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May 15, 05
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Travel advice
Passport came in the mail on friday. It's time to get down to brass tacks.
Who's got advice and such? My itinerary is pretty fucking ambitious, I'm planning to hop from Oz to Japan to the UK over the course of less than 6 months.. what's the best way to go about planning such shennanigans? Any advice is helpful really, since I've never been off this continent before. Main concernright now might be "What's the best co. to get tickets etc from?".. if I'm directed to a good travel agent then I can probably get good advice from them. 
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May 15, 05
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take about a month to do east coast australia, and then another week for sydney and the middle.
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May 15, 05
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dave, I didn't know you were planning a trip.
Look online, and read books/magazines about where you're going. when you buy your tickets, don't get the paper ones, you're most likely to lose them, you can request them to just be in the system
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May 15, 05
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I find the Lonely Planet books a great resource for what to do.
Sta travel and Travelcuts seem to be the top booking agencies and they offer deals to students, and other special people. Do OZ first. In my experience I went to OZ last and to tell you the truth it didn't even compare to Thailand. I found that most people felt the same that did the same intenerary. Also Fuck the eastcoast of australia. If you have a month relocate a van or something with a group of people and drive the westcoast. The westcoast has a beautiful reef which I was often told is just as great if not nicer. It also has tons of untouched beaches and and sunsets! Man I missed sunsets while i was on the eascoast. The australians on the west are alot more relaxed and im sure you can find alot more culture in broom then sydney. The eastcoast is really cool too but the wescoast looks killer. www.getjealous.com great travel site! What do you want to do? What do you want out of the trip? Travel agents suck when it comes down to planning your trip. The best resource for info is forums like this. www.sawadee.com I think is the thai site. Even if you arent going there you can take a look and see how much info you can get from just these sites and all the info is directly from the people who are there or were. oh and singapore airlines if you can spend a few bucks. they have nintendos in the chairs, unlimited alchohol for free, and all the movies that are in the theatres.
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May 16, 05
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^^^^how are you going to say the west coast is so much better if you've never been there?
ive heard good things too, but that doesnt mean you should go to aus. and not see the whitsunday islands, fraser island, or cape trib. that would be a a bit of a waste.
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May 16, 05
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www.lonelyplanet.com
info on most countries in the world, plus an amazing forum system(thorn tree) where you can find the answer to pretty much any question you have. its amazing...almost to efficient:P a trip like you are planning will cost you a pretty penny on airfare, your looking at about 2500$ with a RTW kinda ticket.(im guessing) maybe pick a continent and go from there?
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May 16, 05
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Really depends on what you want out of it Dave?
I also sugest STA travel or SWAP wich is a smaller company based out of STA. If you have no idea what to expect than book an open ticket so you can change and rearrange fligts as you travel. This way if you ever fall in love, meet a bunch of cool ppl, find a palce you really want to spend an extra week at than you can be flexable and feel more free than following a 6 month day to day scedual. Otherwise ive seen so many travelers spend extra money when they try to rearrange tix and bookings etc. When I traveled to Thialand and Australia I had maybe a few things I really wanted to see... the rest I kind of waited to see what I would find when I got their. Just do alot of resurch to find out what your really intrested in. However Ill warn you alot of places make a big deal out of boring tourist attractions. So dont feel guilty if you skip anything :P I wouldnt book tours yet or even bother... I only had 3 days in Japan, all I did was walk around, try the food, the pokies, the train, and buy some small cool items. I even remember getting off at a random train station and just checking it out as we were killing time. I remember those days so well and felt I picked up alot more of the cultrue that way than sitting in some bus with english translations. Seeing Australia is like visiting BC. Most of the things to see there are natural landscapes and nature. Becuase Australia is so big... you may want to figure out a route. You quickly learn that a city is just another city. The great Ocean Road and East Coat are cheep and gourgouse!!! If you really want an aussie experince than try to spend some time in the out back. Live with the locals for a bit... its a riote! I cant give to much advise on Europe except you can probly see some countrys in a day. Personaly I start to get really warn out and sick of day by day sight seeing and trying to make the most of each day. I could only do a month straight before I wanted to settle down for a bit. So try to leave some room in for that or your really going to burn yoruself out. good luck and your than welcome to ask me more questions any time!
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May 16, 05
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Awww... Who will I share my Lotus dance-a-thons with now?
Pack light as you will always be coming home with a lot more than you came with... or at least that's what I find :P Be sure to get addresses of those you want to (write to me Dave, I'll send a letter to your place occassionally as well ;]) BRING ME BACK SOME COOL CLOTHES FROM JAPAN DAVE.
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May 16, 05
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Japan has the best shopping ever! Especially if you're a girl who takes small sizes (perfect for Stabby).
Dave might have a problem ;) As far as Japan goes, depends what area you're going to. I'm assuming tokyo and the nearby districts (that's where most people go). Stick to staying in business hotels or ryokans if you can. There's tons everywhere, small rooms but super cheap compared to regular hotels. Prices start at as low as 4,000yen/person per night, and range up to 20,000yen. Even in Tokyo however you can get a nice (but small) room for around 8,000-9,000yen. (8000 on current exchange is about $95.00). When looking for accomodations, the airport desks and train stations are often very helpful and can offer you deals on transportation. If you can hook up a minshukan, do it. It's like a homestay type of hookup at someone's home, i believe meal is included too. It'd be a good experience. Food can be expensive but stick to eating donburi and udon dishes, usually only 50-1200 yen (about 5-12 dollars). Exchange money at the airport too as they'll give you a better rate in my experience. Be prepared to pay up the ass in transportation. If you want to travel a lot in Japan, the JRail pass is a much better deal. the bullet train is 100 dollars each way almost, while the pass is only a couple hundred I believe. You get your money's worth if you want to do some good travelling. Check out the hot springs too, usually called onsens. Cool experience. Pachinko parlors often have fun game areas too. Those are fun. Clubs are easy to find. Most cafes have internet too, so looking it up should be easy. Also, check out a kareoke club if you get the chance. Japan is famous for the service of the hostesses and they LOVE english people ;) If you're looking for cheap digital stuff, usually you have to find out where they have tax free and in english language. Not always that easy. Camera buying made easy Oh.. and you'll find tons of gooooood stuff in the Japanese 100 yen shop. Soooo cheap. I miss japan. Lucky bum. Send me a postcard when you're there ;) Good luck.
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May 16, 05
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oh yea. Not all places take credit card and ATMs are not easily accessible.
If you're in the city and you need one, check out the post offices (Yuubinkyoku) as most of the major ones have direct ATM if you need it. I went to Iwata travel on Robson and Alberni. All Japanese folk there but they are pretty established and awesome at scoring good deals. I always look around for prices, and they're the best I've come across and dont' just service Japan. They can also hook u up with rail passes and pre-paid transfers for bus transits you'll have to take in the airports. Check em out. Last edited by m0e; May 16, 05 at 02:51 AM.
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May 16, 05
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in terms of japan and australia you should be able to get a 3 stop adjustable open ended (within one year) ticket from Malasiya Airlines (which is a wicked airline, by the by) through travel cuts. I did it a couple of years ago and was pretty happy with the deal.
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May 16, 05
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May 16, 05
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okay, so for like fifteen hundred bucks i got a ticket that allowed me to choose three stops (I chose tokyo, kuala lumpur, and melbourne), and while you book the dates of the stops, you can change them any time you want as long as you give them some advanced notice. Actually, in retropsect it was actually sort of like 6 stops because you stop in all the same cities on the way back too. The only catch was that you have to return by one year from the day you left, but your 6 month trip would fit perfectly in there. You might even be able to include london in that because I'm pretty sure Malasiya Airlines has a lot of business travel between those 2. Anyhow, its worth checking into. Like I said, this was several years ago, so pricing is probably different. Check out travel cuts though.
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May 16, 05
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we shall meet up somewhere in europe during world cup.
has been stated before, just reminding you. also, i'm too lazy to actually schedule anything at the moment. and i'm also a first time continent leaver, so i don't have much experience. actually none. hey dave, if you have any plans to stop in germany let me know though, my lil sis is going there this summer so i've got her as my advance scouty mcscouterson. so if you have any questions etc re: germany i can ask her, or remind her to check when she goes.
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May 16, 05
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When in Aus, do check out domestic flights thru Jetstar, Quantas and Virgin Blue. Often, they are CHEAPER than bussing from big city to big city (and obv more comfy/time efficient - if you want to hop more than shuffle around the country.) Don't bother booking these flights before you go. Just waltz into a flight centre, and ask what their sales are (they can give you whatever internet sales are on) and so long as your kinda flexible with dates/times you can score great deals! And I got really decent departure times and dates too, so its not all crap.
*edit: and I found my cheapest tickets to aus thru expedia.ca Last edited by veN; May 16, 05 at 11:43 PM.
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May 16, 05
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take your schedule that you plan with a grain of salt. i guarantee things won't go as planned, and if you're the type that gets flustered when thigns aren't going as planed, you will save yourself a lot of stress
get an open ticket so that you can change things around. you might realize half way through that you don't even want too go too japan anymore, hah yea right but you know what i'm getting at. pack light, it's a lot less stress when you only have one bag you have too worry about and when you can jump on a plane without checking luggage in and waiting for it too be unloaded.
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May 17, 05
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FF thanks for the advice, that sounds like exactly what I'm looking for!
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May 17, 05
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