there.

If I were going for a lot longer individual tickets would be the answer cause I could just book the next place as and when, but with five months in total - its too expensive for me to do that - or so it seems at the moment.

[travelmonster]

Oh and just to add for anyone out there that is as new to round the world trips as I am - those travel planner type things that let you map your route out - take NO notice of them, just because they let you route it on that map, doesn't mean its actually 'possible'

[starlagurl]

Oh nooooo, really? Those lamers.

[travelmonster]

Yeah, I assumed (never assume), that it would only let me route journeys that were actually 'allowed'.

[kathryn77]

Hey Paula - who was that with that you tried? Have you tried STA travel (they're not just for students - I got my RTW ticket with them) You can try out routes online, but it's better in-store. I had 7 stops, but I made my entry and exit points different (e.g. landed in SA in Lima, but had booked to fly out of Santiago) leaving room for overground...


Me - off to Norway on Friday!