Post: #26

The problem with reading books is that an awful lot of what you will be reading with be in 3rd person.

The practicalities of general conversation however, required you to speak in 1st or 2nd person.

Post: #27

What about the relevancy of portuguese? I hear that Brazil is THA place to go in latin america, ESPECIALLY for the women.

Post: #28

(12-16-2009 03:36 PM)Lumiere Wrote:  The problem with reading books is that an awful lot of what you will be reading with be in 3rd person.

The practicalities of general conversation however, required you to speak in 1st or 2nd person.

yes and no. verb tenses are not a part of getting good at spanish.. mastery of the very tenses is a low-intermediate stage. turns of phrase, colloquialisms, multiple ways to say the same thing, subtleties, etc.. all come from reading. not to mention, you wont get through a chapter or even a few pages in most books without running through every verb tense conjugation.

Post: #29

(12-16-2009 10:48 AM)Lumiere Wrote:  Am planning on spending 3 weeks in Hawaii maybe 4 if it's really rocking or possibly less if I don't like it.

You probably only need 2 weeks.

I'll hook you up.

Aloha!

Post: #30

Lumiere not sure if you've seen this yet but this is Tim Ferriss' most recent blog post (a guest post about RTW travel) which at first glance seems very similar to what you're doing. What do you think about these tips?

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/201...ne-ticket/

Post: #31

What about Portuguese instead of SPanish?

Post: #32

Great thread!

Post: #33

Yep.

I would like some more solid info on the best way to use the air miles though.

I have not claimed the air miles on any program. What's the best way to tackle the air miles system?

Post: #34

(10-11-2010 12:09 AM)Lumiere Wrote:  Yep.

I would like some more solid info on the best way to use the air miles though.

I have not claimed the air miles on any program. What's the best way to tackle the air miles system?

The guy Chris Guillebeau sells a product about this on his non-conformity blog.

http://www.unconventionalguides.com/ffm.htm

I haven't bought it yet so I can't say whether it's good, but it has a strong guarantee.

Post: #35

(10-10-2010 03:15 PM)Badstuber Wrote:  What about Portuguese instead of SPanish?

Portuguese is worthless unless you are in Brazil. I would highly suggest going to Brazil, and if you stay for a long period of time, definitely learn. Otherwise, you'll rarely ever use Portuguese again unless you are living in a US town with a high density of Brazilians. I haven't even met any yet here in Miami excet 2 staying in my hostel. I'm sure there are plenty around, or so I hear. If you go to Brazil, knowing Portguese is huge. Outside of Sao Paulo and Rio, people don't know much english, and even SP and Rio it isn't all that common. But who's gonna learn a language to only stay somewhere for 2 weeks?

Post: #36

(10-11-2010 12:30 AM)Brandon E Wrote:  

(10-10-2010 03:15 PM)Badstuber Wrote:  What about Portuguese instead of SPanish?

Portuguese is worthless unless you are in Brazil. I would highly suggest going to Brazil, and if you stay for a long period of time, definitely learn. Otherwise, you'll rarely ever use Portuguese again unless you are living in a US town with a high density of Brazilians. I haven't even met any yet here in Miami excet 2 staying in my hostel. I'm sure there are plenty around, or so I hear. If you go to Brazil, knowing Portguese is huge. Outside of Sao Paulo and Rio, people don't know much english, and even SP and Rio it isn't all that common. But who's gonna learn a language to only stay somewhere for 2 weeks?

That's true.
More countries speak Spanish.
I live in Europe, so I hear even less Portuguese.

Too bad Brazilians don't speak Spanish, I fear people there don't understand English at all.

Post: #37

(10-11-2010 01:02 AM)Badstuber Wrote:  

(10-11-2010 12:30 AM)Brandon E Wrote:  

(10-10-2010 03:15 PM)Badstuber Wrote:  What about Portuguese instead of SPanish?

Portuguese is worthless unless you are in Brazil. I would highly suggest going to Brazil, and if you stay for a long period of time, definitely learn. Otherwise, you'll rarely ever use Portuguese again unless you are living in a US town with a high density of Brazilians. I haven't even met any yet here in Miami excet 2 staying in my hostel. I'm sure there are plenty around, or so I hear. If you go to Brazil, knowing Portguese is huge. Outside of Sao Paulo and Rio, people don't know much english, and even SP and Rio it isn't all that common. But who's gonna learn a language to only stay somewhere for 2 weeks?

That's true.
More countries speak Spanish.
I live in Europe, so I hear even less Portuguese.

Too bad Brazilians don't speak Spanish, I fear people there don't understand English at all.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like people don't speak English at all in Brazil, it's just you'll have a lot more options and a better time if you speak Portuguese. That doesn't mean you won't still have a blast only speaking English. The first 2 months I was there I didn't speak much at all and still had a great time. I'd have to say it was much funner though once I learned some decent Portuguese.

Post: #38

Sick post! I'm guessing you're back in London by now. Do you have any memorable photos/stories. Did you travel East-->West or West-->East?

Post: #39

By the way. Live Mocha is another good language learning resource. I've started a pretty solid friend base in SA/Europe from that site alone.

livemocha.com

Post: #40

(10-11-2010 03:14 PM)feomuerto Wrote:  Sick post! I'm guessing you're back in London by now. Do you have any memorable photos/stories. Did you travel East-->West or West-->East?

E to w and, yeah, too many stories to tell

Actually i let my flight home expire

Just got back to philippines

1 year and 3 months into this trip so far

Post: #41

Wanted to bump this thread. I'm thinking of doing this one year round-the-world trip similar to what Lumiere is doing.

Has anybody else done this? I know Lumiere says that OneWorld is the best, but does anybody else have experience with this company or any other?[/align]

http://wikitravel.org/en/Round_the_world_flights

Post: #42

(03-01-2011 06:41 PM)gringoed Wrote:  Wanted to bump this thread. I'm thinking of doing this one year round-the-world trip similar to what Lumiere is doing.

Has anybody else done this? I know Lumiere says that OneWorld is the best, but does anybody else have experience with this company or any other?[/align]

http://wikitravel.org/en/Round_the_world_flights

Lots of experienced travelers suggest buying tickets as you go. Gives you a lot more flexibility to change/modify your travel plans. You can generally buy cheap last minute tickets from local airlines.

Post: #43

(03-01-2011 07:57 PM)emh Wrote:  Lots of experienced travelers suggest buying tickets as you go. Gives you a lot more flexibility to change/modify your travel plans. You can generally buy cheap last minute tickets from local airlines.

Not really possible to get more flexibility that one world.

All date changes are free once you set your route and take your first flight so you basically just stack all of your flights up at the end of the year and then bring the date of your flight forward when you are ready to leave for your next leg.

You can also change the entire route of your round the world ticket even whilst on the trip for a small fee.

Post: #44

I've used that same ticket, it was good as you get a lot of connections and as Lumiere says it's very flexible. This was a few years ago but I'm sure I paid way less than what you quoted, closer to £1200, at the price you quoted I'm not sure if I'd do it.

I'm in Colombia at the moment, it was about £550 return from London, it's not expensive to fly within Colombia or to visit some of the surrounding countries and I could do this almost five times for the price of the rtw ticket without being locked into an itinerary or having to keep heading in one direction.

Post: #45

The rtw ticket was $4,000 US not pounds. Also is does not make sense to put internal flights on a rtw ticket as you waste one of your 16 segments that you could have used on an international flight.

I made all of my legs on the rtw ticket international direct flights only and then just bought domestic flights when I arrived in the country if I needed them.

Post: #46

Damn Lumiere you are my hero. How much longer do you plan on doing this? I looked at it before and I understand that you have to take it in one direction, you cannot backtrack.

What do you reckon was the amount you spent or had saved for this journey?

Post: #47

US$ 4k for the rtw ticket

Have been on this trip since Aug 2009 and spend on average about $1k pm to live comfortably so about $22k spread over 18 months

Post: #48

(03-03-2011 01:55 AM)Lumiere Wrote:  US$ 4k for the rtw ticket

Have been on this trip since Aug 2009 and spend on average about $1k pm to live comfortably so about $22k spread over 18 months

Interesting. Lumiere, do you mind me asking how you keep your monthly expenditure so low? Do you travel exclusively to cheap places (e.g. most of SE Asia)? Or do you mostly visit friends and family, do couchsurfing and so on?

To people who were asking:
The RTW ticket is definitely good value compared to thye cost of buying 16 individual flights. Especially the Business and First class fares if you are in that market and enjoy the good life. Also, the price of the ticket is a lot lower outside the US and Canada. So maybe you could look to fly on a cheap flight to SA and then start your RTW trip there.

Post: #49

(03-02-2011 08:48 PM)Lumiere Wrote:  The rtw ticket was $4,000 US not pounds. Also is does not make sense to put internal flights on a rtw ticket as you waste one of your 16 segments that you could have used on an international flight.

I made all of my legs on the rtw ticket international direct flights only and then just bought domestic flights when I arrived in the country if I needed them.

Yes I understood, I'm from the UK and paid around £1200 for mine, although I have to admit my memory is a little hazy about the exact figure.

For £2500 I could buy close to 5 long haul return flights to the UK and do some buses or cheap internal flight to explore those regions.

Then I wouldn't be locked into any time frame or to keep going in one direction. This is why I'm not sure if the ticket is such great value at that price.

I also remember when I booked my ticket there were sub £1000 rtw tickets (around 2005) mine was more expensive as I did some zigging and zagging - flew to Argentina then straight up to Canada afterwards so a lot of miles in that journey without moving many miles east.

One other thing I didn't actually use that many of my legs, I preferred to stay in one place and get settled in, three months in Argentina, three months skiing in Whistler so the ticket was actually a little bit of an overkill for me.

Post: #50

I'm flirting with that idea too. From Toronto, a RTW ticket in economy is about 5K including taxes while business is about 10k and first class is about 12-14k. In comparaison, a single return YYZ-BKK first class is around 10-12k. One question tough to you lumiere: I talked to a few travel agents here and none would confirm to me the no fees for changing dates/itenaries. Wondering how did you get that very important thing added to your ticket? Did you pay more for that service?

(03-01-2011 06:41 PM)gringoed Wrote:  Wanted to bump this thread. I'm thinking of doing this one year round-the-world trip similar to what Lumiere is doing.

Has anybody else done this? I know Lumiere says that OneWorld is the best, but does anybody else have experience with this company or any other?[/align]

http://wikitravel.org/en/Round_the_world_flights