OK, so you're gunna travel for a year, you're going to vagabond it all the way around the world, you're leaving in february.... how the hell do you begin to dicide what countries to go to (ROUCHLY), how long to stay in each one (ROUGHLY), how many flights to book beforehand, and even which direction to head?! The choices are obviously overwhelming. Anyone have any tips on ways to outline a general route/trip RTW?

Several things you need to look at to help you...(and help us help you)...


1. First off you gott a look at your interests. Simple as. What interests you? Archictecture? History? Art? Sport? Food? Beaches? Trekking? It'll be the keys to your trip plans.

2. budget. What is it? How long are you looking to go for and how much money do you have, this can end up dictating quite a lot. This will determine how long you can spend in given regions.

3. Pick out the cant miss things (maybe 5 or so). Wether its Seeing teh Great Wall of China, watching a soccer match in ENngland or South America, Watching teh sun rise over Ankor Wat these things will become teh cornerstones of your trip.

4. Ok, you've picked some countries or regions...now lets have a look at the weather. This will help you decide the order. Avaoiding winter or maybe making teh most of it (wanna ski in Chile, Argentina or New Zealand?), avoiding the monsoon season....etc..Now you gotta route.

5 Wicked, you have some places, a route and now you just need to figure those transport costs out...decide if you wanna get a rtw ticket or wing it....

6. Sit back, relax..TRAVEL.

First thing I did when I decided to go for it was buy the Rough Guides "First Time Around the World" book. It's a really easy read and help you out with the planning stage.

Then I just started randomly listing countries/places I wanted to go. I used that list as a starting point and whittled it down to something that looks reasonable for 1 year of travelling. From there, you can figure out a rough itinerary and a budget guideline for your trip. My list is still probably too much, but I'm not worried about it. I'm not planning on sticking to an itinerary like glue, but it helps to have at least a general idea of where you want to go.

Have fun researching!

RTWJANie has great advice. The Rough Guides RTW guide is great especially if you feel daunted by the task of figuring it out.
LondonCard also hinte din on some great tips as far as narrowing down where you want to go or some of your must see's and must do's.
Be sure to not get too wrapping up and plan every single aspect of your trip things are going to go wrong and changes will need to be made its all part of the journey

quote:

Originally posted by BlakeRTW:
how the hell do you begin to dicide what countries to go to (ROUCHLY), how long to stay in each one (ROUGHLY)

I dont understand... if you dont know of any places you want to go, then why do you want to make the trip?


next thing ya know contiki will be offering up rtw itineraries.

Pick one place you know you want to visit.

Go there.

When you are tired and ready to move on, find someplace else.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob_co2:

quote:

Originally posted by BlakeRTW:
how the hell do you begin to dicide what countries to go to (ROUCHLY), how long to stay in each one (ROUGHLY)

I dont understand... if you dont know of any places you want to go, then why do you want to make the trip?


next thing ya know contiki will be offering up rtw itineraries.

I understand completely - can't remember when I didn't want to travel the world - as someone said - tis better to travel then arrive. After that the figuring out what you want to see is easy - start with a list - but be prepared to change it as you meet people along the way. I am sad to say that I still haven't got Mandalay or Timbucktoo - both on my original list!

quote:

Originally posted by midlifetravel:

I understand completely - can't remember when I didn't want to travel the world - as someone said - tis better to travel then arrive. After that the figuring out what you want to see is easy - start with a list - but be prepared to change it as you meet people along the way. I am sad to say that I still haven't got Mandalay or Timbucktoo - both on my original list!

Better to travel, then arrive? Or better to travel than arrive? Anyway, I'll agree that destinations shouldnt be the sole purpose of the trip, but I think one has to have something they desire to see in order to take a trip around the world. Kangaroos, pyramids, rain forests, there has to be something out there you want to see. Unless you are just doing it to say you did it.

So Blake, just decide all the things you like and want to see, go to those countries and a few countries between. Chances are you will find something you never expected there. As for how long to stay per country, well thats a bit too vague to answer simply. The best thing to do is stay as long as you like and then move on, but that isnt always possible.

As for booking flights, well thats when things can actually get complicated, because a lot of countries require proof of onward travel. Once you decide which countries to visit, you'll need to look into them and see if they require it.

Thank you all for your wonderful insight. I do have some general countries and areas in mind... New Zealand, China, India, Lebanon, on and on. So to clarify some earlier responses, I DO know places that interest me and i have a general idea for my route. And though in no way do i want to schedule my trip to the T, I want to know what direction I'll be heading, what areas i'll be going to, and estimate as best i can as to how long i'll be there, etc. this will assist in my preperations with: the RTW plane ticket, immunities, vistas, when to tell friends i'll be in their country....

One interesting little trick i've been playing with is picking the major stops i KNOW i want to do (India for example), then find the respective Lonely Planet Guide and go to the itinerary section (GASP!!). Then I look at the itineraries, NOT to dictate my course of action within that country, but to look at the TIME FRAMES they suggest for different trips. Now simply having done that, i know that I need a BARE MINIMUM of two months in the subcontinent, but the ideal seems to be four months. Doing this, I can "block out" the rough times for the "MUST GOs" and then budget out the remaining time to the other countries i'd like to visit. Other factor in when I go where will of course be climate situations.

Any other "tricks" or ideas anyone has to balance how much time to spend in a given location?

You have to spend enough time to not feel like a tourist...you get more out of spending a lot of time in one or two places than rushing through a bunch of places.