Well, it's the start of a new year and with that comes the realisation that it is only 15 months until we start The Big Trip. That is only 32 more pay days and I sat down the other day to put together a rough budget based on where we will be and for how long.
The itinerary is getting firmed up somewhat. The current plan is
Bangkok - 4 nights
Cairo - 2 nights
Greece - just over 2 weeks
UK - 5 weeks (including a trip to France for a week)
Florida - 10 days
Washington DC - 4 days
New York - 5 days
California 12 days (inc. 4 days in LA & 3 days in San Francisco)
Tokyo - about a week
All up that is 13 weeks of adventures. By way of a compromise we have been given permission to take the kids out of school for term 2, which is 20th April to 21st July 2013.
I hope to get your ideas for each place about the must-do activities.
The budgeting for each city and the research into that has been quite interesting and www.hostelworld.com has become my new favourite website. I initially budgeted for AU$200/night in most places except NYC & Tokyo when I allowed AU$300/night. I also allowed AU$150/day for food, $100/day for 'activities', $50/day for contingencies and a few hundred here and there for travel. Still the overall figure (without airline tickets) was pretty eye-watering.
It certainly seems that the Aussie Dollar is very strong right now and I hope that may continue. Greece is looking like being the bargain destination right now with comfortable double rooms casting about $50/night with en-suites. My eyes have been opened to the world of Hostels and I have found amazing places in SanFrancisco overlooking Alcatraz, The Golden Gate Bridge and next to Fisherman's Wharf for $100/night. Ryokans in Central Tokyo and Hostels on Broadway near Central Park in NYC all at pretty reasonable prices.
I have handed control of Greece over to Em 'cos I am far too much of a control freak and I'm keen to land in Athens and have no control whatsoever to get me into the laid-back island hopping groove.
So - we have some serious saving to do and some serious planning to get the most out of our adventure. Your comments are always welcome and I shall get some more posts up soon.
