RTW Travel Articles from May, 2008

11 places you should definitely try to see on a round the world trip

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Our world is filled with must-see sights and attractions, and some of them are far easier to reach than others. Seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Coliseum in Rome is easy on nearly any casual swing through Europe, whether it’s early in your life or late. Sights like those are also surrounded by hundreds of other worthwhile things, so working them into your schedule is best left to a regional trip where you can give everything the attention that it deserves.

But the world is also home to a nearly infinite list of excellent sights and attractions that are harder to see without going to great lengths and tremendous expense. Some of them are set among other things that could help justify a special trip, but many of Earth’s greatest attractions are spread around the globe in places that aren’t conquered so easily.

Those planning a Round The Word (RTW) trip have a special advantage in their sightseeing future, since just a short jump can put them in one of these outstanding places that seem so remote otherwise. The list below could be 100 places long, and a huge part of the appeal of a RTW trip is having the ability to invent your own itinerary, so really, anything goes. Nevertheless, here are 11 places that many people find to be huge highlights of a RTW trip, and it’s also fairly easy to string many of these together on the average global tour.

1 - Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil

It’s hard to classify the appeal of watching water rapidly changing elevation en mass, but for one reason or another nearly everyone who visits the Iguazu Falls finds it stunning and very worthwhile. Globally speaking, these falls are far more impressive than Niagara, and their only rival is Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, and that one is far too out of the way for most RTW travelers. There are actually 270 separate falls spread over 2.7 kilometers of curving forest, so the number of unique views of the falls is almost endless. Iguazu is spread between Argentina and Brazil, with each side having a very impressive and different national park from which to take in the views, and there are speed boat rides through the falls, among other things, located down below, so spending most of a day at each park doesn’t get old as quickly as you might fear.

Travelers counting countries also get a bonus as the falls are where Paraguay meets Argentina and Brazil, and short forays into that landlocked country are possible during your visit. You can reach the Iguazu Falls area on long bus rides from anywhere in the region, and also on short and cheap flights from Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro. Package deals including a flight, hotel, and tours of both parks are quite affordable. (more…)

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Renting a car makes sense once in a while

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Renting a car on a RTW is probably one of the least common ways to get around for most people, and that’s probably for the best because there can be quite a few downsides that go along with the convenience of it. But on the other hand, occasionally it can be the best or more fun or even cheapest way to travel.

If you are going out with one or more other people in your group, the math of renting a car is much more likely to work out as a feasible travel method, but even for someone traveling solo it can be an option worth exploring. If you are at an internet café pricing bus fares versus train tickets versus airfares, it could be worth an extra 2 or 3 minutes to check rental car prices because occasionally the deals can be astonishing. (more…)

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Look for bargain hotels before you settle for a hostel bed

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

One thing that is really important for keeping your budget in line when on a RTW trip is taking advantage of bargains whenever you can. Generally speaking, most things seem to cost a bit more than we planned or expected when we are traveling, so whenever a cheap opportunity presents itself, it’s good to be ready to take advantage of it.

Whether you are more of a hostel dorm person, or a 1-star hotel person, it can be easy to get into a rut where you are basically looking in the same place each time for your sleeping arrangements, and then booking whatever seems best from those options.

Here are two facts that really compliment each other well: You’ll get sick of hostel dorms once in a while so you’ll want to stay in a decent hotel, and, some decent hotel rooms can be even cheaper than 1-star rooms in the same city if you know how and where to look.

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Asus Eee PC - This might be the ultimate traveling laptop at the moment

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Over the past 5 or 10 years, one of the most contentious debates for RTW travelers is whether they should bring a laptop computer with them or not. Many people, including me on my RTW trip, do use the hell out of them while traveling, but even if you use them a lot there are many obvious downsides. They are expensive, heavy, bigger than you’d like, and quite fragile as well.

Starting in late 2007, Asus came out with their famous Eee PC 700 model, with a 7-inch screen, starting at US$399. On May 12, 2008, they are rumored to be coming out with the new 900 model, with an 8.9 inch screen, which has been released in other parts of the world already, so this whole RTW laptop debate might be changing again.

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