1. When did you go on your RTW trip?
   August 2004-December 2004

2. How old were you when you took this trip?
   22

3. Nationality
   USA

4. Where do you live now?
   Clarion, USA

5. Occupation
   Before your trip: student
   Now: student

6. How did your travels affect your career when you got back?
   It made employers take a greater intrest in my resume as well as my current employer.

7. What is the route you took/places you visited?
   Started in Vancouver, Canada then went to kobe, Japan; Shanghai, China, Hong Kong; Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam; Bangkok, Thailand; Chenni, India; Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; Cape Town, South Africia, Salvador, Brazil; La Jolla, Venezuela.

8. Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
   I decided about a year before I went. I found a program called Semester at Sea where I was able to go around the world and get college credit.

9. Out of all your experiences traveling around the world, what was the:
   • Best Moment
     
     Visiting the RIDE program in India.

   • Worst Moment
     
     Getting mugged in India

   • Biggest Hurdle, Obstacle or Difficulty?
     
     understanding the bus system in Brazil

   • Biggest surprise?
     
     how amazing, open, and nice people are.

10. Who is the most memorable person you met on your trip and why?
    There was a women in India at a villiage that I visited thought the RIDE program. They are changing the way women are treated and the lives a their villiage. This women is hard to describe, but her image is burned in my mind.

11. How much planning and preparing did you do?
    To the Nth Degree

12. What was your favorite piece of gear?
    My backpack.

13. What did you bring, that in hindsight you could’ve left at home?
    This thing you put your money in and hide it under your pants. All pickpockets know about it. It’s useless. If you want to hide your money seperate it and hide it on various parts of your body.

14. How did your round-the-world trip change your life? How did it affect and change you as a person?
    It’s been a year and I’m still changing. I look at the world differently. I’ve noticed that people who have no travel experience or have never been to a 3rd world country have a very little understanding of the world around them. It gives you a great appreciation of what you have and makes you stop wanting what you don’t.

15. If you had to sum up your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    AMAZING and Life changing!

16. Are you planning more trips and travels for the future? Are you planning another round-the-world trip?
    Oh yes!!!!

17. 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?
    It gives you a better chance to compare cultures.

18. What is the most valuable thing you learned?
    Why people precieve Americans as they do. Talking to people from around the world, some of whom would be considered disadvantaged gave me more hope then anything else.

19. What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
    That it’s hard.

20. Why do you like to travel?
    To learn

21. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    Be flexable. Have an idea of what you want to do in a country, but ALWAYS be open to change.