| LINKS: Inspiration: Sean's link page - a good place to start. www.gonewalkabout.com/ Airfare & Prices: We purchased our first set of tickets through Council Travel. Another good source of discount tickets is Student Travel Australia. So far, we purchased the following tickets: Air Pacific: LAX - Christchurch, New Zealand w/stopover in Fiji departing January 8th, 2002 Price : $540 each |
| Frequently Asked Questions Links to Resources - Details - Vaccinations - Packing List |
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| VACCINATIONS: We began to get our shots well before we left home. Our insurance didn't pay a dime toward these. MMR Hepatitis A (2 shots) we got the 1st one Hepatitis B (3 shots) we got the first 2 When in Australia, we will get the following just before we head into South East Asia: Last Hepatitis A shot Last Hepatitis B Typhoid Tetanus booster for Monica Prescription for Malaria medication. FYI - if you are going to Australia, get your shots here. They offer a 2 shot series for Hep A & B that is WAY cheaper than the 2 + 3 shot A & B series that you get in the USA, and the resulting immunity is better in the combined serum. They gave Monica her Tetanus booster for FREE??? She couldn't even get one in the States unless it was an emergency. I dont get it. Shots plus the Dr. visit for both of us was about US$170, but if we had been able to use the combined Hep.A & B shots, it would have been much cheaper. Being on the once-a-week Malaria medication for more than 3 months is not advised, and the only alternative is to go on Tetracycline. We don't fancy that, so we'll have to see what the ex-pats do when we get to Singapore. |
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12/15/2001 Freedom Air: Dunedin, New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia (round-trip) departs April 15th, 2002; open return. Price: $260 each This ticket does several things: it allows us to enter NZ (they won't let you in without a ticket out); it gets us into Australia (they, too, require a ticket out); and enables us to delay making any decision about where to go once we leave Australia. The return leg to NZ only cost us $20 more than the one-way price. We may throw out the return leg, but we will have avoided purchasing a ticket out of Australia until much later. Total to date: $800 each 4/6/2002 We decided to fly from Christchurch to Auckland and back for our trip to the North Island. At $110 round trip (each) on Freedom Air, who can complain. The bus and ferry would have cost more than that. Total to date: $910 each 4/17/2002 We bought tickets from Darwin (Australia) to Bali (Indonesia), Singapore, Bangkok (Thailand), London (UK), and Madrid (Spain). This does not include a flight from Singapore to Bangkok - this will be done overland on our own. Price was $650 each. 5/29/2002 We changed the above ticket to depart Australia from Perth instead of Darwin, and we bought a ticket from Copenhagen to Newark, New Jersey to prevent any immigration hassles in London. Price ended up at $962. Total to Date: $1872 each. |
| Costs: This is a good figure for all backpacker-level costs, i.e. self-cater, hostels, minimal touristy stuff for 2 people. We lived much better than the average backpacker and spent much less than this amount because we often stayed with friends, and could then spend more money on proper meals, etc..) Fiji We spent right at US$50/day (for both, not each) while there. No air conditioning, cheap meals, no SCUBA. A lot of beer, activities, etc. could easily double this figure. NZ $50 /day AUS $50 /day INDO $20/ day My SCUBA class was $330, the rest of the month cost $650. SINGAPORE $70/day Globalfreeloaders bailed us out, no hotel bill for 3 nights. MALAYSIA $20/day THAILAND southern Thailand, even during the low season, is expensive. $30/day. |