kjp

Last Monday on my RDO I went to a travel agent to talk about my travel plans to South America, and to get an idea of the costs involved. Below is the plans that I had, along with approximate costs (all in Australian dollars, inclusive of charges, taxes, etc):

Fly to Lima (Peru) from Brisbane (mid August), and return from Quito (Ecuador) ~6 weeks later - $3489

Tour for 3 weeks from Lima to La Paz - $2,260

Backpacking for about 1 week in Bolivia - $500 (very rough estimate)

Flight from La Paz (Bolivia) to Quito (Ecuador) - $714

Backpacking for about 1 week in Ecuador - $500 (very rough estimate)

Galapagos Islands tour – 6 days - $2,200

Travel insurance - $284 (although maybe able to get free if I get a different credit card?)

Medical shots - $300 (estimate)

So, this is a total of $10,247 as a rough estimate…

… which, for me, is probably a bit much for a 6 week holiday. If I was super keen on South America, then it would probably be ok: but I’m not. It’s more that I need a bit of a trip overseas somewhere.

So it seems I have a couple of options:
* do the South East Asia thing
* go somewhere else a bit different to where most people go (Jordan, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Africa)??
* Make a good show of it: do the round the world think, take more time off work. Flights would be more expensive, but the cost to time away ratio would be better. This depends on work, and where I can / want to go.

Some things for me to think about.