21st May 2012 How Fast You Wish To Go Around The World?

Remember an old film 'Around The World In 80 Days'? People today would retort that you can easily do it in just 4-5 days. Sure you can, I had once left London to go to San Francisco and arrived there earlier in hour on the same day than that of my departure time from UK. But easy as it is to fly around, to me even 80 days is not enough. Not if you mean to actually see the countries, not merely to cover ground, taking a superficial glimpse of each so that you can boast to all on your return that you have 'done' the world having been to every corner of the world, which, you know it, is impossible.

 

I am amongst the old fashioned and very curious travellers, when I visit a new country, I like to see as much as I can, learn as much about local traditions and cultures, take part, if opportunities arise, to join in celebrations and other social events, meet local people and, if lucky enough, make a friend or two.

This morning, I eavesdropped (only because I sat so near) on the conversation amongst a few young people in the coffee shop, sitting right next to my table. One of them said that at this time of serious crisis when there's no jobs to be found and, before sitting about using up what little saving there is, one might just as well go travelling round the world, to see what lies on the other side of the horizon, meeting new contacts and might even find worthwhile opportunities. He had done some careful calculating, he said: to stay in Barcelona for 1 year, it would cost about 14,000 €, while travelling for that period would cost some 8,000. Depending how you travel of course, he added.

 

Precisely this month, the Travel Club had organised the 2nd Congress Bloggers Round The World, in which 28 speakers tell their experiences of the round the world travel, with the One World Explorer ticket, offering 800 possible destinations.

One has to search and plan beforehand to know how each country on your itinerary treats it's visitors, sometimes it could be very expensive if you happen to come upon certain bureaucracy. One young man in the group said that his uncle & aunt had gone to Turkey and had to pay 52,000 € on that matter of bureaucracy alone. The trouble is, that bureaucrats are everywhere, aren't they?

Tags: bureaucracy, aroundtheworld

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