shrubbery

Hi.

I ordered my tickets a month ago and need some tips & tricks. I'll be travelling on a budget.. 8500$ on a 5 month travel (tickets excluded). I've been working for a half a year to do this, and am really looking forward to it. I'm leaving in January (Farewell cold cold winter!). I'm travelling totaly on my own, and could need some tips on what to take in mind when doing something like that. My spoken languages is norwegian (d'uh), english (very good, spoken at least ), german (good) and a tiny bit of spanish. Do I need a course in spanish? So .. what do I need to see and what do I need to do? I'd like to avoid the tourist-traps.

First I'll be headed for Amsterdam. I'll stay there at a friends house and her husband, so I don't think I'll need much advise here Stay: 5 days.

Then I'm heading for Mexico City. Leaving the city pretty early, as I don't have much of an interest of big cities. My plan is to travel down the west coast and into Guatemala. Stay: 1-1.5 months.

Los Angeles is my next destination. This is where I think you guys really can help me, seeing that a lot of you are americans. I'll only stay in the US for 5 days, but I wanna see the typical America when I'm there. I don't give a crap about Universal Studios or Holywood Boulevard, so I'd like some good alternative. I was thinking of taking a bus out to the sub-urbs or some village outside L.A. See if I can get contact with the locals I'm playing with the thought of contacting a high school and see if I could be "pupil" for a day or so, to really get a view of how USA is. Do you think they would let me? Or would they think I was a lunatic? How is the alcohol laws in California? I've heard that you have to be 21(!!) to legally drink beer! That would be a real let down, as I am 20 until april.

From LA I'll be heading to Tonga. Now we're talking relaxing on the beach, coconuts and longdrinks . I'll stay here for 2 weeks .. I'll pretty much do things as they come to me here.

Then I'm going to Auckland, New Zealand. What I wanna do in New Zealand is some extreme sports. Parashooting, bungee jumping and stuff like that... Staying for 2 weeks.

Next up is Australia.. I'll be seing Sydney for a few days and then I'll be heading up to Newcastle where my sister lives. I'll be staying with here for a while of course. Then I'll be travelling along the coast up to darwin. Stay: one or two months. I do not have a plane ticket to travel out of the country, I've heard that that might be a problem for me. You .au people, what do you know about this?

Where I'm going next is still open, but I'm thinking of travelling trough Indonesia and up to Thailand. Any better suggestions? Bangkok is my final destination, already bought the ticket. Do not have any tickets from Australia...

I'll gladly expect any info about the destinations above mentioned. All will be recieved with thanks! As you can see I'm leaving a lot of decisions to be taken at the location, but all pre-knowledge will help

Conclamo Ludus

This sounds like an amazing trip. I wish I had this opportunity. Defenitely keep a travel log or journal of your experiences. Its sad but true you have to be 21 to legally purchase alcoholic beverages in the US. If you really get into a party mood just swing by a college campus some afternoon, by 9:00 pm you'll probably have found a party and be drunk off your ass.

Enjoy the trip! Keep us posted.

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Frowning Budah

There is no such thing as a typical America. I do advise you to get out and see more than just L.A. although that can be pretty entertaining on its own. Can't help you much otherwise. I am on the other coast. I think you idea of contacting a high school is a great idea.

greytone

That sounds like a great trip. But please, please, please, do not think that LA is in anyway representative of the United States. I was born there and love it, so this is not meant as a dig. By the way, it has been my experience has been that your English will get you by (as a tourist at least) everywhere you want to go....with the possible exception of LA.

Yes, you have to be 21 to legally drink. We register for the draft and can vote at 18, but we are not responsible enough to drink for another 3 years.

If you are 20, I would strongly recommend that you stay away from high schools. Maybe a college or university would be a better idea, and more appropriate for what you are looking for.

__________________
I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing.
Robert A Heinlein in "They Do It With Mirrors"

shileno

wow..i envy you..
why not south america?
i lived in chile for 10 years. awesome place, very nice welcoming people, cheap, and a lot of nice places and things to see.
well..wherever you go, enjoy!

Rodney

LA is too spread out to see in a day or two -- there are plenty of great parts, but no center to it. You'll get frustrated. Decide if there are particular things you want to see, but you can't just expect to hang out and soak up the feel, because there isn't one -- not a single one, anyway. Might suggest heading down to San Diego, a much more coherent kind of town; very multicultural, too. You could also head over the border to Mexico for a bit.

Problem is, America is big. Way, way big. If you haven't seen a desert, might suggest a trip out through the little desert towns to Death Valley -- a very strange landscape, and at this time of year the temperature's probably quite pleasant.

Alternatively, head north along the coast to -- no, five days isn't long enough.

In Thailand, don't hang out much in Bangkok. I hated it: big, crowded, noisy, polluted, and so on. Actually, I did enjoy one thing in Bangkok -- the dragon-tail boat ferries that go out the canals and down the rivers. When I say "ferry," visualize that the damn things are only three feet wide -- essentially a big, long canoe with an automobile engine at one end. Most entertaining public transit I've ever taken.

Catch a train and head north to some of the smaller cities (Chiang Mai used to be good, though I'm told it may have changed), or south down to some of the islands and beaches (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Phuket, etc.) or that Thai/Muslim city at the south end whose name I can't remember. In Bangkok, a lot of people will try to steer your to the Pattaya beach area, but that's just a place to buy a 14-year-old prostitute -- which a lot of guys come from Europe to do.

Battlefield

Sounds like the trip of a lifetime, hope everything goes well.
I've never been to any of the countries you plan on going to, but I have been to many developing/3rd world countries and many people will tell you to steer clear of street food--but it can be delicious. Just make sure it's cooked well and use your own utensils(if possible)