Advice on taking a career break to go travelling

nevh2001

Hello all,

just want some advice on budgeting etc. if me and my wife decide to take a career break.
Basically, my wife-to-be and I have a distant plan to go travelling next year (probably April onwards). I am an IT contractor and it looks like my current contract will end at the end of March 2007. We are looking at maybe taking a career break at this time for between 6 and 12 months (probably more like 12 months to make it worth while).

If we went travelling, we would maybe do South America then on to Thailand etc. and even Australia and/or New Zealand.

Has anyone travelled to these places? Any advice on routes, budgeting tips would be greatly appreciated. How much money in total would 2 people need? There is so much to think about.

We get married in November and we are saving hard for that. The plan is to carry on saving once we are married to pay for this trip. We own our own house so we can pay for the mortgage money by renting it out. I already have about 3k i could use towards the trip.

many thanks

cboo

Hi, am very jealous

Thailand is very cheap, we travelled round and just looked in hotel, etc if we liked the look of a room then asked for a price and then negotiated (you can normally get it cheaper if you haggle).

Have you though about Vietnam or Cambodia, both those Countries are as nice as Thailand (if not nicer and really easy to get around), we travelled by train in Vietnam.

Haven't been to Australia, but friend travelled around South America fairly cheaply.

Best advice is to but travel books, lonley planet etc, or go to your library and rent them out..

Good Luck

nevh2001

Hi again,

yes definately thought about Cambodia and Vietnam, if we are doing Thailand, we may as well do those places too.

cheers

1sttimer_2

Hi, my daughter's just booked a 9 month trip with STA travel. She and her friend have done their homework of where they wanted to go and what they wanted to see. They've just booked all their flights + an organised trip in Borneo and for that they've paid £1600 each. They have to find their own transport and accommodation when in the various countries they're visiting and plan to work in New Zealand mid trip to pay for remainder of visit to China.

Hope you get sorted. Good luck and enjoy yourself.

Cats_pajamas

I'm taking 6 months career break. plan to rent my flat out for a month either side of the time I am away so that I am reassured that it is ok before I go and so that when I get back, I will have a month to get a salary from work (I will stay with loved ones for that time). It sounds as though two can live more cheaply than a single traveller. I hope you have a wonderful time.
Cat