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I was 26 years old when I traveled extensively in 2000.
I had $48,000 savings. I kept $5000 available and put everything else in quarterly term deposits at about 8.5% (from memory, I think that's correct).
I moved my sister into my apartment so I had it waiting for me when I got back. I paid her first two months rent as a thank-you and thankfully, she honored the agreement. I really LOVED that apartment. Some of the best memories of my life was spent there.
I'm unsure how much I spent to travel, but most of it was covered by the term deposit interest payments. I generally spent nothing, but I did lose a year of regular income but it was well worth it.
Be mindful I was mostly traveling in 3rd world countries which made it cheaper.
>If you were me where would you go
That depends on what you're interested in.
When I was 26, I wanted to see the remote communities of Tibet before the Chinese railway was complete.
I believed this was my last chance to see history before it was gone forever - places were tiny communities still practiced the white scorpion religion of Bon and had never seen a White man.
I wanted to stay in the main Buddhist temples in Tibet and study with the monks.
I wanted to see and stay in the Ganden and Drepung Monastery in and near Lhasa.
I wanted to see Everest from both the Tibetan and Nepalese sides and climb it at least half way up.
I wanted to see just how filthy New Delhi was and visit the Taj Mahal and participate in the Kumbh Mela (largest religion gathering in human history).
I wanted to stay in the Jain monasteries in New Delhi and see the burning ghats of Varanasi.
I wanted to climb Everest to see how far I could make it before I started bleeding from my lungs and brain (HAPE / HACE).
I wanted to live in Tokyo long enough so it felt like home. 'Also wanted to climb Mt. Fuji.
I wanted to stay in the Muslim districts of New Delhi to confirm how disgusting moslems are.
I wanted to live in Paris long enough so it felt like home, so I knew the people and the streets.
I wanted to see Rome, the Vatican, Italy.
I REALLY wanted to pay my respects to Germany, especially Berlin and pretend it was 1937.
I wanted to live in London and slowly work my way up to Wales and then Edinburgh and Glasgow, spending weeks exploring the highlands on foot and camping.
Walking between cities and countries was painful, especially with injuries, but I have no words to express how it changed me.
Sleeping in train stations. Broken toes, cracked ribs and blisters 1/10th of an inch thick from hiking and mountain climbing. Not being able to recognize myself in the mirror because I lost so much weight.
A large part of what motivated me is I wanted more of a connection to the world: I wanted to see pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Elysees, the Louvre, the Colosseum in Rome, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, Tokyo central and mount Fuji... and know the streets behind those photos and the locals who lived there by name and as drinking buddies.
I wanted to see those photos and feel the same sensation of driving past the house where I was born or my first apartment. Like those places were part of me.
So I did.
It was magnificent.
(I should have said more about Nepal because that was awesome too! Switzerland and Liechtenstein are beautiful too. And the Milford Track in New Zealand is a spectacular and hilariously safe and relatively short fun experience.)
But I have no idea what you need to experience.
Back in 2000, crossing the Nepalese border into Tibet on foot required being totally searched by the CCP, having all books and religious items confiscated and walking through forestland with their guns targeting you... and after that there's the small item of bribing $500 USD with Maoist rebels in exchange for their "protection": they literally give a receipt in case you get abducted by Maoists so you can show you've already been extorted so they won't steal all your possessions.
The Maoists were regularly blowing up bridges and train tracks when I was backpacking through Tibet.
A pack of about 100 wild dogs break into my hostel in New Delhi, make their way up the stairs and attack about 50 people in the kitchen and common area (internet and TV) one night when I was in Agra.
When I returned, almost everyone had checked out because they were terrified the pack would return the next night.
I didn't care because I was barely there. I had one of the few lockable tiny rooms to myself that I used just for sleeping and storing clothing and food for breakfast.
I did have a pack of 50 wild dogs follow me a few times on my nightly walks around Kathmandu. That was unsettling, especially because almost all of Kathmandu streets falls into pitch darkness because they don't have power for the lights after 8pm. The wild dogs mostly kept their distance. I would not take a child into that environment.
But the thought of participating? No desire! Terrifying! lol
Have you thought about writing your adventures down?