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I'm planning a trip to these countries, and i'm wondering how much money I need to budget a day/month for normal living expenses. I'm planning to buy a little van there, which I would use to sleep in, so that can be left out. But can any american or canadian orgahs, or orgahs who have done a similar backpack, give me some advice/estimation of what my budget should be? I guess it will be mostly food/water and gas.
thanks!
a bit of both i guess :P
I don't have a set out trail, just roughly which countries i will hit most likely. Right now my idea is to start in Canada, travel around a bit, by foot/hitchhike/bus (so it might be nice to know what the average price would be for hostels in canada, but I can check LP for that). Then I will go south towards america and travel down the eastcoast. Eventually I want to end up in california and take a plane to Vietnam. So mostly I will just be bumming across country in a van, but I also do want to do some hiking and stuff if possible, but nothing as long and spectacular as the PC-trail.
well, Im going to apply for a longterm visa, so i'd have about 180 days to kill. I imagine i'd take alot of detours.
We will expect photos, of course. And it might be slick to meet up with some Orgahs, assuming you and they are willing.
If I ever become an oil sheik, one of my first acts will be to fly all Orgahs to a pub somewhere.
i met some australian orgahs before :P so i dont mind, if its in the area.
^^
I remember @Major Robert Dump wanting to be a landlord of such an establishment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
haha ok! seems like most my expenses will be gas. I need to find a hot chick to share the ride (and gas) with me :P
If you're going to do this in a van you pick up for cheap, be very careful about the quality of the vehicle you get. Just as a reference, driving from Montreal down the east coast to Orlando, then west to San Francisco is 7,000 km. That's the same distance as from Paris to Mongolia. So, you may encounter problems if you buy an unreliable vehicle. Just keep these distances in mind. One thing that many foreigners really don't grasp until they're over here is just how large the US and Canada are. This is a truly gigantic landmass, and much of it has little of interest for tourism. If you're going to be traversing the country by car, you're going to be spending a LOT of time staring blankly at boring roads.
i already spent a month in a barrel van in New Zealand, and while as a sleeping place it was pretty decent, if what overcrowded, the van itself was rather ****. I learned my lesson then :P I will buy something that won't fall apart around me, like that thing did.
But thanks for the headsup! I don't know what exactly I will do now, but I do plan on hitting some of the major national parks, I might buy a year card or something like that. At the same time I also want to go to the major cities, as I like cities :D. I guess ill try to find some balance. But first i need to work... atm my aim is to get somewhere in between 10k to 15k for 8 months travel through north america, and perhaps 1 month vietnam. this is including tickets, but excluding the cost for the van (which i hope to sell for a decent price again after im done). I did 7 months through south east asia and australia with about 6k. including the cost for the van (split 3 ways) but excluding tickets.
I would advise you not to do this. You are going to get mugged, or shot by trigger happy cops, or broke down on the side of the road until you are captured and eaten by a family of chainsaw fanatics. Seriously, pulling over and sleeping in a van will get you harassed to no end by the police.... unless you stick to the northern, sparsely populated states like the Dakotas and Wyoming, which do have some great trails btw, andmaybe stick to national parks where you can rent camping slots.... grand canyon, Yellowstone, Wichita mountains etc.
If you must travel in this mode, then you want to search for "RV PARKS" like KOA Campgrounds etc etc. These are places where you can park your rig overnight for just a few dollars, they have shower facilities and security, and usually a nice mix of travelers and retirees and interesting people to meet. My parents do this in their third wheel, but at the places there are plenty of commuters sleeping in vans and cars etc.
Also, rest stops on highways would be the second best option so you want to google those and find the nicer, well lit ones on interstate highways. They are usually packed with trucker rigs and if you are lucky maybe some tranny hookers.
The third option is just to take a bus, stay at bed and breakfasts and/or crash at Org members homes.
**edit
If you are going to Vietnam, you might as well go to the Philippines too
My brother had zero problems. Just go.
hahaha they said the same thing when my friend and i planned to go hitchhiking from Sydney to Cairns. It ended up being the trip of a lifetime, and we met some really friendly people, instead of the crazy murderers people said we would. A few of them even offered us a place to stay for the night.Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Robert Dump
But again, I don't want to ask for advice and then ignore it, so don't think I wont heed the warning, I know there are risks involved, and for some reason (probably television) I also have a worse feeling about USA than australia (so I probably won't hitchhike, but why would I if i have a car :P). The RV parks sound like a good idea, because somehow I feel like sneaking into hostels and pretending i'm a customer to use their cooking and sanitary facilities will be alot harder in USA than in NZ... And the trucker stops are always nice, its where we ussually started our hitchhiking days (although truckers werent allowed to take us).
As for the third option, I won't say no to a free bed ofcourse, but who is to say those nice orgah's arent actually the chainsaw fanatics? I mean, staying at frags place would most likely get me killed by one of his crossbow bolts. Entirely accidentally ofcourse XD
<3 u frag!
Correction, I could accidently kill you with a broadhead arrow from my recurve bow, or with a mini broadhead from my blowgun. Blowgun is unlikely to kill you all that much though. Perfectly safe ;)
Sounds like a great trip, i take it you will be travelling alone:- advice I would give is try not to look like a tourist, after a week or so you begin to get an eye for predators, and they avoid you once you're able to spot them early.
Also get a routine for checking your valueables & personal affects before you leave anywhere after a stop.
Dont take shortcuts.
Dont get complacent.
If you are Scottish/Irish tell everyone, if you are not, lie.
If you have time, make loads of friends online who live enroute, free bed for the night and maybe more.
Canada is cool... The only thing wrong with America are Americans.
for around £10k (my rough budget) you could travel around the world, a basic 'world ticket' is around £1300 (+ airport tax) which gives you 10 airport stops, the only restrictions are that you must travel in one direction around the planet, in under a certain amount of miles. .Quote:
Originally Posted by The Stranger
yea so thats about 12.5k euros. which is what im aiming for. I'm not sure yet if I will buy a world ticket, I think it would be better to buy a 1 way ticket to canada. Go from Canada to the USA by bus, and if i go to vietnam I will just buy a ticket in the USA. I think that will be cheaper.
Hitchhiking is also probably a lot harder to do in the US than in many other places. Hitchhiking 'culture' has largely died out in this country, particularly in the more urban states. People just don't pick up hitchhikers in many areas anymore. You would have a very hard time getting a ride this way in a lot of places, particularly the kinds of places you'd want to go to. It might be possible in more rural areas around national parks, particularly out west, but you'd have a hell of a time traveling down the east coast that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Stranger
if you're even considering hitch-hiking, you must be mad. In which case you probably have a big gun waiting for you when you get there... if not order one, or two smaller ones.
haha, no im not considering it, thats why im going to buy a car :P
Bloody hell, now you're making me jealous. I always planned to do exactly that, but alas life has not given me the chance yet.
The older you get, the less likely it is that you'll undertake such adventures.Quote:
Originally Posted by Moros
So if there's nothing really holding you back aka you have no real responsibilities towards other persons, with real responsibilities meaning: people depend on you to live, then you should just do it, imo.
if you are willing to pay for gas, you can hitch a ride XDQuote:
Originally Posted by Moros
Counts for me as well? I am always willing to do something stupid, just because I can.
sure, as long as you promise not to embarrass me infront of the ladies, old man :P
Don't worry there won't be any left for you for me to embaress you. I am only going by cruise though, the stick that's big enough to get me into a plane has yet to be invented, if it's higher than a tree I simply don't belong to be there. If you are into it you got a road-buddy to burn the whole place down in the most legendary way. I got more than enough cash for just about every vice.
Sounds like fun, if you are go so am I
well, if you really mean it, we could discuss it and come up with a plan. but just to be clear about it now, i also like to travel on my own, and I plan on doing so. I don't mind if you tag along and travel a part of it together, but at one point our ways will seperate again. if we don't get along this will be sooner rather than later, and vica versa. if thats no problem with you, send me a pm and I will send you my details and we can talk about it.
No need for a pm I already got a brilliant plan. Boat->America. That's about it. Don't worry about not getting along with me, I am really nice company to have around. I also promise I won't kill you. We'll see from there, all options are open I won't be offended whatsoever. If you want some time on your own that's perfectly ok. You won't want that though. Time and place will do fine, Rotterdam has cruises to NYC, I might just stay there.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Stranger
haha ok :P in that case, im planning to leave to canada in november, I should be in NY in january 2015. ill probably buy a car there and travel down to the south crisscrossing across the east coast. if ur in NY around that time too, youre free to tag along :)
im not afraid about not getting along or that you will kill me :P just wanted to make clear that i would go do my own thing at a certain point again.
We probably got a deal then. But don't kick me out at an airport when you decide to do your soul-searching, I am terrified of hights. I only travel by cruise so keep that in mind. Cruise needs to be close.
I've got school and a GF who doesn't let me. So yeah.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andres