2 Weeks and Counting

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Why work

Rose and I are officially unemployed and homeless. Yet everyone envies us.

Why? We're off to see the world.

Logistics

The logistics of leaving home for a year are mind-boggling. US Health Insurance is not valid overseas. Travel Insurance is not valid in US. Bills need to be paid. It goes on and on.

To learn more, I spent time at ThornTree "Gap Year" Forum at LonelyPlanet.com (to get destination advise), and on FlyerTalk.com "Airline Alliance" forums (to get transportation advice).

Basically, choice came down to "pay as you go" airfare (too expensive for us) or pick one of the three Global Airline Alliances and go with them.

Enter GlidePath Travel

When researching the trip online, I came across this guy Gardyloo (John) who kept posting really good answers to questions others asked. In one of his posts, he mentioned that one day, maybe he'll open a consultancy. I wrote and volunteered to be his first client. He agreed.

We couldn't have done it without him. Basically, we told him where we wanted to go and he compared it to what the three airline alliances offered to help us decide which one to go with. He then planned the itinerary and did tons of research for us. He is not a 'travel agent', he is someone who loves screwing the airlines out of money, and has been around the world himself. We paid him a few hundred and he saved us thousands. Our friends Jackie and Jerry used him to arrange a quick Carribean Trip and he saved them money too. Email John Sevy [e-mail] if you're interested

$60G and you can go too

John figured, based on where we want to go, and some other quirks of our travel, that we should go to Gibralter and buy a ticket there. The Round the World (RTW) ticket in GIB is $2G less than US, and even with purchasing a RT to GIB, we still save money. We are flying Business Class. Ticket is about $8G.

We figure it will cost us about $100/day for the two of us because we are going to a lot of less-developed places. That makes the whole enchilada come in at about $50G-$60G and we earn enough miles to do it again

Itinerary

We lose our apt. on 2/1 and will go to Milwaukee to visit Rose's family. Then, if Rose and I survive that, which could be the most difficult leg of journey, we will go to London and Ireland on way to Gibralter to pick up our tickets. We then start traveling by heading west.

S. AMERICA
Then we go to Buenos Aires in Argentina, visit Iguazu Falls in Brazil, down to Southern Most part of S. America, up west Coast of S. America to Santiago. We'll make a trip to Easter Island and one to Argentina to see Angel Falls. Then spend two months in Peru and Bolivia.

US OF A

We come back to US around late May early June and rest and get Fire Island rented.

ASIA

Then it's off to Tokyo, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, and Delhi.

INDIA AND UZBEKISTAN

We explore India and go up to Uzbekistan. If time allows we get a taste of Nepal, Tibet, Bombay.

S. AFRICA

In S. Africa we visit Victoria Falls, drive to Namibia, visit Johannesburg and Capetown and whatever.

THE EVIL EMPIRE

From S. Africa it's to St. Petersburg and Moscow and then back to Gibralter via London to end the RTW ticket.

TIMBUCTOO

That takes one year. As long as we are in Gibralter, we hope to tack on a trip across straights to Morrocco, Dakar, Senegal and Tomboctoo, Mali.

Needless to say, all this will probably change once we are in Milwaukee.

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Photos

DJ and Rose Excellent Adventure
This is the route we "plan" on taking, the same way we "planned" on making money in the stock market, being rich, retiring at 40, etc. We'll see.
If we make it to Milwaukee and back, we'll call it a success.