Saving before the off

Well I have done the hard bit, which is to find a route around the world that will take me to visit many of my friends, visit many of the wonders of the world and avoid the danger spots or pure tourist traps.

Finding accommodation when I am out and about should be less of a nightmare, and as long as I take a blanket and sleeping bag a few nights underneath the stars will not kill me, so long as it isn't in a blistering heat or frozen driven winds of course.

So now all I have to do is manage to save up a mere { mere, yeah right !! }  £12 to £15K to cover the day to day costs, get my travel jabs plus all entry visas required and then wait.

Upon completion of the route I was still slightly disappointed that I had to miss key places, people or regions, but even accepting that this is a once in a lifetime trip the costs to get to some places, including overland transport and hotel / hostel accommodation, was just beyond my means for this very demanding budget.

I suppose if by some bizarre twist of fate, { all winning lottery tickets and official "Support Dickon's Global Odyssey" donations greatfully accepted, ha ha } life was to suddenly drop into my lap a large fortune then I guess I could make a few changes to cover all the wonders of the world and visit each and every one of my international friends, but failing that this is a very viable route that even when you include all the accommodation and living costs will still end up being less than some people are prepared to spend on buying a new car !

Round The World Route

WAVE GOODBYE TO THE UK FOR A LONG EPIC JOURNEY

LON>DUS - London to Dusseldorf, Germany > Airberlin ( opodo ) = £21
DUS>MAD - Dusseldorf to Madrid, Spain > Iberia ( ebookers) = £48
MAD>SAO - Madrid to Sao Paulo, Brazil > Swissair ( opodo ) = £270
SAO>GIG - Sao Paulo to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil > Varig ( lastminute ) = £65
GIG>LIM - Rio to Lima, Peru > Aerolineas Argentinas ( lastminute ) = £258
Overland to Cuzco and Manchu Pichu www.gapadventures.com/ = £400
CUZ>LIM> Cuzco to Lima, Peru > Taca International Airlines ( lastminute ) = £40
LIM>GYE - Lima to Guayaquil, Ecuador > Avianca ( lastminute ) = £185
Land and sea to Galapagos Island www.galapagosislands.com/ = £960
GYE>BOG - Guayaquil to Bogota, Colombia > Avianca ( lastminute ) = £135
BOG>MDE - Bogota to Medellin, Colombia > Avianca ( lastminute ) = £80
MED>PTY - Medellin to Tocument, Panama > Avianca ( lastminute ) = £174
PTY>CUN - Tocument to Cancun, Mexico > Mexicana de Aviacion ( lastminute ) = £208
CUN>MEX - Cancun to Mexico City, Mexico > Mexicana de Aviacion ( lastminute ) = £102
MEX>JFK - Mexico City to New York, USA > US Airways ( opodo ) = £128
NYC>LAX - New York to Las Vegas, USA > US Airways ( lastminute ) = £87
LAS>LAX - Las Vegas to Los Angeles, USA > US Airways ( lastminute ) = £42
LAX>HNL- Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii, USA > Hawaian Airlines ( priceline ) = £100
HNL>AKL - Honolulu > Auckland, New Zealand > Air Pacific ( princeline ) = £295
NAN>AKL - Nadi to Auckland, New Zealand > Air Pacific > ( travelocity ) = £140
AKL>SYD - Auckland to Sydney, Australia > Aerolineas Argentina (opodo) = £100
SYD>BNE - Syndey to Brisbane > Jetstar Star ( direct ) = £40
BNE>DRW - Brisbane to Darwin, Australia > JET Star( direct ) = £77
DRW>SIN - Darwin to Singapore, Malaysia > JET Star( direct ) = £10
Overland Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand > Malaysian Trains = £35
Overland Rtn to Angkor Wat > www.apriltravel.com/ = £181
BKK>HTK - Bangkok to Phuket, Thailand ( Rtn ) > Bangkok Airways ( lastminute ) = £119
Overland to Hanoi > www.gapadventures.com/ = £525
HAN>MNL - Hanoi to Manila, Philipines > Cathay Pacific ( opodo ) = £228
MNL>HGK - Manila to Hong Kong, China > Cathay Pacific ( opodo ) = £57
HKG>NNH - Hong Kong to Nanning > China Southern Airline ( lastminute ) = £249
HGK>PVG - Hong Kong to Shanghai > China Eastern Airways ( lastminute ) = £136
Sea Ferry - Shanghai to Tokyo > Shanghai Ferry www.shanghai-ferry.co.jp= £110
TYO>ICN - Tokyo to Seoul, Rep S. Korea > United Airlines ( ebookers ) = £166
ICN>PEK - Seoul to Beijing, China > China Eastern Airline ( ebookers ) = £248
Overland to Moscow via Mongolia > http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm#Fares= £350
MOW>ATH - Moscow to Athens, Greece > Olympic Airlines ( ebookers ) = £234
Overland to London across europe > www.budgetexpeditions.com/ = £1000

Total - Rail, Coach, Flights, Trips ( & excursion inclusive accomodation only ) about £7600

ARRIVE HOME EXHASUTED, BROKE BUT WITH LIFE CHANGING MEMORIES ! ! !

Still to find .. airport / hotel transfers .. food .. accomodation .. spending money .. clothes

Warping The Route

After hours more searching on the Internet I am fast thinking that there is a Travel Agency conspiracy against anyone hoping to follow the noble idea of travelling around the world in any kind of progressive order that does not run very similarly with the classic "U.K. > U.S.A. > Australia > Hong Kong > U.K." route.

 

No matter which website I use, be it from a specific airline or a generic travel agent search engine, the answers invariably keep coming back the same, if you want to go to anywhere exotic or out of the way then be prepared to pay an arm and a leg and heaven forbid that you even dream you will go from there to anywhere else except back to where you came from unless your a multi millionaire.

 

I will not even begin to say how irritating it is to have to laboriously task through seven almost idential flight searches from one location to the next, as flight costs often can vary drastically from one day to the next, even when you are talking nine months away.

 

Nor need I relate in full detail how much time is taken up by switching from a myriad of major airports of both the source and destination country to try and find a cheaper alternative to the first price shown. 

 

What baffles me more is that almost without exception it is cheaper to buy a return ticket to somewhere and then once you return home to fly out again to a new destination than is is to fly from one destination to the next. Certainly this is the case with Tenerife and Brazil.

 

Despite Tenerife being almost half way between the U.K. and Brazil it is much cheaper to buy a return ticket to Tenerife and then a single to Rio De Janeiro than it is to attempt to use Tenerife as a stop over between the one and the other.

 

However what I found to be complete lunacy is that when you try to book a flight to Rio De Janeiro the sites and airlines show a two leg journey changing planes at Porto in Portugal. Now although the cost of a single flight from London to Porto is very cheap, the cost of a single flight from Porto to Rio is more than the cost of an entire flight from London to Rio using Porto as just a stop over.

 

How can it be more expensive to buy just one leg of a journey than it is to buy both legs of the same journey in one go!

 

It reminds me of the advice that a good friend of mine gave me about flying to Singapore. He said that it was cheaper to contact a Malaysian travel agent and buy a return ticket from Singapore to London and then use the return leg to fly out there, than it was to contact a UK based travel agent and buy a single ticket from the UK to Singapore.

 

'Frustrating' ... 'illogical' ... 'insane' ... 'warped' ... 'chaotic' ... 'complex' ... there are many words that you could use to describe the travel industry but personally 'straight forward' would never be one I would chose to use, unless used with the prefix or 'not'.

 

Thus it is, that despite my prior hopes of completing an always progressive route around the world, I am fast thinking that perhaps it will be cheaper to simply make a list of all the places that I really want that are not in the middle of nowhere and just have fun in visiting them all in no specific order.

 

When I first laid out my route a friend commented that it must have taken me many hundreds of man hours to work it all out and I foolishly boasted that I had  completed it in just a few hours. Oh, how the pride comes before the fall. I fear that a hundred man hours will be the very least it will take me to fashion a viable route around the world.

Fighting The Travel System

I never thought that just trying to organise a route for a round the world travel would be so time consuming and frustrating.

 

The route that I chose seemed to be one that captured a flavour of where I wanted to go, included most of the fabulous archaeological and historical buildings of the world and some of the many wonderful international friends that I have made in the last few years from around the world.

 

But what started out as a simple matter of choosing where and when has become a mammoth task in itself.

 

Firstly the travel agencies and airlines want you to go one way round the world only, and attempting to go "the wrong way" seemed to be the my first big mistake as the list of places and cheap flights has already diminished to less than half of what was available had I gone the correct way around.

 

Next I found out the hard way that no one really expects or wants you to fly when you have a gap year or around the world ticket. Instead what they all assume, and almost force you into accepting, is to fly across the oceans but when it comes to overland they really want you to travel native.

 

Now although I agree that airports are a very modern method of travel and that they miss much of the real heart of the countries they are in, the desire to have to queue up at literally hundreds of train stations and bus stops to try and navigate my way across entire continents with only the most basic of the Spanish and French included in my foreign language arsenal is a very scary prospect.

 

Next was the disappointing fact that on a so called round the world ticket they only expect you to want to take a few actual flights, most suggesting as few as six stops on the entire journey. So again, unless you are planning to cross much of the the journey overland, a round the world ticket is little more than a carefully selected offering of city stops all sequenced in one general direction with a compulsory onward flight home from the final destination.

 

A real kick in the pants was the cost of flying to remote or 'untouristy' locations as the airlines available for those parts are few and far between, the chance of getting an flight from there to anywhere except where you have just come from is slim to none and the cost of the ticket is through the roof.

 

As an example a flight to Tenerife can be found as low as £80 for the 2,900 km journey, but a trip to Bamako in Mali, which is where you would need to land to reach Timbuktu, is not that much more than this in distance and also hardly different in its general direction or flightpath from the UK, but clocks up a staggering 600% increase on the average cost with the added downside of almost no onward destinations outside of Africa.

A small grumble

Is the UK going to the dogs ... well if what happened to me about my friend the other day is anything to go by then I would have to say yes.

My friend bought a small £12 umbrella from a well known and popular high street store in London just before Christmas, and paid using her credit card.

A few days later after using it a few times she threw the receipt away and a few days after that one of the struts collapsed in on itself and making the brolly almost useless.

Without a receipt, but with her credit card statement showing clearly the purchase, she went to tackle the store and request a replacement umbrella.

When she was there the first store clerk said that they do not stock those specific umbrellas anymore, so a replacement would have to be made using a different one, but then without a receipt he could not ring the exchange through the till.

Then another assistant came to his aid and said that they would not only check the back stock room for any leftover umbrellas of that type but also call over the store manager who should be able to assist further.

The store manager was also unable to find the 'unidentified' umbrella on their computer system but offered a compromise that if my friend leave her partly damaged umbrella there they would contact head office, where in turn they would have one of their clerk undertake a complete till check of all umbrella sales from all their UK based stores in the week prior to the purchase to try and identify the one puzzling sale.

Once the sale had been identified they would then check to see what code the old umbrella has been purchased for and then be in a position to offer an exchange for a similar umbrella of equal of less value.

So - 2 store workers at 30 minutes each, 1 store manager at 15 minutes, 1 customer services contact at head office at 15 minutes, 1 head of credit card purchases at 15 minutes and 1 poor verification clerk at untold hours - and all to enable one slightly damaged £12 umbrella to be replaced with an almost but not completely identical umbrella of the same brand and colouring.

So I say again  ... is the UK going to the dogs when even a competent store manager of a prestigious London based UK store is unable to make a simple exchange in a like for like umbrella swap when they can clearly see a proof of purchase?

I think so!!!

Weekend of fun

Despite the fact that I am meant to be saving up for a trip of untold excitement, adventure and cost I have nevertheless spent far too much money this weekend on being the socialite whore that I am.

Friday was a girl at works birthday, which meant a long lunch in a nice little Spanish eatery around St Christopher's Place, and the preference on the menu this week was seafood so lobster, crab and the calamari were the order of the moment.

Following that right after work I met up with a friend of a friend whose birthday it was on Saturday and we were arranging the plans for her big joint birthday bash at the Cella in Chancery Lane, a rather unassuming Asian karaoke place that doubles up as a Latin nightclub after 11pm. More calamari and olives in the new Carluccios this time, as this was where our mutual friend works, and I was shocked that even after a hefty staff discount two glasses of wine and a couple of plates of rather sparse calamari for starters came to over £26 !!!

Then a long train ride to visit some friends over in Herne Bay, who I had not had the opportunity to meet up with in many a week. This time not a birthday, thankfully, and despite more food this time it was of the home cooked cheap and cheerful variety of Pizza and garlic bread with coke. After an earlier double helping of seafood I was none the less glad that the choice of pizzas were pepperoni and four cheeses.

Whilst chatting and catching up we rather lazily sprawled out on their corner lounger and watched Reign of Fire, a fairly recent and worthy attempt at bringing dragons to mainstream audiences and also an older 1969 film called "The Valley or Gwangi" which I bet was where some of the ideas for the Jurassic Park series originated.

Saturday was if anything, even busier as I had to get back to my house in order to change and pick up a blue outfit for the London clubbing for the friend of a friends ( see above ) birthday bash. The only saving grace was that I had pre-booked the Premier Inn hotel as close as possible to the venue a week prior, so after a few hours sleep in the middle of the day I was still able to go out and boogie like a maniac.

However I just didn't seem to get into the spirit of things this time round, and had to cry off early at a disgraceful 12.30pm and head back to my hotel room.

Personally blame the lackluster DJ who seemed to have no idea of what he was doing and didn't even seem to be enjoying it himself, which is a cardinal sin.

If a DJ with experience and prior warning cannot get a group of revellers ( including 3 birthday girls, a dozen stunning beauties in the shortest and pinkest outfits ever conceived , a dozen guys all wanting to get up close and personal to aforementioned beauties and a smattering of Chinese and Korean girls who were hell bent on flinging themselves about like electrified jellyfish with their hair thrashing wildly in all directions) to remain on the dance floor for more than three minutes before wandering off again then he has no place working in a London nightclub, ESPECIALLY not on a bustling Saturday night.

Sunday morning was spend dossing in my hotel watching a french Mohamed Ali impersonator throwing away a lead in the Australian Open tennis final, before a edible but hardly praiseworthy full English breakfast before checking out and returning home on the fast train back to Gillingham.

Now, I am listening to "Bowie - The Singles Collection" and about to embark on a marathon email reply and RTW route version 2.1 research session.

And that isn't even all of it, as later I am due to make an appearance at a birthday party in Chatham where my Danish friend is celebrating her birthday, which might just allow me to return home and be back in my own bed for the first time all weekend just before midnight.

God I love being me at times, and how people can say that they are too busy to do the things that they want when they don't cram in half the things that other people do is beyond.

And how do I find time ... that's easy, and the reason is taken straight from a line from one of my favourite and a highly underrated cult film called "Split Second" ... "Coffee and chocolate ... lots of coffee"

World Trip Route - Version 1.1

It has taken me many hours to check out times, routes, flights and train times and available accompanied overland tours, but I think that I have come up with a fairly decent route.

 

I admit to cheating with my route, as I really want to include Egypt ( Great Pyramids ) and Mali ( Timbuktu ), but the rest of the route makes the best use of a round the world theme and also should allow me to meet quite a few of my International friends at the same time.

 

However if it is too costly I can always remove the travelling to Africa both times and then the route becomes more direct.

 

The cost will still change as September is many months away, but I am hoping, by booking early and avoiding first class flights, 4 or 5 star hotels and any sporting/shopping elements, that I should be able to it afford it, assuming that I save what I have estimated.

 

The hardest part was making a sensible guess for the duration of each visit.

Too short in days could mean missing a connecting flight or weekly train.

Too long will mean that I will have to stay in hotels for more nights that I need to and this will increase the price.

 

The route is as follows ( Starting and finishing in U.K., London ) :-

 

Mali, Bamako, Timbuktu – Canada, Halifax, Oak Island - U.S.A., New York, Niagara Falls, Boston, Washington DC, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, New Orleans – Mexico, Mexico City, Morelia, Teotihuacan, Cancun, Chichen Itza -  Cuba, Havana - Dominican Republic, Puerta Plata, Santa Domingo – Panama, Panama City – Colombia, Bogota, Barranquila, Cali – Ecuador, Quito, Galapagos Island, Guayaquil – Peru, Piura, Lima, Machu Picchu, Cusco, Arequipa – Hawaii, Honolulu – Fiji, Nadi - New Zealand , Auckland, Rotarua, Napier – Australia, Sydney, Ayres Rock, Alice Springs, Cairnes, Great Barrier - Indonesia ( Java ), Jakarta – Singapore – Malaysia, Sarawak – Cambodia, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat – Thailand, Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Khong – Laos, Pakbeng, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane – Vietnam, Hanoi – Philippines, Manilla, IloIlo, Cebu – Taiwan, Taipai - Ja pan, Tokyo – Republic of South Korea, Seoul – China, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Kowloon, Nanning, Beijing - Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar – Russia, Moscow – Egypt, Cairo – Italy, Rome – Greece , Athens, Meteora, Kavalla – Turkey, Gallipoli, Istanbul – Bulgaria, Black Sea Coast – Romania , Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj Napoca – Hungary, Budapest – Austria, Vienna - Czech Republic , Prague – Germany, Berlin – Holland, Amsterdam – Belgium, Brussells – France, Calais

 

The first part is mainly flights into and out of the Americas and then flying to various Pacific Islands.

 

The second part begins when I reach Bangkok and from there is a long overland trek by train.

 

Heading up and across Russia to reach Europe I will travel, and then fully across Europe to the French port of Calais ( via a quick stop over in Egypt ) just a few days after my 33rd birthday.

 

Now that I have made my route, I have to agree it with the travel agency who will advice me of which types of ticket to purchase and when will be the best time to order the tickets.

 

I am very excited about this trip and I hope that it will be a truly amazing trip of a lifetime.

Round The World Trip

Mali	Bamako
Mali	Timbuktu	Timbuktu
Canada	Halifax
Canada	Oak Island	Oak Island
U.S.A.	New York
U.S.A.	Niagara Falls	Niagara Falls
U.S.A.	Boston	Boston
U.S.A.	Washington DC	Washington
U.S.A.	Mount Rushmore	Mount Rushmore
U.S.A.	Grand Canyon	Grand Canyon
U.S.A.	New Orleans	New Orleans
Mexico	Mexico City
Mexico	Morelia	Morelia
Mexico	Teotihuacan	Teotihuacan
Mexico	Cancun
Mexico	Chichen Itza	Chichen Itza
Cuba	Havana	Havana
Dominican Republic	Puerta Plata
Dominican Republic	Santa Domingo	Santa Domingo
Panama	Panama City	Panama City
Colombia	Bogota
Colombia	Barranquila
Colombia	Cali
Ecuador	Quito
Ecuador	Galapagos Island	Galapagos Islands
Ecuador	Guayaquil
Peru	Piura
Peru	Lima
Peru	Machu Picchu	Machu Picchu
Peru	Cusco
Peru	Arequipa
Hawaii	Honolulu	Hawaii
Fiji	Nadi	Fiji
New Zealand	Auckland
New Zealand	Napier
Australia	Sydney	Sydney
Australia	Ayres Rock	Uluru
Australia	Alice Springs
Australia	Cairnes
Australia	Great Barrier Reef	Great Barrier Reef
Indonesia ( Java )	Jakarta
Singapore	Singapore
Malaysia	Sarawak
Cambodia	Angkor Wat	Angkor Wat
Thailand	Phuket
Thailand	Bangkok
Thailand	Chiang Mai	Bankok To Hanoi
Thailand	Chiang Khong
Laos	Pakbeng
Laos	Luang Prabang
Laos	Vang Vieng
Laos	Vientiane
Vietnam	Hanoi
Philippines	IloIlo
Philippines	Manilla
Philippines	Cebu
Taiwan	Taiwan
Japan	Tokyo
South Korea	Seoul
China	Shanghai
China	Kowloon
China	Nanning
China	Beijing	Forbidden City
Mongolia	Mongolia	Beijing to Moscow
Russia	Moscow
Egypt	Cairo
Italy	Rome
Greece	Athens	Athens to London
Greece	Meteora
Greece	Kavalla
Turkey	Gallipoli
Turkey	Istanbul
Bulgaria	Black Sea Coast
Romania	Bucharest
Romania	Brasov
Romania	Cluj Napoca
Hungary	Budapest
Austria	Vienna
Czech Republic	Prague
Germany	Berlin
Holland	Amsterdam
Belgium	Brussells
France	Calais

Back in Action

Despite a very long absence I have decided to come back to my first blog world persona and, with minor modifications, pick up where I left off.

 

Anonymity, it's a tricky thing. I want feedback, honest I do, but like most people I don't like too much negative feedback. So I tried a blog that no one knew was me, but I just couldn't get into it as much, knowing that not only was I hiding but I still had to keep in contact with all my friends through other mediums and hated repeating myself, even in word.

 

I think the trick with requesting and giving feedback is to still try and be both objective and constructive wherever possible, and also as my mum always tells me, if you can't say anything good then best not to say anything at all.

 

I stopped my blog for all the wrong reasons, so I am back to make amens, not to anyone else, but for myself and I will now write what I want, when I want and as often or infrequent as I chose and not for anyone else.

 

Firstly I have to say that just like Clerks 2 wanted to take back the phrase "porch monkey", I want to take back my real name.

 

Dickon ... it's short for Richard, it means leader of men, it's quite an uncommon name and it is the one that I was born with and is recorded on my birth certificate.

 

2007 was a fairly duff year for most people, it started off not too good, had more downs than ups and ended up with more of a fizzle than a bang, so I am determined to make 2008 my year.

 

Secondly, I have a feeling that in my youth I created a few too many self fulfilling prophecies that are coming back to haunt me.

 

{ a S.F.P. - When someone makes a prediction of a future event and then through their words & actions / in-actions causes that very event to happen.

 

Example, someone says "I am scared that I will get run over while crossing a road" - and the person is so scared that they always run with their eyes closed when crossing roads until one day they run out and trip over something they didn't see and are then run over.

 

Arguably, yes they may have been run over one day anyway, but by worrying about it and then by acting irrationally they greatly increased the chances of the event happening! }

 

As a child I watched far too many movies / tv series and read too many books where the lead was a hero destined to have no lasting love interest and wander the earth righting wrongs.

 

Why did I do this ... if you knew my childhood you would realise that I was definitely lacking a good male model in the home, so I had to look elsewhere.

 

The Highwayman, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Midnight Caller, Die Hard, Kung Fu, Indiana Jones, Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Pitt, Mike Callahan, The Stainless Steel Rat, Hope Hubris, etc, etc, and so on and so forth.

 

All great men, clever, with good friends, trusted, respected, honoured, well travelled, loved by many yet married to none.

 

I spent so much time watching them, acting like them, thinking like them, wanting to be them, that I failed to notice their flaws and the obvious drawbacks to a lonely life.

 

As I grew up, I promised myself that I would travel the world and do many of the amazing things that I read about, so much so that I feel that my life is constantly on hold until I have and then my real life can begin once more.

 

And now, I have to get this all out my system before I can leave my childhood behind me and move on to becoming a more mature and all rounded human being.

 

So I am selling all my worldly possessions, going to travel the world for a year ( or as long as it takes / as long as my money holds out ) to find the real me and then wherever I rest my head the most favourably I will settle down, free from the trappings of my past and able to find a job I like that makes me feel a man.