Round the world tickets

Well...after all the analisys of all possible options and combinations, we are going for Round the world ticket!! Finally we have the plan - at least till December :-))

Majority of RTW packages make you cross the ocean and go in one direction. You cant go back to the place you've been before and only need to fly forward. There are different prices and combinations, but all of them are based on following:

1) Miles count (km) - you need to calculate all miles of all flights, and based on the lengh of your route you get the price.
2) Quantity of stops and continents you cross - max stops should be not more then 16.

We were looking at different options:

- OneWorld: includes air companies as Iberia, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Bristish Airways, Japan Airlines.... This agency has a really good coverage of all packages that we have seen, but it can be good option only in case you really are going round the world - and not only concentrating on one area , like Asia & Pacific for example. If you live in UK, no problem to contact them - but for different locations could be a bit tough to get in touch with them and get a quotation.

Anyway, we did a similation which looked like this:

London - Rio de Janeiro - Buenos Aires - Sydney - Melbourne - Christchurch - Auckland - Singapore - Hong Kong - Tokyo - Beijing - London and all this for a price of 2900€...cool eh? :-)

- Star Alliance: Lufthansa, Thai, Spanair, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, All Japan Airlines, US Airways... Good international coverage, but not so much in Australia. There is a web aplication where you can simulate your route and get good options. RTW will be around 3500€.

- SkyTeam: Air France, KLM, Continental, Aeroflot... They dont have so much coverage in Asia Pacific, but good one in the rest of the world...Very difficult to get in touch with. In the end they told us to call some call center, but we didnt, since anyway it was more expensive then other options.

In the same time, we've been in touch with different independent tourist agencies, which can actually offer you good prices for the package - but you need to know exactly where and when you are going...and how many days you will stay there - otherwise, they can't help you much :-)

Some of them are:

- The World WalkAbout
- Round the World Flights - this one we chose in the end
- TravelBag
- TravelNation
- TrailFinders

Here you can calcute your miles Web (http://www.geobytes.com/citydistancetool.htm)

Route Definition (Tentative 1)

Well, so we have finally decided the countries we are planning to visit, including India, where we have been invited to assist to the wedding of our good friends Piero and Manisha. If we have to go there, then we will surely go to see our friend Amit in Bangalore.

So, our first tentative route definition is as follows:
- October: Thailand


- November: Thailand, Malaysia & Singapore


- December: India, Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam


- January: Indonesia, Philippines & Taiwan


- February: Australia


- March: New Zealand


- April: Japan & South Korea


- May: China, Hong-Kong & Nepal


- June: Mongolia & Russia (our first approach is to go with the Transmanchurian, similar to the Transiberian, but from Beijing to Moscow)


What do you think? Looks like a plan, huh? ;-)

Our next trip

Good travelers we are... and we like sharing our experiences with everybody. Normally, we write our blog in Spanish, English and Russian... so that more people is able to read it, and because we have friends all over the world that like to read our stories :-)

The reason why we decided starting this new blog is, basically, because we have already been to everywhere in Europe, at least once; and the pending trips are, bit by bit, more remotes. In addition, this is supposed to be our last big trip before going back to a 'normal' life, spending all our saved money (yes, that little we have :D).

The trip will start in Barcelona, obviously, and we are planning to visit part of Asia and Oceania. Some of the countries that we are planning to visit are:
Russia, Mongolia, China, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailandi, Nepal, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

How are we going to survive during this time? What are we going to do? With CouchSurfing, we have created a network of friends throughout all the worls. All of them are helping us to configure this route: what to se, what to do, where to eat, etc. In addition, in several of the places that we will visit, and by using CouchSurfing, we already have a place to sleep. Normally, friends that we have hosted previously o that we have met in other trips; or even during their trips to Barcelona.

On the other hand, thanks to CouchSurfing we will get rid of the traditional turistic routes and discover the visited areas from a local point of view, knowing the culture from the inside.

Here starts the adventure of Julian and Elena :D Taking into account that we are a married couple and we have to do it all in an organized way, as we do not want to sleep on the beach!!!

What is Couchsurfing?

Some years ago we have discovered one website in the internet, which at first glance seemed to be something unreal and not very serious. In present this website already has become a huge community with more then a millon members all over the world.

What is couchsurfing? Well, it's exactly what it sounds - surfing someone's couch :-)

From one point of view its a way to save money on accomodation, from other point of view its the way to meet new frieneds and discover different places with locals. In couchsurfing you can meet people in every country and every place, locals and travellers, you can organize events, go to local meetings, participate to CS-ing activities and spend great time with your new friends.

It's important to know, that Couchsurfing is not a free accomodation - it's a cultural exchange, the way to meet local people and discover new places travelling. Before asking for a couch, don't forget to read information for newcomers :-)

9th Day - Vulcano Poas and back home

Next day we managed to see vulcano Poas, bought some souvenirs, left our car in a car rental company and finally took our flight back home.

On the way we met some coatis (pizotes). They just went out close to the road, exactly 11 of them and were waiting that someone will stop and give them some food haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXbfd7eYHmI

It was an amazing vacation, true adventure and the country is simply beautiful....but it woUldn't be me if I would't say in the end....frankly speaking after 9 days in Costa Rica...HASTA EL COÑ.. DE LOS BICHOS!!!! NOS VAMOS A CASA!!! :D

8th Day: La ventana de los bichos

We spent 4 amazing days in Cahuita and it was time to go back. Our plan was to go back to San Jose, have a dinner and spend a night in a friend's house (CS) and the next day fly back to Madrid. On the way we planed to stop and see vulcano Poas (not active), which has an amazing lagune inside its crater, but it was too cloudy and on the entrance a guy told us that it's better to come next day.

We finally arrived to Sarah Joy and Julio's house near San Jose International airport, dropped our stuff and later went out with a bunch of people to a nice restaurant and had dinner. One thing I would like to mention about that day. It has a bit of a history:


1st -I always choose a side of a bed which has bigger space in front - a window, a bigger part of the room - never door or wall.
2nd - Sarah's house was kind of in a forest (it was an old banana plantation with a lot of trees and plants everywhere and a lot of mosquitos, insects, birds - you know, usual costarican stuff :-)

So, that night I chose door...and Juli's phrase was: "Joder, lo sé porqué has escogido la puerta, no quieres tumbarte en la ventana de los bichos, verdad? :D" (Shit, i know why you chose the door side of the bed, you don't want to sleep at the "insect" window, right? :D

6th/7th Day - La ranita

Finally we left Tortuguero, picked up our car and were leading to the Caribbean coast, Cahuita!

We spent 4 days in the nice tropical hotel, drinking mojitos with it's boss, Domingo (from Madrid), discovering Cahuita national park - monkeys, snakes and racoons again without control haha


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRKFUIpO0YU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD1e6LBmX-c

We noticed that on all Costa Rica guides, the first page picture is an amazing frog with red eyes, but we never managed to see it live.


Our fist night when we arrived to Cahuita, Luz ( our super barman girl who made best caipirinhas) said - oh, you haven't seen frogs yet? Let me find one for you.... and as easy as it looks, she went to the hotel pool where there were some plants with long leaves and brought us one :D

What an amazing creature! (I mean the frog, of course..haha)

5th Day - Tortuguero, natural paradise

And this is true...it is really a natural paradise. We went on a boat through the channels and saw birds and eagles in the sky, monkeys on the trees, crocodiles in the river. The whole country is like a zoo and it's amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Ruc4Yu9fEcw

4th Day: Tortuguero

Next morning we took a map that hotel guy had drawn for us and took our way to Tortuguero. It is a place between a river lagune and a sea and the only way to get there is by boat. We had to find a pier where to leave a car and take a boat through the channels to the village.

This is a magnificant map, which actually says that you take road (pista) until it is finished and then you take a ground road (camino de cabras) which will lead you to Pavona. We didn't realize then, that all he said was true haha

So first we drove until the way was finished.



We drove and we drove and we drove through the forest and banana plantations, until the way became like this and in this moment we thought may be we are lost again and we have to go back...since the most touristic place in Costa Rica wouldn't have such a road..but soon we finally arrived to Pavona...which was, as you can see, a pefectly civilized, modern parking place for the tourists hahaha - Welcome to Costa Rica!

Anyway, we left our car, took a boat and went through the channels to the village....Pretty relaxed and enjoying the view, we suddenly have heard a "crackkkk""". The water level was so low, so the boat has scratched its bottom by the rock or tree...and the water started to get into the boat...Hmmmm...this was another unexpected adventure, too many for today haha

The guy who was driving the boat said we have to stop and wait for another boat to come and resque us, while we are waiting on a small piece of land surrounded by water. We took our bags out and waited for another boat.

By luck, there were some locals on that boat, very friendly ones, and they had a little fridge full of whiskey and beers...so as you can imagine, Juli immediately made new friends haha

In the end a boat has come to pick us up, crocodiles didnt eat us (don't laugh, in Costa Rica all rivers have crocodiles...not joking) and we arrived to Tortuguero.

3rd Day: Way to Tortuguero or How to get lost with GPS

Fist day in the morning we went to Canopy tour. What is canopy? Check the pics! :D Adrenaline and adventure in the heart of a beautiful nature haha


Finally we left Fornuna to Tortuguero. Long way was expecting us, 200km and 4 hours drive...those roads! :D Anyway, we set up our GPS and were leading the main road. Next village on our map was Chiles, so on the cross road we saw Los chiles and went that way. Going further and further, GPS was telling me we are going somewhere to the north, but I didn't trust Costarican GPS, of course!:D After 1 hour we started to worry, since the village was supposed to be much closer. We stoped near a gas station and asked again - Chiles? Yeah, Los Chiles, said a guy, you are going the right way. GPS was going mad and I saw a big water spot on the screen. Juli, i said, what is this? It is telling me we are going to some kind of a Pacifican golf or smth....? Mi amor, he said, this is Nicaragua lake, I am afraid hahahaha

What has actually happened? Very simple, in Costa Rica there are 2 places, Chiles and Los Chiles (on the border with Nicaragua). We turned back and next days discovered there are a lot of villages in Costa Rica with the same name :-DDDD

Anyway, afterwards we got lost again, went through the forest, mixed the way and finally didn't get to Tortuguero that night and slept in a small city on the way :-D