Gap Year

[dave_c]

When travelling round the world, what the popular route one might take, and what is the average total cost of a Gap Year travelling?

[nathan2]

the german ailine luftansa do a really good deal for traveling within a gap year try them out. the route and cost is all down to you.

[ian.miller]

The standard route seems to be San Fransisco - Fiji/Cook Islands - Auckland - Sydney - SE Asia - home

I did it the other way around (although I missed SE Asia), but the world and his wife were going the other way around, I met 2 people who went round the other way

Some RTW tickets start out at about �800, the norm seems to be around �1200. Most people went with �2000-�3000 in the bank, got themselves through to Australia without working and then with thier work permit they saved enough money for the SE Asia and home leg. But that is the "classic", and much overdone, route. Now a lot of people are going to and through South America and coming back through Africa to avoid the cliches of SE Asia.

Are you thinking of going?

So total cost for the whole year - can be �10,000 - �15,000 ish once you factor in everything.

[morg_monster]

Which way around to go? Well really it depends on when you leave the UK.  Tickets are cheapest (around �900 inc taxes) after January 15th, so most people head East to get SE Asia out of the monsoon season, then end of summer/autumn in Oz and NZ, and then summer in the USA.  If you like snow sports then go West, so you get winter in the US, NZ, Oz and a bit of sun to finish up in Asia.  If you leave the UK in the SUMMER (tickets will be more expensive), then go West for sun and East for snow.  Of course this all depends on how long you go for...

If you get the Air New Zealand / Singapore Air / Virgin round the world ticket, you can stop off in Tonga and / or Samoa between NZ and the USA, I would really recommend these as an alternative to the much visited Fiji and the expensive Cook Islands and Tahiti. 

As for money, I would bank on needing �1000 a month not including your air ticket.  (If you are going to stay in hostels).  This will be too much in SE asia, but not enough in the USA.  Make sure you can work for long enough in Oz or NZ if you don't have enough savings to get you all the way around.