I am leaving late December for a 13mth world trip with the wife going surfing, kiting, snow boarding, diving and soaking up as much culture as possible.
My itinerery is as follows so anyone that knows some must see places and great people to meet (boarding or not) to see on my travels I'd be forever greatfull for any info. Hopefully after next year I will be able to pass on some well experienced knowledge of my own to upcoming travellers.
Jan- Canada (Whistler??) Anyone know some good uncwrowded places?
Feb/Mar - Ecudor - Peru - South Brazil - Uruguay - Santiago(Chile)
Apr/May- Cuba, Bahamas, Carribean
June - Mexico
Jul/Aug - Driving from San Fran throught the guts down to Miami and up to New York.
Sept/Oct/Nov Europe and late Nov in Isreal and Egypt
Dec Asia -Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
Jan Japan
Cheers
Dude what an AMAZING trip.
I am utterly jealous, and will try my best to give you some help.......
Myself (and a good mate Simon-who is also on seabreeze) lived in Bermuda (caribbean) all of last year, and travelled home via. Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico.
Bermuda scores better wind in their winter (Nov-April). NW'ers at longbay are great-flat water, as are southerlys at Elbow beach. Clear water but a wetty needed in winter. The local crew are FANTASTIC-helpful and friendly.
Wind in summer (and HOT weather, but less frequent!) NO SURF AT ALL!!!! and V. Expensive :(
Cabarete. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! local crew are amazing, waves are great, wind is consistent, beers are cheap. Rest of D.R. doesnt hold too much for the board rider and personally Cabarete (and the surrounds) is where its at if you want wind and waves. highly recommended!!!!
Cuba-Its another world altogether.
An AMAZING place with wind and Waves potential, but either cannot be guaranteed.
We scored wind in Varadero (and flat water!!!) and saw surf potential in Trinidad.
Speaking spanish will help lots, as will a healthy ability to handle getting lost (if planning on hiring a car and driving-we did!)
Go just for the people, cigars and rum.
Holbox island-mexico. yucatan pennisula-Ruben lentens fav. place to kite (apparently its on his website)
google it-AWESOME PLACE!!!!!
Oh and Google ARUBA-and Antigua. Awesome for kiting!!!!!!!!
Have heard epic stories of Eygpt in September
Oh and New York-best city in the world!!!!!!!
ENJOY!!!!!!!
Snowboarding in Canada/Vancouver I'd go up to the interior or the Rockies.
Big White, Red, Silver Star, Lake Louise, Panorama just to name a few. Don't get me wrong for 2 hours out of Vancouver Whistler is great, you can hang out with a whole bunch of Aussies and ski on heavy snow, like you never left home really. The snow is better inland.
Colorado Montana and Utah are up there on the must snowboard destinations as well.
Egypt would be great diving in the Red Sea is still rated as the best diving my girlfriend has done (ex instructor taught every where)
I have done a fair bit of travel through Europe, I highly recommend Istanbul, Budapest, Prague all for the culture, things to do etc. If you want to kite, there are lots of awesome islands in the Mediterranean with consistent wind and a great party lifestyle. You can’t go past any of the mountains in Europe also, but one of my favourite ever places is the Caldea Spa in Andorra La Vella, although it is best experienced in the dead of winter with snow all around.
And to add to that, remember to get off the beaten path, out of the capital cities and eat where the locals eat. For instance, if you are driving from Spain to Italy, take the back roads through the Camargue, stop at a seafood restaurant that really looks like a shack, and experience food like nothing else.
I've been to quite a few of those places, and my only comment is your timeframe, particularly with Sth America. You are seriously going to be rushing dude! I spent 9 months in Sth America (+ another 7 in Central America) and felt like I rushed it. My only tip would be to see fewer places in a more relaxed fashion than see heaps but spend alot of your time looking through a bus window.
Just a thought! Other than that, sweet itinerary, I'm exceedingly jealous 
Sounds awesome man, I'm also insanely jelous.
I've been to quite a few of those places aswell, and agree with buckwheat in that some of it is too rushed.
For one month in Asia, 5 coutries is unrealistic. I would keep it down to two, three if you want to move around every day. My favorites were SEA are Laos and Myanmar.
Enjoy man
If you go to Santiago, just one hour to the coast is matanzas, one of the best wave kiting spots in Chile, and you will be in the best time of year too, have fun!!
Japan in January = some of the best skiing in the world.
Google Niseko.
Also, make sure you stop in Vegas for a while on your way to miami.
Looks like a great trip.
You've probably got the low down on most places anyway but my 2 cents:
Ecuador:
Banos is nice and worth a look. Natural heated pools.
If you're going to Quito and staying in hostels I strongly suggest staying at Centro del Mundo. Place is/or at least was rockin. Awesome joint with Rum piss ups every second night compliments of the owners.
Peru:
Mancora for surfing.
Bleeding obvious I know but Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu is a must do. Arrange in Cuzco.
Santiago I was a bit take it or leave it. Heaps of other countries well worth a look up through the Andes but sounds like you'll be pretty busy as it is.
Egypt:
Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula for chillin out. Penguin Club has awesome meals and cheap beer right on the Red Sea. Very windy as well but you can't hire kiting gear without taking lessons. If you have your own there is a lagoon just out of town that will hold probably 4-5 kites. If you windsurf as well you can hire that there. Otherwise kite in the Red Sea, launch is a bit tricky as the beaches are owned by the bigger hotels.
Thailand:
Hill tribes out from Chang Rai.
Full moon party if possible down on the islands.
Vietnam:
Halong Bay.
Street restaurants in Saigon that open at around 5-6pm near the Bin Thanh markets. Ridiculousy cheap and the best food ever.
Europe that time of year is getty pretty bloody cold but Mt. Blanc and Paris are both awesome.
Have a great time. You'll love it all no matter where you end up.
Fozzy
WOW...Cheers for all those responses. You may not realise but a simple small comment can go along way in helping us put together an even better trip!
We totally agree with the concern about having too much in the trip, but the areas are only guides though and we will be dropping some off the list, either way its going to be a busy one! We are thinking of dropping parts of Asia and the Euro stint to give a bit more time in others.
I'm hearing ya when you say 2mths in South America is too short. We are hoping to get a taste of the place and do some dedicated trips to the area in years to come but looks like 2 months is all we have time for this time round.
We want to get of the beaten track as much as possible and really live the trip so thos kinda tips have been great. I suppose places to stay are a biggy,(fozzy cheers for the Ecuador tip, its on the list now!)
Timmm definately getting in contact with you with some Caribbean tips...where to stay and how to go about the whole island thing...is it worth island hoping or is just a few good islands the better idea?
Our main attention is on South America, Caribbean and Mexico.
I'm also really interested in Egypt kiting and diving too, alot of the research I do is all advertising and has been hard to find real experiences of the places.
Matty-did Niseko in Feb this year!! Was awesome, hoping to get Fureano and maybe a few other places this time around, but yes.. I know how insanely good it is!!
Crazy canuk - cheers thats the kinda info I need, Whislter sounds good, but like you said i want to get outa the mainstream areas, especially if its better conditions.
Anyway, I hope i get a few more posts, I'm already wrapped in the response... thanks again.
Counting the days...
Troy
Mate sounds like an awesome trip.
I went to Cali in March this year. Virtually no wind the whole time i was there but got some fun waves near San Diego. Look up a spot called 'Blacks'
From there I went to Vegas.. Wasnt really my thing but still an awesome place to go and just spin out.
Went to Mexico in April. Went to Cancun which is on the yucatan pennisula (as mentioned by Timmm) Regretted not taking a kite with me when i got to this place... It was about 15 - 20kts the whole week i was there. Saw some really nice flat water and small wave locations.
Puerto Escondido should definetly be on your list of places to go. Awesome waves and just a cool little surfing hub. A great place to meet other people who are travelling around central america.
Only had two weeks there due to work comittments back home.
And now sorry to hijack your thread but i thought i might throw my itinerary for next year out there to get some advice.
FEB MARCH Canada - Fernie snowboarding all booked in
APRIL - San Fran, LA, SanDiego Then roadtripping to Texas
MAY - JULY Mexico, then hoping to explore central America costa rica, panama etc. (advice needed!!)
AUGUST - NOV - Europe.. Based in london but hoping to check out some good surfing/kitesurfing locations in Europe.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
G'day boost,
come and pick my brains on mulla's mate, i'm teaching with Rob this season, have spent a small fortune on snowboarding trips in euro and canada,
Tony
Mexico is awesome and the best place of all is San Carlos, full stop. Awesome wind and the best waves. Check out solosports.net/ for some info.
Spent time on east coast too but this place is the best by far
if you are going to malaysia be prepared for a hard time at customs/immigration if you have an israeli stamp in your passport
Stamp....
I heard you can get them to stamp a peice of paper instead of your passport. I still need to look into it though.
................
We also decided today that we are going to take Asia off our trip but still stick to the 13 months giving us more time everywhere else!!!!
Sounds like a sick trip, so many great spots,
i lived in israel for 5 years, with the stamp issue just ask them not to stamp your passport but pay attention cos if you don't they will quickly do it and then you'll need a new passport if you want to go to lebanon, syria, etc on future trips. egypt is no problem though.
good wind in israel is in eilat all year though northern hemisphere summer is better. bat galim in haifa, zikron yaakov- south of haifa, bet yannai half way between tel aviv and haifa. best time is oct, nov or march april. though there is heaps of coast if you don't like crowds. surf there is ****, restaurants, history and nightlife is all time.
in egypt go to sinai for the diving, for kiting dahab, ras sudr and hurghada but there a lot of great places if you have a look around sinai or the very far south!!
canada- whistler is great to snowboard and party if you don't hang out with all the other yobbo aussies there, then maybe the canadians will show you where all the best runs and backcountry stashes are, pemberton icecap, rainbow mountain etc. if you go inland though the best is kicking horse in golden- best champagne pow ever, though i'm yet to go to japan.
Pureto chicama in peru has amazing surf. i was there a few years ago you can surf sometning like 3 miles on the same wave when it is breaking its full length it was a super nice wave too i don't know about kiting there tho. the place i stayed the owner was fantastic and there was only about 6 people there surfing. if you want anymore info on it let me know. the link below should show you where it is the last time i looked you could see the swell line on the sat photo.
enjoy your travles
chris
www.google.com:443/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode&q=porta+chichama&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=37.273371,79.804688&ie=UTF8&ll=-7.70827,-79.424286&spn=0.729428,1.246948&z=10
Sept Oct Nov - Europe.
I have just got back to London after 3 months in my van travelling around Europe.
September early October - Get yourself to Greece young man! The Greek Islands of Paros and Naxos rock. You can free camp on the beaches, and the summer wind, the Meltimi, kicks in pretty much every day at least in September. Solid NNE 25-40kts, O for Awesome. Not only that, the people are awesome, the food is great and maybe you will have the memory burned into your brain of an overweight middle aged German naked man trying to help you untangle your kite lines (shudder).
October, November, summer is well and truly over. Get yourself to Cornwall and Devon, or Ireland to take advantage of the low pressure systems that rip off the Atlantic, and funnel up the Bristol Channel. The water is warmer than the air thanks to the Gulf Stream, and the swell is huge! I can scan you some pages from my Europe kitesurf guide if you like about great places to go during that time.
Other than kiting tips, my best tips from my recent trip are:
Bosnia - Its cheap, the people are cool (as in friendly but crazy, but being subjected to gunfire probably changes your view on life) and I learnt a lot about the recent conflicts. Mostar and Sarajevo are sweet cities. People are friendly to travellers but there is no serious tourist industry as in Croatia. Because of this, people aren't out to rip you off.
Switzerland - Interlaken is like the Queenstown (New Zealand) of Europe except the mountains are way bigger. The hiking is excellent and the trains that go up and through anything are something to be experienced. I went to the highest train station in Europe (3500m) and you end up above a massive glacier, my lungs didn't like going from 500m to 3500m in 2 hours very much. The train stops in the north face of the Eiger and you can stand in a window and look down for 1000m vertical. The summer hiking season ends at the end of October and the skiing kicks off in December.
For your January travels, Whistler is great but avoid the US long weekends and school holidays. You have to go, its so much steep and deep and you will never be able to ride in Australia without saying, "It's fun, but its not Whistler" I agree with the yobbo Aussie comments though.
If you can, try to get out to Fernie/Wee Jasper as an uncrowded option. Its great for ungroomed, deep powder, or so my Canadian friend who grew up there says. The crowds aren't supposed to be as bad.
