The Rough Guide to First-Time Around The World

306 Pages·2013·26.1 MB·English

by  Rough Guides

THE ROUGH GUIDE to
First-Time
Around the World
A TRIP PLANNER FOR THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY
INSIDE THIS BOOK
FIRST-TIME AROUND THE WORLD is not a guidebook: it’s a book to read before
you go, a planning handbook, and has been divided up into four main sections:
COLOUR SECTION An introduction to what lies ahead, with inspired ideas of what
to see and do on your trip.
BIG ADVENTURE Expert advice to help you create your perfect itinerary, with tips
on transport, budgeting, safety and what to expect from life on the road.
WHERE TO GO Regional profiles, giving you a taste of what your trip holds in store,
with run-downs of the top attractions and details of overland travel routes.
DIRECTORY The latest websites and apps, for everything from finding cheap flights
to photography.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DOUG LANSKY has been living abroad and traveling for the last 20
years in over 120 countries. He is the author of 10 books, including three
for Rough Guides. He had a weekly syndicated travel column in over 40
newspapers for fi ve years, hosted a Travel Channel show, served as a
correspondent for Public Radio’s Savvy Traveler show, served as travel
editor for Scandinavian Airlines infl ight magazine for three years and
contributed to publications such as National Geographic Traveler,
Reader’s Digest, Esquire, Men’s Journal, The Guardian, National Geographic
Adventure, World Hum, and Huffi ngton Post. On the speaking circuit,
Doug has given acclaimed lectures at nearly 100 universities, spoken to a sold-out audience at
National Geographic Headquarters, for the United Nations World’s Tourism Organization, and at
both public travel events and tourism conferences.
Make the Most of Your Time on Earth at roughguides.com
This fourth edition published February 2013
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO
First-Time
Around the World
written and researched by
Doug Lansky
roughguides.com

INTRODUCTION 3
Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
Things to enrich your journey 8
BIG ADVENTURE 17
1 FAQ 19 11 Guidebooks and other reading 136
2 Initial planning 24 12 When you arrive 140
3 How to get around the world 47 13 Culture shock 157
4 How to choose: traveling alone 14 Staying in touch 162
or with friends 66
15 Security 169
5 Costs and savings 71
16 Health 179
6 Working, volunteering and studying 87
17 Special considerations 195
7 Documents and insurance 104
18 Documenting your trip 201
8 Preparing your home for departure 115
19 Returning home 207
9 Packing 118
10 Carrying valuables 131
WHERE TO GO 211
Africa 213 Europe and Russia 256
Asia 227 Middle East 267
Australia, New Zealand and North America 273
the South Paciic 240
South America 281
Central America and the Caribbean 249
DIRECTORY 289
SMALL PRINT & INDEX 300
OPPOSITE PLACENCIA BEACH, BELIZE PREVIOUS PAGE DESERT, JORDAN
4 INTRODUCTION
Introduction to
First-Time
Around the World
The world is lat. Or so the thinking went, until someone actually went of to
circumnavigate it. You may not make such a colossal discovery during your
own global journey, but what awaits you “out there” is something only you
can ind: your very own adventure. Beyond your part of the planet lie
mountain ranges with echo-bending canyons, tangled jungles, deserts that
stretch into sanguine sunsets and yellow savannah veiling lions, wildebeest
and springbok. There are retina-burning white beaches tapering of into
gin-clear waters that serve as a playground for dolphins, turtles and manta
rays. Not to mention over six thousand languages, countless botanical
wonders, architectural masterpieces and geological anomalies. All that is
already out there. The decision to ind it is yours. Who knows, you may just
ind a best friend, even the love of your life, along the way.
My own plan was to walk out the front door, head to Florida and try to hitchhike on
yachts to South America – all on a budget stretched tighter than an aging Hollywood
forehead. Without getting into details, my yacht-hitching scheme only got me as far as the
Virgin Islands. And the only reason I made it that far was because I lew there. (Turned out
I was trying to hitch south during hurricane season, when all the boats were headed north
or into safe harbors.) his start, however rocky, did launch me on a two-and-a-half-year trip
that forever changed my life. And not just because it ended with a car accident in Bangkok,
which left me in the unfortunate position of having a broken ankle and amebic dysentery
– a tragic combination of constantly having to go to the loo, and never being able to get
there quickly enough. I ended up traveling for another seven years as a travel columnist,
meeting my Swedish wife, and then living in ive countries for over the next twelve years.
ABOVE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, BEIJING; COUNTY GALWAY, IRELAND; MATTERHORN, SWITZERLAND
OPPOSITE HMONG MINORITY PEOPLE, VIETNAM
INTRODUCTION 5
MEETING LOCALS
It’s hard to pick up a travel magazine, brochure or guidebook without seeing an exotic cast of
faces. The unspoken message seems to be that this is who you’ll meet in these countries. The
people you’re far more likely to encounter, however, are other travelers. And the local people
you’ll mostly come in contact with are vendors, taxi drivers, guides and hotel clerks – people
serving you. To make more genuine contacts takes some efort, but is perhaps the single
most important aspect of enriching travel. Volunteering or working in a place is one of the
most traditional methods. You can also use the web. Get in touch with local organizations (eg
if you’re a fencer, get in touch with the local fencing clubs and attend practice when you are
in diferent cities) or ind out about Couchsuring opportunities. But even if you’re just
looking to take a picture of someone, a thoughtful approach might lead to a more
meaningful connection.
Before I get ahead of myself, though, I just want to assure you this book is not going to
try to persuade you to travel, nor make grandiose assertions that stomping around the
planet with a coated-nylon pack will somehow fulill whatever may be missing from your
life. Travel is an urge best cultivated from within. In fact, one of the biggest favors you
can do for yourself is to travel if and when you’re ready, not when someone else thinks
you should. he more eager you are to open yourself up to life on the road, the more
willing you are to embrace the unknown rather than sign up for a pre-packaged,
air-conditioned experience, the more likely you are to reap real rewards.
Believe it or not, nearly anyone can get around the world in one piece (or in my case,
two), and I’d be lying if I told you that you needed this book to come back alive.
However, the downside to blindly winging it is that you’ll make mistakes, some
potentially dangerous, many costly and some just plain embarrassing. By the time you
get through the irst section of this book, you should be savvy enough to chart an
itinerary for your trip and avoid nearly all the snares that await you. With a glimpse of
6 INTRODUCTION
life on the road, a feel for the essentials, and by
WORLD FACT FILE
addressing a number of travel’s most testing
• World population over 6.8 billion issues ahead of time, you’ll be well on your way.
• Circumference of the earth he regional proiles in the second part of the
40,000km book tell you what it costs to get around, how
• Height of Mount Everest long it’ll take to cross the various landmasses
8850m/29,035ft
and if there are any rail, bus or air passes you
• Depth of the Mariana Trench, may wish to buy ahead of time to make things
Western Paciic Ocean
cheaper and more convenient. You’ll notice we
10,924m/35,840ft
took some liberties in dividing up the world
• Highest temperature El Azizia,
Libya 136°F/58°C into eight regions: North America, for instance,
normally includes Mexico, but because of
• Lowest temperature Vostok,
Antarctica -126°F/-88°C popular overland routes, a shared language and
• Tourism The World Tourism its latitude, Mexico has been placed in the
Organization’s most recent igures Central America and the Caribbean section.
show there were 940 million
he regional maps are meant to provide
international tourist arrivals, which
generated $930 billion and ballpark estimates of the times of overland
accounted for ive percent of the travel on common routes. hey are by no
world’s GDP. More than six percent of
means instructing you to take such routes (it’s
all jobs worldwide are supported by
the travel and tourism industry. always better to ind your own way), nor are
• Worldwide, according to UNHCR, they completely accurate, since delays do occur,
there are now 42.5 million refugees particularly in less-developed regions.
(15.2 million displaced, 26.4 million
Of course, you’ll want more speciic
internally displaced, and 895,000 in
the process of seeking asylum). information eventually, either from websites
or publications listed in the Directory section
at the end of this book or from your guidebook once you arrive. But at this point,
much more information than what you’ll ind provided here will bog down your
planning process instead of helping it along. And remember that there’s such a thing as
too much planning. One of the greatest thrills of travel is trying to make your way
between two points by the least travelled, most arduous route, chancing rides and
roads and climates as you go.
TIME AND SPACE
One thing that travelers often forget to mentally prepare for is the diferent conception of time
and space on the road. With buses that don’t leave until they’re full, boats that wait at the
harbour for the captain to return from his family holiday, and mechanical problems that require
spare parts sent by cargo ship from Australia, the hardcore traveler’s mantra “no watches, no
calendars, no worries” begins to seem like a healthy response to seeing your carefully planned
itinerary fly out the window. Your personal space, on the other hand, is likely to shrink,
whether you’re speaking with someone who insists on standing almost nose-to-nose during
the conversation or you’re packed into a six-person minivan with seventeen other passengers.
Plan for twice as much transport time as you think you need, try to grab a seat near a
window so you can control the fresh-air supply – and make sure you’ve got something to read.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT SERENGETI, TANZANIA; DESERT FESTIVAL, JAISALMER, INDIA; TERMAS DE PUYUHUAPI, PATAGONIA, CHILE

8 24 THINGS TO ENRICH YOUR JOURNEY
24
things to enrich your
journey
Adventure and cultural insights can be found almost anywhere. How you
decide to travel (your mindset) and what you decide to do is far more
important than where you decide to go and what you intend to see. Thinking
in terms of “doing” rather than “seeing” will enhance that most vital, often
elusive, dimension to your travels: depth.
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