The Set-up

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Final Preparations (Tim)

Doing the final preparations for the trip now. Phew. Almost like moving house - except with less stuff to carry. You just don't realise how much you have going on in your life until you have to put it on hold. Just need to get things to the stage where we can go off to Spain and get ourselves together before we continue on with the trip proper.

If you're reading this and planning a round-the-world caper of your own then you'll know that in reality your trip began long before you reach this stage of the proceedings. For those that don't know this then you might want to know:

• Have some kind of idea of where you'd like to go. Sounds obvious, I know, but it's a big world out there and you might be wondering where to start. Having some of your own dreams to follow (you know, "I've always wanted to bongo dance naked in the Amazon one day...") is much more satisfying that just looking up "50 places to see before you die" on the interwebs. Worth checking back when you're planning and seeing if somehow you've lost sight of any of those things for some reason. Remember - it really is all about you.
  
• Start your planning and preparation early. It can all take a lot longer than you think to get yourself in order, depending on what sort of person you are and how old you are. We were still sorting things out in the last month before we went and it felt too rushed and there was an element of making decisions because we were a bit past the point of caring. We took three months to organise a six month trip - we're "taking a career break from our professions", which probably tells you all you need to know! If you're younger and more carefree you might get away will less planning. As a minimum I would say leave enough time for jabs and visas.
  
• Plan to go away only for as long as you're comfortable with. One way to get a grip on your trip is to have some kind of vague notion of when you'd like to come back. We've professional reasons for a six month break. Some people suggest a year as a round number. Knowing you've got to get from here to there in that amount of time helps focus the mind.
  
• Don't try to plan to do too much. With duration now fixed, don't try and cram everything but the kitchen sink in. We've felt that less really is more in this case - otherwise we wont take it all in. Also, some things wont go according to plan (we're traveling with a 'pandemic' gripping the globe) and a bit of padding will allow for some changes en route. And leave plenty of time to rest - even if you're quite young and full of beans you might find the need to just settle somewhere for a while before you can take anything new in (we've been warned thoroughly about this.) With a trip of 6 months, we're trying to fit in 5 continents, each with one major destination and activity, followed by a bit of general traveling in each place.
  

For those of you who don't know what our plans are, we are:

• Spain - for some R&R.
  
• Namibia - for animals and suchlike.
  
• Peru and surrounding area - for trekking.
  
• Argentina - for tango and gauchos.
  
• New Zealand - for outdoorsy stuff.
  
• Malaysia and Thailand - for beaches, chilling out and great food.
  

First stop - Spain.

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Comments

[Arwyn]

(1) Have some kind of idea of where you'd like to go : Earth (2) Start your planning and preparation early : Check (3) Plan to go away only for as long as you're comfortable with : Forever ! (4) Don't try to plan to do too much : Dude ! Have you SEEN your itinerary !!! enjoy !! kisses A