Year long solo travel itinerary recommendations

Hi All,

Hoping for some recommendations 😊

I’m will be taking a year long sabbatical from Jan -Dec 2025. I’ll be 32 when I leave, female and solo.

I know I need to start planning an itinerary but my biggest problem is I can’t decide how to narrow down the world!

I was fortunate enough to travel around south east Asia 10 years ago (Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia) so that is an area I don’t need to repeat. However I LOVED Asia.

I am leaning towards Central and South America or Africa, with possibly Sri Lanka, Phillipines, Borneo, Japan/ New Zealand.

I will be flying back to the UK in May and September so these can serve as stop over points to travel to the other side of the world.

I have a tendency to want to see everything and do everything at a million miles an hour, however my intention for this trip is to slow down. I’d rather do fewer places for longer than constantly be on the move.

I would love to get back into diving, possibly try surfing. I love the beach and yoga (I’d probably fit a retreat in somewhere). Nature and animals would be a big highlight for me.

I will be solo and I don’t mind spending time on my own but it would be good to go some places I know there will be a travelling community (even if it is small).

Sorry for my life story but if anyone has any recommendations for an itinerary, durations in places or any other ideas I’d be really grateful!

Thanks
Aimee

Are you on a tight budget for this?

I'm a big fan of New Zealand. Lots to see, and a good backpacker culture, so plenty of hostels and places to link up with other travellers. You could certainly fill a few months here. But it's not the cheapest.

Thanks for the response!

I will have around £20k excluding long haul flights. I have more I can dip into if I really need to but I would ideally like to stick around this figure.

Work is also flexible that if I were to run out of money earlier than planned I can go back (but ideally this would be worse case!)

Hi!

Sounds awesome!

I am in slightly similar situation than you, albeit I won't be leaving on my year long trip until the end of next year (2025) and I will be travelling with partner but if you want to bounce ideas around or just chat I will be happy to!

When I started my planning I had to narrow down my expectations quite a lot, since our budget just wouldn't stretch to everything I wanted to see..The country I wanted to visit the most is Australia, so I started to plan our trip around that. Since it is also far from where we live (Finland), what could we see on our way there (Asia), where is okay weather during that time of the year and where to after Australia (South America).

Surfing and diving would get you anywhere either in Asia, South America, Australia or Africa and yoga India, Nepal, Tibet...

Your question is so huge that it is difficult to give any tips knowing so little about you but don't be a stranger, I would love to hear where your planning takes you to

Hey, thanks for your response! So great you are also getting the opportunity to go next year!

Your suggestions have really helped. I appreciate I’m asking a very wide question haha. I’ve realised that I no longer have a ‘must do’ country’ (I had originally planned India to be a big part of my trip when I was going to go with my now ex partner, sadly I don’t feel safe to go there as a solo female). However there are key experiences I want;

- whales (snorkling, diving or boat watching)
-dive spots with a mass of marine life
-elephants / wildlife in their own habitat
-diverse and predominately happy culture that’s very different to European experiences
-places I wouldn’t necessarily go on a normal holiday
-scenery that makes me feel a small part of a big world (if that makes any sense!)
-countries I feel safe-ish in (more so treatment towards women, I appreciate robberies happen everywhere).

Maybe I’ll start to research countries I can combine some of the above into.

I’d be happy to post ideas back and forth. I only found this forum this morning so not sure if there is a messaging option but happy to post back and forth if not!

Most of your wishlist would be possible in southern Africa. Look at South Africa or Namibia for Whales, look at Tanzania and Botswana for Elefants, also for different cultures and places where you normally don't go for holiday.
For diving it could be The Maledives or Seychelles.
You can also see Whales from western Canada or Hawaii.

The best whale watching I have had (and I have not been to Asia) was in Alaska in May and in Samana the Dominican republic in the winter when the females are there to have their calves. Samana is a cruise ship destination at that time and there is a whele museum there. There are other whale watching spots in the Caribbean - I think you can see whales off the end of Grand Turk.

For diving I recommend the coast of Belize, Cozumel Mexico, Honduras, and also the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and Hawaii and the Galapagos. A dive boat off the Galapagos would be ideal for that. Or chartering a sailboat in the Virgin Islands.

Surfing - Hawaii of course, and where they are doing the Olympics now in Polynesia but they also have competitions in November on the east coast of Barbados in an area called the Soup Bowl. They also surf in the BVI and Costa Rica, but it doesn't look to me (a non-surfer) as anything like the surfing in Hawaii.

For elephants you mosty have to go to Africa or India. But there are also wild animals to be observed in their native habitat in other places - such as bears, elk, caribou, bison, alligators or crocs, monkeys, sloths or kangaroos

You should consider weather and the seasons in planning your itinerary. For example, the monsoon season in Sri Lanka generally is between May and September. The Pacific typhoon season generally is between May and October. The seasons in the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere are opposite.

Lower travel costs in Asia can help offset higher travel costs elsewhere, such as in Australia and New Zealand.

If this is your first trip to Africa, suggest a reasonably priced group road trip, perhaps one starting from South Africa to Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Or one that goes overland from Nairobi to Johannesburg and/or Cape Town, or vice versa. Going with a group tour in Africa is a worthwhile introduction to travel on the continent. It will help ease any concerns you might have.

You can find and book reasonably priced flights as you travel. Just think one or two destinations ahead and make sure you can prove to the airlines and immigration officials that you have the means to enter and leave a country. Check visa requirements, if any.

When pricing flights, know that air travel between countries in Africa and South America can be higher than in Asia and Europe. Concentrate your search for flights from major hubs where there is more competition, including from low-cost carriers such as AirAsia and Scoot.

Japan has a reputation as a high-cost travel destination. But it's endured years of deflation and the yen is now at multiyear lows. So it might be an attractive time to visit.

In my years of travel, I find destinations such as Japan, Taiwan and New Zealand to be among the easiest to get around, without much, if any, hassles.

I'm leaving in mid-September for a month-long road trip in Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Kashmir, India, followed by a month-long trip in Japan, focusing on Kyushu and Shikoku.

P.S. Sri Lanka has elephants, leopards, temples, tea plantations, etc. I revisited friends there earlier this year.

[ Edit: Edited on 5 Aug 2024, 00:29 GMT by berner256 ]

Hi.

Perhaps on the way to or from Africa you could stop in Malaga or Benidorm. Get some diving in if the time of year works out okay.

Have fun.

Also suggest El Nido, Palawan, the Philippines, for aquatic activities.