Places I want to visit include: Australia and New Zealand

[Steve Webber]

I am thinking of travel around the world for about 1 1/2 months after I finish college. My budget is about $5k-10k. It will be my first time travelling alone. Although I am very scared, I feel like i can't really rely on someone to tag along. Places I want to visit include: Australia and New Zealand I don't really have preferences. I am open to try out anything. I want to get out of my comfort zone. also i to buy some package from everything travel group


What suggestions do you guys have to visit? Should i buy some packages from Everything Travel Group, what was your experience travelling alone? Were you also nervous?


Thank you
Steve Webber

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF Steve Webber!

Australia is a big place? What interests you or do you want to do something totally different? Beaches, surfing, hiking, skiing, golf. It's all here.

Maybe start off with New Zealand first and concentrate on one island.

 

[Mattg]

Welcome to AFF, Steve!

I travelled around the world for about 4 months after I finished high school. It was honestly the best decision I ever made. I was a little nervous on the first day, but I quickly became hooked on travelling and have no regrets whatsoever!

I travelled alone, but mostly stayed in hostels and joined walking tours, pub crawls etc. in order to meet other travellers. After a while I ended up meeting so many great people from various places around the world that I quite often just stay with friends now when travelling. You will escape your comfort zone, but I'm sure you'll find it a rewarding experience.

Personally my suggestion if you're on a budget is not to purchase a tour package. Day tours here and there are fine, but organised tours are generally expensive and mean you're limited to an itinerary that has been planned by somebody else.

There's a lot to see in Australia and NZ - no doubt about it. Sydney and Melbourne are obvious "must-sees" in Australia, but Uluru and Cairns are also great (albeit a tad expensive). In New Zealand, you really can't miss Queenstown. Australia/NZ are expensive though - your budget will stretch a lot further in places like Asia, South America and (eastern) Europe.

If you're planning to travel around the world, are you planning on buying a round-the-world ticket from an alliance? Or are you looking at flying low-cost airlines to save a bit of money? (These aren't necessarily the only options...)

By the way, I'm guessing from your use of the word "college" that you're from the US or Canada?

 

[clazman]

Welcome aboard,

If it is possible apply for a working visa?

Will give you opportunity to earn some coin and depending on were you go interact with other travellers

Queenstown is a great place and full of overseas travellers working

 

[NZflygirl]

Good on you for stepping out!!

Theres a saying, Oz for the animals and NZ for the scenery. Although not entirely true.
What sort of things are you into? Outdoors? Cities?

initially traveling on your own can be a bit daunting. I don't think you have to worry about it in Oz but generally if traveling somewhere new I always look up where the bad areas are so I can avoid them as you can end up in them by accident e.g. Harlem NY Compton US. I travelled with lonely planet (guidebook) as they usually have good practical advice too and it's easy to look things up in case you don't have internet in a spot.

Youll be fine in NZ and Oz. Both have their own beautiful spots (many tourists skip Western Australia which I think has some unique beautiful spots). I know there is a hop on hop off bus tour in NZ which may be budget friendly. And bookme.co.nz has cheap activities maybe a month out.

The cool thing about traveling on your own is you can change your mind at any time and do whatever you fancy as opposed to someone else being bummed you don't want to go to a place etc. Take lots of pics, write a report. You'll find that you'll feel like you're with someone as you can't wait to share it with the community e.g. AFF (not that I've done a trip report but thought about it). But it will soften the down side of traveling alone if not being able to turn to someone and say "hey look at that!" Although I have sent a million emails back home while away. Use apps like viber, they can be cheaper messaging home. Make sure the other person has viber.

Definitely do a couple tours, great for meeting people, strike up a conversation flying (sometimes seatmates are cool).
Youll run into issues where you need to problem solve but these are great life skills to acquire. Also gives you some perspective on the world (vs learning about it via tv).

Once you you come up with an itinerary ask more questions here for fine tuning. Some great cheap bargains mentioned here too.

I don't know anything about travel group sorry.

And welcome!

 

[Dr Ralph]

Welcome to AFF.

 

[BettyB]

Welcome

 

[Limewood]

Easy to book places to go and tours once here, check out Cairns and go dive the Great Barrier Reef.

I'll shout you a beer!.

 

[Cossie]

Honestly 6 weeks will only give you a taste, and once you start! Anyway enjoy, going travelling in my early twenties was the best thing I ever did.

I would concentrate on an area, you could easily spend 4 weeks in NZ alone. Or maybe an east coast Australian trip? Many people underestimate what a large counrty it is.

 

[kermatu]

Welcome to AFF.

 

[PaulST]

Welcome!
Australia and NZ are perfectly safe to travel alone in. As others have said, organised tours can be quite expensive and often you can get enough information from places like here a trip advisor. I recall travelling through rural China after I graduated and got most of the information from trip advisor. Having said that, if you're looking for people to socialised with then either day trips or longer tours can be ideal.

How are you looking at flying here?

 

[Simo]

Welcome to the forum...

Heaps of information on the forum

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome.

I don't know about the travel group you mention, but I would book trips after you arrive here in Oz, after you get the 'lie of the land' - you'll probably find that you don't need to book tours at all. You could arrive in either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane - or Perth, depending on which way you travel!

If you are RTW for 4 to 6 weeks, then that doesn't give you much time in Oz and/or NZ. Both countries are easy to get around, and quite safe - hitch hiking is discouraged, though.

You'll just have to bit the bullet and make hard decisions - which out of the following suits you, and choose a couple, and then work from there.

* Big city experience (Sydney & Melbourne)

* Snorkling, diving beaches (Great barrier reef )

* The outback (Uluru, Alice Springs, others)

* Wilderness, hiking and scenery (Tasmania)

* Big blue sky country (Perth and the west)

* Action/adventure sports (New Zealand)

 

[AisleSeat]

As Mattg pointed out, are you from US/Canada?

If so, I'd apply for a working holiday visa to Australia. This allows you to stay for a year as well as work. You're free to come and go during this time so you can visit NZ as well.
If you're a US citizen you're limited to a year. https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/462-
If you're a Canadian citizen you're eligible for 2 years (upon completion of 90 days work in the primary industry (fruit picking, other farm type work) during your first year). https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/417-

 

[Imw]

Welcome to AFF. All the best with your adventure. When my son took off on his first overseas trip a number of years ago, I gave him a membership with youth hostels association (not sure if thats its name) which cost me $80 for two years membership. This gave him access to many cheaper and safe forms of accommodation. Not sure if that helps (or if it is still necessary). I think all the other AFF's giving you good advice, especially about checking where are the areas you should avoid. Even our fantastic country of Oz had problem areas like everywhere else in the world. Look forward to hearing what you end up doing.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I am thinking of travel around the world for about 1 1/2 months after I finish college. My budget is about $5k-10k. It will be my first time travelling alone. Although I am very scared, I feel like i can't really rely on someone to tag along. Places I want to visit include: Australia and New Zealand I don't really have preferences. I am open to try out anything. I want to get out of my comfort zone. also i to buy some package from everything travel group


What suggestions do you guys have to visit? Should i buy some packages from Everything Travel Group, what was your experience travelling alone? Were you also nervous?


Thank you
Steve Webber

Am I the only one that thinks that this smacks of someone promoting a travel group rather than a genuine traveller?