How do you operate when it comes to arranging a trip?

Do you plan ahead, deciding which country or countries you'll visit and then look for good prices OR are you more apt to look for travel deals and decide on somewhere you find a really great bargain for?

Plan ahead. I usually limit the costs of a 10-day holiday to US$ 1,500 each, including everything (and I mean...everything)

In 2009 we are planning a trip to Vienna, Prague and Budapest for 10 days in Autumn. If we can't do it for that price or less, we will look for somewhere else. We have been told that now is the time to visit Hawaii, so who knows where we will end up.

Can I choose a little from column A and a little from column B?

Oh, most definitely. I'd say for the most part we choose where we want to go and then look for the best prices but once in awhile when we just need time away I might take a gander at some travel deals. That was how we ended up in N. Ireland when we went to England and Spain. I think some deals are really hard to pass up!

I like being random so I don't plan too much. I get a general idea of where I want to go but I usually don't book ahead and just get everything last minute.

Choosing where to go is entirely by whim. I usually choose someplace I've never been before, just out of the blue. If I want something quick & cheap, I go to Vancouver.

Planning my flight, accomodations, & itinerary of activities takes a lot of planning, most times two months of extenuous internet research. As I mention on other threads, I research the "underground" & "alternative" to seek out what most tourists never hear of. I make my flight & hotel reservations one month in advance. I make a long list of parks, museums, shopping centres, restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, radical bookstores, underground CD shops, .... I order maps & guide books over the internet. I begin packing one week in advance, so I have seven days to remember everything I need or want to take on this trip.

Once I get there & settled into my accomodations, I'm very loose with my plans. I may do one or two things on the list for each day but it's mostly whatever I feel like at the moment. I usually have a whatever day on my itinerary anyway. So by a carefully planned schedule with a wide allowance for impulses, I enjoy my travels.

Oh I love finding these. Even better.. Vinyl shops..

I have a whole bunch of places I want to go, sometimes I just pick two and flip a coin.

That sounds pretty organized! I like how you prepare and that your destination choice is a random choice.

Ahh, I like this! One thing I've always wanted to do is spin a globe, close my eyes and just stop it with my finger, and then actually go to that place, wherever it is... in my practice attempts I always seem to end up somewhere in the ocean though!

Its funny you should say that, I have a globe and John said we should do that once, so I spun it and he closed his eyes and stopped it with his finger - three times in a row we ended up in the ocean!!

We tried it once with a map of the world and out of all the places in the world, he put his finger on Spain and we've been there quite a few times. So we've given up on the science of that approach!!!

Yeah, I think you have to make some sort of deal that you will actually go to the nearest place you point to, and then actually go through with it before you find a reason to pull out. I always used to get places that I wasn't really keen on, like say... Iraq!

I think it would make a good idea for a TV show, where they just keep spinning the globe and having to go to each place... an Amazing Race series maybe?!

I plan ahead fairly in depth regardless of the cost, although I do my best to find all the deals out there. I think I would be too upset if I went on a whim then got back and found out about something awesome I missed. Since I am on a time crunch most places I don't have the luxury of being able to move around too freely sometimes.

Right, New Years Eve I'm gonna spin the globe twice and add those two places into our round the world for 2010!

Deal! I think we should build into this binding contract a free spin - whereby you get three spins, and go to two... this way the coin toss can be built in aswell, or you can have a veto if it lands on Iraq!

And it should also be done live on Travelpod as part of a new year countdown!

So that'd be a yes then

Yep! Right up till the live on TravelPod bit!!

Ahh, can't grumble with that then - I suppose a belated update will suffice!

Haha! We've done that only not been to any of the places we pointed to!

I usually pick a place I'm interested in and try to find long term opportunities there (i.e. job, internship, study, volunteer, etc.). Once I'm there, I try to explore the region. When I do trips, I have to get a hotel/hostel in advance and airfare if I'm flying or bus tickets if I go by bus...I don't buy train tickets unless the route may sell out or make any concrete plans in advance...just sort of let the wind carry me once I get there, but I have to at least know when and where ahead of time if I'm spending the night...especially since I'd be worried about wasting four or five hours trying to find an open hostel during the summer if I didn't book ahead! If I'm just going somewhere for the day, I'll wing it the whole way - when I was in Munich, I used to go to the train station and more or less randomly pick where to go out of the places I was interested in seeing based on the train connections available.

Bit of both. Flights and long distance transport are booked in advance. Everything else is on the fly.

Also depends on the amount of time I have - if I have 6 months, then I won't have a plan, maybe a rough guide of where I want to go, but that's it. If I have two days, then I'd have planned way more, but I really like to just see what happens. It's more interesting and I end up seeing things I wouldn't have done otherwise.

Okay, here is the belated update - the two new destinations are Canada and Tasmania!

Oh, and I can officially start staying my round the world trip is next year now - instead of saying 2010!!

Holy crap! I didn't think of it that way. I am trying to save to do a RTW trip when I get done with grad school. I have an idea of a route but just need to save the money and will come home when it runs out. But you make a very valid point that I get to think of it as next year now!

What route are you thinking of taking?

I keep looking at the map and changing my mind every few months as to where we're going!!

For me it's a matter of where and when I'm traveling. I do like the two posts of "Can I choose a little from column A and a little from column B?" and "...depends on the amount of time I have". Obviously some things are better being planned ahead of time, such as trans-oceanic airfare, and some places require advance planning, such as travel to Iran and China requires advance hotel reservations. Travel on the fly (or winging it) can be very exhilirating for some us and can result in tremendous savings for lodging and meals, especially if we speak the local language of have a good interpreter. I would pose that this is an unsolvable question!

Two outstanding choices I must say

How are you going about it then - how much are you booking in advance?

I'm still working on different theories of how to do it at the moment - I need to work out how much it costs to book our flights separately as against how much it would cost on a round the world ticket - some places though, such as Tasmania, I won't find on a RTW ticket, but I'm guessing I could get a separate flight from Aus to Taz without much problem. So, I need to look at pricing for that.

Some of it I'm going to book in advance because we want to go to India and there is a specific wildlife company that I want to go and see Tigers with, they only take very small groups and get booked up really quickly. But then there are some things we know we are going to do, such as bump around New Zealand for a month in a campervan, but I don't see the sense in pre-booking sites for that because I just want to go where the mood takes us.

Same with South East Asia, still can't make up my mind where or how long to go for there, but think it's relatively easy just to go unbooked - unless I find some specific wildlife I want to see. I always book wildlife things well in advance, because the ones I consider to be good, knowledgeable and responsible generally get booked up well in advance.

Now that we're going to Canada, I'm thinking Polar Bears!! So I need to look at prices for that and see if I think we can incorporate it or not.

Soooo many things to decide!!

Hehe, sounds like a classic case of the planning being half the fun! Where are the definate places you're going then?

A note on Tassie... the internal flights from Melbourne are dirt cheap, try Virgin Blue, always cheapest on the Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday - http://www.virginblue.com.au/Personal/Spec...cials/index.htm, plus there's a whole heap of stuff around Melbourne if you end up with a spare few days. This one in particular I think you might like, seals and dolphins - http://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/wildlife.asp

Can you tell I'm getting excited for you?!

The places we are definitely going to are India, Australia now including Taz, New Zealand and Canada. It's highly likely we'll spend some time in either Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia/Malaysia or some combination of that, still looking at those options though.

Thanks for the tips, great links.

Despite the extra unplanned trips we keep taking, our savings for it are going well, I get really excited every time I look and see them grow!

Well it all depends on how much money I can save between now and then. Being a single male in graduate school I can scrape by on very little and bank a lot (I am living at home and working 2-3 positions at any given time). But even at my estimates it would take all of my feasible savings ability to do the whole route so I may have to do some cutting along the way, I am on track on saving right now but I only have $3000 and need about $25000 haha (plus extra to return on!). Right now my ideal route is as follows:

Fly into Japan, use the train system to get around, ferry over to China, overland down to Singapore, fly to Indonesia, then fly to India, work my way around India and Nepal before flying to Brazil (I found a fairly consistently cheap flight from Delhi to Rio), then working my way down through Argentina, Chile, possibly flying out to Easter Island, up through Peru, then stopping in Mexico before I hit home. I am still dreaming of going to Bhutan but that is too expensive to justify especially if I want to do an Everest trek and Easter Island. I might try and add Dubai in there too since flights from Delhi are cheap cheap cheap.

I found flights on kayak.com for about the same price as a RTW ticket pre-tax ($4400 individually or ~$4200 + tax on a RTW). I haven't found any tickets cheaper than on there so you might want to check that place out but RTW tickets from the US are the most expensive anyway as I have found out. They crawl all the major ticket agencies and a lot of airlines sites for the best deal. The only problem with overlanding it and non-RTW tickets is some countries need proof of onward travel which could be kind of difficult.

I am working on a blog www.livingthedreamrtw.blogspot.com if you want to check out on how I am planning things. I am going to post a daily update blog on here, of course, when I go and put major articles and updates on there.

Your route sounds awesome - thanks for the info on Kayak - I'll have a look at that.

Just had a quick look at your blog on living the dream - gonna have another look later at that, lots to read!!

I am trying to make the blog as detailed as possible for those wanting to do the same, so I am trying to lay out my thought process when it comes to how I am planning. Since I am not going til August 2010 I have a long time to wait. Right now I have primarily covered how I am able to save the money, ways to save more, my itinerary and planned expenses, and starting on what I would like to see in each country and other things to consider.

Combination! Combination! (if you can )

Yeah, I think combination is the way to go!!

awwwwesome! I know you'll love it there

What do you think to the idea of a week in each?

Is that enough chance to experience things?

Hmmm, in my personal opinion, I think that's too rushed. You'll miss out on a true experience in each country. Perhaps a combination of two countries?

Yeah, thats what I initially thought. Aaah me minds spinning I'd like a taster of each really. I think I might see if I can squeeze a few more weeks onto the trip!!

Combo combo combo all the way..

Yay Paula, Canada should be cool! Are you going to pick a specific place in Canada for your trip?

Yep, thats what I'm gonna go for - still can't make my mind up which combo though!!





Well, I've almost managed to work out a way today that we can afford the Polar Bear trip I've been looking at - so that will be the main part of our stay in Canada - but since we won't be able to get direct flights we might well spend a couple of days in Toronto as well, but the Toronto part also depends on time and if I can get the extra weeks I am planning on asking da boss for! It'd mean us leaving for our trip mid November instead of December as originally planned so that we get to see the polar bears. Will you be back from your trip by then?

I don't have a trip planned in November...yet! But if you guys are in Toronto, you know I'll be there.

Polar bears, was this why you were talking about Churchill? It now makes sense to me.

It'll be November next year though!! But if time and money allows - hopefully thats when we get to meet!!

The money is dependant on me selling my car - we have two cars and I really don't need mine as me and John work together, I only really use it to meet my friends once or twice a week and John normally stays home when I go out so I can use his, he said if he decides he wants to go out he'll get a taxi if I've got the car. I'll probably only get around £700 for the car, but it'll save roughly £70 a month on top of that which I usually save for tax, insurance, MOT & repairs.

oh and yes, Churchill is where we are going (hopefully) for the polar bears!!

Ohhhhhh yes of course, next year, I have nothing planned. If I do a big trip next year, it will be in the summer, that's for sure.

Isn't next year your big motorcycle adventure?

Yeah that's what I mean, I will definitely be back by November.

That'd be brill!!

Yeeeeeeee! OK back on topic...
Yes, I will most definitely be planning that trip, more than winging it. At least who and where I will be staying each night.

I've never been outside Europe, and until 4 months ago I thought enough was enough. I've been saving since then for a trip in October this year to travel through the whole of South America, a bit of the United States west coast, and Canada.

Personally I've found the only reason I'm planning so much is because I'm so excited about it! Most of my friends tell me they're going places soon, but never do anything about it. I've found researching into the places I'm going builds that excitement even more, and the closer I get to that date the more I find myself planning everything.

I'd quite like to just land in Rio and see where my feet take me, but the excitement is just too palpable and I need to plan. I think in any case its a good to plan big travels, smaller ones you can get away with being more relaxed about things. I think planning at least gives you a default idea to fall back on, should anything happen.