Every person likes to travel the world, see far flung exotic places, travel to awesome beaches, see world attractions, experience world class cities.. Everyone dreams of traveling the world. So how do you try and make sure you achieve your dream ..
One set of argument has been Travel Abroad , Travel Young - A set of arguments which portray to travel abroad as much as possible when you are young ( Gap Travel, Backpack after college etc) ( young for me someone below 30 :) ) . But not many are so lucky/rich to do that.
Other set of argument has been Make your career , money and then travel the world when you are old .- set of arguments which focuses on making your professional ambitions come true.. make as much money as possible and then retire with a round the world trip with your loved one ... Sounds fantastic . Only glitch - We don't know what our future holds.. we may not have energy , time etc .
A third set of argument has been - Become a management consultant / business executive and jet set on client's/company expense ( Live the Clooney life like in 'Up in the Air') Most possible choice of all three - if you want to do world travel . Unfortunately there can only be few management consultants/business executives in this world and you got to absolute good to make the initial cut of joining the firm/inner club and then second cut of surviving it ( not to mention forget about your personal life ) . Now as much as it sounds glamorous and awesome, its still business travel and most of your time is really spent working on client/official meetings at work and back at hotel and you actually hardly travel the country ( you do get the opportunity though) , but yes on flip side you are the best user and expert on Airports lounges and Hotel suites and star wood points on this planet.. Again great if you want to see Lima Airport , not so great if you want to chill of at Machu Pichu for a week. All said and done, one of the most possible ways to do it .. Now if you want leisure trip with your loved one/kids .. then it becomes a tough one..
A fourth set of argument is RTW . take a 6 month off and finish a region/list of countries and be back . Its not impossible but you need to be in right conditions/country/lifestyle/ disposable income/professional situation to do this . Requires great planning to pull this off..
So how does an average person travel the world keeping his job/life and yet savor his vacation time to experience new countries every year with his current energy levels. .. In my opinion , its difficult but not impossible and definitely needs some discipline and mindset to do it and living in below mentioned places gives you good advantage to begin thinking of it.
I am not world traveler yet ( not even close) but i met some world travelers and this post has been some of my experiences and my impressions by conversing with other fellow travelers.
For me the three important things required for regular intl travel are
1. Time : You need time and energy to travel the place . Be it long weekend to do a one city or 2-3 weeks to do one country .. Different travelers use different timelines to travel each place. So one may take 3 weeks to do entire Western Europe ( just exploring couple of major capitals) or use the same 3 weeks to do just Spain and France .. But in the end you still need those days off to travel . Critical parameter to even consider traveling abroad.
2. Cost : Again obvious and very important . Living in India and planning to do East Asia trip is very challenging . Possible but not effective and its costly . Cost/Economy/PPP is why some nationalities do just better than others .
3. Resources: Quite important and quite underrated parameter which affects 1 and 2 .. Explains why some travelers from some countries do just so much better than most .
Resources is defined as gamut of entire activities/things you need to do smoother and easy travel . This means easy access to intl airports which has great affordable connections to destinations you want to travel . Easy access to visa/passport services. Not many realize there is extra cost and time people end up paying just to get the visa . Living in capital city and applying for visa at the destination country embassy makes a hell lot of difference than living 500 kms away and taking a day off at work and to go to embassy / pay 100 euros to apply the visa.
It also means great logistical capability to move around smoothly. Small things matter in travel when you want to do backpack traveling . Resources also means that you get tools/laws to faciliate parameter 1 and 2. Europeans ( ok not all but major western European and Scandinavian nations) are paid extra month's salary as money for Christmas as vacation bonus . Now i call them great extra resources enabling you to do better travel. Imagine you are getting paid one month extra to travel ( This mindset changes things)
Location also matters and i consider great location as great resource to use .
You need all 3 parameters to work fully in your favor to enable world travel. Anything less in any one of them makes it that difficult ..This is why i always felt in my opinion Americans have not been great world travelers as compared to Western Europeans because i believe they fare poorly in frames of time . An average American gets 2-3 weeks of vacation compared to 5 weeks in Scandinavia and Switzerland/Austria . That extra 3 week are enough to knock off couple of destinations every year :) and still spend vacation with family/friends .. Location of Americans also falters them to enable far flung regular world travelers unlike Europeans who in few hours are in new country/region.
As an example : If you are living in US and you decided to travel to Machu Pichu, Peru .. Sure living in Manhattan, NY makes it awesome. hop on from JFK and Viola you are in Lima :) and days later you are staring at the wonder..but how about living in Manhattan, Kansas. You spend extra money , time just to get to O Hare or JFK to fly , added to if you decided to fly from local airport , flight ticket become so expensive that you start to think , is it really worth it? .. And if you are of nationality who needs Visa to enter Peru , then good luck :) ( for example an Indian in Kansas, there is no way he is going to Chicago, DC or NY to apply for visa and then fly there again just so he can get to Peru, He will use that money and chill in Vegas or Lake Tahoe :p)
Its the resources part and balance in all 3 parameters which makes people from Western Europe and Australia travel more of the world Australia is a different case and needs some additional explaining but they do just brilliant in all 3 parameters
Another interesting parallel i noticed was .. Many people from countries which are high on Qualitty of Life index do absolutely well in world travel . Again it reflects on above basis parameters - They get good vacations, get good money as disposable income( PPP wise) and are in great location of networked society which enables visa free travels, access to world class airports and variety of airlines from low cost to high end to enable varied experience of world travel .. Now i am beginning to understand why are actually ranked best cities/countries to live in :)
Hence in my opinion , i realized that if you pick to live sometime in anyone of those countries as a resident ( even if that is temporary) it increases your probability of traveling the entire continent/region much higher . I know it sounds obvious , but in my opinion there is slightly finer element as well as not all places in these countries/regions are same. ( living in UK is not exactly same as Living in London in this case)
According to me ,basing yourself in following cities greatly enhances your ability to travel in easier manner .
Europe
1. Zurich/ Geneva/ Munich - Any of these 3 cities and you have yourself traveling to 50+ countries within reach . For all non Europeans who need visa, you have more than 100 countries consulates which processes visas in days . Airports are world class with great variety to choose from Ryan Air/Easy jet and other national carriers to fly to intercontinental destinations like South America and Middle East at decent prices . Living in these 3 cities also allow you lap a great quality of life ( read 5 weeks of vacation , 13-14 month salary , smart individuals who have great travel experiences to motivate you , Culture which thrives on taking leisure vacation to be productive workers) All perfect factors to do more traveling This is as good as it gets to travel :) .
2. London : Behind them London is another great location to live in and travel . Potential 100 countries can be done if you base yourself properly . Possessing the same qualities as above , It does extremely well on Cost and Resource factors, where i see as only drawback is the time element of it . Londoners don't get same amount of vacation days when compared to Swiss/Germans and with hectic sort of life London thrives in this can be become detriment to do every year travels .. However still very much possible to do many countries ..
Other European cities which deserve a mention are Copenhagen and Stockholm ..they do good job doing European travels ,but if its intercontinental travel, high airline prices and travel connections due to lack of great connections ( compared to London and Munich) could become a detriment . Nevertheless, if you want to cover all 27 Euro zone nations, they will serve the purpose. If you are in good disposable income category , you have good chance to cover most parts of world as well :)
For those who don't get lucky to live in the above cities , their best bet would be to live in centralized locations/ locations closer to top airports . Austria, Holland and Germany (Cologne/Frankfurt area) also helps as you have great connections to go around . Only challenge comes in getting Visas . However for Schengen its not a problem and these countries still pack the punch . The only reason i was able to cover all Schengen Countries .
Living in anyone of these places and you are in great position to visit 30 -50+ countries if you plan well ..
Asia Pacific and Oceania
Europe has a great advantage of top infrastructure/ schengen agreement allowing visa free travel to countries/ central geographical location and area of each country and hence its much easier .. Asia on other hand is a beast. Most countries have poor infrastructure. Asia lacks good connections at affordable prices. Visas are required for most places and hence traveling entire region becomes challenging .
However on flip side , if you manage to live in these places , there is a good chance for you do most of Asia nicely .
1. Singapore : Hub of South East Asia . Changi Airport , Tiger Airlines/Air Asia, not to mention plethora of airlines connecting Australia, South Africa, NZ, Middle East , Japan and North China from one place , makes Singapore top dog in the region . if you are backpacker who wants to explore south east Asia and east Asia . Singapore is just the best thing for you . With its high quality of life allowing you to lead a good lifestyle, Singapore allows you perfect getaways to the entire region.
2 Sydney : Basing yourself at Sydney , you have a perfect opportunity to hit both Pacific Islands and Major Asian cities . What makes Sydney great as well is high quality of Australian lifestyle and attitude of the city and country allowing you greater freedom to pursue great travel getaways around Australia and Asia .
3 Hong Kong : I would have listed HK as no 1 if it had gotten itself couple of budget airlines ( I am big sucker of Budget airlines and budget travel) and i believe HK doesn't do that well as SG in terms of budget airline connectivity . hence traveling to places like Thailand gets slightly cumbersome when compared to SG . However only slightly cumbersome :). Overall Living in HK will give you a great shot to do China and East Asia very well . If you have plans to do Siberia/ North Korea and Japan . HK might be your best bet . Although as economy and lifestyle changes taking place in Asia . Shanghai is fast becoming a threat to HK in terms of city to live in and get around . I predict Shanghai will become like Singapore by next decade as the city to be based if you want to cover all Asia .
Americas
One of the toughest challenge is to cover South and North America . Vastly Huge , they are real tough places to cover in its entirety . I have clubbed South for a reason with North as i am including all nations in Central America as well ..
1. Miami : Yes , In my opinion , If one wants to cover both Americas decently, placing yourself in Miami is a great idea . Not only it has great connections to all of central America and South American cities. With its quality of life , it sets you up nicely to give a shot to visit Caribbean , Central America, Mexico apart from US much better than many cities of US .
2. NY : Hands down best connected Airport in Americas . Add in quality of life and you have set yourself well to give a shot to do Canada, US, Mexico and most American countries. Downside : Travel is far and cost sometimes may not be as cheap as you would think especially if you are considering a getaway to Brazil/Chile/Argentina , still much better than most American cities
3. Chicago and LA : Again the only reason they make it is because of great connectivity to other destinations and that higher disposable income gives you chance to embark .Presence of consulates in LA can be advantage ( i am unsure if many consulates exists in CHI ) . Location of Chicago can be dampener if you are flying down south to Central and South America ..
Atlanta deserves a mention for same qualities of LA and NY but i felt as an Indian ,since visa is required to travel all countries, i am not sure how many consulates are present in the city to get faster resource at less possible time .
Middle East and Africa
Arguably the toughest segment of the group . Its uniquely difficult to do all countries due to its size, political situation, infrastructure, costs and poor connectivity .
I met a guy who has traveled to 70+ countries in the world and half of them were in Africa and the only way he did that was he was based in Africa for good amount time in an NGO group and thus his job allowed him to travel all central and west African nations.. Africa becomes easier suddenly if you are going for work, however , if you are not ,then its super tough ..
Middle east is slightly easier , however political situation can make it challenging . Traveling Iraq, Syria is tough ask . Israel while safe and possessing great tourism infrastructure has different challenges to get in. So is Iran. However that doesn't mean you cannot do it . It just requires more careful planning.
1. Dubai : Living in UAE can be a great first step to do the entire region . Caveat is you better be in expat/near expat work lifestyle which gives you good disposable income to travel around . Good connections and good income and you can definitely travel entire middle east with careful planning .
Dubai in my opinion is a great starting point to do Central Asia . ( i initially thought New Delhi would be great starting point ). It has good connections to Uzbek, Tajik and Turkemenistan .. Bit of planning and effort and you can be in great position to do silk route.
2. Jo'burg/Nairobi /Cairo : Again Africa is a misnomer by many a stretch . However i feel living in these cities can give you a jump start . living in Expat role is definite advantage which would cover the cost and time element . resources is where it will be challenging , however these three cities would enable us to do South /East and North Africa at very least with bit of planning and patience .
I feel living in these cities for sometime ( read 2-5 years ) would allow you to give yourself time and cost to travel the region around it and resources living in places gives you edge to do world travel .
Now for an average traveler, it all sounds obvious that i just listed all major airport cities/alpha cities/ higher income country cities .. but for me these cities place higher edge than their competitors ... There are some places which are historically tougher countries to do . I feel that these living in these cities gives a good opening point than most others .
Happy Traveling folks! :)
One set of argument has been Travel Abroad , Travel Young - A set of arguments which portray to travel abroad as much as possible when you are young ( Gap Travel, Backpack after college etc) ( young for me someone below 30 :) ) . But not many are so lucky/rich to do that.
Other set of argument has been Make your career , money and then travel the world when you are old .- set of arguments which focuses on making your professional ambitions come true.. make as much money as possible and then retire with a round the world trip with your loved one ... Sounds fantastic . Only glitch - We don't know what our future holds.. we may not have energy , time etc .
A third set of argument has been - Become a management consultant / business executive and jet set on client's/company expense ( Live the Clooney life like in 'Up in the Air') Most possible choice of all three - if you want to do world travel . Unfortunately there can only be few management consultants/business executives in this world and you got to absolute good to make the initial cut of joining the firm/inner club and then second cut of surviving it ( not to mention forget about your personal life ) . Now as much as it sounds glamorous and awesome, its still business travel and most of your time is really spent working on client/official meetings at work and back at hotel and you actually hardly travel the country ( you do get the opportunity though) , but yes on flip side you are the best user and expert on Airports lounges and Hotel suites and star wood points on this planet.. Again great if you want to see Lima Airport , not so great if you want to chill of at Machu Pichu for a week. All said and done, one of the most possible ways to do it .. Now if you want leisure trip with your loved one/kids .. then it becomes a tough one..
A fourth set of argument is RTW . take a 6 month off and finish a region/list of countries and be back . Its not impossible but you need to be in right conditions/country/lifestyle/ disposable income/professional situation to do this . Requires great planning to pull this off..
So how does an average person travel the world keeping his job/life and yet savor his vacation time to experience new countries every year with his current energy levels. .. In my opinion , its difficult but not impossible and definitely needs some discipline and mindset to do it and living in below mentioned places gives you good advantage to begin thinking of it.
I am not world traveler yet ( not even close) but i met some world travelers and this post has been some of my experiences and my impressions by conversing with other fellow travelers.
For me the three important things required for regular intl travel are
1. Time : You need time and energy to travel the place . Be it long weekend to do a one city or 2-3 weeks to do one country .. Different travelers use different timelines to travel each place. So one may take 3 weeks to do entire Western Europe ( just exploring couple of major capitals) or use the same 3 weeks to do just Spain and France .. But in the end you still need those days off to travel . Critical parameter to even consider traveling abroad.
2. Cost : Again obvious and very important . Living in India and planning to do East Asia trip is very challenging . Possible but not effective and its costly . Cost/Economy/PPP is why some nationalities do just better than others .
3. Resources: Quite important and quite underrated parameter which affects 1 and 2 .. Explains why some travelers from some countries do just so much better than most .
Resources is defined as gamut of entire activities/things you need to do smoother and easy travel . This means easy access to intl airports which has great affordable connections to destinations you want to travel . Easy access to visa/passport services. Not many realize there is extra cost and time people end up paying just to get the visa . Living in capital city and applying for visa at the destination country embassy makes a hell lot of difference than living 500 kms away and taking a day off at work and to go to embassy / pay 100 euros to apply the visa.
It also means great logistical capability to move around smoothly. Small things matter in travel when you want to do backpack traveling . Resources also means that you get tools/laws to faciliate parameter 1 and 2. Europeans ( ok not all but major western European and Scandinavian nations) are paid extra month's salary as money for Christmas as vacation bonus . Now i call them great extra resources enabling you to do better travel. Imagine you are getting paid one month extra to travel ( This mindset changes things)
Location also matters and i consider great location as great resource to use .
You need all 3 parameters to work fully in your favor to enable world travel. Anything less in any one of them makes it that difficult ..This is why i always felt in my opinion Americans have not been great world travelers as compared to Western Europeans because i believe they fare poorly in frames of time . An average American gets 2-3 weeks of vacation compared to 5 weeks in Scandinavia and Switzerland/Austria . That extra 3 week are enough to knock off couple of destinations every year :) and still spend vacation with family/friends .. Location of Americans also falters them to enable far flung regular world travelers unlike Europeans who in few hours are in new country/region.
As an example : If you are living in US and you decided to travel to Machu Pichu, Peru .. Sure living in Manhattan, NY makes it awesome. hop on from JFK and Viola you are in Lima :) and days later you are staring at the wonder..but how about living in Manhattan, Kansas. You spend extra money , time just to get to O Hare or JFK to fly , added to if you decided to fly from local airport , flight ticket become so expensive that you start to think , is it really worth it? .. And if you are of nationality who needs Visa to enter Peru , then good luck :) ( for example an Indian in Kansas, there is no way he is going to Chicago, DC or NY to apply for visa and then fly there again just so he can get to Peru, He will use that money and chill in Vegas or Lake Tahoe :p)
Its the resources part and balance in all 3 parameters which makes people from Western Europe and Australia travel more of the world Australia is a different case and needs some additional explaining but they do just brilliant in all 3 parameters
Another interesting parallel i noticed was .. Many people from countries which are high on Qualitty of Life index do absolutely well in world travel . Again it reflects on above basis parameters - They get good vacations, get good money as disposable income( PPP wise) and are in great location of networked society which enables visa free travels, access to world class airports and variety of airlines from low cost to high end to enable varied experience of world travel .. Now i am beginning to understand why are actually ranked best cities/countries to live in :)
Hence in my opinion , i realized that if you pick to live sometime in anyone of those countries as a resident ( even if that is temporary) it increases your probability of traveling the entire continent/region much higher . I know it sounds obvious , but in my opinion there is slightly finer element as well as not all places in these countries/regions are same. ( living in UK is not exactly same as Living in London in this case)
According to me ,basing yourself in following cities greatly enhances your ability to travel in easier manner .
Europe
1. Zurich/ Geneva/ Munich - Any of these 3 cities and you have yourself traveling to 50+ countries within reach . For all non Europeans who need visa, you have more than 100 countries consulates which processes visas in days . Airports are world class with great variety to choose from Ryan Air/Easy jet and other national carriers to fly to intercontinental destinations like South America and Middle East at decent prices . Living in these 3 cities also allow you lap a great quality of life ( read 5 weeks of vacation , 13-14 month salary , smart individuals who have great travel experiences to motivate you , Culture which thrives on taking leisure vacation to be productive workers) All perfect factors to do more traveling This is as good as it gets to travel :) .
2. London : Behind them London is another great location to live in and travel . Potential 100 countries can be done if you base yourself properly . Possessing the same qualities as above , It does extremely well on Cost and Resource factors, where i see as only drawback is the time element of it . Londoners don't get same amount of vacation days when compared to Swiss/Germans and with hectic sort of life London thrives in this can be become detriment to do every year travels .. However still very much possible to do many countries ..
Other European cities which deserve a mention are Copenhagen and Stockholm ..they do good job doing European travels ,but if its intercontinental travel, high airline prices and travel connections due to lack of great connections ( compared to London and Munich) could become a detriment . Nevertheless, if you want to cover all 27 Euro zone nations, they will serve the purpose. If you are in good disposable income category , you have good chance to cover most parts of world as well :)
For those who don't get lucky to live in the above cities , their best bet would be to live in centralized locations/ locations closer to top airports . Austria, Holland and Germany (Cologne/Frankfurt area) also helps as you have great connections to go around . Only challenge comes in getting Visas . However for Schengen its not a problem and these countries still pack the punch . The only reason i was able to cover all Schengen Countries .
Living in anyone of these places and you are in great position to visit 30 -50+ countries if you plan well ..
Asia Pacific and Oceania
Europe has a great advantage of top infrastructure/ schengen agreement allowing visa free travel to countries/ central geographical location and area of each country and hence its much easier .. Asia on other hand is a beast. Most countries have poor infrastructure. Asia lacks good connections at affordable prices. Visas are required for most places and hence traveling entire region becomes challenging .
However on flip side , if you manage to live in these places , there is a good chance for you do most of Asia nicely .
1. Singapore : Hub of South East Asia . Changi Airport , Tiger Airlines/Air Asia, not to mention plethora of airlines connecting Australia, South Africa, NZ, Middle East , Japan and North China from one place , makes Singapore top dog in the region . if you are backpacker who wants to explore south east Asia and east Asia . Singapore is just the best thing for you . With its high quality of life allowing you to lead a good lifestyle, Singapore allows you perfect getaways to the entire region.
2 Sydney : Basing yourself at Sydney , you have a perfect opportunity to hit both Pacific Islands and Major Asian cities . What makes Sydney great as well is high quality of Australian lifestyle and attitude of the city and country allowing you greater freedom to pursue great travel getaways around Australia and Asia .
3 Hong Kong : I would have listed HK as no 1 if it had gotten itself couple of budget airlines ( I am big sucker of Budget airlines and budget travel) and i believe HK doesn't do that well as SG in terms of budget airline connectivity . hence traveling to places like Thailand gets slightly cumbersome when compared to SG . However only slightly cumbersome :). Overall Living in HK will give you a great shot to do China and East Asia very well . If you have plans to do Siberia/ North Korea and Japan . HK might be your best bet . Although as economy and lifestyle changes taking place in Asia . Shanghai is fast becoming a threat to HK in terms of city to live in and get around . I predict Shanghai will become like Singapore by next decade as the city to be based if you want to cover all Asia .
Americas
One of the toughest challenge is to cover South and North America . Vastly Huge , they are real tough places to cover in its entirety . I have clubbed South for a reason with North as i am including all nations in Central America as well ..
1. Miami : Yes , In my opinion , If one wants to cover both Americas decently, placing yourself in Miami is a great idea . Not only it has great connections to all of central America and South American cities. With its quality of life , it sets you up nicely to give a shot to visit Caribbean , Central America, Mexico apart from US much better than many cities of US .
2. NY : Hands down best connected Airport in Americas . Add in quality of life and you have set yourself well to give a shot to do Canada, US, Mexico and most American countries. Downside : Travel is far and cost sometimes may not be as cheap as you would think especially if you are considering a getaway to Brazil/Chile/Argentina , still much better than most American cities
3. Chicago and LA : Again the only reason they make it is because of great connectivity to other destinations and that higher disposable income gives you chance to embark .Presence of consulates in LA can be advantage ( i am unsure if many consulates exists in CHI ) . Location of Chicago can be dampener if you are flying down south to Central and South America ..
Atlanta deserves a mention for same qualities of LA and NY but i felt as an Indian ,since visa is required to travel all countries, i am not sure how many consulates are present in the city to get faster resource at less possible time .
Middle East and Africa
Arguably the toughest segment of the group . Its uniquely difficult to do all countries due to its size, political situation, infrastructure, costs and poor connectivity .
I met a guy who has traveled to 70+ countries in the world and half of them were in Africa and the only way he did that was he was based in Africa for good amount time in an NGO group and thus his job allowed him to travel all central and west African nations.. Africa becomes easier suddenly if you are going for work, however , if you are not ,then its super tough ..
Middle east is slightly easier , however political situation can make it challenging . Traveling Iraq, Syria is tough ask . Israel while safe and possessing great tourism infrastructure has different challenges to get in. So is Iran. However that doesn't mean you cannot do it . It just requires more careful planning.
1. Dubai : Living in UAE can be a great first step to do the entire region . Caveat is you better be in expat/near expat work lifestyle which gives you good disposable income to travel around . Good connections and good income and you can definitely travel entire middle east with careful planning .
Dubai in my opinion is a great starting point to do Central Asia . ( i initially thought New Delhi would be great starting point ). It has good connections to Uzbek, Tajik and Turkemenistan .. Bit of planning and effort and you can be in great position to do silk route.
2. Jo'burg/Nairobi /Cairo : Again Africa is a misnomer by many a stretch . However i feel living in these cities can give you a jump start . living in Expat role is definite advantage which would cover the cost and time element . resources is where it will be challenging , however these three cities would enable us to do South /East and North Africa at very least with bit of planning and patience .
I feel living in these cities for sometime ( read 2-5 years ) would allow you to give yourself time and cost to travel the region around it and resources living in places gives you edge to do world travel .
Now for an average traveler, it all sounds obvious that i just listed all major airport cities/alpha cities/ higher income country cities .. but for me these cities place higher edge than their competitors ... There are some places which are historically tougher countries to do . I feel that these living in these cities gives a good opening point than most others .
Happy Traveling folks! :)
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