- When do you leave?
- How long do you plan to be away?
1-2 Years - How much have you saved?
still working on that one - How old are you?
26 - Nationality
USA - Where do you live now?
Tustin, California, USA - Occupation
Paralegal - 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?
No - What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
I want to start off in Tasmania, make my way through Australia, South Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, then into the U.S. and back home. - Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
I have always been a nut when it comes to traveling, but reading a couple of the travel stories on this website just made me want to go for it. - What is your biggest fear about this trip?
Getting lost and never finding my way back home… although at times that sounds more like a blessing. - Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
My friends are supportive, my co-workers don’t know (unless they happen to read my profile here) and my family thinks I am nuts for ever wanting to leave my home town. - How much planning and preparing have you done?
Just Enough - What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
I’m packing very very light. I hate the idea of lugging around too much. My indispensable items would be my journal, my camera, a few pictures of my family… AND my passport. - 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 haven’t a clue really. I have been feeling so antsy lately. The need to travel is almost so overwhelming that I can think of nothing else. I hope this will quench my thirst so I can finally settle down and grow roots (although I swear if I had a kid I would strap the little guy or gal on my back and take him/her with me). - If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
I am utterly scared about the whole idea and excited as well. - 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?
I don’t know why others should do RTW trips, but the reason I am doing this is to see the world and discover things about myself I didn’t know. I think you just don’t get that opportunity with short trips. - What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
I haven’t heard about myths. But my family thinks that if I go I may never come back (and not in a good way). I’m hoping that’s a myth. - Why do you like to travel?
There’s a certain feeling about traveling that just can’t be found in other things (I’m a solo traveler). My first time anywhere out of Orange County took me on a 6-week tour of Europe.My first stop was Athens. That was quite the shocker. It was nothing like I imagined. It was large, loud and crowded. As soon as I stepped off the plane I felt a million miles from home. I would have never survived my first day there had I not met a nice Brit named Lara. We instantly clicked as pals and went for a cup of coffee.
There at the little coffee shop in Athens surrounded by pink, orange, blue and yellow buildings the waiter asked us where we were from. I answered “I’m from California in the U.S. My friend is from England and just this morning I was in the U.S. and now I am drinking coffee in Athens with a Brit I just met.”
I am sure that was more than he needed or wanted to know, but the waiter smiled at me and said “Welcome”.
That was when it clicked for me.
The realization that just a few handful of hours ago I had left home and now I was drinking coffee in Athens, talking and laughing with a Brit whom just a few days ago I had no idea existed, that realization, that moment was like nothing I had ever experienced. The kicker moment. The moment that I realized that the world was much larger than just your view of it. That I was merely one out of a population of 7 billion people. That our little world was just one portion of an immense galaxy. That our galaxy was just a tiny portion of a universe of unimaginable size, far beyond our sight and at least for my understanding. That despite our existence being microscopic and frail, in the long run it is all precious.
That good cup of coffee in the morning, the friends that make us laugh, the family that sometimes makes us wish we were orphans, the stranger in the market that smiled at you, the flower in the garden, the reddish-purple look of the sky in the moments before the sunsets, the frailty of it all, and our tiny roles in life… it all means something and has value. Very flowery and new age-ish rhetoric I know, but that was my moment. Just a tiny moment of clarity but it was the type of moments we struggle all our lives to experience. Mine lasted a few seconds.
The only indication I gave my travel buddy that I had experienced such a moment was a dumb grin that I hid quickly as I drank my coffee.
Who knows? Maybe I am nuts like my family thinks. But that is what I love about traveling.
- What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
Go wherever you want!
August 2004