I’m a complete OCD planning freak. Usually.
A great example: For my big Europe trip, I planned the exact train routes and times for the entire trip…in advance.
Needless to say, for this upcoming trip (all 17 months worth), it is quite the planning-overload. I’ve been afraid of getting too caught up in the nitty-gritty of my trip details (because having such a rigid travel schedule was exhausting)…but I have finally put together what I think is going to be my general itinerary. For anyone happening to read this, any tips are SO appreciated. Seriously.
- December – March, 2010: South America, or (my newest brain child) living in Paris. Ideally, I’ll be hiking through Peru or gorging myself on delicious french food and seeing the beautiful sites (AKA sexy french men).
- March, 2010: Back to Florida, for a bridesmaid stint in Texas.
- March – June, 2010: Working in South Africa. YAY!
- June – November, 2010: Overlanding my way through SA, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia. Flying from Ethiopia to Egypt. Overlanding through the Middle East until I get to Istanbul, Turkey.
- November – December, 2010: Florida with my family…and another bridesmaid affair, although this time on Sanibel Island.
- December 2010 – August 2011: India, China, Thailand, Eastern Russia, Mongolia, South Korea (to maybe visit an old pen pal)…and Japan!
Phew! That’s quite the mouthful!
I do admit, this whole itinerary might seem a little ambitious. Unfortunately, I’ve already cut out half of Africa (my eyes were initially way too big for my travel “stomach”) – so I’m hoping to make it work. My inner-biologist is fighting for more time in Eastern Africa…but my wannabe historian-self is pushing for extensive Middle Eastern travel.
Hopefully this weekend I’ll really get some of the kinks worked out.
In the meantime, I’ll grab a good travel book for some relaxing armchair adventures – the kind which need absolutely zero preparation…and only a bowl of chips and cold beer at hand.
Miller Light, anyone?
Hello Kim,
Thank you for stopping by at my site
http://savvytravelerzone.blogspot.com and leaving very constructive comment.
I am looking forward to your backpacking advanture.
Hey! Thanks for the comment! Do you have a lot of experience with Star Alliance, as far as their customer service, etc.?
I think I'm going to do what you're suggesting…that sort of arrangement has been on my mind for a while. It's nice to know that another traveler thinks it might work.
I wouldn't write off round the world tickets just yet, for your itinerary. They do offer a lot of flexibility.
One way you could do it is one ticket for South America and back from USA. Another ticket to South Africa. Then start a round the world ticket (probably on Star Alliance because they have far more options in Asia) from North Africa/Middle East to USA to Asia and back to Middle East up to a year later. The round the world ticket could include Eastern Russia and Mongolia (both places hard to get to), but you'd probably want to visit them last in the Asia bit of the trip (to avoid winter).
With only eight days and one day trip planned, I woludn’t necessarily recommend going very far out of Ile-de-France. Versailles is accessible by RER, so you don’t need to take the national rail. Fontainebleu isn’t far away, either. Chartres is very do-able as a day trip it’s a nice little medievalish town with a lovely cathedral. As for Normandy, Rouen is only an hour away. Giverny is also 45 minutes by train as well, although the train station is in Vernon, so you’d either have to take a taxi or a bus from there to Giverny a few kilometres away. With the new (well, as of 2007, anyway) TGV Est, Reims, the capital of Champagne and the site of the cathedral where France’s kings were crowned, is a mere 45 minutes away. Unfortunately, some of more interesting sites in Normandy that others are suggesting, such as Bayeux and Mont Saint-Michel, are a bit too far away (or, rather, require transfers and long layovers) if you’re going to taking the train. If you’re driving or plan to spend a night away, I would highly recommend those two. I really adored both. But I also REALLY adore Paris and think that an overnight day-trip on an eight-day trip is too much. But that’s just me.Someone else suggested some place in the Loire valley. Given a choice between Normandy (with the exception of Bayeux and Mont St-Michel) and the Loire, I’d actually take the latter. Tours is an hour away by TGV, but doesn’t boast any castles of its own. Orleans is only an hour away as well (but, again, no castles). Blois, which does have a castle, is between an hour and a half and two hours away. As with the case of Normandy, some of the other castles that I really loved (Chinon, Azay-le-Rideau) require too much time to visit in just one day by train.IF you decide to go to Versailles, DO visit the town and not just the palace