Author	Message
David Guest	# Posted: 21 Aug 2005 20:05:07 All, Allow me to intoduce myself. My name is David, I am 25, live in the West Midlands of the UK and I am a software engineer with a degree. I have been in the same job now for ~3 years and i'm thinking there must be more to life. I fancy a trip around the world. I have an idea of the places I want to go and the things I want to do but i'm unsure of how realistic my dreams are. I'm thinking of a ~2 year trip going from europe to asia to austalisia to south america to north america to south africa. I have roughly ~10k (GBP) in savings and i'd hate to have to use all of this. I would be looking to work here and there although again i'm unsure of how realistic this will turn out to be. I am looking to depart the UK around April 2006 time - in your opinion is this too early? Am i being too eager? I would be going on my own, although if I could hook-up with someone for a leg of the journey obviously that would be beneficial. I've looked at STA Travel (http://www.statravel.co.uk/c_yearout/wheretogo.asp) and it's insipred me, what I need to know are do you think i'm living on a prayer or is what I have outlined vaguly feasibile? I have countries in mond to visit but obviously these need finalising. Thanks David Ayliffe (backpacking@ayliffe.com)

RobN Moderator UK	# Posted: 21 Aug 2005 23:16:13 It's most likely feasible, though I would suggest considering going the opposite way round the globe, otherwise by the time you get to north america you might find money running short, depending on how things have gone before that - asia is cheap in comparison. Also, look into working holiday visas for New Zealand and Australia (NZ is 2 years now, Australia is 1 year + 1 year if you do at least 3 months fruit picking in the first year.
RobN Moderator UK	# Posted: 21 Aug 2005 23:18:42 As a follow up - I found that in Sydney it was easier to pick up work in the winter months (April - October), after that so many people go to Sydney it gets difficult. So keep in that mind - NZ might be the same as well, not sure never made there!
Love Guest	# Posted: 7 May 2006 02:44:15 If youre up for some accommodation on your trip, don't go to Cirencester. It sucks. The Dyson factory in India will blow your mind.