Here goes - I have been fantasizing about a RWT for years and years and finally decided I had enough money (I hope) and made the decision to quite my job in January and go! I had already booked a sailing trip in the Virgin Islands starting Jan 16th and the plan was to head straight to South America from there.
I would be kicking off 6 months of travel on my 40th birthday! Hooray for me!

But then a few things beyond my control came up and I was put back in limbo for a few months and I haven’t made any move towards concrete plans. (Not to mention the fact that once the decision was made, I was paralyzed with complete and utter fear. Has that happened to anyone else?) So here is my question:
Is planning a 6 month trip in 5 weeks insane??

I am not really an over-planner; my last 3 trips have come off fabulously having only a hotel reservation for my first night, but they have been only 2 week jaunts. (Come to think of it, didn’t even have that much in Bali!) I have a good backpack. I have all my shots. I have a vague itinerary. But the question still remains:
Is planning a 6 month trip in 5 weeks insane??

Thanks in advance for your replies, which I’m sure will inform and amuse…

No. What I call "planning" for a trip is really just scheming to have enough money for it. There's no real planning past picking countries...I do read guidebooks, but that's more about staying motivated.

As long as your trip plan doesn't require selling your house or car, 5 weeks is plenty to get things sorted.

go for it! definitely not for everyone, but if you feel comfortable travelling without definite plans, then that will serve you well!

no, def. not - esp. if you are so well prepared. Go for it! have a great time!!

Not at all. If you already know where you're going, you're way ahead of me. And I'm supposed to be leaving January 2nd!!!

There is nothing insane about it all!

What you need to plan is your first stop - where you're going, and where you'll stay. After that, you only need a general direction...

I went on a RWT by buying a one-way ticket to Cape Town, with a vague plan to work my way up Africa, which I did. I knew which countries I wanted to visit and tried to get most of those in, but otherwise I just went where transport was available.

Part of the beauty of long-term travel is that time is no longer the master, you are.

If you feel uncomfortable about too little planning, you could plan two or three specific points along your itinerary but I've never found it necessary - unless your travel is highly dependent on a number of flights (Caribbean, South Pacific), you should focus on packing and last-minute things to do - and start getting very very excited about leaving!

my experience is that you should only plan the bare essentials, i.e. what country you want to go to, how long you roughly want to spend in each place etc. My best experiences are the ones that I have not planned and are impulse decisions.

Plus you dont want to be restricted to a time schedule, there may be situations where you want to spend a few more days here or a few more days there, and you need to allow for this.

So you can definitely do it in 5 weeks (easily!)

Sounds like you have your 1st stop planned. Just double check that you dont need an onward ticket - islands often enforce this because of lack of accommodation. I would say sort your finances and the storage of your gear - and just go - traveling in your 40's is the best!

I wish I had enough dough to leave in 5 weeks...the wait is killing me.

Do it!

Nah. Things will fall into place as you go. Plus, it can make for better stories.

On a side, note, is this the same Deanna from the BnA Kili trip???

To echo the wise words of others... DO IT!

Better to have too little time than too much. Otherwise you spend all of your time immersed in guidebooks and by the time you finally arrive you sort of feel like you already know everything. At least that is often my problem.

Wife: Oooh! Look at that pretty church!

Me: (barely looking up) Oh, that's the Church of St. Static built in 1258, burned down by the Canadians in 1402 and rebuilt by the Holy Order of St. Jester in 1511. There are beautiful frescoes inside.

Just Do It!

You can also keep planning while on the trip.

All you need is a one way ticket and a general idea what you might want to do and the "planning" will take care of itself. My plan in Jan 2006 was to take a year long trip to South America and learn to speak Spanish fluently. In Feb 2006, I ended up with a 1 way ticket to Taipei, Taiwan and here I am almost 2 years later in Thailand with still a vague idea of heading to South America via Easter Island from somewhere in the South Pacific. In the mean time, I've learned light conversational Mandarin and a bit of Bahasa and Thai. Be like a Taoist and go with the flow of travel. It's all you need when you are on the road with nothing but adventure on your mind.