Japan-Thailand-China

Based on the latest news reports, no one has any idea what to expect with the coronavirus. Will it be a winter thing? How widely has it already spread?

Have you taken a look at South America? There's a lot of adventure, beautiful natural sights, and a lot of it isn't expensive. There are parts of Europe that aren't expensive . . . Poland, Hungary, Croatia are just a few great places to see. And not all parts of "expensive" countries are expensive - Parts of France, northern Spain, Germany can be very reasonable.

BTW isn't Japan expensive?

Not sure that I would plan a trip to China until the coronavirus is a done deal.
China is a great visit. We has a wonderful three week tour with Vantage World Travel. Fantastic.

Japan was special, it is one of our favorite countries. It is the cleanest country in the World and the people there are wonderful.
Japan is not as expensive as its reputation. It is more expensive than Thailand, but Thailand is very inexpensive. Still, Japan is great.

South America is wonderful and tends to be more inexpensive than Europe, Australia, East Asia or the USA.
Our favorite countries there are Peru, Argentina and Chile.
Cusco, the sacred valley and Machu Picchu is fantastic, we had a wonderful tour of four days with Peruagency.com for $799 per person, not including airfare from Lima.
Also, Around the Horn cruises from Buenos Aires to Chile are great.

I am currently planning a trip to SE Asia and Japan. I am finding Japan expensive. You could look into Thailand and Cambodia. If looking to Central and South America. Costa Rica is great. We just got back from Cartagena Columbia and exploring the region beyond and found it absolutely fabulous and reasonable. Congrats on graduating!!! Enjoy!

I would hope that the coronavirus would be contained by the summer. At present, there are no flights from the U.K. to mainland China because of the outbreak, so I wouldn’t be planning a trip to include China this year. Japan is going to be busier than usual because of the Olympics and the Paralympics and therefore presumably more expensive.

Many people combine Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. I haven’t been here yet, but it looks good!

If it’s not Asia what other places could we visit for our senior year (not Europe since everyone is going there and it’s very expensive). Thanks

Europe is a large continent comprising a number of very different countries with very differrent economic levels. You cannot simply regard it as one homogenous lump and consider it equal on all parts. There are many countries and even regions within countries that would not be considered expensive by comparative standards.

As for Japan, as has already been stated, it is one of the most expensive countries in the world so considering it over a visit encompassing some of the former Soviet Bloc countries in a monetary sense seems bizarre. I'm also not sure what you mean by "everyone is going to Europe". I'm sure they're not, the world is a big place and whilst some countries and cities are more popular than others there are tourists visiting all corners of the globe.

Thailand can be cheap, unless you enjoy wine which suffers a 300 to 400% duty tariff which results in it being absurdly expensive in a country which is generally quite reasonably priced.

No-one knows what's going to happen with coronavirus over the next few days let alone the summer however it's worth bearing in mind that the common flu is killing thousands upon thousands more people than coronavirus.

You don't state where you're from but if assuming the US then I would be inclined to venture south into Central and South America, as interesting and varied as the Far East, significantly cheaper than Japan, less polluted than China and likely easier and cheaper to get to.

Consider Australia and/or New Zealand. Will be low season in the southern hemisphere so airfares will be cheaper than any other time of year.

Not sure what your budget is BUT I would note cross Italy off the list. We found the food and wine to be plentiful with prices in ballpark. Italy has many beautiful outdoor sites, fountains and parks that are free., The Airbnb's are in abundance as well with nice prices for a great place. Our most overpriced place in Italy was Venice. Also, we did not feel that Greece was expensive! We did however think Paris and the food was lacking and WAY overpriced.

First of all, congratulations to you and your family! Japan & China may not be among the optimal choices on the world map of graduation trips for all the reasons, outbreak, the Olympics, etc. I was in Japan at least five times and don’t think that it’s too expensive to visit. Depending on your interests, here are a few more alternative destinations — Basque Country, the Alps (leave the next day after your graduation ceremony), and Russia. In St.Petersburg, there’s an annual festival called Scarlet Sails that’s held for all graduates (youtube has plenty video clips recorded there). A trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg on high-speed trains takes about four hours and logistics are well-thought. Should you decide to focus on Asia, I would not skip Japan for sure.