Comments | eponine119: I have decided

eponine119

I have decided

Feb 26, 2009 16:44

One of the things I do when I have time on my hands is plan trips. I have all my future travel plans all blocked out in my head for ages to come. Leaving me without much research to do, killing my hobby.

not any more!

I think I'm going to plan trips that match tours and see how much they cost in reality land.

Inspired by this trip, from ( Read more... )

crazy travel girl

Comments 17

fosfomifira February 27 2009, 02:21:40 UTC

I want your hobby! I'm terrible at planning trips. I used to be more of the 'I'll figure it out when I land' school, but that doesn't always work ( ... )

eponine119 February 27 2009, 02:39:16 UTC

I love planning trips. It's just a matter of someday actually taking them.

I think the National Geographic RTW trips are cheaper but not by much.

Oh, I love your brainstorming on travel routes. A lot of the stops on the A&K trip are the sort you'd only make if you had a private jet -- they don't make a lot of sense going by regular travel.

Anyway, I just finished up my rough estimate for a similar trip and it came to $13,000. Which is still a lot, considering a lot of people do yearlong round the world trips for $30,000 or so.

fosfomifira February 27 2009, 03:05:42 UTC

When my greatgrandfather passed away I inherited his London Times/NY Times atlas. The poor book has many a route marked. Now I regret writing on the book, but at least I have some record of where I wanted to go. I used to spend hours with that atlas, just thinking of the places I wanted to visit just because I liked the names.

Yearlong round the world trips for 30,000? I want to know how that works. I'm guessing that there's a lot of road trips and trains involved - plane tickets eat so much of my budget on my planned trips. Just getting out of where I live takes some serious money.

Here's to us making our dream trips come true :)

eponine119 February 27 2009, 03:41:56 UTC

Oh, wow. Don't regret marking in the book, it makes it more precious that way.

The inexpensive round the world trips start with a round-the-world plane ticket, where you get a certain number of stops for like $2,000 or $5,000. And then they spend a lot of time in very inexpensive countries, like in Southeast Asia, and not in pricey places like Europe or the US.

And yes, here's to dream trips being realized!

bluelittlegirl February 27 2009, 03:28:03 UTC

Hey, crazy travel girl. How are you?
I love to do this. And, yeah. Wow.

eponine119 February 27 2009, 03:39:06 UTC

I'm good! How are you?

I love planning trips, and now I have lots of new places to plan them to!

bluelittlegirl February 27 2009, 03:42:10 UTC

I am doing pretty well, thanks.

Yes!

elliotsmelliot February 27 2009, 03:45:38 UTC

What? $89,800?

I love trip planning too. I buy guidebooks all the time for places I want to visit. Sometimes just planning a trip is satisfying. It's like writing a story.

eponine119 February 27 2009, 04:34:14 UTC

I know, crazy, right?

It's like writing a story.

Oh, what a beautiful idea. That's exactly it.

siluria February 27 2009, 17:22:27 UTC

If I had the money, I would so do that trip....

eponine119 February 27 2009, 22:20:01 UTC

Me too!

alliecat8 February 27 2009, 21:13:34 UTC

Nine wonders in 26 days sounds a little bit overwhelming to me, even without the $90,000 price tag. Someday I'd like to plan trips to the 9 Wonders (why'd I think there were 8?), but I think I'd like to make each Wonder a separate trip. That way I'd be able to rest and relax so I could fully take in and enjoy the experience.

And YES, tell me how to do it on a shoestring. Y'know, I truly believe you were a travel agent in a former life.

eponine119 February 27 2009, 22:19:25 UTC

I think if you were going to see them in 26 days, then going the super high luxury route would be the way to go. It would be less overwhelming.

The trip I threw together to match it would be much longer. And I think I would want to at least group them and make separate trips.

I didn't even shoestring it, mostly because I was rushing through it. If I did it that way it'd be way less than the $13k I came up with. I looked up a round the world ticket, which was $6k, and then took the top hotel on TripAdvisor in each location (sometimes $400, sometimes $15), looked up the attraction prices (low usually), and added in some food and stuff.

I kinda think there's a wanderlust gene, and it's strong in my family. You can trace it right back through the line -- merchant marines, "okies", the oregon trail, the immigrant ships... :D