If only you knew

As the title states, If you where doing it all again for the first time, what would you have loved to know back before your first RTW or major Long term trip?

planning a RTW trip myself i'd love to hear from those who have gone before me what if anything they wished they knew before they left on their big one, from anything. pre - departure, on the road or post trip.

Or if you cant think of anything you wished you knew, maybe instead- what do you wish you had done on the road?. e.g not taking the opportunity to take a side detour to a certain country, certain area / region.

Even tho i haven't started my RTW yet i'll start this one off.

I wish i had been bitten by the travel bug a few years earlier instead of slowly going down the road of 12 hour day monotony working paying off a house.

I agree, I wish my travel bug had bitten in my 20s instead of my 30s... but maybe being older makes us better appreciate the experiences more!

During our travels in Europe, my only regret was not going to Montenegro while we were in nearby Serbia and Bosnia as I hear it's absolutely gorgeous. Perhaps we'll get to go there later on...

As we prepare for our upcoming RTW, one thing we will do again is bring a few moleskin journals instead of a laptop. Even though that means we'll have to seek out internet cafes to email and send pics every now and then (mainly so our family and close friends know where we are), it's worth not feeling "plugged in" all the time as we so often do in our normal routine back home.

In this technological age of twitter and facebook, etc., it's easy to use every experience as an opportunity to chat or tweet or upload. But that stuff seems so fleeting. I found it very liberating to simply wander around, take everything in, and record my thoughts in my journal. As it turns out, my notes and sketches are the best keepsake of my travels b/c every time I go back and read them, it transports me to that specific day, time, and place, as well as that beautiful vagabonding state of mind I was in...

With the exception of not enough time being allocated to some countries, Indonesia, Myanmar & Mongolia, but that is an individual preference & something you don't find out until you have been to the country.

The only other thing I can think of was not realizing that when buying an open RTW ticket from One World that there is no onus on the carrier you have chosen for a segment to honor that booking in a reasonable time frame. I had an open segment SYD-HNL on Qantas who claimed there were no seats available in the next 30 days, which forced me to reroute at considerable cost.

Might still book with One World again but after the extremely unprofessional way Qantas reps treated me, not to mention overcharging me on the reroute (which I will take up with One World when I get home) I will never fly Qantas again!

We are still on our RTW trip but I wish that we had spent less time in Australia and more time in New Zealand. The other thing I wish I had done pre-departure is to apply to all the major frequent flier miles programs --- we missed getting some miles on smaller airlines because I wasn't a Continental miles member before we left.

1) Don't stress because it always works out in the end- if it hasn't that just means it's not the end yet!

2) No need to book 99% of things before you get there, as someone local is always happy to help you part with your money.

3) Goodbyes never get easier to say. If anything, they get harder.

Get your nose out of the guidebook, stop checking off the sites one by one, and actually look around for yourself.

Things I would have liked people to have told me before my first long term trip:

- that regional travel is much better than RTW. Not saying one's route can't ultimately go RTW, but basing one's schedule specifically to go RTW often limits the countries you can see, when you can see them, and how long you can stay.

- to err towards allocating too much time in one country then too little.

- to not skip out on doing things you really want to do because of the cost, so then you won't have to regret it later.

- to skip Europe. Now, I like Europe...but it just isn't as mind blowing as many of the places in the world and it can be done pretty easily, at any time, for even brief periods of time, if you're an American/Canadian or you can live there on WHV as an Aussie, etc. So best to skip for later.

- not to forget about the surrounding countries. (like going to India and completely missing out on Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, etc).

- that hanging out with other foreign travelers is natural and enjoyable, but if you want a better chance of immersing yourself into the local culture you are going to have to ditch them.

- not to spend money/time doing things in a foreign country that I could otherwise do back at home. (except of course if it is way cheaper abroad...learning to scuba dive, etc.)

Actually I don't have any "if only"
but lots of glad I did.

All the research paid off in bucket fulls.

You are never too old to take advice.

I'm so thankful I am fit and healthy.

Can't wait until we start our next trip in October 3 month overlanding in Africa.

Researching now our 4 month trip winter 2011.

Keep safe out there.

Jean