Traveling before School Starts -- or other plans??

Question

How many of y'all plan to travel for a month or two before school starts? I personally would love to do a 3 month trip through Southeast Asia and China. I already started mapping out my itinerary:

Singapore > Malaysia > Thailand > Laos > Cambodia > Vietnam > Hong Kong > Southern China > Northern China > Korea > Japan > home

sfmatt85 · Answer

I'm in the same boat as you. Me and a couple of friends that are also applying to grad schools are going to do southeast asia and possibly india or japan! Should be a blast and a much needed break from work before back to school time!

threestripes · Answer

No love for the Philippines? It's an amazing country with incredible beaches. I can give you some tips if you are interested.

enkie · Answer

Ohhh see, i would have loved to fit Philippines in. But the more I think about the length of time I have, the more I suspect I'll have to cut down my itinerary. I think I'll have to leave off Korea and Japan too (been to those two countries already). Maybe next trip during school! I can do Philippines + Indonesia! :D

threestripes · Answer

Great. Let me know if you have any questions then.

I'm doing quite a bit of traveling before b-school as well. I am going to South Africa, Colombia/Peru, and Philippines/Hong Kong/Japan. I might do Europe as well.

enkie · Answer

I've traveled to Peru (just a year ago) and would be happy to share my experience and tips if you would like any

I've also been to HK and Japan, but that was quite awhile ago, so my suggestions are a lot less relevant for those places.

threestripes · Answer

Perfect. I'll hit you up after I finalize my itinerary for my trip to South Africa.

I have been to HK, and I have friends who live in both HK and Japan. I will probably just ask them send me a list of their favorite spots before going there.

skier555 · Answer

I'm thinking either a month or two in SE Asia or a volunteer trip to Tanzania. Both are very $$$. Can someone tell me I'm not crazy for wanting to spend so much money before I invest $100K+ in an MBA (since everyone else in my life is calling me crazy!). I want to resign June 1 and go from there. Am I seriously that crazy for wanting to utilize this one-in-a-lifetime experience??

jko · Answer

Na I think it's perfectly reasonable. When in your life are you ever presented with a more perfect opportunity to travel for an extended period of time?

AN225 · Answer

I gonna start studying at Singapore campus, so my travells will occur during my study

willsenaaa · Answer

i going traveling before school started. i m most like to going a Singapore. i m going to Singapore in watching a zoo its a very nice place to going a views and best hotels and world best zoo its nice place.really nice.

uirabr · Answer

I'm thinking on doing a round-the-world trip for 2 months, by land, starting in Portugal, crossing Europe, Trans-siberian to china, SE Asia, back to SouthAm and home. I think I'll spend about 6-8 thousand USD. I'm still thinking about it, and might make a shorter and cheaper trip.

StrangeWind · Answer

Last time I spent 1 month in Europe, and it was two grand. Especially taking into account all the airfares, I think you should reconsider your budget

uirabr · Answer

Not really, I've done a lot of backpacking around to have a good estimate. It really depends on how you want to travel. I don't mind (when travelling alone) to stay in a (reasonably clean and somewhat ventilated) 20-people room, or eating (not out of the thrash bin) kebabs/hot-dogs/currywurst/goulash everyday. I've had my share of 30-hour bus rides in Patagonia when I had no money to travel by plane. I prefer to stay in a hotel room, travel by plane and eat at nice restaurants, but if the money is short, I don't mind.

About half that cost will be in transportation (1k for plane ticket, 1k for trains inside Europe, 0,5k for transiberian, 1,5k for rest of Asia), leaving about ~3-4k for food and living, or about 50-75 USD/day (for 2 months). I might spend more than that in Europe (about 40-50 EUR per day) but a lot less in Asia (20-30 USD per day). I'm probably getting the 21-day unlimited Global Eurail pass for 700 USD or the 1 month for 1k.

My original estimate for 2 months round the world was 10k, but I'll try to cut that down.

srjaidev · Answer

Hey, I was wondering the same too!
I am hoping to cover as much of India as possible before I leave for US (if I do, i.e.).
I have already traveled around South. I will be going to Rajasthan for 2 weeks in Feb and then Kashmir, Himachal, Uttaranchal and then some trekking in Nepal. Once I resign, I would be traveling through the North East of India. I will have to visit my parents in Dubai, so I guess I will try to cover as much of that country too while I am there. I guess other places can wait till I start earning after my MBA

You guys are welcome to join BTW!

uirabr · Answer

When you start earning money you won't have any time!

Its the triad, money, time and disposition. You (almost) never the the 3 at the same time. Right now I'll have time, (some) money and still plenty of disposition!

srjaidev · Answer

I remember the time when I was in college and I couldn't wait till I start earning to travel and the 1st thing I bought was this motorbike which costed 3 months of my salary. And then for a couple of years, I was stuck travelling just over the weekend, what was preventing me from taking long trips was the triad (with the disposition being the biggest spoilsport. I had to visit parents, relatives, etc whenever I had the time).

I got fed up of all these things and applied for 10 days leave, didn't tell anyone and on the 1st day of the leave, just flew to a different country. After 10 days I came back and I noticed that nothing changed and all hell did not break lose!

I think it's all in the mind and the heart. But yes it depends on the kind of person you are. I am thinking I will not have any trouble travelling till I have a family.. hopefully.

Anyway, in any case you will be passing by India. You could join us!

Anddddddddd.... if we happen to study in the same b-school, have you heard about the 'Mongol rally'?

jazzman · Answer

I'm thinking I'll go the Europe route. Haven't been to the mainland before, and when else am I going to have a couple of months to myself?

zhzubair4 · Answer

hello...............................

aalba005 · Answer

I would like to do a Euro Trip or an Asia Trip, I think Asia would be more difficult to hop around and might be more language prohibitive than Europe. Euro Rail Pass + Euro Hostel Pass sounds like a good option to see a good 4-5 countries in a 2 month period.

Traveling before School Starts -- or other plans??

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