- When do you leave?
June 2006
- How long do you plan to be away?
6-12 Months
- How much have you saved?
£7500
- How old are you?
25
- Nationality
England
- Where do you live now?
Lancashire, England
- Occupation
Temp worker
- 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
- Have you traveled around the world before?
No
- What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
Thailand - Malaysia - Indonesia (inc. Bali) - Australia - New Zealand - Fiji - Cook Islands - USA
- Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
Disillusionment with the 'real' world after University and a brief period thus far of working life - that there's much more to life than slogging your your guts out just so you can buy a house and fill it full of junk. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" (John Lennon). Time to see how amazing the world actually is.
- What is your biggest fear about this trip?
Running out of money, being bitten by anything with more or less legs/wings/eyes than myself, having to come home eventually and start work again...
- Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
Family are very supportive having put me up in their home once again for the last 6 months, friends are mainly supportive and/or bewildered at the fact that I'm going on my own.
- How much planning and preparing have you done?
Winged it a lot
- What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
I'm probably packing far too much stuff that I won't actually need, but better to be safe than sorry. Most indispensable item? Probably my iPod as I live for music. Plus I can store back-ups of important documents on it also.
- 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 hope I'll come back much more confident and self-driven, like I was when I was about 17. Real life can knock a bit of that out of you if you let it. I also hope I chill the f*ck out about the little things in life.
- If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
Up to now, this will be the best thing I've ever done in my life.
- 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?
Holidays abroad don't teach you anything about how people live their lives. Undertaking an RTW trip teaches you how vast, and how amazing this planet really is.
- What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
That it can't be done due to other commitments in life - take the plunge, believe you can do it and you will do it.
- Why do you like to travel?
I love watching the world pass by me - time slows down a pace. I also love seeing how different people are, and the way they live.
- What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
Keep on saving even when it gets tough - every sacrifice, every penny you save, it'll all be worth the end-to-end smile it puts on your face.