Best place to travel for a month

[spottygoose]

I'm currently looking at cruises ex Singapore, visiting Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and ending Hong Kong. Never done a cruise and I like the idea of unpacking once but still visiting several places.

Has anyone done anything like this and can say if they enjoyed it or not?

Julia

I have just returned from a Mediterranean cruise on the QM2, it was my first trip to Europe and a fantastic way to be introduced to it.

I travelled a bit before and after the cruise around the UK but once i got on the ship it was great to be able to unpack and to always know you had a great room to come back to.

Naturally, each port is only a day so you don't get to really experience the city as you should but you certainly get a taste of it and get to see alot of the major sites. There is no thinking about "where will we stay tonight", "where will we have dinner". That of course can be half the fun but if you are look for a stress free trip - cruising is it.

I was a bit worried the ship would be full of old "babara cartlands" but there were people of all ages, nationalities, families, couples etc. On the QM the food was great - although you tend to overeat!

We found 12 days on the ship was enough - we didn't want to stay any longer but thoroughly enjoyed the time on board. I would recommend getting the best room you can afford on the ship. We had a friend who worked on it and he upgraded us to a room with it's own glass balcony. It was awesome and meant we could relax outside without having to join the throngs. Also, was great for arriving in and leaving port.

My other recommendation would be to make sure you choose a reputable cruise line, do some seaches on the net, there are many reviews from people who have cruised.

I had never wanted to cruise before but I had an awesome time on the QM2 and would definately look at cruising again it takes so much of the hassle out of travelling.

 

[imajica]

driving around New zealand south island is awesome

Queenstown, Franz Josef Glacier etc

 

[Julia]

I have just returned from a Mediterranean cruise on the QM2, it was my first trip to Europe and a fantastic way to be introduced to it.

I travelled a bit before and after the cruise around the UK but once i got on the ship it was great to be able to unpack and to always know you had a great room to come back to.

Naturally, each port is only a day so you don't get to really experience the city as you should but you certainly get a taste of it and get to see alot of the major sites. There is no thinking about "where will we stay tonight", "where will we have dinner". That of course can be half the fun but if you are look for a stress free trip - cruising is it.

I was a bit worried the ship would be full of old "babara cartlands" but there were people of all ages, nationalities, families, couples etc. On the QM the food was great - although you tend to overeat!

We found 12 days on the ship was enough - we didn't want to stay any longer but thoroughly enjoyed the time on board. I would recommend getting the best room you can afford on the ship. We had a friend who worked on it and he upgraded us to a room with it's own glass balcony. It was awesome and meant we could relax outside without having to join the throngs. Also, was great for arriving in and leaving port.

My other recommendation would be to make sure you choose a reputable cruise line, do some seaches on the net, there are many reviews from people who have cruised.

I had never wanted to cruise before but I had an awesome time on the QM2 and would definately look at cruising again it takes so much of the hassle out of travelling.

Thanks for that endorsement, Spottygoose. Yes, looking through the internet it doesn't take long to sort out the best cruise lines. A criticism I've heard of Cunard (theQM2 is one of theirs) is that it's very structured, and if you book a certain class of accommodation then you must stay within that class of public area on the ship. This doesn't appear to have been a problem for you. Thanks very much for your response.

Julia

 

[Julia]

driving around New zealand south island is awesome

Queenstown, Franz Josef Glacier etc

As a New Zealander, I just have to add my vote to the above. Some of the most amazing scenery you'll see anywhere. Easy to spend a month in just the South Island, though if you're into bubbling mud, geysers, Maori communities etc, then Rotorua and surrounds in the North Island is interesting.

The main point I'd make about NZ is that the weather is capricious to say the least, can be simply awful. Best time to go is Late February/March, into April.
Autumn in the South Island with all the deciduous trees changing colour would take some beating anywhere in the world.

People are friendly and hospitable, and accommodation much cheaper than in Oz.

Wherever you decide, hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Julia

 

[spottygoose]

A criticism I've heard of Cunard (theQM2 is one of theirs) is that it's very structured, and if you book a certain class of accommodation then you must stay within that class of public area on the ship. Julia

I would say 90% of the ship is of the same class and therefore have the run of about 90% of the ship and of about 8 restaurants. The other 10% (Richie Rich and his mates) have one restaurant that is solely theirs and I think they have their own pool area. I didn't even notice it, there is more than enough to do and the food was superb (really) so it wasn't an issue for us at all. We were still treated like we were at a 5/6 star hotel.

Our room was awesome but not enough to qualify for dining in that restaurant - those people have booked suites that are at the back of the ship and have 2 or 3 levels. They are such a minority that you don't even know they are there and therefore class distinction or whatever doesn't even enter you mind.

Twas great fun - elegant but not snobby.

 

[Wysiwyg]

I`ve never been there but outback China makes some stunning scenery.It`s funny the mental picture I had of the communist country... over populated dirty and evil... is now different.

 

[theasxgorilla]

Sorry I guess I should be exact. I don't have a lot of money but would like to travel somewhere that is safe, and where people are friendly. I would like to met people, but don't want the organised tour thing. Someone mentioned vietnam or around there. Any suggestions?

You can actually do an around the world trip. A ticket with 6-8 stops could put you in Asia, Middle East, Europe, America and back to Aust for $2,500 approx. inc tax. If you research your trip in advance so as to find the cheaper accomodation and hire-car deals you can plot your own course and two people would come in well under $20k. You'll probably be staying 3-star most of the time, and driving the bargain basement of cars, but you'll see the world in a month.

 

[2020hindsight]

I`ve never been there but outback China makes some stunning scenery.

wow - nice photos wysiwyg!
Not sure about these days, but when I was in hk, I used to meet friends going to and from (mainland) china - they'd invariably come back with some flu or other which seems to originate there every winter (chopstix responsible imho). There was a team of doctors went to a symposium on acupuncture there (and whatever else you say about acupuncture, you can't say it's pointless) - they all had flue - but I'm sure you're right, it's getting better.
Interesting to see how the olympics goes. Will hotels be pretending to be full, except for "special favour, bit more expensive" - as if we're any different I guess.

 

[thidoan]

well if you are in australia
jetstar is having a big sale
so you can pretty much travel to either vietnam/thailand or even NZ for a decent price, and wont cost you an arm and a leg.

ps: only bad thing about jetstar is you have to bring your own food haha

 

[Freeballinginawetsuit]

'Aviemore', a liitle ski town in the Cairngorns (Mountain Range) about 50km from Inverness, in Scotland. Terrific slopes, powdery snow, great accomodation and loads of attractive nubile scots gals!.

If your that way inclined the 'Loch Ness Monster' is just down the road, but I didnt catch a glimpse.

 

[scsl]

well if you are in australia
jetstar is having a big sale
so you can pretty much travel to either vietnam/thailand or even NZ for a decent price, and wont cost you an arm and a leg.

ps: only bad thing about jetstar is you have to bring your own food haha

thidoan, if people are planning to just buy a one way ticket and stay there for a few months, then yes, the jetstar prices are great - a bargain even! But to get a return ticket that is close to the very cheap prices being advertised now, you'll end up staying there for longer than a month. However, the majority of travellers will be at that destination for 1-2 weeks tops. And this is where they get caught out, because the return one-way ticket is nowhere near the price of the ticket they bought to get there. I've heard of two seperate occasions where the ticket on the way back is considerably more than the ticket there, one that was double the advertised price. So if you work it out, for a little bit more, you could buy a Qantas return ticket, knowing that you'll get full service, meals etc. You know what they say, some things are too good to be true...

 

[larry123]

I'd like to go to venice or Fiji.

I saw a flying fish the other day, funny creatures.

 

[Freeballinginawetsuit]

Some types of flying fish arent all that funny.
I read the other day about a lady who was out fishing on a boat and whilst standing on the rear deck, out of nowhere a Swordfish jumped out of the water and went straight through her ........ouch.

 

[tayser]

Croatia.

AUD to HRK = one of the best european exchange rates for us (I was drinking the local (good!) lagers for about $2.50 a pint - see avatar), eating three course meals for $10-15 and the bus system that runs frequently up and down the coast is so cheap and good for just travelling 50k one day, stay two days in some random sea-side village then jump back on and repeat. English is very widely-spoken too.

Everyone must see this city before they die:

^ Dubrovnik last July.

 

[theasxgorilla]

Tayser, you're killing me man! That place looks AWESOME!

BTW, are the girls topless in that last photo??? And is it just me, or does the ratio of girls to guys seem to be like, 10 to 1???

 

[tayser]

You see white pointers all over Europe, The euros don't really give a crap what everyone else thinks of them / does

Dubrovnik is popular with the anglo-tourists, Australians, Brits, Americans, Canadians, the further north you go, the more continental it gets (as places like Split and Zadar on the mid/northern Dalmatian coast are 6-8 hours drive from places like Austria, Hungary, Southern Germany, Italy etc).

Best way to get there is fly with someone like Emirates or Singapore who have large European networks, fly into Athens or Rome and just slowly make your way across. If you go via London or Germany, the RyanAirs, EasyJets and HLX (German LCC) are just starting to open up Croatian cities. I was living in Edinburgh back then and I flew to Dubrovnik from Newcastle via HAnnover (overnight stay) for about $130 bucks - which is the equivalent to flying Melbourne to Perth really.

 

[insider]

One place... Brazil, specially during Carnaval

 

[insider]

Croatia is part of europe but you need more than a month in Europe... 3 months I think... Croatia looks nice though

 

[insider]

I`ve never been there but outback China makes some stunning scenery.It`s funny the mental picture I had of the communist country... over populated dirty and evil... is now different.

Maybe it's because those photos weren't panoramic... I bet you that the mysterious incandesent fog that blankets the hillsides in the last photo is actually smog from burning brown Coal for electricity... lol... I don't now china from a hole in the wall, I've been told it's way cool

One thing though that's really bad is that the streets smell like a broken down urinal... people just urinate anywhere

 

[insider]

Just a thought.. Why don't you visit Iran before it gets bombed by the USA? It'll be like visiting the lost city of Atlantis before they forgot where they put it!