Well I had to get my wisdom teeth out yesterday so I am using the next few days to get some stuff done. I did end up getting a hotel in Pamplona, Spain for the St. Fermin / Running of the Bulls Festival. So today I will be watching clips of past runnings and see if there is some type of strategy to it. I did find a good site that explains the stats of the ranches each bull is coming from this year. It lists the number of gorings, contusions, and runners that need medical treatment. This reminds me that I still need to find a travel medical kit. I also still need to get travel insurance. I've been calling around but its hard to find a company that will cover a trip as long ... read more

*It helps if this step is done the same time as your visas because this can help show proof of what you will be doing in each country, where you will be staying, and that you will be moving on. While my plane tickets are getting me to different regions, I next had to figure out some of my overland routes. In Europe, I bought a unlimited use 3 month EuroRail pass from their website for $2,000. This allows me to travel freely between 22 countries. I picked to fly into Germany because it is in central Europe and will let me see northern & western France on my way down to Portugal and Spain for the running of the bulls. After that, I am not really planning to much and will go where & when ... read more

Vaccinations can get expensive but I'm guessing getting yellow fever in another country might be more expensive. In addition, some countries require proof that you have vaccinations for certain things before being allowed in. So the first thing I did was to track down my childhood vaccinations to find out what I have already had. Next I found a travel clinic the specializes in this stuff and I picked Passport Health. Due to the number of different regions I am going, there were a good number of diseases I had to be protected from. Yellow fever is a big one, flu, measles, mumps, Hep A & B, meningitis, rabies, polio, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, and of course travelers diarrhea are some other things we addressed (some I already had vaccines for). In total mine cost roughly $1,000 ... read more

29-31 Countries ; Departs Apr 5, 2011 China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, (if time Norway and Sweden), Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru Picking the route can get tough and I have been changing mine everyday. I am trying to keep my destinations to warm weather places because I come from Cleveland, Ohio. Also because it makes packing slightly easier. The hard part is avoiding the bad seasons in each country, like monsoon season in India and the rest of Asia, the cold in northern Europe, or the extreme heat all over. I hope I planned this well as I will be in China as it is getting warmer, southeast asia before the wet season, India ... read more