Southeast Asia forum

I think most of us who use Travelfish tend to have very loose plans when we travel. At the same time, it is smart to do your research before you arrive to get a general sense of what there is to do in each country, which things you want to see, and what options there are for getting there, accommodation once you get there, etc. In other words, don't over plan your trip, but definitely have some general ideas of what you want to do once you arrive so you can make the most of the time and money you have.

Agree with all of the above, especially with exacto's comment about doing some research ahead of time, and have a rough itinerary sketched out ahead of time. You can always change it but it's nice to know the general direction of where you think you might be heading and to keep you on track. It would be too easy to wallow away days somewhere which is a bummer when you are working with a restricted time frame (albeit 10 weeks). You also need to keep in mind visa considerations - you have one month essentially to spend in a country.. where do you want to be when the time runs out.

But other than that - keep it as flexible as you can. For me, the excitement is in 'discovering' a place that you really enjoy and just want to linger around for awhile rather than moving on. You get to fine-tune and change your plans along the way as you hit the unexpected.

I concur with all of the above and for me a rough sketching of a route/plan works best.

In general I like to have a rough idea about a route/plan which allows a lot of flexibillity. If I'd completely wing it I could stay in the first village for 8 weeks, which in itself would be fine, but I would somehow regret it afterwards (not having seen more).
Also I prefer to travel by theme (beaches, nature or temples for example) rather than geographical route. A loop always gives me a feeling of constraint having to go from place to place to finish the loop.
Criscrossing across a country may not be very efficient (luckily travel is cheap in this region) but gives me a greater sense of freedom.

The other have given great advice an I'm sure you'll find something of your liking among it.

"This is probably a stupid question but will it be easy to meet people along the way? I plan on going on my own, 25 year old male, but would prefer to tag along with people along the way sometimes too."

Do you mean meet other tourists, or do you mean meet indigenous persons? If you spend your time at tourist hang outs, then meeting other tourists will be easy. If you don't, then it obviously becomes trickier. Personally, I would lone wolf it. Then you can decide what you want to do when you want to do it without considering what others would prefer.

As for meeting indigenous inhabitants, that's VERY easy. Especially if you move into the small provincial cities where young white boys are pretty rare. For them, you are exotic and somewhat wealthy. My son is 23 (he lives here now) and he is a superstar.

Lastly, nobody here talks about it, but if you get out of BKK and don't go south to the tourist spots or to Pattaya, you can actually meet a nice girl and perhaps develop a relationship. I'm not saying you should be trying to do that, but romantic contact is the most basic and intimate form of human behavior. There is no better way to learn about a culture than to develop a romantic relationship with someone. Most people here don't even talk about it. But if you move around in rural Thailand, you're chances of being hit on frequently are about 100%. As I said, I'm not saying that you should do this, but I wouldn't rule it out either. Most normal 25 year olds don't plan to spend a 10 week vacaton celibate.

Well, if you're taking your girlfriend with you, then you won't get very much attention. If you aren't... you will have a severe test of willpower.

If you meet a girl, there goes the 2500 pounds.

Hey ur plan, or lack of plan, sounds like mine!

I think some things you should know before you go are, vaccines, insurance, culture.
-Be aware of what vaccines are recommended, and if you should get them. Hep A+B and Typhoid and recommend i think for anyone wanting to stay that long and eat the local food. Also dont forget about Malaria and Degue fever (sp?), prevention is the best cure. You can get vaccinations in Bangkok, its a 2 or 3 week process, but if you lay low and stick to safe food it can work well (and is a lot cheaper).
-Insurance can be cheap, maybe $150-200 for 10weeks for "basic" cover (hospital only) which is all you need, comprehensive cover is for people with a tight schedule and a lot of pre-booked plane tickets.
-Respect the natives, they are not into shorts (outside of a beach area), so dont be a tool and get around in board shorts 100% of the time Also, get some tips of battering and learn basic words

This is far from comprehensive, but you can learn the rest from this site

Just make sure to read about the place at least.