There was a big gap between fantasized about traveling around the world, we went on and on with the “some day” words for so long, and actually to do so but this is the moment it’s really happening to us: we got our RTW Ticket, yeeeeh!

Our departure is now set: 30 Dec ’08.

Our itinerary:

30/12 London - Hong Kong
06/01 Hong Kong – Singapore
Singapore overland to Thailand
25/03 Bangkok - Melbourne
16/04 Melbourne - Christchurch
Christchurch overland to Auckland
08/06 Auckland – Sydney
Sydney overland to Cairns and back again to Sydney
04/09 Sydney - Cook Islands, Rarotonga
12/09 Rarotonga - Los Angeles
06/10 Los Angeles - New York
New York overland to Miami
05/11 Miami - London

Our winning ticket: The Great Escapade from the Flight Centre (thanks Jonathan)

The name tells already is going to be a great trip, our escapade from the 9-5 routine, but we haven’t chosen it for its name but as it worked out to be the best and the cheapest ticket for our RTW route.


When we turned up to the travel agent it all ended up quickly and smoothly by simply printing it out a copy of our E-ticket except for Chris that, as you can see, was a bit reluctant to hand over his credit card to Jonathan while I was already overwhelmed by a great weird feeling which can’t explain it.


Can’t wait now to hit the road, get this adventure to start it and share our experience, hell yes!

Asia will be only the start of our RTW trip and it is still a big question mark but at least after a long discussion we decide not to visit China and neither Indonesia.

We are trying to decide if it is worth or not to stop in Hong Kong for 3/4 days before heading to Thailand and even more I am trying to convince my “country-boy” about it, which he is more keen to spend his time in the countryside while I like also to see bustling cities.

We have a total budget of $50USD each per day, so could we manage to fit in accommodation, transport and food in HK? Or should we better off just to start our trip in Bangkok?

I know it’s easy to get enthusiastic and underestimate the distances and furthermore we wouldn't like to hopelessly rushing around to see all the things written down on a guide so we will spend our first 3 months to travel "easily" around Thailand and make our own way down to Singapore where we will jump on a plane to Australia.

So, now what?

Where do we start with this one?

We tried to combine both our passion for the great outdoor with the bustling of the big cities making sure we include some of America greatest highlights and we come up with this trip starting from Los Angeles, through San Diego crossing quickly the boarder to get some Mexican burritos and faijtas in Tijuana and back to the track towards some great national parks: The Grand Canyon, Death National Valley, Sequoia National Park and the Yosemite National Park.

We could not missed obviously along the way Las Vegas for a couple of nights of madness trying our fortune, finger x!

We will then travel to San Francisco and then heading back to LA through the highway 1 passing through the California’s coastline all this in a month or so, too much?

Roughly 3,800 km.

We thought about to squeeze in also the Yellowstone N.P. but I think our itinerary will be then too packed also beacuse we have just some little question marks which will be needed to sort first: how we will do that with no car and on our tight budget?

But at least I got the answer to this question...

Visit California - Watch more amazing videos here

"When can you start?" ... now!

What about a coast to coast in the USA? Yes like Easy Rider, the two “hippie” bikers along with their choppers that set off for a trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans.



We have two months to explore the USA.

Originally we though to embark the same route through some of the most scenic roads across this enormous country including the mythical 66 routes but we realise that this would have probably be a tremendously huge trip that would have make us go bust.

Rent a car would probably coast us $160-$300 per week, excluding vat, and accordingly to the Lonely Planet “The biggest costs are transportation, accommodations, food, drink and sightseeing” therefore everything!

At least $50 for lodging, $10-30 per meal + sightseeing” ...we will be definitely go over budget in this way! Way over budget!

So we decide to skip the coast to coast and flying from LA to New York and possible make our own way down to Miami where we will catch a plane back to London.

So now we have to figure it out what to do in each stop...

Australia is a HUGE continent which we would like to explore and see as much as we can on our way and our own time ideally with a campervan to be as flexible as possible and make us feel even more free with no boundbury and no stress but we realize we can’t just fit it in all!

So, on the three months that we are planning to spend in this amazing country we decide to focus on the East Coast and we have now come up with this itinerary, although we are definitely open to add on some destinations as it comes along the way or to vary slightly our route, which is:

Sydney, Terrigal, Seal Rocks, Forster, Bellingen, Coff Harbour, Byron Bay, Noosa National park, Hervey Bay, Brisbane, Bundaberg, Fraser Island, Mackay, Arlie beach, Magnetic Island and Cairns.

But before embarking on this route we plan also to stop in Melbourne at possible heating toward the Great Ocean Road at this stage… ummm not too sure even for how long: it could be only a couple of days to spend in the city or up two weeks before flight out to NZ and then fly back to Sydney.

Although I guess a RTW ticket could not be backtracking we would like to achieve this route as we would like to go first to New Zealand before is getting too cold, with the winter approaching in June, and we reckon we could still enjoy the Queensland’s cost also from April till June/July, please correct me if I am wrong:-)
....we will find out soon if feasible !

Travel today has become far easier and accessible for travelers and magazines and the web are packed with flight’s promotions and RTW tickets.
But when it comes to you, it is definitely easier to say than to actually plan it!
On overall, the budget will play for sure a big role in the planning of our trip and obviously we would like to put together the dream destinations of both of us which is, trust me, not an easy job.

So, each of us said at random some destinations we would like to go. After an ender less listing, mainly from my side, we realized at least we both have mentioned some matching places: Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, USA are in, yoouuhhhhhhhh!
I would like to see also some part of Asia, of course the Great Wall, get lost in Tibet, the bustling city of Tokyo, relax in the hedonistic Polynesia islands , but also visit the mysterious Lost City of the Incas and explore the staggering beauty of Brazil’s rainforest ..ah..and not to forget throw myself in the party scenes of Rio de Janeiro, but unfortunately I can’t :-(………or at least NOT THIS TIME!!

So taking in mind our average “assumed” daily budget of $50 each, based on nothing more than guessing, it precludes already our decision: there is only space for the places we both want to see and we will spend more time travelling from Thailand to Indonesia which is by far much cheaper than travelling in Australasia or USA, plus hopefully we would have some spare cash to spend it over on the other continents to have a more comfortable journey.
Another key factor we would like to accomplish is to be in each place at the right time and catching a year of sun. Well we understand it would not always be possible as we will have also to take in account the dry/wet seasons plus normally it turns up that the best time is also the high season were the cost of transports and accommodation could cost twice or even more the average rates that in the low season.

So after a few hours of surfing in the net, few discussions and a talk with our flatmates, which will be off to Australia as well next March for a 3 months trip before settle down to Perth, walla, here is our vague route:


Well all the rest is largely unplanned ..as we go.

Chris used to be a successful boy scout in his 14een so I will trust his experience to take me around the world (note that after 5 years of living in London he still don’t know his way around in many occasions!) but I will say this is the true travelling, living the adventure, living your life at the maximum or call us simple foolish voyagers, up to you!

We will browse some travel guides just to highlight some places we like to visit and make sure we will include them on our route, but since we don’t have one I am sure there will be plenty of space for everything will come up along the way, maybe few tips and hints from other travelers or maybe we could only throw ourselves in the real life and culture of each unique place we will encounter on our way.

Everything could change!