Deciding Where to Go

The decision on where to go is quite possibly the most important after the initial choice of this style of trip. Extended travel of up to a year gives quite a lot of freedom in order to see as many countries as possible, and with planet Earth having approximately 200 countries, the decision on which few to go see can be quite challenging.

Here are a few factors that will shape your initial list of countries to visit.  Great thought and care should be put into each one of these topics to determine the amount of planning and items that need to be dealt with prior to leaving. 

With that, I've developed a list of questions that you should keep in mind while planning each topic, just to get the thought process going.


Accessibility

Would the country be cost effective to access from plane tickets or available on current round the world itineraries? 
How long does it take to get from city to city?
What modes of transportation are there?

Getting In

What are the visa requirements (i.e. fees)?
Is there mandatory proof of onward travel, something that might be difficult to prove when roaming?
Are there any limitations to the amount of days you can stay?

Staying Healthy

Any special inoculations required to enter in combination with previous countries visited?
What diseases and risks are present?
What kind of foods are there?

Cost of Living 

How much does it cost to sight see, eat, sleep, and transit city to city?
     -Europe is definitely more expensive than South America and Asia
What are the most expensive items that will come out of the budget?
Any big site seeing features that will take an extra bite into the savings?

Funding

How much money, realistically, would I have and need to return with to restart life?
How much more can I save between now and then?
What is a good emergency budget, and extra savings to have just in case?

Weather

What is the weather like the time of year I would likely be there?
     -I would not want to be in India during monsoon season or near the Equator during mid-summer.
What would I do if the weather got to bad?

With these questions in mind, I let the world become my playground and came up with many radical itineraries. My major goal is to finish seeing the 7 wonders of the world that I have not seen (I have seen the Colosseum and Petra next year) and South East Asia, the new number 1 on my list after Europe and Egypt (which I will be seeing next year). For the curious, I decided not to wait on Egypt/Petra for the RTW trip as, although the airfare would be slightly cheaper on a RTW ticket, I do not want to have that section of the world become jeopardized in case of future unexpected savings changes (also going 2 full years in graduate school without a real vacation would likely take my sanity).

The following post will outline what I have decided to be my first official route. During the course of planning and travels this is subject to change. Any major changes, of course, will correspond with an update in the future.

Posted in: Initial,Planning