The hardest part about planning a RTW trips is . . .

Not letting any of my friends from work know what I'm planning.

It's been almost 4 months since I started planning my trip and it's still another couple of months before I can hand in my notice and finally let the people around me know what I've got planned.

It's not been easy keeping quiet for this long, things are getting easier as the trip gets closer but it's been quite stressful having to lie to my friends for so long. It's not that I don't trust them, I just know how quickly rumours spread, one miss placed word could put quite a dampener on my budget.

I hear ya wtbd! Try six years! I've been planning/waiting that long and it nearly
drove me crazy. I only told a couple of people at work that I could trust. It's
tough telling anyone really because of the inevitable reactions you'll get. Some
are jealous, most think you're crazy. Lots are nosey and immediately want to
know how much it's costing you. You can tell true travelers by the genuine
happiness for you and your upcoming trip. I think the answer is to just tell
people on sites like this...you're among friends here and they understand
perfectly.

BTW...I'm taking off on my RTW next week. It's finally happening and it will
for you too. Hang in there!

I don't think I could survive a 6 year wait let along keep it quiet. Even now it's tempting to just jump ship and bring the trip forwards, I've set a date in May because it fits in with some prior commitments, I'll hopefully be leaving just days after my brother's wedding, if it wasn't for that I'd probably be gone by now.

In the mean time I've been reading as much as I can just trying to keep the excitment up, I've not been posting much but I read 3 different forums every day which has really helped me stay somewhat sane.

Enjoy your trip.

I think the hardest part for my husband & I has been staying in line @ work when co-workers act ridiculous! There's always that 1 person who has to make work difficult & we both have 3 to deal with on a daily basis! We're planning on leaving between August & October of this year and it's as though everyone around us is testing our patience . . .

The second hardest thing (for us) was creating a budget & sticking to it. [We've been "saving" since 2007 & actively saving since last January.] But, once we got into the habit of saving (ie: making lunch, not spending money on books/movies/clothes, etc.) things became much easier. If our cars hang in there & (fingers crossed) we don't need to go to the doctor for anything extreme, we'll be on our way soon!

Good luck WTBD!