Around the world?

[Down and Out]

I'm thinking of trying to set out to cross the globe(without personal car or plane) but can't decide if I should leave east west; from Alaska into Asia or north eastern United States into Europe. Than I also cant decide about going north to south say South America across the polar regions than coming up through Australia into Asia? Anyone attempted something of such absurd nature? Anyone attempted passage from out of the United States via cargo freight boats? I am mostly looking at the mandatory water crossings wondering when circumventing the globe how to cross in a cheap and environmentally friendly manner?

 

[ali]

Not sure how easy it'll be a to book a cabin on a freight ship since COVID shook up the maritime industry, but it used to be reasonably easy to do online. You need to book a couple months in advance, get all the vaccinations and visas required for every single port the boat is passing through (even when you cannot disembark), and be prepared to pay much, much more than you would to fly between the same points. But it is a totally awesome experience if you have the money saved up.

You cannot just show up at a port and hop on a freighter the next day. That might have been possible a half century ago, but it is not possible now. The industry is very heavily regulated, by the shipping companies, the unions and customs/coast guard/etc.

Another alternative is trying to find a spot on a private yacht that's doing an ocean crossing. There are lots of websites that try match you with a captain, they're kinda like dating apps. Check out the threads on StP about it. I'm not sure how much luck you'll have finding a longer ride without any sea miles under your belt, but you can try.

My recommendation would be to go east through Europe toward Asia instead of starting in the westerly direction. Main reason because traveling in Europe will be much easier, and it's nice to have a soft start. More people in Europe know English. The culture and food will be more familiar to you. Plus it's densely populated, so you are more likely to meet fellow travelers and/or people who might be able to give you a ride along the way.

Alternatively you could head south first, but that could leave you stranded at the bottom of South America because I think the usual oversea routes start from Panama (going west) or Caribbean (going east). Of course you could go down and come back up, or just suck it up and get a flight because that is going to be way cheaper and easier than taking a boat in almost all situations. It's obnoxious that it's cheaper to travel in an unsustainable way than a sustainable way, but that's the sad reality of the world we live in.

 

[Down and Out]

hmm yeah I was wondering if passage was like that as all I saw was alot of private trips that cargo trip is bundled with... ill probably end up flying out of eastern Canada to Europe.

 

[Down and Out]

best i got in like around 3gs or so for plane tickets.

 

[Down and Out]

Not sure how easy it'll be a to book a cabin on a freight ship since COVID shook up the maritime industry, but it used to be reasonably easy to do online. You need to book a couple months in advance, get all the vaccinations and visas required for every single port the boat is passing through (even when you cannot disembark), and be prepared to pay much, much more than you would to fly between the same points. But it is a totally awesome experience if you have the money saved up.

You cannot just show up at a port and hop on a freighter the next day. That might have been possible a half century ago, but it is not possible now. The industry is very heavily regulated, by the shipping companies, the unions and customs/coast guard/etc.

Another alternative is trying to find a spot on a private yacht that's doing an ocean crossing. There are lots of websites that try match you with a captain, they're kinda like dating apps. Check out the threads on StP about it. I'm not sure how much luck you'll have finding a longer ride without any sea miles under your belt, but you can try.

My recommendation would be to go east through Europe toward Asia instead of starting in the westerly direction. Main reason because traveling in Europe will be much easier, and it's nice to have a soft start. More people in Europe know English. The culture and food will be more familiar to you. Plus it's densely populated, so you are more likely to meet fellow travelers and/or people who might be able to give you a ride along the way.

Alternatively you could head south first, but that could leave you stranded at the bottom of South America because I think the usual oversea routes start from Panama (going west) or Caribbean (going east). Of course you could go down and come back up, or just suck it up and get a flight because that is going to be way cheaper and easier than taking a boat in almost all situations. It's obnoxious that it's cheaper to travel in an unsustainable way than a sustainable way, but that's the sad reality of the world we live in.

hmmm yeah I'm not a picky eater but that makes sense enough also.... Why not save the best for last always been really into Asian culture took Japanese 3 years still study sometimes but mostly Spanish for awhile. I think ill be pretty hard up either way and have to use a translator constantly there's a few to many languages to keep up with. anyways that map up there's the best idea I got so far. Arabic's going to be the biggest doozy i assume getting even a couple words right will be fairly difficult with my western tounge. Bit I'm alright with Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

 

[ali]

If you're looking for cheap flights, it is better to fly between two "hub" cities. For example, should be able to get from NYC to London for under a grand. That does mean your route might end up zig-zagging a bit. That's how i ended up in Panama a year or two back, i had ended up in Miami after traveling across Canada and the US, and a flight to Panama was cheaper than a hotel in Miami, so i just went with it. If you find yourself stuck on the ass end of wherever you are, just make your way back to the hub and fly from there. No need to pay big money for the convenience of flying out from a remote location if you're trying to travel slow and sustainable-ish anyway.

Alternatively you might be very lucky and find a good deal that goes somewhere you didn't expect. E.g. when i was young, it was cheaper to fly to Boston from Amsterdam via Reykjavik than to go through NYC or whatever. Not sure if that's true any more, but if you don't care where end up then you can experiment choosing different source and destination cities. One website that's good for that is Kiwi.com. Just be really careful when you see flights on there, because it will string together all kinds of cheap shit from random airlines that usually cannot book your bags through if you have to transfer, and might lead you to doing mad rush from one airport to another airport in the same metro area. Not recommended for booking a long trip, but it's a good research tool if you want to find out what the budget airlines are in each country and which unusual routes they can take, which might lead you somewhere interesting.

Your route looks great. Classic hippie trail. You might have a bit of trouble with Iran if you are American, but Canadian should be okay. Afghanistan and Myanmar could be tricky depending on how things are going with their domestic politics, but you can figure that stuff out when you get closer.