- When do you leave?
- How long do you plan to be away?
1-2 Years - How much have you saved?
US$23000 - How old are you?
28 - Nationality
USA - Where do you live now?
Metro New York City, New York, USA - Occupation
Designer/editor-turned-travel-journalist - Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
It’s my career - Have you traveled around the world before?
Yes - What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
NYC to Quito then overland for 4 months to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Side trip to Galapagos too. Then fly to Capetown, overland to Namibia, fly to Malawi, then overland to Addis Ababa. Fly to Cairo and see the Middle East, then off to Morrocco. Take the ferry into Spain, then overland to Moscow to hop on the Trans Siberian Railway. Arrive in Beijing, see the Wall, overland to Shanghai, then fly to India. Overland to Nepal, then fly to Thailand and work my way down to Indonesia. Then the Philippines and New Zealand. Maybe Fiji afterwards if I have some money left. - Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
It’s something that was always in the back of my mind, but after reading Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, it was released from my mind and into reality. - What is your biggest fear about this trip?
Getting ripped off in a con. Snakes. Getting ripped off in a con by snakes. - Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
Yes, everyone is STOKED. They’re all jealous and want to live vicariously through me. - How much planning and preparing have you done?
Just Enough - What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
2-3 sets of clothes, a small digital camera, my trusty Canon AE-1 SLR, cotton swabs, and duct tape. - 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?
I honestly cannot say how it will affect me, only that it most likely will. I can not predict the emotions of “2005 Erik,” just like “1999 Erik” would have NEVER predicted the actions of “2003 Erik.” If I went back in time and told myself five years ago that in 2003 I’d leave for my second time around the world, I’d say my future self was stoned. - If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
It’s gonna be one hellava ride. - 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?
Well, RTWs aren’t for everyone. But as the famous saying by St. Augustine goes, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read one page.” - What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
That you have to win the lottery to do so. All you have to do is save a little here a little there, by any means necessary and in a year or less, you’ll have enough to go one some sort of an RTW. - Why do you like to travel?
It is only when I travel that I feel most alive. - What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
Don’t treat guidebooks as Bibles. In all the advice and reading you’ll do in your pre-departure preparation, you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the Facts of Life, the Facts of Life (and Travel).
October 2003
For more on Erik and his trip, see his website and ask: Would you?