Bill Sheehy - Around-the-World Traveler
- When do you leave?
- How long do you plan to be away?
- How much have you saved?
- How old are you?
- Nationality
- Where do you live now?
- Occupation
- Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
- Have you traveled around the world before?
- What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
- Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
- What is your biggest fear about this trip?
- Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
- How much planning and preparing have you done?
- What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
- How do you think your round-the-world trip will change your life? How do you think it will affect and change you as a person?
- If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
- Why do you think people should go on round-the-world trips? Why not just take a regular old one- or two-week vacation instead?
- What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
- What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
June 2003
I Ain't Never Comin' Back
Not enough (about $140K)
62
USA
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Attorney
One more paycheck and I'm gone
No
About a month or two each in: Ecuador (4 weeks language school, 3 weeks travel, including Gallapagos), Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile (including Easter Island), Thailand, Laos, more Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bali/Lambok, Java, Malaysia, Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo), Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Nepal, Tibet, India, Egypt, Morocco, Spain and Europe (I beacame an Irish citizen in December 2002).
I always wanted to do something like this and in the last few years have had several reminders of my own mortality (e.g., death of two parents, 7 bouts of pneumonia, my boredom with the same lifestyle – lots of things inluenced me, including a marvelous bartender in the East Village who seems to live to travel!
THE unknown and untested is always unsettling.
Family will miss me but have not yet freaked out at the thought of my departure.
Control Freak
Packing very, very light – A friend gave me his 3-page, single-spaced list of essentials, all of which will fit in one back pack. My camera and classical music MP3 collection will have to fit in my backpack or else!
I hope to become mellower, less concerned with material things (all of which, including the lght of my life, my black BMW R1150R motorcycle, I have sold or will sell or give away before the end of this month.
I'm tired of looking at a movie like Baraka and thinking, "Why can't I see these great places and people for myself?"
I'm not sure who should choose a RTW trip. It's all about personal preferences, of course.
It is not an overwhelming planning job. Just nibble at it a bit at a time and your plan will become focused and take on a life of its own.
Read a variety of travel books( e.g., Lonely Planet, Let's Go, Rough Guide, Footprints) on the same country or area of the world, and absorb the best. Chat with travellers who have been to at least some of the places you will be going to, and beg or wheedle the most knowledgeable advice advice you can get.
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