Worried about my RTW trip

Well where to start, In the last 5-6 months i have been saving and planning to take a 12 to 18 month long trip around the world ,reading a ton of blogs, researching as much as possible through sites such as this one, lonely planet, travelblog ect looking for ideas, tips, inspiration ect. well i'm quiet a long way into the idea of travelling but still have some reservations, considering this is my first time doing a trip of this magnitude

what im asking for here is for any of you travellers, bloggers ect to critique my itinerary, budget ect and to give me any tips ect on how/ where to fix any glaring mistakes/ budgeting.

Ok first off I have already bought all pre trip item so I wont need to be budgeting for anything other then Flights, day to day requirements ( food ect), transport (in country) and accommodation costs.

im the dependent type who doesn’t mind roughing it in any way, most of my budgeting has been done online through many of the sources I listed above with a healthy 20% over budget added to the end for emergencies ect.

Ok lets start with my itinerary. I will break it down into a few blocks to make it easier to read / understand.

I will be flying out of Sydney, Australia on the 27th March 2011 to

South Africa
33 days in Cape Town - Sky diving and Shark Cage diving included

then onto Namibia
7 Days in Swakopmund
14 Days in Windhoek

then onto Zambia
7 Days in Livingstone - Victoria falls tour and Bungee jump included
14 Days in Lusaka

Then onto Tanzania
14 Days in Dar Es Salaam
5 Days in Zanzibar - 2 in Stone Town, 3 in Pwonge Beach resort
5 Days in Moshi
7 Days in Arusha
3 Days in Dar Es Salaam - awaiting flight to Aswan via Cairo

then onto Egypt
14 Days in Aswan - Abu Simbel tour included
21 Days in Luxor - Lot of activities included here, general touristy sites ect
7 Days in Alexandria - El Alamein tour included
21 Days in Cairo
2 Days in Nuwieba - awaiting ferry to Jordan

then onto Jordan
7 Days in Aqqaba - includes 2 days in Petra
7 Days in Amman

then onto Syria
14 days in Damascus

then onto Turkey
3 days in Kayseri
12 days in Ankara
3 days in Bursa - includes Gallipoli tour
14 days in Istanbul

Then onto Bulgaria
10 days in Sofia

then onto Romania
10 days in Bucuresti

then onto Hungary
10 days in Budapest

then onto Austria
8 days in Vienna

then onto Czech Republic
14 days in Prague

then onto Germany
10 days in Berlin
5 days in Bayern
10 days in Munich
5 days in Cologne
5 days in Hamburg

then onto Netherlands
10 days in Amsterdam

then onto Belgium
10 days in Brussels

then onto France
10 days in Paris
3 days in Bayeux - D-day landing beach tour included
8 days in Lyon

Then onto Switzerland
8 days in Bern

then onto Italy
3 days in Genova
5 days in Florence
20 days in Rome
5 days in Naples

then onto France
5 days in Toulon
5 days in Marseilles
5 days in Perpignan
6 days in Nice
3 days in Monaco

then on to Spain
12 days in Barcelona
5 days in Granada
5 days in Gibraltar
10 days in Madrid

Totals off at around 460 days - 65 weeks - 15 mths

Thats where im up to at the moment could probably rework some days in certain areas to bring it down or drop a few places to a total of 12 mths as i want to either finish in South America or South east Asia before flying back to Australia for 3- 6 mths.

My total budget is roughly around $36000 but i could stretch it to around 40-42K if needed.
what i have worked out so far is that i will spend around

$30 a day in African countries
$40 a day in Eastern European countries
$50-80 a day in Western Europe

and either $40 a day in South America or $25 a day in SEA

Accounting in for some splurges and any costs that come up from changes to itinerary

My issues atm is whether this is enough budgeted for this amount of days , visa issues ( especially the Syrian visa) some transport issues, having a hard time finding some transport between some of the Afrcian Countries, especially Zambia to Tanzania, some issues with the Schengen Visa ( dont totally understand the visa between country borders)

I know reading the massive wall of text and replying is asking alot lol but any handy advice on anything at all to do with my trip would be appreciated, whether its about budget, route, amount of days in countries, places i have missed that are must see ect by all means pick my itinerary apart, im a big time planner and would hate to get into my trip and have everything fall apart mid way through due to lack of knowledge / planning in general.

Waiting to hear your replies and answer your questions, Thanks in advance,

Chris Reply to this

Oh, here's a direct link to my RTW trip, if you're interested.

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JJfromNJ/Trips/845

-Justin Reply to this

There's nothing wrong with being a big planner. You should read all you can, embrace it and enjoy the planning process. All I mean is that you shouldn't stick to a day-to-day itinerary once you're out there. If you're in Windhoek and realize you aren't feeling it, don't be afraid to move on a few days early, and don't be afraid to go with the Canadians you just met to the game park you never heard of. These impromptu experiences can also be the most memorable.

Overland tours aren't going to make your visa experiences any different or easier. It's still your responsibility to get your own visas at the borders. But in Africa, I don't think you will have any problems at all actually getting them. It's just all the fees that are a bummer, but an overland tour won't help you there. With that said, I did an overland tour from Cape Town to Kilimanjaro and it was great. Didn't have to deal with transportation issues (e.g. Zambia to Tanzania) and I still felt like I saw the "real" Africa. I also made some of my best travel friends ever on that tour because I was with them 24/7 for 6 weeks. After Kili, I flew to Cairo and did everything from there on out independently.

There's really nothing else you can do about the Syrian visa, because you officially have to get the visa at home and then you must enter Syria within 3 months. I know it sounds dodgy just showing up there and hoping for the best, but people do it every day. And other than people with Israeli travel evidence, I've never heard of anyone from any country being turned away. When I went, I had a vague backup plan of flying to Turkey via Tel Aviv or Cairo. But it shouldn't be necessary. This might be one area where you'll be forced to wing it regardless of how much research you do.

It's natural to worry about getting everything you can out of something you put so much money into it. But you're going to find your groove and settle in and have an incredible time. And you're going to look back and laugh at how concerned you were before you left.

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