[331sam331]

(Original post by gemini89)
I posted before on this thread and I've just had a read since then....I have so much advice for you but unfortunately it's kinda late so here's just one major point...

Go solo! Seriously, don't change your mind. You will meet so so so many people - both travellers and locals (the second is harder at times but couchsurfing would help). Don't wait for friends - they mean well, saying 'oh yes I've always wanted to travel' but in my experience, don't bank on them actually doing it. You have to get quite dedicated people who want to travel long-term, rather than just a short trip to Thailand before they go to university or whatever. I've heard so many people's tales of friends who will say they will go...they start trying to save money and then one of two things happen: a) they just can't save money, too many other things are more important to them or b) they save quite well, end up with a couple of grand or so and then they think hey, I'd rather spend that on a nice car/television etc...sorry mate, I'm not going.

The other thing is that travelling alone or with friends are very difference experiences. You have to be pretty in tune with your friends to travel successfully - you need to be on the same page regarding what sort of things you want to see/what you want to experience/similar budget (last one is really important). Travelling solo is awesome in that you're doing precisely what you want to do. And if you've saved up and looked forward to this trip for a long time then you should do exactly what you want! I would guess some people might reply to this saying that I'm being over dramatic - but keep in mind I'm talking about long term travel i.e. over 6 months, not just short trips interrailing or whatever. So regarding your trip - plan it, you save up...if anyone still wants to go a few months before you leave then go for it (just make sure you're straight with what you both want to do!), just don't wait around for people.

I travelled solo around the world when I was 18 - I was really not 'alone' for very long. People joined me for days and weeks at a time when I was travelling.....during one summer uni break (2008) I went back to some of my favourite places and met my now-boyfriend (Canadian). We're still together and we are travelling and living abroad long term i.e. for the foreseeable future. edit - just a note that travelling in a couple is a bit different since it's more likely that you're on the 'same page' so to speak and you're fairly used to compromise already!

That's what I was hoping. But I am worried about if I get in a jam with missing trains, missing buses ect... Kind of helps having mates around in the same situation to figure it out and stop you stressing.

But then you are right that it will help bring you out of your shell, and rub shoulders with the locals and meet new friends along the way, if you are alone.

I'll look at it as my mates not bailing just for the moment, even though they probably will

I have known them both since I was about 12, so we are pretty solid, and we know what annoys each other habits wise, and when to back off and go for a walk haha. We also have fairly similar interests, so that shouldn't be too bad.

I do like the idea of going it alone, even though it really scares me. I am somewhat of a deep thinker, and I think that after a long day of seeing things, I am the kind of person who would like complete alone time to reflect. Maybe wright a blog post and upload the days films and pictures in peace. I could probably do that when the other two have drifted off to sleep though.

Yea true dat haha

[Malkmus]

(Original post by 331sam331)
That's what I was hoping. But I am worried about if I get in a jam with missing trains, missing buses ect... Kind of helps having mates around in the same situation to figure it out and stop you stressing.

I think that's half of the fun! You will screw things up travelling either solo or with other people... it's kind of inherent with the amount of moving around you'll be doing. When one of my friends met me in Norway, we were getting a long-distance bus at which certain points you board ferries to cross islands/fjords/whatever and, unbeknownst to me, he decided to go for a slash on the ferry (even though there was a perfectly acceptable toilet on the bus). Anyway, the bus drove off the ferry and I woke up and he wasn't there... I waited a few mins just assuming he was in the loo and when I realised after 10 mins he wasn't I panicked - looked at my phone (which was dead) so I panicked even more when I realised I had no way of contacting him. Just decided to do what I thought was the most sensible thing, which was to get off the coach at the next stop which was just some tiny (but utterly gorgeous) Norwegian village. I waited there 45 mins not knowing whether he was coming (or how he would get there) with both of our gear. Eventually he showed up - he managed to hitch a lift with some other people in a car on our ferry! I was half pleased to see him and half fuming he dallied about on the ferry. This delay completely ****ed out route for the day as the next coach we got only went half the way to Bergen - which again we didn't know - so we just randomly camped in the Norweigan countryside near a random town overnight (it's legal to camp pretty much anywhere there) and finally arrived in Bergen a day and a half late.

But yeah anyway, +1 for solo travel over travelling with friends - i think you have a more enjoyable experience and more people do seem to approach you and chat to you when you're by yourself. Definitely don't wait on other people getting their **** together as it invariably doesn't happen as gemini said. Once you've got the money and the timing is convenient then just book your flight and go!

[331sam331]

(Original post by Malkmus)
I think that's half of the fun! You will screw things up travelling either solo or with other people... it's kind of inherent with the amount of moving around you'll be doing. When one of my friends met me in Norway, we were getting a long-distance bus at which certain points you board ferries to cross islands/fjords/whatever and, unbeknownst to me, he decided to go for a slash on the ferry (even though there was a perfectly acceptable toilet on the bus). Anyway, the bus drove off the ferry and I woke up and he wasn't there... I waited a few mins just assuming he was in the loo and when I realised after 10 mins he wasn't I panicked - looked at my phone (which was dead) so I panicked even more when I realised I had no way of contacting him. Just decided to do what I thought was the most sensible thing, which was to get off the coach at the next stop which was just some tiny (but utterly gorgeous) Norwegian village. I waited there 45 mins not knowing whether he was coming (or how he would get there) with both of our gear. Eventually he showed up - he managed to hitch a lift with some other people in a car on our ferry! I was half pleased to see him and half fuming he dallied about on the ferry. This delay completely ****ed out route for the day as the next coach we got only went half the way to Bergen - which again we didn't know - so we just randomly camped in the Norweigan countryside near a random town overnight (it's legal to camp pretty much anywhere there) and finally arrived in Bergen a day and a half late.

But yeah anyway, +1 for solo travel over travelling with friends - i think you have a more enjoyable experience and more people do seem to approach you and chat to you when you're by yourself. Definitely don't wait on other people getting their **** together as it invariably doesn't happen as gemini said. Once you've got the money and the timing is convenient then just book your flight and go!

Haha that sounds ace, but I bet it was a bit unsettling at the time

Camping would be great too. Did you have a tent? Or did you have to tie waterproof hammocks between the trees or something?

Perhaps an old Nokia 3210 or something with £10 credit on it, only switched on for this type of situation would come in handy.

I would like to have those sort of stories to tell. Would make for much more interesting conversation than just, I went here and saw this, the I went here and saw that etc...

I like the idea of only loosely planning too. To compare it to seomthing else I like doing, cooking. When I follow a recipie exactly it becomes a bit tedious and mechanical. Whereas when I weigh things out roughly and just throw things together it ends up being a lot more fun and tastes better

Thank's so much for your input, it's really inspiring me to get planning. I have just bought a world map, some red string and some pins haha

[Malkmus]

(Original post by 331sam331)
Camping would be great too. Did you have a tent? Or did you have to tie waterproof hammocks between the trees or something?

Yeah, took a small 2 men tent. It was really light though so didn't really weigh me down and as I just strapped it on the bottom of my rucksack, it didn't use up any space. I only really used it in Norway and Sweden - it was protection from spending the night on the streets if I couldn't find a hostel or if they were all booked up or overpriced.

[Alpharius]

Not easy. I did something similar last summer, but I had decent reserves of cash, and occasionally places to stay around Europe.

As for needing a visa for work, not if its cash in hand. You can get money via handing out leaflets for restaurants/nightclubs.

[Paul PTS]

(Original post by JessyPhil)
I plan to! I actually ordered a huge map for my bedroom wall yesterday (1.4m x1m) and I'm going to plot all the places I want to visit as soon as it arrives I'll probably be more excited about the colour coded stickers tbh. I'm sad like that

I live here.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/657

[Paul PTS]

(Original post by 331sam331)
Camping would be great too. Did you have a tent? Or did you have to tie waterproof hammocks between the trees or something?

Camping is good idea. I myself like the nature.

I have two apple gardens near Moscow. One is in my town, ten minutes walk from the station Sergiev Posad of Moscow-Yaroslavl railway.
And another one in the country, 15 minutes by car from the town. There are fields, forests and ponds around. Fishing, swimming, boating and so on. In autumn except berries from the garden (smorodina, klubnika, malina and other) I like to go to woods for the mushrooms (podosinoviki, podberesoviki, siroejki, valuye). Last autumn I had been at forests for several times, found lot's of dunek and chernushek.

The most interesting fact that in the country I'm much closer to the ponds, where I may swim (just 5 minutes walk). And from my town garden I need to go to the nearest forest lake (where local ecologists allow to swim) for about half an hour. And part of the way - through the forest.

[331sam331]

(Original post by Alpharius)
Not easy. I did something similar last summer, but I had decent reserves of cash, and occasionally places to stay around Europe.

As for needing a visa for work, not if its cash in hand. You can get money via handing out leaflets for restaurants/nightclubs.

How common is that sort of work?

Also, by reserves of cash, roughly how much? Did you live comfortably, or do the hostels and camping/crashing thing?

Thank's for the input

[331sam331]

(Original post by Malkmus)
Yeah, took a small 2 men tent. It was really light though so didn't really weigh me down and as I just strapped it on the bottom of my rucksack, it didn't use up any space. I only really used it in Norway and Sweden - it was protection from spending the night on the streets if I couldn't find a hostel or if they were all booked up or overpriced.

That's great

I think I would like to camp as much as possible. Especially in the ancient woods and places of beauty.

Perhaps I will invest in a very lightweight tent, with the carbon fiber poles?

[331sam331]

(Original post by Paul PTS)
Camping is good idea. I myself like the nature.

I have two apple gardens near Moscow. One is in my town, ten minutes walk from the station Sergiev Posad of Moscow-Yaroslavl railway.
And another one in the country, 15 minutes by car from the town. There are fields, forests and ponds around. Fishing, swimming, boating and so on. In autumn except berries from the garden (smorodina, klubnika, malina and other) I like to go to woods for the mushrooms (podosinoviki, podberesoviki, siroejki, valuye). Last autumn I had been at forests for several times, found lot's of dunek and chernushek.

The most interesting fact that in the country I'm much closer to the ponds, where I may swim (just 5 minutes walk). And from my town garden I need to go to the nearest forest lake (where local ecologists allow to swim) for about half an hour. And part of the way - through the forest.

Me too, I would like to camp in very old ancient forests. Hiking is very fun to me also.

It sounds beautiful where you live, you are very lucky to have such natural surroundings

[Paul PTS]

(Original post by 331sam331)
Me too, I would like to camp in very old ancient forests. Hiking is very fun to me also.

It sounds beautiful where you live, you are very lucky to have such natural surroundings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalesye

[Alpharius]

(Original post by 331sam331)
How common is that sort of work?

Also, by reserves of cash, roughly how much? Did you live comfortably, or do the hostels and camping/crashing thing?

Thank's for the input

I was always able to find that sort of work around Europe. France, Spain, Germany, Italy... Its not hard if your persistent (and know the basics of the local language).

I had £2000 in the bank, hardly touched it.

[331sam331]

(Original post by Alpharius)
I was always able to find that sort of work around Europe. France, Spain, Germany, Italy... Its not hard if your persistent (and know the basics of the local language).

I had £2000 in the bank, hardly touched it.

Excellent, so Europe is fairly easy with a bit of know how and not a lot of money

Obviously the rest of the world is a bit more financially demanding, just because of the flights

But I think Europe would be a good way to start out, just to get some practice in on being very independent. Making a few mistakes and learning from them, so they don't get repeated when the big world trip happens.

Thank's