I'm currently 2 months into a 8-month trip in Europe. I'm in Maribor, Slovenia right now. I've travelled through Mexico, Cuba, USA, SE Asia, India and Nepal since June last year and Slovenia is definitely quite high on the list so I would recommend it if you plan a trip to central Europe. There's much more to the country than just Ljubljana.

I'm catching a train to Zagreb today then spending 10-12 days in Bosnia going from Bihac - Banja Luka - Jajce - Sarajevo - Mostar. Bosnia should be a really, really interesting country so I'm looking forward to it. But the problem is that you have to stay on the main tourist trail (not that it's that widely visited) because there's still over 5 million land mines in Bosnia so you can't really go too far off track. I usually write a blog about the countries I visit so if you want, I could PM it to you in 3 weeks after I visit.

As for Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, I'm going to visit them in July/August so haven't looked much into it yet.

Do you know if it's possible to buy 3g cards in a lot of the poorer countries?

I've been in Panama, traveling, learning Spanish, and playing poker for a little over two months now. I definitely recommend long term traveling to poker players. We have pretty much the best job possible for it. Although it can make it tough to get the hours in grinding.

This sort of info is very country specific. Even if they have 3G, they may have complex rules for tourists.

3g is pretty new even in the USA. (~10 years since inception, not to mention prevalence) Many developing countries will have no such thing. Many will not even have 2G or have crappy 2G coverage. In a lot of African countries, I was paying an average of $6 per HALF hour for Internet connection that was painful to even browse regular web pages.

Agreed. You can probably count on one hand the number of sub-Saharan African countries where playing poker is possible. Certainly South Africa is okay. But I never found a connection elsewhere that it would work on (although I never tried to play).

You can leave the tourist track, just don't go wandering around in places where nobody walks. That's a definite downside, though.

Your trip sounds awesome--please PM your blog. If I were you I would spend two months in the Balkans--imo the most underrated part of the world for backpacking. Beautiful, cheap, safe (in comparison to the Latin America et al), few tourists, easy to get around.

There's actually a really good book about long term independent travel. It outlines the philosophy of it that you guys have been talking about really well, it's:

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

I've only done one 3 month backpacking trip through SE Asia last summer...lately I've been really missing travel though....

One thing you might want to think about is traveling by working abroad. I've been teaching ESL in South Korea for two years. Actually living somewhere for awhile is a great way to interact with the locals and seep in the culture. I'll probably yup around to some other countries too. Teaching English is also probably one of the easiest ways to get work abroad.

There is a decent video of Rolf talking about his book on youtube. I particularly liked the questions from the first guy.

What's the most negative experience you've had abroad?

Awesome thread man. Dont forgot to come and visit New Zealand when you come down under its completely different to Australia landscape wise and you will probably have a better experience as a tourist there then australia I would think (but I am biased).

I did 4 and a half months solo travel by myself last year. Went through mostly continental europe, the furthest east I went was Austria. Also did New York and Boston and the west of Canada. I loved it. Started off doing a tour for a couple of weeks and it was great to meet people from all around the world. However it was expensive, and I met just as good if not better people when I was staying in hostels at various places. It was easy to find someone to do stuff with during the day and plenty of people to party with at night. The great thing was getting the inside information from travelers who have already been to places you are headed for.

I think its prob harder for guys to organize overseas travel with existing friends then chicks as we are just more casual and laid-back, and less organized in general. Im glad I went on my own as it forced me to meet people and interact. I would encourage anyone to make a real effort with people not just fellow travelers but the locals. its so much easier to pull overseas as well.

Im looking forward to doing Asia and South America sometime in the future.

Anyone going to hotspots in Europe be aware that the hostels get full very quick so you may need to book in advance. Otherwise tho what Justice said is right.

Check PM..

I'm in Mostar right now, part of 19 days in Croatia and Bosnia. Flying to Belgium soon for 7 weeks in northern Europe then going from Stockholm to Georgia. From there, will be doing Armenia, Azerbajian, Turkey and as many of the Balkan countries I can fit within 3.5 months before going up to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and then Finland before going home.

ach ja - Mostar's kinda neat, but I liked Croatia more than Bosnia. I seen some of Lithuania and Latvia, but missed out on Estonia, which all the other Baltic travelers claimed was the best of the three. Made it out to Klapeida in Lithuania and the Curonian Spit which was kinda cool. Sand dunes and beach and a border with Kaliningrad . Was actually my first time in the ocean. Not sure if the spit is worth the trip from Vilnius though.

YESSS!!!

haha, I never would've thought I could get so excited about a 2p2 thread

I am craving for something liek this for a couple of months now but I want to make it not only into travel but my lifestyle for a couple years.

I was always a bit afraid and stuff because I really wanna just leave everything behind, sell all my stuff, move out of my appartment etc. And recently this craving was building up more and more and now I find thid thread.

Thank you Justice for starting this conversation and everyone else for contributing.

You guys just gave me all such a big kick in the butt for the first and hardest step: buying the first ticket


edit:
@ach ja: I'm interested in ur blog as well, shoot me a pn

How much clothing for a typical 3 month long trip?

Good to hear Polarop, that is definitely what people should take from this thread, JUST DO IT! The rest isn't that important, you'll figure it out

Anyusername, clothes for a week is good. Do laundry as you go. Everything is up to the individual and the climate where you are going. For SE Asia for example there is no reason to have a heavy jacket or anything more than the equivalent ofo a hoodie/light rain jacket. Remember you can always buy things later. For example, on my last trip I added a fake northface fleece in Nepal for like $6 to go with my jacket

Believe I posted earlier that I use eagle creek packing cubes and swear by them. They keep everything well organized. I pack will will fit in one 2 sided cube (shirts/shorts/pants) and 1/2 cube (socks/underwear). Then a loose hoodie/jacket. That is just how I do it.

I have 2 cargo pants that convert to shorts and board shorts. I wear the converted shorts about everyday. cargo shorts are handy and mine have zipper pockets so are good to prevent pickpockets.