One of the first things we had to take into consideration was our jobs. We both put in request to take a 1 year leave. We agreed if one of us received the leave we would go. Luckily, one of us was granted the leave. So, we started planning.
Deciding were to go and how long to stay started out as a big task. We decided to start by labeling all our friends around the world we might be able to stay with on the map. We follow up by making our 'bucket list' items and places we just really wanted to visit. Really, this just a a map with a lot of dots! It did teach us there is a lot of places we want to go. The next idea was to read what other people have done, maybe that would layout a basic route.
In researching around the world trips we found https://www.airtreks.com, which allowed us to try many paths and get approximate cost. We started playing with teh airteks map over several weeks trying different paths, adding and removing places, and bascially just playing. The first several routes had way too many stops, we would have been on a plane more than visiting places. After many more tries and slowing narrowing what both we and girls wanted to see we came up wiht our preliminary path.
Once the prelimary path was lied out, we starting working on how long we would start in each location. This was a back and forth game. We wanted to corrdinate our flights to fly on the cheapest days and the from the cheapest airports, but this involved having a basic idea what we would be doing in the area and how long it would take. After about 2-months of work we finally developed a solid plan.
In late December, 2016, we made our first purchase, Eurail passes, the sale was coming to an end so if we wanted their discount we had to purchase it before the 31st. In retrospect it was one of least thought our purchase, at the time we were not 100% sure when we were going to be in Europe and how long we were going to stay or even if we needed a Eurail pass. We thought we did and it always sound fun to Europe on rail, so we just went for it. Later, after researching Europe travel, we think it was the right choice. Anyways, the Eurail was our first purchase, solidified our trip. We were committed now!
In January, we started purchasing our plane tickets. During the plane ticket transactions I learned some useful information about buying plane tickets. First, most airlines do not sell plane tickets more than 320 days out. Second, the best discounted tickets tend to be between 8-9 months out. These tidbits of information killed me, because I was ready to buy all our plane tickets, but the timing was not right. Slowly, as the time passed and the purchasing sweet spot come to date we pucharchased plane tickets. As we purchased them we slightly modified out schedule a day here and there to be cost effective.
So, where are we going and what do we have planned so far?
It is a bit confusing to look at, so in a nutshell (just major cities) here it goes.
Chicago -> Doha, Qatar (just one night)
Doha, Qatar -> Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa -> Johannesburg, South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa -> Casablanca, Morocco
Casablanca, Morocco -> Madrid, Spain
Madrid, Spain - Eurail Highlight of Europe (in reverse with slight modifications) ->Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark -> Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm, Sweden -> St. Petersburg, Russia
St. Petersburg, Russia -> Moscow, Russia
Moscow, Russia -> TransSiberian Rail to Beijing, China
Beijing, China -> Lhasa, Tibet (Mt. Everest Base Camp)
Lhasa, Tibet -> Xian, China (Terracotta Army)
Xian, China -> Guilin, China
Guilin, China -> Hong Kong
Hong Kong -> Seoul, Korea
Seoul, Korea -> Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo, Japan -> Chang Mai, Thailand
Chang Mai, Thailand -> Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand -> Hanoi, Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam -> Gold Coast, Austriala
Gold Coast, Austriala -> Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand -> Hawaii
Hawaii -> HOME!
Currently, (Feburary, 2016) everything, except a couple stages in Europe, is planned through Seoul, Korea. We are waiting the next "sweet spot" for plan tickets. We do have many excursions and lots of tours planned, such as cage diving with great whites in South Africa.
We are excited and 4 months left to plan, pack, and get ready!
