Frugal Travelling around the world

Hi,

I am planning on retiring between 6 and 9 months from now and I would like to do some safe international traveling. I have been working all my life and and except for my early 20's European adventures, I haven't taken any extensive vacations since only those 'escape from work' vacations. I was wondering if anyone would know what the average daily living cost might be for a single male age 55 who does not mind a roughing it a bit. I could either backpack it or even travel by bicycle to get around. I do that now to get to work (20 miles) and shop. I will have an annual budget of 15to 17K. I was hoping to travel 3 to 5 months months a year for the next 4 to 6 years. I would love to see Europe again, as well as South America, Australia and New Zealand, India and Southeast Asia, Japan, China and possible Africa, to name a few. The US, Canada and Mexico will come later. I am not interested in travelling to any country with serious and dangerous political turmoil even if one can live on $1 a day. I'm not that frugal.

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

Hi,

I am planning on retiring 6 and 9 months from now and I would like to do some safe international traveling. I have been working all my life and except for my early 20's European adventures, I haven't taken any extensive vacations except for those 'escape from work' vacations. I was wondering if anyone would know what the average daily living expense might be for a single male age 55 who does not mind a roughing it a bit. I could either backpack it or even travel by bicycle to get around. I do that now to get to work (20 miles) and shop. I will have an annual travel budget of 15 to 17K. I was hoping to travel 3 to 5 months a year for the next 4 to 6 years. I would love to see Europe again, as well as South America, Australia and New Zealand, India and Southeast Asia, Japan, China and possible Africa, to name a few. The US, Canada and Mexico will come later. I am not interested in travelling to any country with serious and dangerous political turmoil even if one can live on $1 a day. I'm not that frugal.

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

For starts

Get a hostel membership

Look at rail passes like Eurorail and multi country passes (you can do like 20 days in two months between four consecutive countries

Read the lets go travel books. Yes, the lonley planet and the rick steves are okay, and yes the lets go are written by college kids, but.........they still tell it the way it si for the most part.

I suggest choosing one city as a 'base' for a time and taking trips from there - ie from Paris one can go to chateu contry, NOrmandy, Provence and so on, often in a single day. If you did that you could get a tiny place with a kitchen and then travlel cheap. Doesnt have to be a major city

Treat yourself on occasiona and get a real room with a real bathtub and a really soft soft bed.

AS I tell my kids, make sure you have the money for the return ticket put away.

Consider traveling to the east, Prague, Budapest, Poland..these areas are not 'westernized' yet and are unique. The economy is such that money goes a long way, as the employment is high and they want tourists.

Remember that europe in general is furhter north than most of the us and as such has longer summer days and shorter winters. I can play golf in daylight at 9:30 pm right now, but it is dark long before I leave work at christmas time . So in terms of biking, and so on your 'safer hours' are shorter.

EAt what the locals eat, its always cheaper.

Make sure whaatever health insurance you have will cover you over here, or get some kind of travelers policy.

Barb (who lives in germany so she alreay has a 'base'

So you just dont get an express train (and save a bunch of money). There are regular trains out there that go almost everywhere.

As a follow up, I am not advocating giving up the bike idea. I just think that one can do both, and as a fifty something broad, although I might camp for PART of the three or four months discussed, it would not work every day.

I hadn't planned on camping as a rule but rather find relatively inexpensive pensions where possible. I thought I might use a good touring bike to either travel from town to town or load the bike on a train for longer distances. I would enjoy using my bike to get around the towns or cities. This way I can avoid the expense of renting a car and filling it with very expensive (European) petro. I have a lot of research to do to get organized.

Thanks for all the great advice.

It depends on where you're going, I guess, but as a general rule of thumb, drivers outside the USA and Canada are much more aggressive, so be prepared.

On the other hand, public transit is often much more practical, and in some countries there are excellent networks of bike paths.

Are you just looking at Europe, or the interesting parts of the world too?

However, most western european countries at least, are much more bike friendly. Bikes often have their own lanes, sometimes their own right of way lights, and are considered part of the road. Many, many peopel ride their bikes to work, to the store, and anywhere else in europe, even littel old ladies like me going to and form the store.

I would suggest looking at public transit to get across the wide areas, and using bikes within the cities, towns that he is visiting