After much thought and debate, we’ve finally put together a list of countries we’d like to visit during our round-the-world trip. As you would imagine, the list was originally much longer. We had quickly thrown together a hodgepodge of countries we wanted to go to- places we’d always wanted to visit and others we knew little about but thought would be fascinating. And then we counted. Hmm, 40 countries seemed like a lot to cover in 8 months. Oops. It would probably make it impossible for us to travel slowly and really immerse ourselves into places like we had hoped. Certainly not very budget-friendly either.
So began the painstaking process of whittling down the list to a more manageable 13 countries (14 if you include the United States).
In putting together this list, these were some of the things that we kept in mind:
- include a combination of countries that are popular travel destinations and those that are lesser known
- focus primarily on the more inexpensive destinations, but allow for a couple of splurges (we will, of course, have to integrate other money-saving strategies which I will address in a later post)
- eliminate countries that are a bit more remote and would cost a lot to get to (e.g. Madagascar)
- include only countries that will be warm during the time of year that we can be there (the thought of schlepping around bulky, cold-weather gear really isn’t appealing)
While this list shouldn’t change too radically before our departure date, there may be tweaks here and there as we continue with our research. Our approach to planning is to develop a basic framework, and then focus on booking “must, must do” things in advance (again, more on that in a later post), and figure out the rest as we travel. We do want to take advantage of this time to really travel a bit more slowly, organically, and spontaneously, so we expect (hope, even) that along the way we may decide to change things up based on how much we’re enjoying (or not enjoying) a place, or at the recommendation of locals and other travelers.
Click on the image to go to a dynamic route map on the Travellerspoint website. Please note that the cities and dates populated are not yet finalized.
2012
July
- Hungary
August
- Lithuania
- Latvia
- Estonia
September
- Russia
- Mongolia
October
- India
- Nepal
November
- Laos
- Hong Kong
End of November- Early December
- Back to NYC for a couple of weeks to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families
December
- Argentina
2013
January
- Chile
- Nicaragua
February
- US to see friends/family
I’d love to hear your thoughts regarding the countries on this list, both good and bad. And if you also happen to be a travel blogger, I would love to read any blog posts you’ve written pertaining to these places.
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RESOURCES:
During these early stages of my research, I’m finding the following websites particularly helpful because they all have travel guides (among other resources) for a large number of countries and I can quickly search for basic information about each destination before delving into destination-specific sites.
Lonely Planet- guides for individual countries as well as a large Thorn Tree forum where you can ask questions and share information with fellow travelers.
Let’s Go Travel Guide- guides for individual countries. I especially like that they include “Beyond Tourism” sections for those looking for more immersive experiences.
Travellerspoint- their Wiki Travel Guide is written and maintained by members. They also have travel forums and best of all, a Travel Help section where you can find and interact directly with self-identified destination experts.
iExplore- contains basic information, as well as adventure and experiential travel resources, for each country.
U.S. Department of State- information about necessary travel documents and safety considerations for each country.
May 4, 2012 at 4:32 pm
How’s the planning going???
September 29, 2011 at 10:09 am
All of those are certainly in my bucket list – while I haven’t yet visited any you’ve listed, I have traveled in Central America quite a bit. I’ve found that most countries (especially Honduras) are filled with amazingly friendly, hospitable people.
The best of luck to you in your travels, this is something that I hope to accomplish sometime in the not-too-distant future, as well!
September 29, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Thank you so much! I’m looking forward to getting on the road and sharing the experience with everyone.
September 29, 2011 at 8:51 am
Interesting choices. I’m very intrigued by the Baltic states, so I get those. I’ve also been dying to see Mongolia, so that should be very cool. I have to say, apart from Nicaragua (which is said to be amazing), I’d go to all of these as well, esp. Laos.
Interesting that you’ve chosen to skip Africa entirely. I see why. It’s enormous and you could easily spend a year just touring there.
If I was doing a RTW trip, I’d include Morocco, Mali, Namibia (but lots of hassles even getting between those) and some South Pacific Islands. I like the fact you’re giving each country some time.
September 29, 2011 at 12:20 pm
I would really, really love to explore Africa, but unfortunately it didn’t quite integrate well with our route (a bit pricey to fly to/from as well). I’m currently trying to see if we can possibly take a trip to Kenya or South Africa before our rtw trip, though. It was extremely tempting to squeeze a lot of countries in, but as you mentioned, we really did want to spend time in each place since we rarely have the time to slow travel now.
September 28, 2011 at 2:26 pm
How in the world you finance this?? I would love to do it… I guess you are rich.
September 30, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Not rich, but it does definitely take quite a bit of planning, saving, and prioritizing.
September 18, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Sounds like you are going to have a great time, I have traveled lots and really enjoyed it. Good luck with all your plans.
September 19, 2011 at 9:52 am
Thanks so much! I can’t wait to get on the road!
September 12, 2011 at 8:21 pm
Wow- It must feel good to have a frame down- I’ve always wanted to go to Cambodia if I get to that part of the world. Did that come up? Couple of ppl in the travel group really loved it. Really enjoyed Budapest 2 yrs ago- was there with a local. Mmmm goulash yum!
September 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Cambodia is actually on our list of alternates in case some of these places aren’t do-able for whatever reason. It was definitely high on our list but didn’t make the final cut. If we hear great things about it along the way, we might very well change course, though.
September 12, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Since you are going to the Baltic states, you should consider Finland as well. Helsinki is gorgeous.
September 12, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Funny enough, earlier this year we actually planned a trip to Finland but there were some logistical complications so we decided to go to Iceland instead. It does sound like we’d really enjoy Finland, though. I will need to do some more research. Thank you for the suggestion!
September 12, 2011 at 11:54 am
Sounds amazing! I’ve already blogged about my trip to India and Nepal as well as Chile and Argentina. The others I haven’t been to…yet except Hungary back in 1989! I’m dating myself. Nepal I’d have lots and lots of ideas and recom. to share. If you are into trekking, the Annapurna trek would take almost a month to do. I did half and it was one of the best experiences of my traveling life to date. Amazing. India is nuts. Only did three days but prepare yourself!. It you want any info on Argentina (been three times), Chile or Nepal, let me know. I’d be happy to help!
September 12, 2011 at 7:11 pm
I’m SO excited- thank you for the generous offer! I really need to spend some time reading up on all of your posts. Coincidentally, last night we just started looking into treks in Nepal and Chile (we’re debating whether to do a big trek in one or both) and we’re definitely a bit overwhelmed by all of the trek variations and companies out there. I’ll send you an e-mail once we’ve narrowed down our questions a bit. Thanks again!
September 12, 2011 at 7:53 am
This itinerary looks amazing! We’re leaving in a week for our RTW trip, which starts in South America, so though we haven’t been yet, we’ve read and been given a lot of advice. A lot of friends discouraged us from spending December (or even January) in Buenos Aires, as a lot of locals jet off to vacation. The city is still fun but apparently lacks local flavor and might seem a bit dead. Maybe someone who has been can chime in, but that’s just what we were told.
Have fun planning and good luck!
September 12, 2011 at 11:19 am
Hmm, that’s very helpful to know. I have read that it’s high season, so it sounds like that means that there are a million visitors and few locals- not the most enticing combination. Thanks for the information!