Need something to spark the travel bug in you? Just check out the video above. Shot by Norwegian director Johan Kaos during a backpacking trip with his then-girlfriend (now wife!), the four-minute video is both inspiring and exhausting. (I especially appreciate Kaos’ exaggerated sigh once he finally gets a chance to sit back on his couch at home at the end.) The footage was shot entirely during the couple’s backpacking trip through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
Want to know how you can replicate the trip? Be prepared to bank up a lot of vacation time and a fair amount of cash, as well. According to a comment on his video, the three-month trip cost around $13,000, minus the cost of tickets from Oslo to Bangkok and back. “We saved money for a year, we went, we made this video along the way. That’s it,” he wrote. He also divulged a more detailed itinerary to Reddit (below), which sparked off an enormous debate about the feasibility of taking such an ambitious trip.
The conversation also turned to the fact that for Americans, a trip of this scope often seems crazy — while for Europeans, it’s par for the course. One comment from Drogean2 notes:
Europeans are living more of the American dream than we ever will
Midway through the thread, Kaos chimed in to show just how realistic travel is:
Sorry to disappoint some of you, but we’re not trust fund kids. She’s a teacher, I work as a freelance film director studying on the side. We saved up money for a year. She was lucky to get 3 months of her job and I really just stopped booking jobs. All in all an amazing journey.
More details on the trip from the Reddit thread:
We were travelling for 3 months. October and November were spent in South East Asia, and December in Australia. Our itinerary was made up as we travelled, and ended up like this:
Thailand
Ao Nang, Krabi (beaches in the beginning on Railay)
Koh Phi Phi (scuba diving)
Koh Samui
Koh Phangan (full moon party and scuba diving)
Bangkok (temples, loads of buddist temples)
Chiang Mai (jungle trekking)
Laos
Huai Xai
Pak Beng (slow boat in Mekong)
Luang Prabang (Kuang Si waterfalls)
Vientiane (Buddha park)
Vietnam
Hanoi
Cat Ba Island (kayaking)
Hue
Hoi An (mc-rides)
Cambodia
Siem Reap (Angkor Wat and surrounding temple ruins)
Phnom Penh
Myanmar [Burma]
Yangon
Inle Lake
Bagan (temple fields)
Mandalay (U bein bridge)
Singapore
Singapore (aquarium)
Australia
Cairns (scuba diving)
Airlie Beach
Agnes Water (surf school)
Hervey Bay
Noosa
Brisbane
Burleigh Heads (Gold Coast)
Byron Bay
Coffs Harbour
Myall Lake
Newcastle
Narrabeen
Sydney
Perth (christmas at the beach!)
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur (going home)
The whole trip cost us about 13.000 USD (for both), plus flight tickets to/from Bangkok/Oslo. But honestly, most of the money was spent in Singapore and Australia. After almost two months in SEA [South East Asia] with cheap standard on everything, we kind of lost it when we got to Singapore, haha.In SEA we travelled like most backpackers; in cheap busses/boats/the occasional cheap flight.
In Australia we rented a campervan in Cairns, and drove all the way along the east coast to Sydney.
All in all an amazing journey.
