Travel

Anyone backpacked through Europe AND Asia?? Is it viable?

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  • Jun 15th, 2005 7:26 pm
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Deal Addict
Mar 21, 2002
1447 posts
3 upvotes

Anyone backpacked through Europe AND Asia?? Is it viable?

My friends and I are thinking about travelling through Europe when we're done school so this trip won't happen for at least 2-3 years. Countries that we want to visit include England, France, Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Germany, and Italy and possibly Czech republic, Portugal, Sweden. I think transportation wise it shouldn't be too bad with a Eurail pass that goes to almost all of those countries.

Since most of us are from Asia (or our families) we also want to travel through there. However, transportation is a lot more complex and very expensive (I'm assuming). Countries that we'd want to visit include Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Phillipines, Hong Kong, China, S. Korea and end in Japan. Is the asian part of the trip realistic in terms of transportation costs and what not? I know in some of the countries, food and accomodations would be hella cheap and some of us have family we could stay with but the transportation costs really worry me. What alternatives are there to flying? Does Cathay Pacific have something similar to their All Asia Pass where we could fly out of a country in Europe instead of the US/Canada?

If anyone has backpacked through both Eur/Asia or just Asia, any advice would be great! I'd like to get an idea of how much this trip would cost or if it's even realistic given time and budget. I would say that this would be a 2-2.5 month long trip with a 8-10k budget.
6 replies
Banned
May 23, 2005
3038 posts
Viable is a funny word to use! But I suppose that:

Viability = Cash + Self-confidence

Anyways, ya gotta start by takin' a look at some of the classic travel books on the subject:

Europe Through the Back Door

Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring

Rough Guide to First Time Europe

Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring

etc, etc, etc...
"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note." -Doug Floyd
Sr. Member
User avatar
May 12, 2005
692 posts
38 upvotes
Markham
Check out the ASEAN Air Pass - covers most of the countries in Asia you're looking to go to.

Personally, I just bought my tickets as I went along. Tickets are especially cheap in Thailand and most expensive in Singapore.

Friends travelled overland from Europe to Asia but this is now too dangerous if not impossible so I think you'll probably have to fly from a European country to an Asian one. Cheap tickets in London - lots of bucket shops but be careful...bargains are good...too good to be true is probably just that.
Deal Addict
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Aug 20, 2003
2050 posts
335 upvotes
Toronto
Better take out a line of credit from the bank if you can. It'll help increase the likelihood of pulling this "trip of all trips" off. There's probably no better time to do a trip like this than after finishing school. You won't have a job or mortgage or family obligations to hold you down and you probably won't have another crack at going with your friends on this type of trip again. Trust me, just trying to get everyone to meet up once you're working is tough enough! Good luck in seeing this through.

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