Think this is enough?

So next year I’m going to China and Australia. While I’m down under I’d really like to go and see New Zealand too. I’m also really keen to go home via the US and spend 4 or 5 days there, preferably in New York.

I’ve got about £5,800 saved up currently. I think I can save at least £1,200 more by the time I leave. I haven’t booked anything yet so I pretty much have to assume that £1,200 will disappear in paying for flights plus a bit more. I’m looking at a RTW ticket for roughly £1,400.

Here’s my rough schedule:

China 1st, spending about 10-14 days starting in Beijing and travelling to Hong Kong via Shanghai and/or X’ian. I think £500 should be more than enough for this.

Australia 2nd, where I will spend the bulk of my time as I am getting a WHV. Plan to stay there a minimum of 3 months and do a fair amount of work, hopefully leave with more money than I came in with.

I know I can afford that part of my trip, but like I said at the start I’d like to leave Australia for New Zealand and do one of those hop on hop off bus tours, staying in a hostel each night. Then I’d want to fly home via the US making at least one stop there for a few days.
I’ve calculated all the foreseeable costs and I’m confident I can get away with spending about £3,000 of my savings (this is assuming I earn a reasonable amount of money in Australia). I’ve never really done this before so I might have got it all wrong, but I’ve accounted for flights, hostels, trains (I had to estimate these, though) and visas.

What do you think? Can anyone with a bit more experience help me out? I’d rather not burn all my savings so if you think it’s going to be tight then I’ll probably pass on the second half of my trip and just stay in Australia for an extra few weeks before coming home.

Cheers.

What date are you departing? £1400 seems a bit expensive for a reasonably standard routing. also remember a RTW ticket is generally only valid for 12 months in case you are planning to fully utilise the WHV for a year

I would give more time in China as its amazing particularly Yunan province in the South West and Yangshou in the south

If I had to pick one of Shanghai or Xi’an I would go to Xi’an the Tearracotta Warriors are amazing

NZ is my favourite country hence I have just made it back there after travelling there in 2006, using a WHV here. It’s not as expensive as Oz for travelling but still not cheap anymore especially as there are so many great things to do (you need at least a month here)

I don’t know the specific date yet but it will be February. For planning purposes I’ve used 18th February. I know it will costs a bit less than £1,400 but I was over-estimating my costs to make sure I have enough.

I’d love to give China more time but my total travel time only allows for an absolute maximum of 6 months away as I’m going to be starting University in September and don’t exactly want to just arrive home the day before! I want to spend as much time in Australia as possible to get the most out of my WHV. I will definitely visit X’ian as Terracotta warriors are possibly the attraction I am looking forward to the most.

Like I said, I’d love to visit New Zealand for more time as well but I just don’t have the time to play with. I’m just looking at NZ and USA as extra things to do on my way home.

Just a question - with a RTW ticket do I have to book exact dates I want to leave each country?

You have to provisionally book the dates and its a good idea to have them as realistic dates as it saves the slight hassle of contacting the airline and also not all RTW tickets have free changes

Also note that airlines only release their schedules around 10 months ahead so if you were say booking a 6 month trip 6 months before you depart you would only be able to book exact dates covering the first 4 months of your trip though obviously you would be able to make the changes once you are traveling

Ah, good point. I hadn’t thought about not being able to book all the flights before I leave. I’d never even heard of a RTW ticket before I started planning this so I’m not really sure how they work!

Rob ring sta travel or trail finders,I looked for similar stops for my friend,they told me its not a rtw ticket so 1400sounds expensive,but my friends ticket was,London to Christchurch,Sydney London they quoted 1000 he’s only 19, and if u go USA make sure u take a lot of cash, I found it expensive and always go USA first and finish in Asia coz its cheap,good luck

Yeah I can’t find a RTW ticket that’s exactly what I want, might have to compromise if I want a good deal. I’m happy to pay anywhere in the region of £1,000-£1,500 for my flights, if you think about all the places I’m going then that’s a pretty fair deal.

Yeah, I’ve been to the USA before so I have a good idea of how much everything costs. Doing China last for that reason and because it’s the most intimidating/difficult place due to culture shock and language barrier!

Hey i just booked my flights with RTW Experts there worth checking out! I booked Glasgow - London - Bangkok - Sydney - New York - London - Glasgow and was £1373. They also have a Travel Butler where students and under 25’s get free flight changes on all flights except your first initial flight which is deff worth it as i got quoted £100 per flight change with one company!! Worth giving them a phone there very helpful!

Awesome, that sounds good. I’ve decided I have plenty of money for this trip so I’m going ahead. The route I’m taking now is:

Glasgow/Edinburgh - London - New York - Los Angeles - Sydney - Hong Kong - London - Glasgow/Edinburgh

Excluding the flights to and from London, I think I can get that for £1,000 + fees.

I will call them in a few months when it’s time to book, thank you for your help