How long should I go for?
     
I have recently inherited some money and will have approximately £13000 to go travelling with. This will need to include flights, but not backpack etc as I already have that. I am now trying to arrange a career break but don't know how long I should go for, or whether I should quit and hope to get a similar job on my return.

At the moment I am thinking of going to Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Hong Kong and NZ. Any suggestions of other places that I must go to? I am interested in architecture, museums and cities rather than wilderness types of places. Will that amount of money be enough to last me for a year? I am used to travelling fairly cheaply around europe but only for a couple of weeks at a time, staying in hostels, sometimes cooking for myself and having the occasional beer. I qualify for a NZ working holiday visa, but I am not permitted to work at all while on a career break so I am unsure as to what I should do.

Any advice would be great. And if anyone has any recommendations for travel agents in the UK, please let me know. I called STA in London and they want £10 before they will discuss anything to do with RTW which seems a bit odd!

Thank you!
1.
     
That does sound a bit odd! Try Bridge the World in Camden (think they have other branches too) - they were extremely helpful to us and sorted us out no problems. As for budget, I should think £13000 will last you quite a while. I am off in Jan for a year with my other half, and we've got together about £20000 for both of us for the year, after flights and equipment and stuff. Some people say to budget about $1000 US p/m as a rough guide - some places will be cheaper and some more expensive, but I guess it all evens itself out in the end.

Hope that helps!
2.
     
when you say career break, do you mean take a year off from your job with the intention of returning to it afterwards. why can't you work? and if you're in NZ then how would they know if you are working?

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wait a minute, 20 dollars can buy many peanuts....
3.
     
Supersnail - the company I work for allows career breaks at the discretion of the manager for periods up to five years. I think it's intended for people with families to take time out to look after the kids. I suppose they wouldn't know that I was working. The reason they say that is to stop people applying for other jobs and then going on a career break while checking out whether they actually enjoy the new job, the resigning.
4.
     
A RTW ticket would be a waste of money with the places your interested in going to but most of all it would limit your freedom since you would be tied to the ticket in case you changed your mind and trust me you will. Traveling is always more satisfying when your not on a schedule and can go at your own pace and not having to worry about backtracking to catch a flight or get back to work.

You could probably make your money last you about two years if you wanted but you'd have to watch yourself and limit your time in places like Japan. Your best bet is to buy a cheap one way to thailand and travel throughout Southeast Asia overland lots of wonderful architecture. You'll probably fall in love with the place like everyone else and want to stay longer then you planed. Then head to china and hong kong and then head over to Japan. You may want to stop in Taipei since they have the largest colletion of chinese artifacts in the National Museum there and is a vibrant city. If you still want to, head over to NZ and work for awhile but why bother if you have a job back home to return to
5.
     
Longjouney is righty in as much as you would not be making the most of a RTW, on the other hand if you want to see all the countries you mention you may be sensible to buy a RTW as the China-Japan leg in particular can be pricy if bought as you go. My advice would be to include some more variety esp if you go the RTW ticket option. If you are into architecture and museums why not include a couple of stops in Europe (places which are normally a bit pricy to get to from Londion eg Tallinn, St Petes, Moscow Then I would spend a month in India maybe a tour of Rajesthan. More interesting than Malaysia to be honest.

Wade

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6.
     
Definitely Moscow and Petersburg for architecture and museums. Probably Novgorod and Kizhi for architecture. Maybe Suzdal for architecture. Then fly to Asia.

Ruth