One question that we get a lot revolves around how we plan our travels. People want to know if we are using an around-the-world plane ticket, or if we have just been flying by the seat of our pants. We have been operating somewhere in between. Early on in our trip, we did have some plane tickets booked in advance, for example our departure from the States to Spain and our visit to Denmark. Knowing that we have tickets paid for and dates set helps build a certain type of excitement, but midway through Europe, we took our last scheduled flight; at that point, we were truly free with no solid future plans. It felt great, liberating and new.
After some weeks, we realized that we wanted to visit destinations that required flying. So, in an effort to save money, we booked our airfare to Asia. Following a couple more pre-arranged flights to China, South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, we again switched into open-schedule mode through SE Asia, purchasing last minute buses and trains as we pleased. Traveling with no concrete plans is the way to go in this part of the world. It’s so easy to hop around that we found ourselves in places we had not intended; truly letting the road choose our course.
The only certain thing in life is change, and as the months slipped away, we again found ourselves faced with some long distances flights approaching. Nature gave us the nudge we needed. Trapped inside during a monsoon downpour in Luang Prabang, Laos, we went on a booking frenzy! When the dust had settled, we had booked six flights and laid out a time table for the next four months of travel.
Here is what lies ahead…
- Singapore: A weekend in this intriguing city-state.
- Sumatra: Indonesia’s large but lesser explored island.
- Malaysia: SCUBA diving in some of SE Asia’s most well-preserved waters.
- Australia: A week visiting friends in Perth, plus a trip to Sydney.
- New Zealand: A month of road-tripping and trekking around the north and south islands.
- Chile: Returning to where Mike studied abroad, Thanksgiving, Amy’s birthday (her parents are meeting us down there!) and a wedding to top things off.
- Argentina: Christmas and New Years with some of Mike’s family.
We have found this approach of on-and-off planning to be a great way to piece together our RTW trip. Advanced booking means locking in lower airfare for long hauls, but once you reach a fun region of the world, leaving the “meat” of the journey unplanned keeps every day feeling fresh.
We look forward to blogging about our up-and-coming adventures on the road! If you have any travel suggestions for these parts of the world, or if there is anything in particular you’d like us to write about, let us know. Cheers!
You guys are awesome! Hope all is well!