Tell me where to go.

January 25, 2008 4:15 PM

What are some amazing adventures, anywhere on the planet, that take around 3 months to do?

This time next year I'll be fully graduated and it's quite likely I'll have reliable contract work that'll let me take ~3 months a year off.

I'm looking for things to do that are not just open ended suggestions (Go to Europe and see all the churches!), but single plans or activites that take weeks/months to complete. The two things that I've come up with are sailing across an ocean and riding a bike across a continent.

Budget wise, it could be anywhere up to several thousand dollars, but I'm happy to hear all suggestions.

posted by twirlypen to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

write a novel
posted by Salvatorparadise at 4:29 PM on January 25

Appalachian Trail

Pacific Crest Trail

Continental Divide Trail
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:29 PM on January 25 [1 favorite]

Do the Annapurna Loop Trek in Nepal (maybe 4-5 weeks or so). Then do the Langtang Trek (2 weeks). Fly to Tasmania and do the South Coast Track (10 days or so) and play around afterwards in Tazzie and the mainland. Leave via New Zealand or Fiji and totally play there!

Thats pretty much what I did about 10 years ago for 5-6 months. Quite an adventure. I did the whole thing easily on $2500 plane tix and $5000 spending money. Australia and New Zealand are in line with US costs now btw - could be tougher.
posted by elendil71 at 4:30 PM on January 25

Thanks so far! I actually did the Annapurna at the beginning of last year, and loved it.

I'm in Australia, by the way, but still happy to do things here. It doesn't have to be overseas.
posted by twirlypen at 4:32 PM on January 25

I'm personally going to work at the Earth Embassy, in Japan, and the Cambodian Land Mine Museum - each for three months. Divers at Project Seahorse do underwater surveying in the Philippines for two months. Getting certified in Thai massage will take about a month. You can run the gamut at Englishtown in Spain - one week each, at four current sites - in a month. You could work to rebuild New Orleans or the Gulf Coast. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory also takes volunteers. Makoko Language School in Tanzania teaches Swahili, although it takes five months.

That's all off the top of my head, at least - most of my information centers around educational or professional adventures that are either near-free or pay for themselves. But I look forward to what the hive mind has to offer on this. Speak up, y'all.
posted by laughinglikemad at 4:41 PM on January 25 [3 favorites]

The Camino de Santiago takes about a month to walk, I think. It's a historic pilgrimage from southern France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
posted by PatoPata at 6:04 PM on January 25

Way of St. James. Haven't done it myself, but totally want to when I get the opportunity. A number of friends of mine (and a former professor) have walked it and have nothing but positive things to say about the experience.
posted by General Malaise at 6:42 PM on January 25

Join a session or two of the World Campus International program in Japan. (disclosure: i'm a volunteer)
posted by divabat at 7:53 PM on January 25

sign up for a 3 month surfing surfari in indonesia. or if you cant surf, go to bali, take some lessons, practice every day for a month, then take a 2 month surfari across indonesia. you get on a boat, it takes you to all these deserted islands and out of the way port towns across the archepellago. i'm not sure about the details, but i know you can hire a fairly large boat out of, say, flores, for about us$20/day, or you can sign on to a tour of the mentawi islands from padang, sumatra... lots of options and possibilities if you do some research. the snorkelling will be excellent as well. make sure you go the right time of the year though (somewhere from may-september or so)
posted by messiahwannabe at 11:11 PM on January 25

Go round the world via the poles, so you'll see both poles (before all the ice melts and the animals die) and the equator, and maybe climb Everest while you're at it.

Whatever you choose to do, make it the most physically challenging of the things you'd like to do in your life, because it just gets more difficult every year to hike and climb, especially in extreme conditions. You'll have time for more sedentary activities (teaching, food kitchens, standard tourism, etc.) when you're an old coot. Now is the time to do shit you just won't physically be able to do later without flopping over and dying of a heart attack.
posted by pracowity at 8:55 AM on January 26 [1 favorite]

I asked a previous question on long hikes (like Annapurna and Compostela) which may be helpful here.
posted by vacapinta at 10:07 AM on January 26

El Camino de Santiago took me about a month.
posted by bertrandom at 12:23 PM on January 26

You can do a summer with the Mongolian nomadic people, which varies in time but can be up to 3 months at a stay. You'd fly into Ulaambaatar and then leave out for the Steppe. It's relatively low cost to register and almost no cost once you get into the country. Google searching will get you a few agencies that do the arranging.
posted by Gular at 11:03 AM on January 27