Planning and budgeting our RTW Trip has been front of mind the last few weeks. If for no other reason, it is really wintry in Toronto, and it’s an escape to look at all of the tropical web sites. Also we got a push from going to the Outdoor Adventure Show and meeting a lot of kindred spirits with great ideas for great places to visit around the world.
To remind you, Cathy and I are going to do a 10 week RTW trip in our winter of 2020. The idea is to buy 2 business class RTW airline tickets, and circumnavigate the southern hemisphere in search of sun and heat. We have a budget of Cdn$60,000 (about US$45,000). Two RTW tickets will cost $25,000. Our all-in daily budget is $500. For 10 weeks, this works out to 70 days at $500, or $35,000. Our daily budget is 50% of most packaged tours, and so this is where the personal planning comes in.
We want a good balance of adventure, luxury and affordability. Our major stops are going to be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Capetown, South Africa; Singapore; Brisbane & Sydney, Australia; Christchurch, & Auckland, New Zealand; and Tahiti, French Polynesia. At each stop, we will stay at a private rental in an interesting neighborhood for 6 or 7 nights. From this home base, we will walk the city, book some one-day trips to the countryside, and check out the local culture and food.
For adventure, we are going to visit Iguacu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina; stay at an Amazon jungle camp near Manaus, Brazil; go on a short safari in South Africa; stay on a dive boat at the Great Barrier Reef; hike a Great Walk and take the TranzAlpine train in New Zealand’s South Island; and stay in a Bora Bora over-water bungalow. What has dropped off the wish list is a 10 day freighter trip around French Polynesia – it is just too expensive for us, and the time in Bora Bora seems like a great trade-off.
So that’s what the plan is looking like now. Cathy and I are getting very excited about this upcoming adventure. Our next step is to make our bookings in April when the airline sites open up for April 2020 flights.
When we first wrote about this RTW trip a few weeks ago, several of you passed on some great ideas of places to see. Much appreciated, and please keep the ideas coming.