The Plan

So what all goes into planning a RTW (round-the-world) trip? More than one might think...

The trip has been in the works for quite some time. Actually we have been discussing it in some capacity since we returned from our last backpacking trip in 2004. We had both recently graduated college, we were young, not sure what the world held for us, and not really sure what direction we were heading. Upon returning home we decided to try out the west coast. We loaded up the Uhaul and headed jobless to SF in October 2004. Two months later we had jobs and 3 years to the day of our move we were married in SF. Throughout this process the trip was always on our mind, usually brought up during our jaunts to our favorite pubs for happy hour or the occasional glass of wine on the couch. We knew the trip would be a realty but we were not sure exactly when or how.

We made a wise decision in our planning process about a year after we moved to SF. We opened a joint bank account which we referred to as the 'trip account' and began the process of depositing money into the account at the end of each month. We did it religiously and never missed a payment up until the time we left SF. For a brief amount of time the 'trip account' turned into a 'wedding account' but besides that this money was untouchable to us.

About 6 months ago, we knew we were starting to get in the 'ballpark' of what it would take to finance a year long RTW trip. So how much is that? Well for us we kept it simple. $100 a day. Yep that’s it. Why $100? Not quite sure but it is a nice round number and it makes the math easy so we went with it. Colleen also follows other couples online who are doing similar trips and it seems like most spend around this amount. We are a little toward the low end of most RTW budgets but it is definitely doable. With the funds in place the question was just when to leave. That opportunity presented itself in late 2008 and we marked our calendars to leave SF at the end of January 2009.

After much research and debate we decided to go with a ticket package offered through the One World alliance called the One World Explorer ticket. We have 19 segments (16 flights and 3 overland) that will act as the backbone of our travels for the next year. We purchased our ticket in the UK and therefore our first official flight is out of London. Prior to that we are heading to Ireland to see some sights and catch up with a couple old friends. Here is the rough plan (destinations can be changed for a small fee and dates can be changed at no cost...both highly likely, don't hold us to this!). I included some dates for some of the major flights between continents:

Ireland - February 10
UK – February 16
Jordan – February 18
Spain - February 26
South Africa - March 2
Namibia
Botswana
Mozambique
Malawi
Tanzania
Kenya
India - June 5
Nepal
Tibet
Thailand – July 25
Cambodia
Vietnam
Laos
Singapore – September 11
Malaysia
China – September 25
Mongolia
Japan – October 29
Brazil – November 1
Paraguay
Bolivia
Peru
Ecuador
Chile - January 9
Argentina – January 30

Most likely we will need to purchase a couple flights along with our normal regional transportation (buses yes!) that will need to come out of our daily budget.

The most common question people ask us what we are taking with us. We will carry all of our belongings in our packs on our back, 1 bag each. See pictures to the right showing all items unpacked and then packed into stuff sacks and pack-it cubes ready to be loaded into our packs. Basically it is a week's worth of shirts/pants (each of which will most likely be worn multiple times between washings). We don’t have much but chances are we might have over packed and will be sending some packages home. Interesting fact, neither of us will be wearing jeans for a full year.

We will plan to update the blog as often as possible as blog worthy experiences are encountered (hopefully we are good at determining this and you will experience and enjoy this trip with us). We will try to keep it light on history and facts and focus on our daily experiences with the people and countries we visit. We look at the adventure ahead of us as traveling and not vacationing. We don’t have a concrete itinerary or timeline we need to follow. If we are happy we might stay somewhere longer than planned, if we are not then we will move on. Chances are we will hear of new places along the way and destinations will be added and others removed. The unexpected excites us. Waking up each day without knowing exactly what you will encounter is a fascinating feeling. Our main mode of communication will be this blog so comment away if you feel so inclined and we will do our best to keep it updated.