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I've recently decided to live my life a little bit! Get out there and see things I see in Films and create some stories. I'm 22 and decided to got to Uni 2016, starting September my priority is to visit as many countries as possible, with at least 1 trip consisting of a Backpack style adventure (I am thinking America for this one). Believe it or not, none of my friends have the money, the free time or jobs they can't just leave, so its going Solo!

I am a little bit nervous about it no doubt, mainly on what to do when I get to these destinations! E.g. I get to California, a place I've wanted to visit since forever, and I'll finally get there! WTF! Luckily I am practically vlogging the whole adventure, so if it's video worthy, I'll find it (hopefully!)
Original post by elzy121
Hi there!

My names Ellie and I'm a postgraduate film student studying at the University of Reading. For my practical dissertation project I'm interested in making a short film about a female hitchhiker/ backpacker. I was wondering if anybody could share any experiences of hitchhiking in the UK or be interested in helping me with my project? It should be a lot of fun and an attempt to frame hitchhiking in an interesting way. Please contact me if your interested in my project and would like to get involved! My contact details can be found on my website: http://elzy121.wix.com/eldphotography

Thanks guys!


Backpacking the UK, I've travelled all over the place in the UK, I work with people from all over the UK, lots of work and social visits! Quite unless you like the country side, there isn't much to see. I'd invest in going abroad, for more challenging and more rewarding!
Taking a gap year and going travelling solo for most of it. Any recommendations on where to go, what to do or how to stay safe in any of these places?
South Peru
Buenos Aires
Patagonia
Vietnam

Thanks! :smile:
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Original post by morgan006
South Peru

Lima is really nice. Doesn't feel dangerous (although obviously be careful). Parque Kennedy is a lovely park full of healthy resident cats and kittens. La Lucha is a sandwich place that does the best sandwiches I've had in my life. Miraflores is gringro central but a good place to stay with international restaurants and cafes, and decently priced souvenir shops. Barranco is the more upper-class district with colourful houses, markets and the MATE (Mario Testino gallery).

Huacachina doesn't have much to do, and I wouldn't recommend more than 2 days here- enough time for sandboarding and a trip to Paracas. The Nazca lines are amazing and a nice way to break up bus journeys from Huacachina to Arequipa. Fly over them in a small plane (we did a 6 seater which was either $100 or £100, can't remember which!).

Cusco is the jump off point for Machu Picchu and apparently had loads of other good treks. Good souvenir shopping. A pleasant city with a nice plaza, international restaurants and Peruvian ones, apparently a really good nightlife scene.

Arequipa is a nice town, but not much to do. Santa Caterina monastery is really nice, and the Colca Canyon is meant to be a great multi-day hike. Puno is your city for Lake Titicaca. It's an alright town. Expensive for souvenir shopping. Do the Uros Floating Island tour, it's really interesting. And it's the crossing point to Bolivia.

Buenos Aires

You need to be careful here. It's not so much that the city itself is dangerous if you take standard precautions. The problem is that you can get complacent and think you're in a typical European city because everything feels very European. But they have a VERY high rate of things like muggings and pickpocketings. You might say "So do some European cities". But in BsAs, they're more likely to have weapons.

Our hostel was robbed at gunpoint. They didn't hurt anyone and literally just took high-value items, but it was scary. I'm not telling you that to scare you to death, just to make you aware that I'm not exaggerating when I say you need to be on your guard in BsAs.

I loved the city. There's so much to do and it's a really pretty and nice place. We personally had no problems (we weren't there when the hostel was robbed). But a lot of people we know had valuables snatched or were mugged. I personally wouldn't take valuables out with you at all, but if you do then be hyper aware of your bags.

As far as things to do: the Recoleta cemetery is amazing (old style Catholic with huge mausoleums that are basically houses) and the Recoleta market is small and chilled out with lots of artisans. La Boca is really touristy but nice to wander around. San Telmo market is insanely huge and has everything you could want to buy. Walking around the normal tourist sites is nice too (Casa Rosada etc). And Colonia (Uruguay) is only an hour away by boat and apparently really lovely, and it's easy to head from there to Montevideo. We didn't do it, but loads of people we met did and they loved it.

Vietnam

Vietnam is great, but definitely more intense than Thailand. The vendors here are quite a bit more aggressive and likely to manhandle you. But the food is amazing and overall it's a great place to visit. But Vietnam is absolutely stunning- so much more naturally beautiful than I expected. The scenery between Hue and Hoi An is amazing. We got a day bus (it's only a few hours) and saw some gorgeous scenery.

In HCMC, you want to head to the Cu Chi tunnels. It's a standard group tour offered by every agency in town, but it's a fascinating insight into the war. The War Remnants Museum is shocking (heavily biased, but when you read some of the information it's hard to blame them) and definitely needs to be seen.

Ha Noi has a beautiful lake that it's nice to walk around, with a temple complex in the middle. It has the Ha Noi Hilton that I think you can visit and wander around. We saw a water puppet show there that was interesting and weird. From Ha Noi, definitely do a trip to Ha Long Bay. Don't go with the very cheapest company around (we did and it was awful- they stole from me, overpriced us on the drinks, charged people money for an activity on Day 1 that we did for free the next day, and got very aggressive if we wanted to stay longer in a certain spot). Go for a mid-range boat and you should have a good experience.

Other than that we visited Nha Trang (good for partying and boozy boat trips), Hoi An (nice colonial town with tons of tailors making cheap clothes, but apparently the best thing to do is explore the countryside) and Hue (amazing citadel, lovely to walk around).
(edited 8 years ago)
Thank you so much Joannamilano, that's by far the most extensive and useful info/advice I've gotten so far!

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Original post by Kitebo
I'm going on a 7,5 month solo trip to South East Asia, China and japan in a couple of months... Reaaaally looking forward to that!


You are so lucky!!!!! I was travelling by myself to Thailand and it turned to be a life changing journey... The best experience ever... It was totally safe, people are friendly and the nature is breathtaking. I never felt lonely there...
Im going to be teaching in Barranquilla, Colombia between July and November. Has anyone else been there?
Hi :smile:

21 but haven't even really been to a lot of UK places so am thinking of doing Scotland and then some places up North/down South this summer. Any advice/suggestions for places to go on the cheap? :smile:

I am also thinking of doing Europe solo, what's the best way to visit places like Paris etc on my own? Are things like airBNB a bad idea?
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by xJessx
Im going to be teaching in Barranquilla, Colombia between July and November. Has anyone else been there?



I haven't been to Barranquilla, but I've been to most of the other places you might want to go in Colombia (Capurgana, Cartagena, Guatape, Medellin, Bogota, Salento, Popayan and across the border to Ecuador), so feel free to message if you end up travelling around :smile:
Original post by JoannaMilano
I haven't been to Barranquilla, but I've been to most of the other places you might want to go in Colombia (Capurgana, Cartagena, Guatape, Medellin, Bogota, Salento, Popayan and across the border to Ecuador), so feel free to message if you end up travelling around :smile:


Thanks!☺

Im going to be in Bogota for 3 weeks for training before then but I have a friend from there who's going to show me around..other than that Im living off a stipend so I don't know how much money Im going to have to travel around.
Anyone done Paris/Madrid/Barca solo before? Never been before, going at 21 :tongue:
Original post by xJessx
Thanks!☺

Im going to be in Bogota for 3 weeks for training before then but I have a friend from there who's going to show me around..other than that Im living off a stipend so I don't know how much money Im going to have to travel around.


Travel in Colombia is pretty cheap, and the buses are really safe and reliable. We travelled Medellin-Bogota for around 65,000COP each way, which is about $50/£30 return :smile:

My friend lived in Bogota for a year, and she loved it. She definitely had the time and money to explore the country quite a lot, so hopefully you will too!
I'm cycling for about five weeks through the Netherlands, Germany (Cologne, Karlsruhe etc), and Switzerland to eventually reach Lake Garda in Italy. I'll be returning through Austria and Munich up to Nuremberg, and using a few trains along the way to cover more distance.

Does anyone have any advice/recommendations of where to visit along the way based on your own experiences? One big concern I have is what I should be prepared for when cycling through both the Swiss and Austrian alps in August. Also your knowledge of how cycle-friendly the countries and their train services are. I'd really value some personal insights into any cities before I leave in July and use them to plan my route.Thanks!
I'm in the Czech Republic, last year I was in Spain.

This summer I'm returning to Spain and then jetting over to Italy for the first time ever, I cannot wait.

My plan for afterwards is to go to Nicaragua!
Original post by Daisy21
Anyone done Paris/Madrid/Barca solo before? Never been before, going at 21 :tongue:


I've been to Madrid by myself before. I loved it! There was loads to see and do!
Original post by FormerlyHistoryStudent
I've been to Madrid by myself before. I loved it! There was loads to see and do!


Thanks! :smile: Where did you stay/what did you do?
Original post by Daisy21
Thanks! :smile: Where did you stay/what did you do?


For the answers to both questions, I refer you to my blog in my signature :-) My entries from Madrid are in the middle of the list because they date from last summer, so just scroll down until you reach July/ August 2014.
Original post by FormerlyHistoryStudent
For the answers to both questions, I refer you to my blog in my signature :-) My entries from Madrid are in the middle of the list because they date from last summer, so just scroll down until you reach July/ August 2014.


Cheers :biggrin:
Hey everyone, I'm looking to do some travelling in the near future and I've been looking at Iceland. Does anyone recommend Iceland? I think it would be for a week and I'd base myself in Reykjavik as the places of interest seem within a reasonable distance. Does anyone recommend anything in particular?
Original post by Carlz
I have never been away by myself before and I want to take the plunge for my 30th next year.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a female, first time solo traveller? (My birthday is in July, if that helps).


What about inter rail round europe? Italy? How long are you thinking of going for? Sounds like a great thing to do for your 30th! :smile:

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