Megan Woods - Around-the-World Traveler

1. When do you leave?
   February 2002

2. How long do you plan to be away?
   6-12 Months

3. How much have you saved?
   £8000

4. How old are you?
   27

5. Nationality
   South Africa

6. Where do you live now?
   London, England

7. Occupation
   Bond Marketing

8. Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
   One more paycheck and I'm gone

9. Have you traveled around the world before?
   No

10. What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
    Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, North America

11. Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
    Technically I have been travelling since 1997. I left South Africa to travel and have only been home on short visits since. After my Middle East and Africa trips I just kept finding more and more places that had to be done. This kind of travel is not easy to shake – it's on my long list of bad habits.

12. What is your biggest fear about this trip?
    That it won't satisfy my curiosity enough to let me finally go home and I will have to stay in London to save again for another big one. Also I fear anything that I am not familiar with – so I have to change that.

13. Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
    People are mostly amazed and envious. I could kick people who say, "You're so lucky – I wish I could do that!" Well, I don't see them chained to their desks and their dreary lives.

14. How much planning and preparing have you done?
    Winged it a lot

15. What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
    Heavy-duty tick spray. It's the strongest anti-everything-that-crawls, but mostly it is a bedbug and flea terminator. Otherwise I'm travelling so light that I could skip around the world on my tippy toes...

16. 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 am hoping that Africa hasn't ruined me for other countries – if this RTW trip can give me even a quarter of the insight into both myself and other people that Africa did, then it will be worth every penny! I think travel makes you realise that life's not about you but what you do with it.

17. If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    The realisation that fears are only in your head if you just confront them head-on.

18. 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?
    A vacation is like going to the zoo and seeing an animal in an enclosure; extended travel is like heading out into the wild and running into a rhino in it's natural habitat – suddenly you're the one that's vulnerable.

19. What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
    That they will be giving up too much for it to be worthwhile.

20. Why do you like to travel?
    I can't help myself – it's a sickness. I'm happiest when I don't have things cluttering up my life and my feet are moving and there's always something new to look forward to – no time for anything to get stale.

21. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    Be very flexible when it comes to making plans – the best times are always the unplanned ones.

Follow Megan's RTW trip with her travelogue, What Do Travellers Do All Day?