Round-the-World Traveler
- When do you leave?
- How long do you plan to be away?
- How much have you saved?
- How old are you?
- Nationality
- Where do you live now?
- Occupation
- Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
- Have you traveled around the world before?
- What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
- Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
- What is your biggest fear about this trip?
- Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
- How much planning and preparing have you done?
- What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
- 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?
- If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
- 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?
- What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
- Why do you like to travel?
- What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
September 2004
1-2 Years
$22000
28
USA
San Francisco, USA
Web Developer
I’ll come back if they’ll have me
No
We’re spending 2 months traveling around Europe, then a month in the Middle East, 2 months in southern Africa (SA, Tanzania, Kenya), 3 months in Southeast Asia and China, and then 2 months in South America.
I’ve always loved traveling and and have wanted to take a *long* trip. I’m very interested in exploring other cultures and seeing how others live. Also, I think that people are very influenced by their environment, and I’m very interested in seeing what *I* will be like when I’m taken out of my usual environment for a whole year.
My biggest fear is that I won’t have enough cash to make it for a whole year.
My family is excited on one hand, but at the same time, they’re worried about me leaving my job for so long. My friends are fairly supportive. The ones who have traveled before are extremely excited for me, but the ones who don’t travel seem to not really care aboout this trip at all and don’t really see why I would bother doing this.
Just Enough
We’re going to try to pack as light as we can. Pretty much just some clothes and toiletries… the bare minimum. The 4 indespensible items I’m bringing are: the backpack, mp3 player, camera, and my passport.
I think it will give me a better understanding of how the world works and how people live. Also, traveling definitely helps you learn to be self sufficient and to think on your feet.
Life is too short to just sit still in one little corner of the world.
I don’t think you can really experience a culture and see what it’s all about in just 2 weeks. It takes much longer than that. also, there is this huge liberating sense of freedom when you’re on the go for a long period of time… you just don’t get that in the short one week trip.
I think the biggest myth is that a RTW is only for people who are incredibly rich, or people who are very irresponsible. In reality, with a decent amount of preperation, most people could take some time out of their career or whatnot and put together a RTW.
When you live in one place, your world view is very limited and to some degree, you always think that everyone else out in the world live just like you. Traveling is definitely an eye opener for me to get a better understanding of people in general. Also, I love to experience new things and explore.
At some point when you’re deciding whether or not to go, you will have a lot of fears, etc trying to keep you at home. Don’t listen to them… just go for it. Years later when you look back, you’ll be so glad that you went out and experienced the world instead of sitting at home!
