Where can I stretch $20k the furthest?

June 14, 2008 4:01 PM

I've got about $20k saved up and no real responsibilities. I'm quitting my job soon, and before heading to grad school sometime in the next year or two, I'd like to do some serious traveling. I haven't really been anywhere in the world, but I'm interested in everywhere. Where are the cheapest countries/regions to go to now, and how long can $20k last me there? The experience of traveling is what I'm after, so I really will be making my decision based on where my money will go the furthest.
posted by decoherence to travel & transportation (27 comments total)

Is your goal to see as many places as possible or get to know one or two countries very well?
posted by aetg at 4:15 PM on June 14, 2008

More of the former. I'm at a bit of a crossroads in my life, and I'd like to challenge myself, get out and see and do some things, rather than just stay on the track I'm on that's funneling me directly from college to office job to grad school. The experience of throwing myself into a foreign culture, where just buying a meal or finding a place to sleep might be a challenge, is what I'm after. Seeing sites, and even getting to know a particular culture or country, are somewhat secondary.
posted by decoherence at 4:24 PM on June 14, 2008

I'm bad at math, but with the exchange rates, your $20K is worth about $16K in the EU, and $10K in England. A friend of mine in Europe refers to dollars as the "American Pesos". Ouch.

But with that in mind - your travel money will go MUCH farther in Latin America than in Europe! Time for a siesta/fiesta??
posted by matty at 4:25 PM on June 14, 2008

I highly recommend India. You'll get a six-month visa, and you would barely need a fraction of that 20k over that time. If you're careful you can get by on less than $10 a day in some places. And it's an utterly fascinating country with a million things to see, and it's a totally unique, if difficult, travel experience. And you can pop into the neighbouring countries (Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan) pretty easily, and at a similar cost.

But the standard budget travel spot is South-East Asia. Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia... all cheap. Burma is even cheaper and way more interesting, though it's not the greatest time to visit, obviously.

You might also try some of the Balkan countries. Bulgaria and Romania are cheap and lots of fun.
posted by Succa at 4:25 PM on June 14, 2008

Look into an around the world air ticket, and then start heading in one direction. Given where fuel prices are headed this would be one way to lock in fares. As noted, Europe is now crushingly expensive for Americans (even if you're not a budget traveler), so I'd suggest SE Asia and India. If you want to get knocked your moorings and plunge into a very different set of cultures/cities/peoples/food, that's a great way to do it. (And I'll note was what I did before I went to grad school--best decision of my life).
posted by donovan at 4:43 PM on June 14, 2008

World's Cheapest Destinations here. All sound amazing.

DIY round-the-world tickets here.

Anecdote: I lived in Indonesia for a year as an English teacher, made $8000 - and only spent about $6000 - including rent: I had a three-bedroom house, for a year, which only cost $1000. Window screens, water/electricity.

Fantasy itinerary: south from LA, through central America to Buenos Aires, fly to Cape Town, up through east Africa to Nairobi, fly to Mumbai, all through India, through southeast Asia, fly home. That should keep you busy, and you only have to fly three times.
posted by mdonley at 5:11 PM on June 14, 2008 [3 favorites]

I second Succa on India. Amazing place, the expensive part is getting there. Lots of challenges, but also lots of friendly, helpful people. I spent an amazing year there, learned so much.

My boss is from Bulgaria, and while she wants me to go there with her sometime, when I casually mentioned that Bulgaria looked like a wonderful place to motorcycle around, she got pale and told me that it wasn't safe, what with the big people. I'm pretty sure she meant organized crime. The sense I got is that Bulgaria is fine if you are with a local, not so fine otherwise. She also complains it is getting very expensive there.
posted by QIbHom at 5:12 PM on June 14, 2008

Thailand-particularly Chang Mai-is where I'd go if I were you. Favorable exchange rate, wonderful people, a lot to see and do.
posted by konolia at 5:20 PM on June 14, 2008

It sounds like this will be your first time doing some serious travelling.

I'd recommend starting in SE Asia, because you'll find it a comparatively comfortable place to get used to. Thailand especially offers fun things to do but without a great deal of cultural shock and language difficulties. When you get your feet in there, you can move elsewhere around Asia (Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Phillipines, Burma (?), and then move towards the subcontinent- India, Nepal, Pakistan. If you're still keen, you can continue upwards through the Middle East.

A good round the world flight (a few stops in Asia, couple in Europe, some in Africa, some in South America) shouldn't be more than A$5000 (no idea what it's like for the US, I'm afraid), so that leaves about $15,000. In most of SE Asia and South America you'd struggle to spend more than $1000 a month. You can easily go for over a year. Even more, if you decide to stay in one place a little longer.

Have a good one. It'll be a blast!
posted by twirlypen at 5:23 PM on June 14, 2008

Fantasy itinerary: south from LA, through central America to Buenos Aires, fly to Cape Town, up through east Africa to Nairobi, fly to Mumbai, all through India, through southeast Asia, fly home. That should keep you busy, and you only have to fly three times.

I want to echo that that sounds like a stupendous itinerary. Even if you decide not be be so ambitious and just focus on one continent, the basic idea of traveling overland rather than via airplane is a really good one, and lets you see the subtle changes across a continent, rather than just "it's Tuesday so this must be Laos, but I can't tell because all the airports look the same."
posted by Forktine at 5:26 PM on June 14, 2008

If you're looking for round-the-world airfare accommodations, I've noticed that BootsnAll seems to be highly regarded by a good number of people, though I haven't used them myself.

If you're unfamiliar with Rolf Potts, you would do well to read Vagabonding, which is excellent. He has a blog as well, which could be a good resource for what you're trying to do.
posted by dhammond at 5:28 PM on June 14, 2008

Oh, matty: it's Yankee Pesos. Get it right. :)
posted by mdonley at 5:42 PM on June 14, 2008

God I envy you! I did the same thing in my 20s and my main advice is not to worry too much about choosing the "right" destinations. Everywhere is wonderful and fascinating with the right set of eyes. But you can't go everywhere--so you are going to miss some places and that is OK too.

My favorite places were Guatemala, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Thailand. I also enjoyed Mexico, New Zealand, Australia (expensive but you could work for a week or two here and there), and Egypt. India sounds absolutely fantastic and full of sights and experiences.

I would write off Europe for now and wait until either the dollar improves or you have some lucrative career to pay your way.
posted by LarryC at 5:59 PM on June 14, 2008

Nthing SE Asia. Thailand and Laos and Burma are pretty cheap. Chiang Mai is a great jumping off point for regional travel, much nicer than Bangkok.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:08 PM on June 14, 2008

I'm bad at math, but with the exchange rates, your $20K is worth about $16K in the EU, and $10K in England. A friend of mine in Europe refers to dollars as the "American Pesos". Ouch.

This is a totally insane understanding of exchange rates. Your $20K may be worth only £10K, which isn't great, but to somehow misconstrue that as being equivalent to $10K is just wrong. The UK is probably pretty expensive for you, but a lot of countries in the EU (or outside the EU but still in Europe) are quite cheap - Romania and Bulgaria, for instance. I'd fly to Greece, soak up the sun for a week and then work my way up to the Baltic states if I had $20K. I spent about $4K for three months last year in that part of Europe and would do better next time.

A great way to travel (I've found) is to sign up for a language course for a month, meet loads of people, do some short travels on the weekend, and by the end of that month, you'll have more ideas than you know what to do with - plus places to stay, some travel buddies and more.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 7:04 PM on June 14, 2008

SE Asia is great, so is central and South America. Vietnam is probably one of my favorite countries. 20K in a region like SE Asia can could potentially last you ~2 years if you don't drink a lot and don't mind hostels. 20K is plenty for an RTW trip too, however I encourage you to take it slow. Rather than trying to do a whirlwind tour of the world, try spending an extended period on just a few locations. This gives you a chance to get off the tourist path and really get a feel for the culture you are visiting.

Vagabonding is an excellent book, and I strongly second dhammond's suggestion. Rolf Potts really has some brilliant recommendations. You may also want to check out his column on worldhum, ask rolf.
posted by NormandyJack at 7:26 PM on June 14, 2008

My cousin and her husband just came back from two weeks in Thailand, and their total came up to $4000 for the entire trip, plane tickets and an absolutely gorgeous hotel room included. The pictures they took are amazing. It's definitely something to consider!
posted by Bakuun at 9:34 PM on June 14, 2008

I wouldn't waste my money on a RTW ticket, or trying to hit places on multiple continents. Airfare will eat up alot of money, and honestly, you could live in a single country for a year and not get bored.

If I were you I'd pick an area - probably either Latin/South America or Southeast Asia, as those are two of the cheapest areas for travelers - and fly to a starting spot, and then use ground transportation to slowly make your way through the area. For instance, since you're in the US, fly to southern Mexico (you can probably get a one-way ticket to Cancun or some tourist destination for $200), then work your way down to Belize, to Guatemala, Honduras, etc. and end up in Peru, or Bolivia. You have the freedom to stay in a place as long as you want, and when you're ready, move on. The bus system in Central America is pretty good, and tons of people do this sort of thing and you'll be able to meet people from all over the world. When I went to Guatemala I was amazed at how many Australians I met.

Latin and South America are cheap, too, and $20K will easily last you a year - it really depends on how much you want to spend. You can live on $20-25 a day in certain places, but you will be sharing a hostel room with 5 other people. For twice that, you could have your own room and eat in restaurants every day.
posted by btkuhn at 10:25 PM on June 14, 2008

China is cheap and China is huge. Do it.
posted by awfurby at 10:33 PM on June 14, 2008

I've lived in the Czech Republic, Thailand, and am currently living in Laos. These are good countries to try to stretch your dollar, although one tip I would recommend is renting by the month. A room in Prague for a month will be considerably cheaper and nicer than renting hotel rooms/hostels for 30 days. When I was in Thailand, my girlfriend and I rented a 3-bedroom house for about $175 a month.

If you stick to the local food where you are, it'll be far, far cheaper than trying to replicate what you're used to (and better, too). Also, look into Couchsurfing.
posted by bertrandom at 4:31 AM on June 15, 2008

$4000 for two weeks in Thailand? Wow, they must have been staying in some pricey digs. I myself spent a little over $2000 for almost a month there. Granted, I was staying in some rather inexpensive (i.e., basic) guesthouses and didn't do much shopping. It's easy to get carried away with the whole "Wow, I have to buy this because it's so cheap" and it breaks on you before you get home.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:40 AM on June 15, 2008

India, SE Asia, Central/South America. Places like Pakistan and Syria would be cheap too but a little more difficult for a beginning traveler. China is cheap if you don't travel every 3rd day and stick to the middle and West, away from the East coast.

I agree with btkuhn, the cost of transportation is what will eat up your money. If you pick one region or one country and stay in each place for a month or longer your expenditures will be much less. So the way you intend on traveling (seeing as many things as possible) will cost you more.

I don't find RTW tickets a good deal for my trips but some people do. You'll need to look into it and if you want lots of stops in flight hubs a RTW ticket might be for you. Read the rules and don't forget to add taxes and fuel surcharges to the ticket. Buying RTW tickets outside the US is often a better deal.
posted by Bunglegirl at 11:22 AM on June 15, 2008

Oh, matty: it's Yankee Pesos. Get it right. :)
posted by mdonley at 8:42 PM on June 14 [+] [!]

LOL... gotcha. FWIW, my friend is an American living in London - hence the 'American' vs. 'Yankee' reference. :-)
posted by matty at 8:04 PM on June 15, 2008

Seconding China which, as soon as you leave the East Coast, has a wealth of ethnic diversity, especially in Xinjiang - Central Asian Muslim culture - and Tibet, not to mention hundreds of other minorities. There are some incredible landscapes as well - everything from rainforests to sand dunes (I have photos from China indistinguishable from others taken on the Arabian penninsula) to Mongolian Grasslands to the mountains and tundra of the Tibetan plateau. Exploring China at length is like touring several different countries, with the bonus that there is a common language used everywhere which is extremely easy to pick up for basic use, compared to other languages I've attempted while travelling.

I spent 6 months in China on around 1500 Euro in 2007. That's about 12 US dollars a day, but includes a couple flights and splurges that significantly raise my average - my daily expenses were definitely closer to $5 a day most of the time, and very often under that unless I was in a major city.
posted by xanthippe at 12:36 AM on June 16, 2008

Southern Mexico is still cheap. Exchange rate to USD hasn't changed much in the last 5 years. Hostels and such are $10 / night, buses are cheap, food in restaurants is a little less than US prices. If you get off the beaten track, no one speaks English.
posted by smackfu at 8:59 AM on June 16, 2008

I found myself in the same situation and decided to embark on my very own Round-the-World trip.

I only made it as far as Berlin, though, and I decided I wanted to stay there as long as possible because I absolutely loved it.

Moral of the story: be flexible and enjoy yourself!

I'd say South America sounds very inviting, especially if you want to skip a northern hemisphere winter. My friend just got back from a few months in India, Vietnam, Laos, etc. and she had an amazing time.

Pretty much anywhere you go, there's a good chance you'll have a great time.
posted by atomly at 12:44 PM on June 16, 2008

Thailand is pretty damn cheap. I suppose China would be too.
posted by KateHasQuestions at 1:42 PM on June 19, 2008