I usually try to not make a big deal out of new years. It’s nice to see how people around the world get together to celebrate it, but as far as our personal lives are concerned, it doesn’t make a huge different. I mean, you go to sleep on a Saturday in 2011, and wake up on a Sunday in 2012. Except for the festivities, it’s really like any other Saturday -> Sunday transition. Having new year resolutions are nice and all, but if a resolution is important enough and we are serious about pursuing it, we really don’t have to wait until January 1 to get started. It could easily start on December 29 for example. A lot of us also look back at the ending year and see what we have experienced and accomplished. It is always good to get perspective on our lives, but again, why wait until the new year to do it, when it can be done at anytime, and more frequently than once a year?

Having said all that, when the calendar turned to 2012, it made me realize that the trip is right around the corner. I still have a lot of things to do before departure. It feels like moving to a new city, but worse. At least when you are just moving, you can just dump all the junk into boxes and sort later. I’m trying to minimize my possessions so they won’t take up too much space while I’m gone for 3+ years. I also feel that I haven’t researched enough about possible destinations. In the internet age, this can always be done once on the road, but I think the pre-trip research is a very fun process. It gives me the chills sometimes when I discover a new place through a video or a picture, and say to myself “I want to, and will be there”.

My departure date should be around the beginning of November, and the first destination will most certainly be New Zealand. That leaves me 9 more months at home. Aside from the many hours I spend working, the planning for the trip which I’m not doing nearly enough, I also want to enjoy the comforts of home that I know I will miss once on the road. I’m a big sports fan and I will miss following my teams on TV. I will also miss my room, my bed, my computer with dual monitors, my car, etc. All pretty superficial things, but I got used to them. There are also a few places I would like to see around here (like the Grand Canyon) before I leave. Going on a long trip like this is not all 100% positive. I actually enjoy my life back home and I’m not leaving to try to escape from something.

To help better manage my time and tasks, I started making a list of all things I need to do before departure. The list includes tasks like donating old clothes, booking the plane ticket, updating the theme on this blog, etc. There are about 150 items on the list. I put the travel related tasks on this post, and will be updating it regularly. I will hopefully finish these tasks with time to spare, so I can enjoy the last days before departure without stress.

I recently renewed my old US passport that was set to expire on February 2012. There’s now an option to get the ticker 52-page version instead of the regular 28-page version, with both costing the same. It used to be free to add extra pages to a passport, but now it costs $82 to do so. With that in mind, and the possibility that I might end up using up all the pages of the slimmer version during my upcoming trip, I opted for the 52-page one.

For some reason, I was really excited about getting the new passport. I checked online almost everyday on my application status. The regular service is supposed to be from 4-6 weeks, but I got it under 3 weeks. I also got my old passport back in the mail a couple of days after the new one.

Aside from having more pages, the cover is also much thicker than the old one, probably because of the microchip they put in it now. Of the 52 pages, only 41 are available for visas and stamps, the rest contain miscellaneous information.

New US Passport

Old 24-pager US Passport vs new 52-pager

Assuming that I don’t lose it or have it stolen, this little blue book is going to be my inseparable companion on many adventures around the world.

Updated: December 21, 2011

Here’s a list of tasks I need to complete before the departure for my round the world trip. I’ll be crossing them out as I complete them, and adding more as they come up.

Logistics

• Decide on first destination
• Book plane ticket to first destination (unless it’s Mexico, in which case I’ll travel by land)
• Buy travel insurance

Documents

• Renew US passport
• Renew Taiwanese passport
• Proof of vaccination

Gear

• Buy packpack (around 40 liters)
• Find a lightweight hair clipper (I have short hair and cut it myself every 2 weeks)
• Research and buy a netbook (I think the pros outweigh the cons for carrying one)
• Buy compact camera

Money

• Cancel unused credit cards
• Get a Capital One credit card (no foreign exchange fees when used overseas)

Books

• Read The Rough Guide’s “First-Time Around The World” 
• Read National Geographic’s “Journeys Of A Lifetime”
• Read “The Tao Of Travel” By Paul Theroux
• Read Lonely Planet’s “The Big Trip”
• Read Lonely Planet’s “Travel Photography”
• Read “The Photographer’s Eye” By Michael Freeman
• Read Lonely Planet’s “Travel Writing”
• Reread “Vagabonding” by Rolf Potts

Milford Track by OneEighteen on Flickr

New Zealand will likely be my first destination. I can’t wait to get there and hike (or tramp, as they call it other there) it’s many trails (or walks, as they call it). There’s so much to see and do that I think I could easily spend a whole year there. The 9 most popular walks are branded as The Great Walks.

Great Walk	Distance	Suggested Days	Hut Costs (NZD)	Camping Costs (NZD)
Totals	551 km	37	NZD 1072	NZD 392
Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk	42 km	4	123	49
Tongariro Northern Circuit	50 km	4	124	82
Whanganui Journey	144 km	5	107	75
Abel Tasman Coast Track	51 km	5	143	49
Heaphy Track	82 km	5	123	49
Routeburn Track	32.1 km	3	103	31
Milford Track	53.5 km	4	154	N/A
Kepler Track	60.1 km	4	154	46
Rakiura Track	36 km	3	41	11

They are all hikes on foot except for the Whanganui Journey, which is a canoe trip down Whanganui River. The suggested days for each hike above are on the conservative side, I’d probably do them in fewer days but I also don’t want to rush just for the sake of going faster. The hut and camping costs on the table above are based on the number of nights spent on each walk. There are very few places where huts are not available, so for those nights I used the cost of a campsite spot to calculate the hut costs.

Huts or Camping?

All of walks have huts, which are shelters that in general have stoves, beds and toilets. There’s usually also camping spots around these huts. I imagine that the huts are a fun way to meet a lot of people, but I really enjoy the whole camping in a tent experience. When lights are out, I think I’d prefer to sleep by myself in my tent, rather than hearing other people snore. I will probably end up doing a bit of both camping and staying in huts.

Reservations

These walks are hugely popular and all require reservations during peak season (when I’d be there). Today (November 23, 2011) I went to the online reservation website and tried to book huts for next Monday (November 28, 2011) to get an idea of availability and how far in advance I’d need to make reservations. The most popular walk is the Milford Track, and the earliest available date is March 15, 2012! There are also no camping spots for this walk. Two of the other walks (Heaphy Track and Abel Tasman) would also require some advance booking. The remaining ones have plenty of hut and camping spots available and could just be booked a few days in advance.

Costs

New Zealand is an expensive country to backpack, and starting my trip by staying there for 3 months is going to take a good chunk out of my overall budget, but I’ve been wanting to go there for a long time, so I’ll try not to worry too much about this. Doing a lot of hiking will also save me loads of money, since most days while doing walks, I’ll be spending less than US$35/day. If I’m camping, some days will be way less than that. This is great because some backpackers have averaged US$80-100 while doing city travel in New Zealand, and I can’t imagine spending US$7,500-9,000 for a 3-month stay.

Which Walks To Pick?

As far picking which of these walks to go to, when presented with many  choices I always ask myself “Can I do them all?”. The total distance for the 9 walks are 551 km (342 miles), and the total number of days suggested is a combined 37 days. Of course, this doesn’t include traveling from one walk to  another. Booking in advance while coordinating where I’ll be on each day during my 3-month stay in New Zealand will be a bit of a challenge while taking away some freedom and flexibility.

I will probably be staying close to the 90-day visa limit in New Zealand. Even if I did all the tracks one after another, I’d would take a least 50 days including transportation and preparation for the following walks. It will most likely take me longer because 50 days would be an insane pace. This would mean that hiking would take a big chunk of my stay in New Zealand, leaving me little time for city travel and other stuff. I think I’m OK with this. There is no way I could see everything I wanted to see in 3 months, and if I had to pick, I’d rather do hiking in nature instead of city travel in this country.

On the other hand, while I think it’d be nice to do all walks, I don’t want it to become a exercise of checking items off a list. I’m sure there are many walks in New Zealand that are not as well known but equally amazing. In regards to difficulty, most of the Great Walks are also on the easy side. I think I’d also like to try some of the more demanding walks.

I think the best course of action will be to book the 2 or 3 Great Walks that requires advance reservation before my departure, and once there, try to do the other ones as time and desire permits.

Nothing really exciting, but this is the first item I bought exclusively for my upcoming RTW trip.

I cut my own hair every 2-3 weeks, and while I could just go to different barbers around the world during the trip, I think it’ll be safer and cheaper to do it myself. For years I’ve been using a heavy Wahl hair clipper, but I was looking for something smaller and lighter to carry in a backpack.

I ordered the Phillips Norelco Kid’s Hair Clipper online and it arrived a few days ago. I’m very surprised and happy at how small and light it is. It only has a combined weight of 6.4 oz (181 g). 4.4 oz (124 g) for the unit, and 2 oz (57 g) for the charger. It has a battery and can work with or without the charger attached, and comes with 2 adjustable lock-in combs, but I really only need  to bring the shorter one with me.

Phillips Norelco Kid's Hair Clipper

Side View

Adjustable Comb

Petra, Jordan

I first saved these 2 National Geographic pictures of Petra, Jordan to my computer on November 26, 2004. They left me in awe and really fueled the wanderlust in me. I knew I had to eventually get there. Since then it has been voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. I haven’t done much research about Jordan. I don’t know much about it. I hope it’s as good as it looks in these pictures, but this destination is more symbolic than anything else. Getting there would be going to probably the first source of inspiration for my upcoming trip.

Petra, Jordan

A good number of people have asked me about what it would cost to backpack around the world. While researching the trip, I came across a wide spectrum of opinions. Ranges varied from US$ 10,000 to 30,000/year, while others said that with some start-up money, they could backpack non-stop for the rest of their lives by traveling and stopping to work when the money started to run low. A friend of even said: “3 years? Don’t you need like $300,000 to do something like that?” She didn’t know what a hostel was, so in her mind traveling on $60/day is impossible.

The best way to find out much you’ll need is to look at what people with similar travel philosophies have spent in similar trips. I have come to realize that there is really not a “right” way to travel. Different people travel for different reasons and have different comfort levels. Even the same person can enjoy contrasting “types” of traveling. Last year I went from hiking and camping the wilderness of the West Coat Trail to drinking margaritas next to a huge swimming pool in decadent Las Vegas all within 24 hours. I enjoyed both of them equally.

For this upcoming trip however, my travel philosophy will be:

Pre-Trip Expenses

My likely first destination is New Zealand, and I should be able use frequent flyer miles for the plane ticket. Aside from that, I’m budgeting $2,000 for a netbook, new digital camera, backpack, and some other smaller things.

Countries To Visit

The majority will be cheaper third world countries because I find them more exotic and adventurous. I’ve already been to expensive Western Europe so I will try to avoid it or spend as little time there as possible. I will focus most of the traveling in South East Asia, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, Central and South America.

Transportation

By the time I leave for my trip, I’ll have about 200,000 AAdvantage frequent flyer miles, and since they now allow you to get one-way tickets, I should be able to use them for a good number of my flights. That should save me a few thousand dollars. I’m aware they have a round-the-world ticket option, but it’s not very useful to me since it has a 1 year time limit. As far as local transportation is concerned, I don’t mind taking local buses and trains. Some of them can be uncomfortable, but I find them to be very interesting because for the duration of the bus/train ride, I feel like I’m living the life of a local person.

Lodging

I’ll be staying mostly in dorms in hostels, with some couchsurfing mixed in. With a bit of research before arriving at a city, I can avoid the bad/dirty hostels. From time to time I will get a private room in a hotel/hostel because I do think it gets tiring to have to continually deal with other roommates and the lack of privacy.

Food

Mostly street food because while I can spend long periods of time alone without any problems, I find it very lonely and uncomfortable to sit at a restaurant table by myself. Besides, street food usually taste great. You can see exactly what you are going to get, as opposed to items on a restaurant menu which would probably be in a language I can’t read. In cheaper countries I wouldn’t mind going to restaurants with people I meet along the way. I’ve never cooked in hostels in the past but I think if I’m staying in a place for a longer period, I’d be inclined to do it. Sometimes I also like to just grab some ingredients to make a sandwich from a grocery store and eat it on a park bench.

Sites and Activities

I really don’t want to skimp on these. I would really like to go to all the museums and sites and adventure activities (bungee jumping, paragliding, etc) I’m interested in. Unless something is so outrageously expensive that I won’t do it out of principle. Also included is a trip to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. During this trip, I envision a lot of days where I’m lounging around doing nothing, so averaging these days with those where I spend more on expensive activities should still keep my budget under control.

My Estimates

Considering all of the above, I’m planning to budget US$ 60/day on average, which amounts to $21,900/year, which I’ll round up to $25,000/year to cover unexpected expenses. I’ll try not to be too militant about the budget to avoid worrying too much about how much I’m spending, instead of just enjoying the journey. If I end up spending more per day, I’ll just shorten my trip and come home early.

Yup, that’s a lot of money, but I think it’s the best money I’ll ever spend.

Ever since growing up in Buenos Aires and riding it’s subte (subway), I have been fascinated with trains. I love taking a train and see how people live their lives in other regions of the world, going from large cities to rural areas, carving it’s way between mountains and over rivers.

I think of the Trans-Siberian Railway as the ultimate train ride. At 9,259 km (5,753 miles), it is the longest railway in the world going from Moscow to Vladivostok. Although I might be more inclined to do the Trans-Mongolian Line, which branches off at the Russian city of Ulan-Ule (about 2/3 of the way from Moscow to Vladivostok), and goes through Mongolia before arriving at Beijing, China.

Trans Mongolian Railway. Photo courtesy of Josh Gerritsen.

Whatever route or direction is taken, there are 2 ways to do this journey. One is to just hop on the train and stay on the it until the final destination, which takes about a week. Another way is to get off the train and stay a few days at some of the cities along the way. Both ways has its appeals.

A week-long uninterrupted train ride would be great at getting to really know some of the people on it. I would assume that after so many days together, you would become pretty good friends with a good number of them. Also the idea of doing the whole route without stopping appears to be more “epic” than one that has been broken down into pieces.

On the other hand, it would be a shame to travel through so many miles without stopping at a single site or city along the way. What good is it have visited Mongolia when it was only from the inside of a train car? With no time constraint, I think I’m more inclined to make many stops along the way. Maybe when I get older I’ll get another chance to relive the journey uninterrupted and all in one seating.

Interesting Trans-Siberian Railway Links

Moscow-Vladivostok: virtual journey on Google Maps – View the entire journey from a passenger seat through YouTube videos, while tracking your current location on Google Maps.
Seat61.com – Lots of practical information and pictures.
Josh Gerritsen’s Trans Siberian Railway Trip – Great account of the trip with amazing photographs.

Travel Philosophy

On my first trip to Europe in 2002, I did a fair amount of research beforehand mainly because it was my first time traveling solo, first time backpacking, and first time going to the region. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be easy or hard, so I wanted there to be as few unknowns as possible. I ended up realizing that backpacking travel is not hard.

On a overland trip through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina in 2005, my backpack was stolen halfway through the trip and I was forced to improvise the rest of the way by winging it with only a very small, newly-acquired, half-full backpack. It was very liberating. I enjoyed figuring out things along the way, and just relaxing and not worrying too much. The lesson learned was that things will usually work out in the end with a little bit of instincts and common sense (too bad I didn’t have the instinct or common sense to avoid having my backpack stolen in the first place).

Isla del Sol, Bolivia

For my upcoming Round The World (RTW) trip, which I’m hoping will last 3 or more years, the goal is to travel slow and not be on any kind of schedule. Building on past journeys, I now have enough trust in my traveling know-how to not worry too much in advance about the logistics for each destination. I would like to travel by land wherever is safe and feasible.

Destinations

Most of the pre-trip planning will mostly be just figuring out which places I want to visit. Inspiration can come from a photograph, a movie, or an online blog post or article. Over the years I have made a mental list of places I wanted to visit in my lifetime, and the idea of an RTW trip come up as a way to kill all the birds with one shot. I definitely don’t want this trip to be about ticking off a long check list of destinations. There are some must-see places, and some with lower priorities, but I will have to remind myself to stay very flexible and enjoy the journey more than the destinations.

For my first destination, I’m leaning toward either New Zealand or Mexico. New Zealand because I plan to do a lot of hiking there, and since I don’t want to be carrying all the hiking gear during the entire trip, I think it’s best to just get most of the hiking done at the beginning and then mail the equipment home. From there I can move on to Australia and South East Asia. The other choice is Mexico because one of my “must-do” items is traveling from the United States to the south of Argentina by land (or vice versa), going through most of Latin America. Mexico is only about 130 miles (210 km) south of where I live.

What To Pack

Unlike a wilderness backpacking trip, this one will mostly involve city traveling, so I’m not too concerned about trying to get the perfect packing list. If I forget to bring something, or if an item doesn’t work out, I can buy or replace as I go. I think a backpack in the neighborhood of 40 liters should be enough.

I’m also leaning towards bringing along a netbook computer. With wi-fi connections available in a lot of hostels, it will make writing this blog and communicating with people much easier. On the other hand, I don’t look forward to worrying all the time about it getting stolen. If it becomes a pain in the ass during the trip, I can always sell it.

Getting Things In Order Before Departure

There’s of course a number of logistical tasks that needs to be completed before departure, which I listed in this to-do list. Why bring the Taiwanese passport along with the American passport? It is easier and sometimes cheaper to get into certain countries like Argentina, where American citizens need to pay a $131 entry visa fee.

I have decided to fulfill my lifelong dream of traveling around the world starting in about 12 months time. I’m currently 33 years old and not getting any younger, and with no mortgage, car payments, significant other or kids, this is the right time to do something like this. Well, the right time would have been 10 years ago, but back then I didn’t have the means nor the vision to do it.

My initial plan to is go for a minimum of 3 years. I’m not sure where I’ll be going first (probably New Zealand), and I don’t think that is very important either in such a long trip. I have many places that I want to visit for sure and I know that eventually I’ll get there. I have no idea how many countries or cities I’ll end up visiting, or how long I’ll stay at each place. I like to travel slow and have complete freedom, so I might stay in any particular place for 1 day or many months. After 1 year I might get tired of it all and decide to come home. Or, I might just keep on traveling for the rest of my life, stopping from time to time to work and save money to keep on traveling. I really don’t know what will happen, and I don’t think I’m supposed to at this time.

What I do know is that a little bit before June 2014, I’ll be in Argentina to meet my high school friends before going together to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. We are all getting older and a few of them are starting (or planning soon) to form families, so we see this as our last chance to take a trip like this together.

There are a million things I want to do, see, and experience during this round the world trip. Too many to list them all in this post without making it unbearably long, so I’ll post them in separate posts between now and my departure day.

Machu Picchu, Peru