So we may take a few weeks off work and go somewhere..... BUT looking for some inspiration.
So where and what would you do?
3 months would be about right for a chunk of Oz & NZ, time the weather right though.
Depends really on what you want it to be about? Road trip, history, scenery, something completely different? Bikes?
Is cost an important consideration? Also time of year.
High cost: Patagonia with bike, stay in eco-lodges, explore new national parks in Chile, drink wine. Or Colombia with road bike. Or journey from Northern California to Colorado, riding a lot of bucket list mtb trails.
Low cost: bikepack Georgia and possibly Armenia.
On balance, I'd do 'the season' in the Alps. I almost did 10 years ago, binned it off to do something far more boring and sensible which turned into a total waste of time.
Although I'd already taken a 'gap year' years before.
Budget? And interests?
The thing is it is actually quite easy to visit lots of the world with 2-week holidays. So to make the most of that amount of time I would be thinking of places that are really hard to get to, or a challenge that needs lots of time. So Kamchatka Peninsula; central Asia (Kazakhstan to Georgia area); diving in the Phillipines; overland central Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia. Or canoe the Yukon; hike the Appalachians (or other combination of long distance paths e.g. Greece, Italy, Spain, France). I would have loved to have had the time and fitness to hike more in Australia and New Zealand. But equally I could imagine you could devise an incredible tour of Scotland with 4-8 weeks, walking and mostly wild camping.
The time of year / season / climate may help narrow it down a bit.
Singapore & then overland into Malaysia & Thailand.
USofA & Canada for a road trip.
Stopover in Singapore for a bit & then NZ.
Crazy itinary round the world trip.
Koh Phangan.
It's being rapidly built up, but there are still beautiful beaches. You can pop over to Ko Tao to do some SCUBA diving (If you're not qualified I'd do that on Koh Phangan - a bit more expensive, but better).
Great food, friendly people, parties if you want them, shopping on Samui on the way home if that's your thing.
If you go somewhere like Bottle Beach 8 weeks can fly by without you really knowing.
Terrible for cycling though.
"Unpaid leave" you say?
I'd be spending my time preparing for the tribunal. Is it time to brushup the old C.V.?
Havana
North america. Maybe a little of the south. Not because it's the place I most want to go, but because of the variety I could take in, and the relatively small culture/languages issues letting me just relax from all that sort of thing.
Cycle Europe,in summer.
A proper tour of France and Spain would do me.
Think I'd start in the lovely S****horpe, then a couple of weeks in Grimsby topped off with a visit to Skegness. Bliss.
Seriously though, I very much like the idea (and will do this at some point) of driving down through Europe and ending up on a Greek island somewhere. I love the Med.
NZ for 6 weeks then somewhere south America for 6 weeks. Or a big roadtrip in van somewhere. Maybe just stay in NZ and buy a van for 3 months
Thanks so far, no tribunal or gardening leave, both early 50' sand my partner has a pulmonary embolism incident that has had a major impact in her lungs.
So has been a bit of time can be short, currently lung capacity improvement but cycling is a no for the moment but that may change.
We have over the years trekked in Nepal,skied and hiked in the Rockies, cycled in the pryennes, Alps and dolomites, fair distance walking in the Apennines, France, Portuguese Camino, been to Japan and South Korea plus a few other jaunts.
I really like Japan.
Looking for a long haul that can be chunked down due to pulmonary embolism so coming back for Hong Kong last November was a bit concerning/ hard work.
I have no interest in India or Thailand, cost well like to maximize the experience and we are fairly independent minded travellers so not really interested in the whole eco but five star Shazam, good clean hostel please.
Konagirl like some of the suggestion there.
Trans Siberian into China? Anyone done?
New Zealand is high on the list, any suggestions for a stopover for 3 or 4 days there and back or longer perhaps?
south america. I actually have this in my plan. sept / october on the bolivian altiplano getting altitude fit then a 20 000ft mountain summit attempt. If time left over nov / dec down into patagonia
Sorry to hear that Vondally, hope she makes a full, rapid recovery. I don't know the full implications of PE, but certainly splashing out more for business flights will reduce the risk of DVT and Auckland can be flown from GBP2000-2500 return with lie flat seats through various airlines if you start from Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo or Helsinki. Hope you get plenty more ideas.
New Zealand is high on the list, any suggestions for a stopover for 3 or 4 days there and back or longer perhaps?
We've been via HK and via the Cook Islands & LA.
Air NZ will do you virtually free stopovers if you want to break your journey in the Pacific.
Which brings me on to my recommendation, backpacking around French Polynesia with an optional jaunt over to Easter Island.
Scotland and/or Central Europe (based around S.W. Poland).
For NZ you are probably looking at Singapore/HK to get direct into NZ, if not it's a double stop via Sydney normally
For that amount of time you could do a lot in NZ but also chuck in SE Australia - lots on a compact space - I'll chuck in the usual Tassie suggestion as it's at the point where it's still small enough to be personable but the tourism stuff is all there to make it easy.
Then do another SE asia on the way back out
i really enjoyed my trip to the outer hebrides - - I'd hit up the nc500 and islands really slowly...
Macclesfield, if it's fully booked, Warrington.
Trekking in Nepal, cycling in Patagonia, finished off with a week on a beach chilling out. I think I'd be happy with that.
But endless places to go, things to do...
Trans Siberian into China? Anyone done?
I did Moscow, trans mongolian train to Beijing stopping at Lake Baikal and in Mongolia to trek. From Beijing, did the great wall, Xian and terracotta army and then across to Tibet. Everest Base camp (northern side), monastery trips, general site seeing around Tibet and then in to Nepal. Took a couple of months, so you either do that slower, add trekking in one of the locations or fly from Kathmandu to somewhere else for a month. Tibet was definitely the highlight of the trip.
If the season is correct NZ is great and not easy without a good chunk of time. But unless it's a ski trip you really need it to be summer. It's like the Alps trails block with snow and like the UK it gets really wet If the season is a bit off look at Australia which can be good year round. My niece's have done a West coast of Australia back packing thing that sounds good. Ask if your want details
North America wood be good if your going in our summer spring Autumn. I loved the red dessert round Moab on or off the bike. Loads of things to do like green water rafting. Every American National park seemed amazing.
There's plenty of fancy places that can be on people's bucket lists, but even without cycling there (as it includes the biggest climb in Europe), I'd imagine a tour of a number (or even all) of the Canary Islands would be fun as a short haul destination. From Mount Teide dominating Tenerife, to the rain forest of La Gomera, to the winds of Fuerteventura etc.