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The wife pointed out today, I missed out on this rite of passage as I joined up straight after school, so my idea of carrying a Bergen around some far flung dusty shit tip, is somewhat different to hers..
In order to rectify this, she wants to go backpacking for a couple of weeks next year.
So, where should we go, or see?
GR20?
Full loop of torres del paine. Although not sure if by backpacking you mean trekking somewhere exotic or the club 18-30 style beer, beaches, hostel living and bumming about of the classic student packpacking in australia.
GR20 on my list. Plus the interesting chunks of the GR5.
And GR10 as well.
Somewhere very north. Mainland Canada south of Baffin Island appeals. Slightly less drastic, Norway.
Norway
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GR11
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Although not sure if by backpacking you mean trekking somewhere exotic or the club 18-30 style beer, beaches, hostel living and bumming about of the classic student packpacking in australia.
Keen to get ideas on both... 😆
Has to be Europe, depending on priorities warm in Spain or Off the beaten track in east(ern) europe.
GR11
High fives the Ordesa Canyon photo 😀
And with that, I'm voting for https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute_Randonnée_Pyrénéenne
Agree with GR20. My slightly left field suggestion would be Iceland and my totally not what you asked suggestion would be canoe touring in Sweden
Depends on your comfort level with "different" cultures.
If you're adventurous - Iran, two friends went there a couple of years ago and had an amazing time.
If you're semi-adventurous, Mexico, Guatemala & Honduras. It might have got a bit more hairy since I was there 13 years ago but I had a brilliant time travelling around on the chicken buses and staying in low-rent hotels.
If you're not at all adventurous (or just fancy an easy life) - New Zealand, it's well worth a visit but you need to go for longer than two weeks to see it all.
GR20 was very busy in comparison to the mare a mare nord
Slovenia
As others say, it depends. What do you like, 'culture' or natural beauty? Both? Two weeks is quite a short time for any serious stuff but I'd be tempted to look at somewhere out of my comfort zone with lots of different scenery and wildlife, and hopefully other backpackers vibeing it up at base camps along the way.
I'd love to be able to do the Pacific Northwest Trail
That and a few others mentioned here:
[url] http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/hiking/best-trails-andrew-skurka-long.html [/url]
Appalachian Trail - Maine to Georgia!
[url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail ]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail[/url]
[url= http://www.appalachiantrail.org/ ]http://www.appalachiantrail.org/[/url]
Bookmarking.
I missed out on this rite of passage as I joined up straight after school, so my idea of carrying a Bergen around some far flung dusty shit tip, is somewhat different to hers..
Check for comparison but getting a dose of the shits in the middle of nowhere while been shouted at by locals and coming back trying to convince yourself and all your mates it was amazing??
You can get a 6 month holiday visa for Oz but if you are over 30 no work and prices will make it expensive for visitors at the moment.
There are lots of guided tours available these days, friend just did Vietnam by bike (lots of support and guides etc.)
How long do you have?
how about the camino de santiago? apparently the cheapest holiday you can take in europe.
there is a film - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441912/
Anywhere in Ireland.
Cheap flight to Dublin, couple of nights in a decent hostel (Oliver St John Gogarty in Temple Bar was fun), see the sights.
🙂
Dublin bus station is staffed by nice people.
They told us Cork was nice. And they had two places to fill on the next bus.
Cork was great.
😀
As was Dingle.
Going back next year.
The GR 20 on Corsica , the GR 5 from Geneva to Nice and the Pyrenees Haute route are all fantastic mountain treks.
In Spain the Picos de Europa offers a great mix of high mountain and low level trekking.
For a flattish low long distance route - The Romantic Road in Germany from Wurzburg to Fussen (Austrian Border) is good.
For a more chilled trip go Island hopping in Croatia.
The GR10 France, GR11 Spain and HRP are hard work if you walk most days for two weeks (I mixed them up sometimes following the GRs and sometimes going from summit to summit). Even in my twenties a week of up and down left me with aches and pains.
Two weeks is enough for Irun to Santander (or beyond) on the Compostelle route. A proper holiday with beaches, culture, spectacular views, spirituality, and people from are variety of nations to walk with.
You could do with finding out if she means travelling independently round some exotic or culturally different location or a long overnight hiking route. Very different!
2 weeks isn't long but there are some amazing multiday hikes in the USA and Canada which are very well signed and offer big landscapes or big mountains. The Pacific Crest and Appalachian are well known but every National Park and most National Forests will have something. Into the Grand Canyon for 6 nights? Other canyonlands in Utah and Arizona, High Sierras in California are all very easy to organise yourself. I friend did bits of the High Sierra Trail for 6 days and didn't see anther person for 2 days in the middle. Versus friends who did the camino de Compostela de Santiago where you see pretty much the same people at the hostels each night. Depends if you are social or not which one you will enjoy!
Whereas cheap and cheerful backpacking, if you have never left Europe, I would highly recommend. South America (Peru / Ecuador particularly) for very cheap transport, accommodation and food. Adding in Patagonia or Brazil gets more expensive (mostly transport) and would need more than 2 weeks. Costa Rica is very well organised in terms of public transport, because they've had lots of subsidy, but it is very Americanised in particular the beach resorts. I love South Africa and East Africa. To really get the best of it, you have to pay for some bits like safari (though you can self drive in SA) but you can do a lot with public transport and hostelling. The classic south east Asia trail can be a bit 18-30's or family oriented beach resorts with not much in between. However, if you head slightly off the beaten trail you could have a really interesting experience (possibly Laos / Cambodia although they too have become popular; islands away from Bali in Indonesia; Phillipines for scuba diving). The classic (for people 20+ rather than pre-Uni teens) is to head to Australia and hire a campervan. We did Melbourne to Brisbane in 2 weeks because of cheap flights - I would recommend Melbourne to Sydney or Adelaide to Melbourne over 2 weeks. If you want more ideas, can read lots on line these days from Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and Brandt and Fodors and use the Lonely Planet forum Thorntree. Personally if I had never done anything like that but only had 2 weeks, for cost I would go for south-east Asia (Indonesia probably) and for experience I would go for Africa (either Uganda/Rwanda to see the chimpanzees and gorillas if you can afford it, or the Western Cape because it is really easy to do and has so much outdoorsy stuff to offer as well as the human history).
Sorry to interrupt but what are GRThis That & the Other?
Pennine Way
Sorry to interrupt but what are GRThis That & the Other?
European long distance walking routes.
Also available in cycle touring flavour.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_long-distance_paths
possibly another shout for Norway, using the very efficient (apparently) hut system.
GR = Grande Randonnee Big walk!
They criss cross France and beyond!!
Cheers all, lots to think on.
Big shout for the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island.
Two weeks is pretty much the perfect time to travel there, do the trail at a leisurely pace and then take in some local flavour at Tofino or even head back to Vancouver prior to your flight.
Some bureaucracy involved (permits etc.) and the itinerary is a wee bit complicated, but we had a great time (finishing up with a privately chartered seaplane flight from the end of the trail to Tofino was the icing on the cake 8) )
Looks like it could be Cambodia, Vietnam etc...
Gonna try for longer than 2 weeks too.
All depends on the wife's job...
Flights will easily take 3 days out of the 2 weeks, makes it all feel rushed.