Image by musical photo man via Flickr
I’m not getting any younger. Really. At 23, I have plenty of good years left, but unless I actively take steps to make my dreams happen, they’re going to stay dreams and nothing more.
While the traditional Kiwi way is to pack your bags and head abroad for an extended period without a backwards glance, knowing myself and knowing T, I think the original plan of splitting up trips – while more expensive – will be much more enjoyable for the both of us. (Plus, if we had to quit our jobs to travel for a year, any savings could well be negated if we have trouble finding new employment.)
So the current problem vexing me is: where to go for a honeymoon? (Yes. The ultimate first world problem.)
I mentioned that Greece and Italy was our first choice. But given the cost of flying halfway around the world, it seems silly not to fit in more stops. Why not make our entire Europe trip our honeymoon? Yes, there will be some backpacking and roughing it a little, but if we can end (and maybe start) with some nice lodgings, I’m okay with that.
And so, a plan. I need a plan. Plans keep me on track. Sitting down and mapping it all out makes everything feel achievable.
2012 – our 24th year
Possibly our South Island road trip. Also keen to fit in a skiing trip to Queentown.
2013 – our 25th year
Europe
- London (and maybe Ireland)
- France
- The Netherlands
- Germany
- Italy
- Greece
At this stage, I’m hazarding a month and $10,000. Need to research.
2014 – 26th year
US road trip, hopefully starting in Vancouver before heading down the west coast, stopping in the South, and up the east coast.
Ditto as above with time and cost.
2015 – our 27th year
Asia! Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau.
Not a clue. 3-4 weeks, possibly. This should be less expensive as flights are shorter and cheaper, and Vietnam and Thailand should help bring overall costs down.
That leaves us 2016, 2017 and 2018 till 30. In that period I’d like to save at least $50k for a down payment.
Right now, I have enough in my travel fund for a major trip. I just don’t have the leave at my new job. So the plan is to hunker down, save even more for future trips and accumulate holiday time. It hurts a bit to see the timeline pushed out, but patience is a virtue, correct?
Financially, I think this is doable; putting it in black and white – even with the roughest of estimates, number-wise – gives me something to refer to and work from going forward.
I think it’s great that you have the places you’d like to visit all planned out. I found a lot of times that when the topic of travel comes up, I’ll say “yes, I love to travel, and visit all these places…”. but when it comes time to my vacation, I usually forget the places I want to go and just choose a place at random, or do not go at all. This year on my birthday, I wrote down the places I’d like to visit for my 28th year, and Hawaii was one of them. It was always a dream vacation to me but I never seriously investigated the costs because I always assumed that it would be out of reach. Well, when I took a vacation last month, I was reminded of my list of places, and researched Hawaii. It turned out to be the low season and the trip was actually affordable, so we went!
Also, if you’re anything like me, you’d probably get more bang for your buck by splitting up your trip. That way, you’ll have more time to rest in between, and reflect on the experiences. I think this is better instead of being away from your home base for an extended period of time, being stressed because of it and having all the places and memories melt into one.
I plan a major trip every other year. Travel is an important part of our lives, although roughing it is no longer an option. Next year, we will probably take a cruise leaving from Venice, Italy.
That’s great that you can see so far ahead.
Will you be stopping by Toronto, during your USA roadtrip? 🙂
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I’ve just found your blog, and am enjoying. 🙂 You sound like my lightly younger Auckland version (I’m in Wgtn)….
You can definitely do a month in Europe frugally for around $10k for two, we did it on the way back from living in the UK and spent GBP5k for a whole month. Get yourself a month-long Eurrail ticket.
Also you can spend even longer if you hit Eastern Europe, it’s not the safest but is dead cheap and worth seeing before it gets expensive. If we’d not had flights booked I think we would have stayed even longer there. 🙂