IraHayes wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2023 9:53 pm A simple inflation calculator sheds a little more light on this thread.

1962: $5 --> 2023: $50.51

You could pop onto one of the many Facebook backpacking groups and ask if $50 per day is a reasonable amount to travel on if you were on a tight budget.

I did last year the trip Belgium to Phnom Penh on 100 dollar a day. Including petrol for my car, insurances, visas and flight from Mumbai to PP and back to KL.
Surprisingly the most expenisve month was the month my car was swimming from Mumbai to KL ans i was waiting for it in Phnom Penh (i didnt sleep in backpacker-shared rooms or didnt drink 50c beers ofcourse). I did share room, but not with backpackers !! Specially Iran and Pakistan were "dirt"-cheap !!

Honestly these cryptic messages are fine if you are a crossword afficionado.

I'm not and I still don't understand the message.

My first trip as a 19year old was Rome-Dhaka-BKK (with stopover in Dhaka) with Bangladesh Airlines, one way."ALL SMOKERS" flight.

Bangladesh was a complete culture shock and heavy floods had hit most of the country. Traffic in Dhaka was insane. I had the worst shits EVER and a room with aircon but no power. 2 weeks after I was done and left for Thailand.

When my Thai VOA expired I travelled to Penang which was a hub for booking cheap airfares in the 90's. There were loads of travel agents along Julia Road and I was lucky to buy an OPEN ticket (UTA airline) around the world for peanuts.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:32 pm

1975, Phuket Richard might like this. Looks fantastic.

I love stuff like this, its what got me into long distance trucking. Short period in my life but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:23 pm

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2023 9:38 am when i fiRst started travelling, there was no internet, no google, no google maps,

Those things didn't exist when I started traveling a couple of decades later. Some friends gave me a Lonely Planet and a Rough Guide when I went to India/ Nepal in 1996. They were too heavy so I just tore out the pages I wanted and threw the rest away.

I would just borrow a copy of LP from one of the many people who had one on a couple of rare occasions when I wanted to quickly find a new guesthouse. I also always had a nice map that would fold out as big as the bed and choose where to go based on the proximity to where I was.

The beauty of that was that most everything was a surprise once you arrived. I think that's what's lost now when people have too much information and plan everything in advance. I still like to like to have the minimum amount of info about where I'm going, just the name of the place and a couple of good hotel recommendations. Everything else falls into place.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:32 pm

1975, Phuket Richard might like this. Looks fantastic.

Very nice to see this one. You would be surprised how many things hardly changed in almost 50 years if you think away better and more roads and cars. Time stould sill along this road if you cross the Bosoporus-bridge in Istanbul. Unfortanely last year i couldnt get a Visa for Afghanistan, and went straight from Iran into Pakistan. This year AFG is open for travel, and straingly, these guys didnt use the south-road but the north-one which is much worse. Its is still like that, last month an Austrian-pakistani took the same road on a motobike, look on Youtube for "adventirous archie", only difference is the Selang-pass where the russians build a tunnel inn the early 80s. When he says that most people are different after the 3 months on the road then when they started, i can confirm, thats not urban-legend. Such a trip makes you think a lot and changes your mind !!

seen that an have seen lots others as well>
We ( those who managed to do the trail before Afghanistan closed its borders and the Revolution in Iran in 79 )
have some fond memories

good fb group with lots of us old guys posting
https://www.facebook.com/groups/5214656 ... 9691238317

things have changed Enormously in the past 48 years since i first ventured to Asia and SE asia

there some great books out there from people that were traveling, smuggling an enjoying life in the 60-70's
these are a few i've read

Gotta love threads like this dealing with travel being an adventure because of the uncertainties and unknowns. Guidebooks and talking to people, great. Mine started in the UK with the Bit Book and one memorable conversation with someone who’d been there and raved about Quetta. Quetta in 76 was a great place. Few travellers, friendly people, great hash shops. After that trip, which took about a year and never went beyond Indian sub-continent, didn’t need any book, all just fell into place.

Contrast this freedom and excitement with another thread recently about someone who’d damaged their spine falling over and needed financial help getting home. Several comments along the lines of if you can’t afford the insurance, you shouldn’t travel. To me that’s a sad attitude. Travel only first class and cocooned in money. Really! Yes, bad things can happen, but what are you going to do? Stay home in case a drunk driver runs you over???

Life can be safe and very boring. Or…… OK, that's my tuppence worth.

PS Someone said the Salang tunnel was built in the 80s. Not so, well before, I went through it in the 70s.