How much to budget for a 'round the world' trip in 2023/4?

CKhalvashi

Troytempest said:

That equates to £55 per day to cover flights / transport / hotels / accommodations' / food and drink.

The places you mention can be done far more cheaply than the western world but I think you will need more.....

If willing to significantly budget, even Europe can be done for a lot less than this, especially if Flixbus etc services are taken into account and you're willing to stick to LCCs. CEE is much more our thing more than SEA/India so others are in a much better position to comment on the specific question though, the below is therefore general.

To get to India if travelling light, I'd want to look at UK-Poland/Romania with Wizz/Ryanair, on to Abu Dhabi with Wizz and then possibly to Maldives with Wizz (yes, their network does stretch that far and yes I'd happily do it like this, the opinion of others may vary but I often book to home now with an overnight stop in Poland to get a return ticket for sub-£50, this is largely self-insured though), or from AUH/DXB with Indigo. Remember to leave enough time to properly self-connect (3-4 hours at a minimum, preferably 6+).

I'm also into slow-ish travelling, I have many cities I've visited multiple times and tend to find I appreciate things better 2nd time.

Overnight buses/trains can also be a saviour (at least in Europe) to avoid paying for accommodation. Always book directly with any company to avoid unnecessary third party fees and adding a middleman in the case of a problem.

Always make sure you have a cushion for emergencies (generally double the cost of a next day flight home is advised at a minimum) and have more than 1 card, preferably with app-based authentication. On a flight cancellation at the start of Covid 2 of my cards wouldn't work as I couldn't receive an SMS. The bank of mom was helpful (I did pay approximately upfront via transfer and settle later) for getting us flights back via Belarus but I appreciate many don't have family in a position to do this.

Also ensure you can download/access any proof of funds and insurance documents, the international word for printing is generally variation of 'Xerox' for any visa etc applications. I've never had to apply for visas outside UK but have on a few occasions had to show proof of funds and insurance on entry to countries.

tightauldgit

TheLondoner said:

Quick follow up question everyone. How feasible is it to 'wing it' with flights? I don't want to book all my flights before I leave. I would prefer to book one way tickets as I go along. Will this cause issues with immigration in certain countries? Can I get visa on arrival for most places, or would I have to do something as laborious as interview at a country's mission in london for a visa prior to departure?

Quite often the issue with one-way tickets is that the airline won't let you board rather than immigration on arrival. You're the airline's responsibility if you get rejected so they do tend to check in my experience. What you can do is book a cheap ticket out or yes there are services you can use to effectively pretend to have an onward ticket. The way I tended to do it was just to book one ticket ahead so when I was flying into Country X I'd book my onward ticket to Country Y.

The majority of countries will have visa waivers so you should be able to enter for a month typically without needing to worry about it. You should always check entry requirements though as they can change. In SEA I think you are pretty much OK - Laos needs a visa but you can get it online/on arrival. Possibly Myanmar might be trickier but I've never been there.  

CKhalvashi

tightauldgit said:

TheLondoner said:

Quick follow up question everyone. How feasible is it to 'wing it' with flights? I don't want to book all my flights before I leave. I would prefer to book one way tickets as I go along. Will this cause issues with immigration in certain countries? Can I get visa on arrival for most places, or would I have to do something as laborious as interview at a country's mission in london for a visa prior to departure?

Quite often the issue with one-way tickets is that the airline won't let you board rather than immigration on arrival. You're the airline's responsibility if you get rejected so they do tend to check in my experience. What you can do is book a cheap ticket out or yes there are services you can use to effectively pretend to have an onward ticket. The way I tended to do it was just to book one ticket ahead so when I was flying into Country X I'd book my onward ticket to Country Y.

The majority of countries will have visa waivers so you should be able to enter for a month typically without needing to worry about it. You should always check entry requirements though as they can change. In SEA I think you are pretty much OK - Laos needs a visa but you can get it online/on arrival. Possibly Myanmar might be trickier but I've never been there.  

Thailand apparently can also be a difficult one. You ideally want to be at least 3/4 flights ahead of yourself though.

The only airline (not country) I've always consistently had documents (onward flight/insurance/funds) checked with has been Belavia (who no longer operate to the UK/EU) at LGW, VNO, TBS and TIA (the last on a charter, so it was obvious I'd already entered/left once). LOT Polish/Austrian weirdly enough never asked when travelling to the same country via WAW/VIE.

Visa free agreements normally have conditions of being able to show proof of onward travel and other documents on request, but I tend to find that the 'first time' to a country/region on a passport raises more questions than subsequent visits. The only country that I've really had a lot of questions on a subsequent visit has been Moldova, completely correctly as there are increased threats to that country, we wanted to enter for about 8 hours for transit purposes/change of bus and we'd flown into a Romanian airport on the day of entry (mainly as it was sub-£25pp return instead of £100pp flying directly to Chisinau). Once the immigration officer had established OH's nationality (which was very relevant to the situation) and that we'd travelled together, all was good in the world.

tightauldgit

CKhalvashi said:

tightauldgit said:

TheLondoner said:

Quick follow up question everyone. How feasible is it to 'wing it' with flights? I don't want to book all my flights before I leave. I would prefer to book one way tickets as I go along. Will this cause issues with immigration in certain countries? Can I get visa on arrival for most places, or would I have to do something as laborious as interview at a country's mission in london for a visa prior to departure?

Quite often the issue with one-way tickets is that the airline won't let you board rather than immigration on arrival. You're the airline's responsibility if you get rejected so they do tend to check in my experience. What you can do is book a cheap ticket out or yes there are services you can use to effectively pretend to have an onward ticket. The way I tended to do it was just to book one ticket ahead so when I was flying into Country X I'd book my onward ticket to Country Y.

The majority of countries will have visa waivers so you should be able to enter for a month typically without needing to worry about it. You should always check entry requirements though as they can change. In SEA I think you are pretty much OK - Laos needs a visa but you can get it online/on arrival. Possibly Myanmar might be trickier but I've never been there.  

Thailand apparently can also be a difficult one. You ideally want to be at least 3/4 flights ahead of yourself though.

The only airline (not country) I've always consistently had documents (onward flight/insurance/funds) checked with has been Belavia (who no longer operate to the UK/EU) at LGW, VNO, TBS and TIA (the last on a charter, so it was obvious I'd already entered/left once). LOT Polish/Austrian weirdly enough never asked when travelling to the same country via WAW/VIE.

Visa free agreements normally have conditions of being able to show proof of onward travel and other documents on request, but I tend to find that the 'first time' to a country/region on a passport raises more questions than subsequent visits. The only country that I've really had a lot of questions on a subsequent visit has been Moldova, completely correctly as there are increased threats to that country, we wanted to enter for about 8 hours for transit purposes/change of bus and we'd flown into a Romanian airport on the day of entry (mainly as it was sub-£25pp return instead of £100pp flying directly to Chisinau). Once the immigration officer had established OH's nationality (which was very relevant to the situation) and that we'd travelled together, all was good in the world.

I don't know what the Thai visa process is like but assuming OP is a UK passport holder he's good for 30 days without a visa. 

I don't think I've ever had any issues with immigration in SE Asia but I always generally follow the rules in any case. 

strawb_shortcake

My Brother managed to fly into Thailand recently with a one way ticket without any issues. He's also secured a longer tern visa whilst out there, I think he has 12 months. 

He's currently renting a condo for £300 a month, I assume that's including bills but not certain 

tightauldgit

annabanana82 said:

My Brother managed to fly into Thailand recently with a one way ticket without any issues. He's also secured a longer tern visa whilst out there, I think he has 12 months. 

He's currently renting a condo for £300 a month, I assume that's including bills but not certain 

Do you know what his plan was if the airline had asked him for proof of onward travel? 

I know it has sometimes been possible to talk your way out of it by explaining for example that you plan to apply for a longer term visa in country or that you plan to exit overland etc but not sure if airlines still go for that. 

strawb_shortcake

@tightauldgit I can't quote for some reason. My Brother is not a planner, he wings pretty much everything in life. 

Doshwaster

tightauldgit said:

annabanana82 said:

My Brother managed to fly into Thailand recently with a one way ticket without any issues. He's also secured a longer tern visa whilst out there, I think he has 12 months. 

He's currently renting a condo for £300 a month, I assume that's including bills but not certain 

Do you know what his plan was if the airline had asked him for proof of onward travel? 

I know it has sometimes been possible to talk your way out of it by explaining for example that you plan to apply for a longer term visa in country or that you plan to exit overland etc but not sure if airlines still go for that. 

If they ask for proof of onward travel you can either book a cheap one ticket to somewhere like KUL on Air Asia for about £20 or there are websites which will "rent" you a flight reservation, though I've never used them myself

One thing to be aware of with Thailand is that rules can, and regularly do, change overnight without warning and for no apparent reason. Commonly known as TiT ("This is Thailand...")

TheLondoner

tightauldgit said:

annabanana82 said:

My Brother managed to fly into Thailand recently with a one way ticket without any issues. He's also secured a longer tern visa whilst out there, I think he has 12 months. 

He's currently renting a condo for £300 a month, I assume that's including bills but not certain 

Do you know what his plan was if the airline had asked him for proof of onward travel? 

I know it has sometimes been possible to talk your way out of it by explaining for example that you plan to apply for a longer term visa in country or that you plan to exit overland etc but not sure if airlines still go for that. 

when i flew from india to thailand in jan this year i wasn't asked for any proof of onward travel for entry into thailand. It has me wondering whether all the things you hear about from people about needed proof of onward travel is actually valid. Before my trip I assumed I would be asked for proof but I'm surprised I wasn't! And it's immigration's duty to check that stuff i'd have though - why would airlines give a damn? Surely it's not their responsibility to check if you have an onward flight booked out of a country? Either way if they do have a responsibility, which I don't think they do, they never checked for me! My uk to india was with oman air, india to thailand with air asia and then thailand to uk was with singapore airlines, so 3 separate tickets and no one checked or asked about any of my flights/plans.

eDicky

TheLondoner said:

tightauldgit said:

annabanana82 said:

My Brother managed to fly into Thailand recently with a one way ticket without any issues. He's also secured a longer tern visa whilst out there, I think he has 12 months. 

He's currently renting a condo for £300 a month, I assume that's including bills but not certain 

Do you know what his plan was if the airline had asked him for proof of onward travel? 

I know it has sometimes been possible to talk your way out of it by explaining for example that you plan to apply for a longer term visa in country or that you plan to exit overland etc but not sure if airlines still go for that. 

  And it's immigration's duty to check that stuff i'd have though - why would airlines give a damn? Surely it's not their responsibility to check if you have an onward flight booked out of a country?

Airlines are penalised by a country's authorities when they deliver a passenger without correct entry requirements, and are responsible for their return and costs. So in general they are careful that their passengers fulfill such requirements and deny boarding if not.

In your case Air Asia may have been lax in checking your onward flight arrangements from Thailand because they know that Thai immigration officials don't currently check onward ticketing of most arriving passengers. If you were African, for example, a check when boarding would have been more likely.