Exactly 100 times cheaper and easier

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

Buying a plane ticket is almost exactly 100 times cheaper, easier, less time consuming, more comfortable, less stressful, and arguably more fun than buying a world cruising sailboat and getting it and yourself to a given destination.

Originally Posted by unbusted67

Here's the other thing: flying is friggin' awesome. Its flying for crying out loud.

+1

There was nothing in the original post about spending time at the destination on arrival, just getting there.

I'm with you Ben. Flying may not be everyones cup of tea, but as much as I love sailing I must say flying IS sheer fun and "friggin' awesome". In fact offer me a six hour flight in a glider (or an aerobatic flight in just about anything) or a sail and there is just no doubt which one I would be jumping up and down to take right now. I remember one magic experience doing loops over Mt Buffalo in the middle of a cross country flight . Takes a long time to get off a high like that. Yes, commercial flights can feel a bit like cattle trucks, but if you don't have a window seat on a long flight, go and spend some of the time looking out of one of the exit windows and take stock of how awesome it is to be up there. Before 9/11 I would request to visit the cockpit on every commercial flight I was on (never refused).

Thread drift, but I must say car travel and getting car sick is WAYYYYYYYY more boring and unpleasant to me than even a flight squished like a sardine in steerage .
(Sorry, Zee, I don't share your enthusiasm for cars, I get sooooooo carsick ).

Ben enjoy your trip, sounds like you are having a ball. Thanks for the laugh over coffee this morning when I opened the YouTube link you posted. Its so spot on, some people are getting so very jaded!!!!!!!

[carstenb]

Well, I haven't reached my limit on gorgeous sunsets (and sunrises) yet. I hope I never do (and I used to live in New Mexico where EVERY sunset is magnificent).

I cruise and will be doing an RTW. Having said that, I also do other forms of "backpack" traveling. My wife and I spent a month in NZ in an auto camper, cruising the country. more or less the same as boat cruising, but on the hard.

I have to say that I have flown upteen million miles in my corporate life (thank god that's over with). While I got used to it, I never got to like it. And there's the difference.

I like sailing. I like passages. I like cruising.

I didn't like commercial airline flying, even though I usually fly business or first class. Even though I could whistle up the corporate jet (that's a nice way to fly!). Even though I tried not to eat on the plane, but instead went to the most expensive restaurant in the airport and got a good meal (expense account).

No I never liked it.

[barnakiel]

I buy the argument on going rather by plane or on a train. We met very many cruisers who would have been way happier if they traveled by other means.

I think world travel in a sailing boat is great for people who love sailing, who love the ocean (often both!). For others, it may be a great waste of time - I have heard people talk of passages as boring (?).

b.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I buy the argument on going rather by plane or on a train. We met very many cruisers who would have been way happier if they traveled by other means.

I think world travel in a sailing boat is great for people who love sailing, who love the ocean (often both!). For others, it may be a great waste of time - I have heard people talk of passages as boring (?).

b.

Yep, I have heard that too .

Not many would say there was anything boring about this though:

[svseachange]

No doubt backpacking is fun. I've done it on five continents and had some amazing times over twenty years. But I'm kind of tired of travelling in crowded trains and buses, shitting through holes in floors, eating at questionable restaurants, be cramped into planes, and being bitten by bed bugs in $10/night hotels.

Sure my bank account went up while backpacking in India and Ethiopia, but it was drained quickly in Europe and Australia. I love planes and trains but I find the destinations kind of limiting, or maybe I just like the coasts more than the interiors. In most third world countries driving is out of the question so you are at the mercy of other crazy, dangerous public transportation systems. I love walking, and I have walked and biked hundreds of miles in third world countries and hitchhiked thousands of miles in some first world ones but that kind of travel is just harder with kids.

Now if I take my three children and wifey things really add up. It's hard to get anywhere for less than a $1500 airfare each and we spill into two hotel rooms. A one month trip home to Australia now costs me $15k.

I've been sailing most of my life but it only occurred to me fairly recently getting around by sailboat my be a viable alternative. So I've spent the prerequisite $100k and we head off in May. It worked out this summer, we spent 40 days on the thing exploring parts of Lake Superior I've missed in my years here in the US, and the operating cost was lower than the cost of airfares to some equally exotic locale (I am a PNG-raised Australian so Lake Superior is pretty darn exotic).

Maybe I'm just getting old (41) but I also just want to slow down the pace of my travel. I want to keep travelling, but not as fast I feel compelled to do on planes, trains and buses.

So, unbusted, I'm going to put your theory to the test. Wifey and I think sailing/cruising might be cheaper and more fun for an indefinite trip for four. At the least, we are hoping it will be easier to control food, mosquitoes and bed bugs in our fiberglass tub.

[atoll]

there is really no comparison over traveling by boat compared to backpackking for extended periods.

i have done both,before building my first boat i traveled overland from london to cape town taking public transport and hitch-hiking,mainly living in a tent,but staying in hostels and guest houses occasionally,my budget was $600 for the 6month trip!

subsequently i traveled back to the uk via mombassa then to india where i spent 8 months,and later uk to north africa and back.
this i did over a period over a 3 year period,fortunately having a parent in the uk and the other in south africa i allways had a base to return to at the end of each trip.

without having a base from which to travel from-to for extended periods of overland travel would be very hard,unless one had an unlimited budget to get re-established again so as to earn some more money to live and travel again.

later doing 2 circumnavigations over a 16year period,constantly living on a boat,i am able to live in comfort,earn a living,travel with my family and friends,with out leaving my living room!
living out of a backpack for any thing over 6months becomes very tiresome.......

[carstenb]

I think we have to say it's horses for courses. I've also ridden my motorcycle across europe several times and across the US several times, camping or staying in hostels.

And I loved every minute of it (well, maybe not the time it snowed on me in wales). These days I prefer sailing. Lots of excitement (even on passages) and lots of good times.

Passages are only boring if you have difficulty being company with only yourself. I don't get bored being with only me (my better half down in the bunk). A solo night watch is just beyond description.

And yes, when the weather is up and you're strapped in for a reason, you occasionally wonder why you do this - but at least you feel like you're ALIVE!

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by carstenb

I think we have to say it's horses for courses. I've also ridden my motorcycle across europe several times and across the US several times, camping or staying in hostels.

And I loved every minute of it (well, maybe not the time it snowed on me in wales). These days I prefer sailing. Lots of excitement (even on passages) and lots of good times.

Passages are only boring if you have difficulty being company with only yourself. I don't get bored being with only me (my better half down in the bunk). A solo night watch is just beyond description.

And yes, when the weather is up and you're strapped in for a reason, you occasionally wonder why you do this - but at least you feel like you're ALIVE!

+1
Nothing to add.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I don't see it as a one or other thing - IMO the ideal is both!

As said already, most countries have stuff inland. IME once you get away from the Tourist trail life does become cheaper, becomes cheaper still the less travelling you actually do! - 3 months rental in an apartment / property somewhere "normal" will in many places set you back less than a week in a plush city centre / beachfront Hotel - and (IMO) be better......and just because you have travelled from own boat to an inland base (same country or different) does not mean that cannot also use that as a base for further travels!

The world is a big place - and not all of it is on the coast........

[K_V_B]

This thread topic asumes that a sailboat is a mode of transportation. For many people (me included) it is not.
It's not about going somewhere, it's about being somewhere, being on the water. Sounds like a cliché, but that is what it is for me.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

This thread topic asumes that a sailboat is a mode of transportation. For many people (me included) it is not.
It's not about going somewhere, it's about being somewhere, being on the water. Sounds like a cliché, but that is what it is for me.

Nothing derisive intended but that probably why a lot never leave the dock.

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

This thread topic asumes that a sailboat is a mode of transportation. For many people (me included) it is not.
It's not about going somewhere, it's about being somewhere, being on the water. Sounds like a cliché, but that is what it is for me.

I absolutely agree with this. My sailboat is my home and my life, I plan to live on it from now until I am done. Does this mean it is the cheapest and quickest mode of fulfilling my dreams of world travel? No way. Thanks for the stimulating debate.

[mausgras]

An interesting discussion with many good points. I think themost interesting thing was the number of people who are making the transition like me from years of backpacking toa more nautical lifestyle.

[Doodles]

I agree, a very interesting and stimulating discussion. It's good to hear that people are using their boats in alternative ways and not just pure cruising, whatever that is.

We too plan to always live on our boat (or a boat) but not exclusively. Currently, we're enjoying having ours on the East Coast of the US and using it as our home there for half the year. The other half we spend in a house in Thailand which is a perfect location for further travel to so many exotic countries. I think eventually we will have our boat here as well, but for now it great having it as a base on the other side of the globe.

As I said earlier, for us it is all about travel and adventure and the boat is a big part of it but it cannot go everywhere so planes and trains are part of the mix.

[Kettlewell]

I love to fly, but the thing I really like about sailing/cruising is that you don't have to follow a marked path/road/destination. You basically have to go where the wind and weather let you go. You have to work with them, putting you much more in tune with the natural world. You set your own schedule, you stay where you want to stay, not in some hotel or campground, you go as fast or as slow as you want, and you bring the comforts of home with you. You are both at home and traveling at the same time. As much as I love to travel by any means--plane, bike, motorcycle, car, backpacking, train, you name it--it eventually gets tiresome to have to deal with all the home making hassles--finding a room for the night, finding food, erecting your shelter, getting clean, staying warm, etc. With a boat you don't have that problem. Plus, almost everywhere along the coast is much more interesting from the water side. Take Florida for example. Doesn't do much for me if you are visiting by land, but by water you get to go to places like the Dry Tortugas, or even anchor out within sight of the lights of Miami, but in a quiet mangrove cove instead of on a busy paved street. I could go on and on...