take loads of tea bags

in SE Asia, remember you are paying them to leave

remember to pack a healthy dose of nihilism and low expectations

and some good books/graphic novels

take more than one ATM card and something sell-able, like gold

Are you coming to Cape Town, Stu?

and have fun! Sounds awesome

go see taz in sith ifrica

Remember to pack some pairs of pants.

Yeah! Come see me in Cape Town! I will show you around!

Yeah we were going to do Jo'Burg and Cape Town but a guy I know lived in Johannesburg and said I shouldn't go cos it's too dangerous. I reckon we'll do Cape Town, Victoria Falls, Kruger National Park an anything else you can recommend. We were looking at an organised tour over three weeks which takes in a load of cool stuff and you basicall camp along the way and get fed and all travel paid for.

I'm not taking any books but will probably buy a Kndle 3G.

Vic Falls is Zambia/Zim. You goin gthere too? Wow! Will message you my number on Facebook, and we can meat up.
Kruger Park and maybe even Pilansberg Park are a must, and Cape Town has sooooo much to do. You gonna have a blast :)

I'm not particularly well travelled, but if you go to sri lanka Sigiriya is unbelieveable.

Also take a packet of wet toilet tissue. INVALUABLE!

I'd be totally willing to host you in my humble house in my village as well in case you were planning on treading into Namibia! But I don't know if that's on your sched. I'm only about 1,000 km from Vic Falls!

Cheers Taz - looks like we'll be starting the trip in Africa - what's the weather like late August/early September?

I also really wanna go see Cape Town, but I think it would make me go broke.

Rainy and grey in the Cape. Cold and sunny in Gauteng. I think.

rainy and grey really? When would it be sunny and warm (20-25C)?

You should visit the wild coast in SA, (Eastern Cape) or the Drakensberg mountains (Kwazulu Natal)

have an amazing time. don't forget to bring a towel.one of those high absorbent, thin material ones do well while taking up minimal space.

My husband carried a small package of laundry detergent with him on his youthful travels, for those occasions when he needed to do his washing in a bathroom sink. He had the best smelling undies and socks of all the backpackers he met.

I highly recommend the tek towel Save you tons of space and dry you better than a regular one.

let's try that Tek towel again

don't drink the water!

Bump

I'd recommend that you buy one of these silk sleeping bags.. they weigh nothing and you can sleep in your own sheets anywhere.. and also the towel thing is great..

In India we had laundry detergent in the form of a soap bar, not sure where else you get that, but it was quite handy to travel around with.

Tell your bank that your going abroad and will be away for a while, they'll add a note to your account that this trip is expected.

When I was living in Canada the bank decided to block my card because they believed they were getting a lot of unusual charges from canada, basically meaning they thought it was stolen, I had to have a phone call at 4am and assure them that the card was still mine but it was two weeks before they got in touch with me.

My situation was a bit odd because I'd told them that I was going to be away and even gave them a Canadian address (they actually sent me a letter to that address explaining they were blocking my card for the above reasons) but yeah my bank are just idiots if you tell yours you shouldnt have a problem.

Remember a camera or journal.

Camera AND journal my friend. I'll undoubtedly lose at least one of them though.

BUMP

dude! you should chat to mountain gnome (carl) or lonkiponk (lonneke). i met them both in cape town a couple of weeks ago- they were doing a trip up the coast of south africa. they probably have some lovely tips on what to see.

Cheers - I may do that

Holy crap, what an amazing trip that should be.

This is another bump.

Bramish...
Definately make the effort to spend a week (or at least 3 days) at Bulungula Lodge on the wild coast.

We spent a week there (which could have been 2) and it was the highlight of our trip. Strongly recommend this backpackers.

most people have mentioned this stuff already, but these are things I found invaluable while travelling.

travel towel - fold up tight and dry easy.

laundry soap - pack a little definitely but I found it cheap and easy enough to get my laundry done in most places around the world. it is handy for those "oh crap, I'm out of clean underwear" moments though

a decent backpack - nothing solid and nothing with wheels. get it fitted to your back when you buy it as well. and buy a bunch of locks to go with it!

Kindle - I'm a prolific reader, but for some reason I chose to carry 3-4 paperbacks with me instead of just getting a kindle! Is definitely the one thing I would change this time round. Plus kindle are the authorised dealer of Rough Guides or Lonely Planets or both I think so you can download your travel guides as well.

I suppose you're only away for four months, but having some sort of small laptop can be handy not only as an internet point (there is wifi EVERYWHERE in the world, and often free which beats internet cafes) but also for photo backups when your burn through your 16GB memory card in 2 days!

dont laugh, but get a snood! I used to think they were the stupidest thing ever, but then I got given one for free when we did a bike ride in Bolivia and I swear I wore thing almost every day after that. it's handy round your neck when it's cold, round your head when you're sweaty, round your mouth when it's dusty or you're in/on a vehicle thats running a dirt road. etc etc etc.

Drugs, and not the illegal kind. Get a decent first aid kit (one with sterile needles in it for a worst case scenario) and stock up on all the regulars - paracetamol, cold/flu stuff etc. Immodium is your friend, especially if you're on tight time constraints and can't afford to miss your bus one day. Also, take some vitamins, travel can wear you down and this will keep you perky. and get a course of antibiotics from your doc in case you need them.

and this might sound stupid or obvious, but take normal clothes! have a decent jacket and a decent pair of shoes/boots for walking, but unless you plan on doing something specialist there's really no need to kit yourself out in Gortex from head to toe. You'll look stupid in places like Cape town or Sydney, and you'll makes yourself a giant tourist shaped target in others! shorts, jeans, tshirts etc - normal stuff.


thats all I got for now, I'm sure there's loads more. I'm going to mentally go through my backpack and try think what i did and didn't have that i wished was different.

with regards to your Hanoi to bangkok bit -- What kind of route are you planning on running here and how do you plan on getting about - trains buses what? The travel distances in these places can be very easy to underestimate, and that sounds kinda tight time wise depending on how much you planning on seeing of Cambodia and Vietnam?

Nice one - thanks so much digsy! Exactla the kind of advice we're after. I'm definitely planning on getting a kindle, and can use that for internet (I think).

I'm planning on packing as light as possible regarding clothes - one pair each of jeans and shorts, a hoody, a waterproof, sneakers, walking shoes and a few tees and shirts - I figure I can buy anything else I need en route.

We're actually doing a guided tour thing for 2 and a half weeks from Hanoi to Bangkok. THIS. I'm sure hardened travellers will scoff but we liked the look of it and heard good reports from people who did something similar. Maybe we'd get a truer experience winging it and what not but we'll see.

I'm probably gonna be living in Brisbane by then, but that NZ itinerary is extensive and freaking brilliant. If I was still in Christchurch I'd show you around... It's definitely a bit hard to find touristy things here post earthquakes, as the central CBD is still closed (although is rumoured to be reopened this year, but it'll be sparse at best) and there are hardly any hotels or backpackers operating at the moment. But the airport has been refitted very recently and is a pretty decent place to fly out from at the least.

If you'd like more specific info on Christchurch (or NZ in general, particularly the South Island) let me know and I'll get you some answers... but it's a pretty easy place to travel around and there's lots to see.

you're bang on with the clothes - you shouldn't need more and if you do, you can pick anything up easily en route.

and i don't scoff - i did 4 months in Africa and 3 months in South America on an overland truck. there are benefits and downsides to the organised tours. Africa we did because we weren't so sure about getting to see the places we wanted to see on our own - I'm very glad we did because I actually think we got far more out of it than had we gone on our own, and I didn't feel the "true" experience was taken away at all.
South America i would have liked to do on our own, but we were running out of time and energy! by that stage we'd been going for over a year and the draw of having someone else do all the planning and effort for us was too much to resist. I regret it a little - I would have gotten more out of it at a slower pace definitely - but it was the price we paid for trying to do too much, and there were definitely plus sides to it as well.

Could also use some help budgeting, if possible. So far the following is covered and won't alter:

TRIP INSURANCE
ALL FLIGHTS BETWEEN CONTINENTS
ALL TRAVEL AND ACCOMODATION FOR 3 WEEKS AFRICA AND THE ASIA TOUR

This comes to E6,500.

I've estimated maybe another 5 grand for the month each in Oz and NZ and the extra week each in Cape Town and Thailand. Am I grossly underestimating?

that looks like a good trip - you'll definitely enjoy it (Halong Bay is Awesome!)
remember dude, there is no right or wrong way to travel regardless of what some travellers may tell you. Do what's best for and suits you, and you'll get the most out of it.

hanoi - as an art dude, i recommend checking out the propaganda posters - there are shops full of them all over town. Most are reprints (don't believe those who tell you they're real which is just about everyone) but they're really great pieces of art to take home. we picked up a few small reprints, but i know of a shop that does sell originals at decent prices if you're interested - I would definitely have got if we could have afforded it at the time.

also on the art side - if you're in Aus you have to go to Uluru. I mean HAVE TO. (It's awesome, just don't climb it, it's really offensive to the aboriginals - I heard it best described as akin to running through a mosque during prayer or storming the alter in Notre Dam mid service). If you're there, check out the huge info centre they have - they stock some really nice aboriginal art in there, otherwise Alice Springs is loaded with galleries - lots of pieces in various styles at various prices. You'll get a certificate of authenticity and more often than not, photos of your artist as they were working on the piece.

Uluru's on our list. Have a friend who spent 9 months in Oz and he's given us a pretty extensive list of things to check out, which is nice.

I've estimated maybe another 5 grand for the month each in Oz and NZ and the extra week each in Cape Town and Thailand. Am I grossly underestimating?

depends on your standard of living and what you plan on doing. We smashed all pretences of a budget on a month in Aus for one simple reason - we tried to cover too much ground! this meant money on stupidly expensive internal flights plus car hire and petrol costs. we drove a LOT and it hurt hurt hurt - petrol is pricey! plus it just aint cheap - a beer in Perth cost us AUS$10, and a bunk bed in a Sydney hostel cost us AUS$50 each etc etc. having just come from SE Asia it was a bit of a shock to the system.

Yeah, I reckon I better extend my overdraft just in case!