Europe or America?

[reagen]

Hey, guys and girls!

 

So....

I have never been outside of Asia in my life, and finally this Spring, I will.

I'm planning to backpack all around these places below for some months.

So I have this little cash (Around $4000) I've saved up. But as I've never been to both continent, it is pretty hard for me to estimate how much stuff will cost, and what good would my little amount of cash do me.

Long story short, I want to ask all of you travel veterans if you can get me some input on this? I wonder which route to go to, and which one would be cheaper? And if you guys can tell me about transportations especially in the America route (As I understand it, most of Europe have that wonderful train?), that'll be super awesome.

 

The America Route:

-USA (The Oregon Vortex, Winchester Mystery House)

-Mexico (Zihuatanejo and some ruins)

-Colombia? (Got a friend there)

-Peru (Machu Pichu)

-Bolivia (Salar Del Ulyuni)

-Brazil? (My friend, if we ain't meeting in Colombia, it'll be in Brazil)

-Cayman Island and Cuba for 2 weeks

 

The Europa Route:

-Norway (The Northern Lights)

-Sweden (I got a friend there)

-France (The Tower and The Catacombs)

-Spain (Another Friend)

-Morocco (Casablanca!!)

-Greece (The Islands, and Thermopylae)

-Israel (1 More Friend!)

-Egypt (Pyramids)

 

Tips, suggestions, anything. Would be much appreciated.

Thanks anyway.

[reagen]

After looking at a lot of prices and flights, it seems I'm being too naive on this. (My God, as "Close" as I think places is, flights are damn expensive!!)

Even though, if things goes well I might be able to get an extra $1000 to spend on things for the trip, I don't think I might be able to do much.

Well, cuts are to be made.
At this rate, I wonder if I may at least make it to Cancun, Mexico to go and see the Chichen Itza in Yucatan, spend a day or two around because I heard it is huge. And then go across to Cuba for 10 days, and lastly a few days in the Caymans (I still might have to cross Cayman off). What do you guys think?
Or might I be able to add more South American country? (More Carribean Islands is probably bad....)

[vagabondette]

Yeah, your budget is pretty small for the kind of trip you outlined in your OP.  Here is what I suggest:

 

1 - use skyscanner to find the cheapest flight as that will likely be your single largest expense.  With sky scanner you can put in your departure city/country and choose "everywhere" as your destination and it will provide a list of countries from cheapest to most expensive.  You can decide from there where you want to go. If you are flexible on date, you can choose whole months to search or even the whole year to find the cheapest rate.  Look at one-way tickets as many times you can get cheaper flights.  Whether you end up going to N. America or Europe, just getting on the continent is important and from there it can be relatively inexpensive to get to your final destination.

2 - figure out what "level" you want to travel at.  Do you need 4* hotels?  Are you ok with hostels?  Are you willing to couch surf?  The type of lodging you choose will be your 2nd biggest expense.  Hostels and couchsurfing are both great ways to save money and meet locals and other travelers.

 

N. America Route Suggestion:

Getting to the US will likely be comparably priced to getting to europe.  From there you can fly to DF and on to Cancun.  From either DF or CUN you can get flights to Havana and you could fly from one and back into another (my recommendation). Cuba will cost you $50-100/day. In mexico, you can travel easily on $15-30 depending on how many sights you want to see and how frequently you move.  The slower you move the cheaper it will be.  A typical route through this area would be:  Fly into Mexico City, then to Havana, then to Cancun.  Leave Cancun ASAP and head to Tulum for the beach, ruins and cenotes.  Head to Valladolid via Coba Ruins then on to Merida for a few days (go on a weekend for the festivals).  From Merida head either directly to Palenque or to Oaxaca City and then to Palenque.  From Palenque head to San Cristobal de Las Casas.  Plan to spend about a week there.  Lots of ruins, waterfalls, canyons, villages to see.  From San Cris you can head south to Lago Atitlan in Guatemala.  Hang on the lake for a week or so then head to Tikal or Antigua.  See the ruins, hike on a volcano, etc.  Depending on your time/budget, you can fly from Guate City to the USA then home or you can continue via land to Belize and check out the islands for a bit.  Then enter back into Mexico and head back to Cancun for your flight home.

 

Alternatives:  Keep going south rather than going to Belize or, go to belize, back to cancun, get a cheap flight to Ft. Lauderdale then head to a caribbean island for a bit.

 

NOTE:  Except for in San Cris, Central America is exceedingly hot (40+) from about mid-April to mid-September so plan accordingly.

 

Europe Route Suggestion:

 

Flying within Europe is generally extremely inexpensive so just get somewhere that one of the budget airlines fly and you will be fine.  Europe is significantly more expensive than central america so unless you plan on couchsurfing a lot, your trip will be much shorter.  To stretch your budget, I recommend spending most of your time in Spain and Portugal.  They are the most reasonably priced countries and have some of the nicest hostels for the price.  I especially recommend northern spain if you like places that aren't as touristy.  If you want to go to northern Europe, expect to spend a lot more though Berlin is surprisingly cheap.

 

Anyway, sorry this is so long but I hope it helps.  If you have specific questions, let me know.  I am from the USA but have been living in Southern Mexico for 3.5 years and just got back from 4 months in Europe including 6 weeks in Spain and Portugal so I am happy to make recommendations.