Joe Lyon - Round-the-World Traveler

1. When do you leave?
   June 2006

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

3. How much have you saved?
   £7500

4. How old are you?
   25

5. Nationality
   England

6. Where do you live now?
   Lancashire, England

7. Occupation
   Temp worker

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 - Malaysia - Indonesia (inc. Bali) - Australia - New Zealand - Fiji - Cook Islands - USA

11. 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.

12. 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...

13. 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.

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)?
    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.

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 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.

17. 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.

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?
    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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.