Meghan Thomson

1. When do you leave?
   November 2003

2. How long do you plan to be away?
   1-6 Months

3. How much have you saved?
   £12000

4. How old are you?
   24

5. Nationality
   Zimbabwe

6. Where do you live now?
   London, England

7. Occupation
   Press Officer

8. Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
   I'll come back if they'll have me.

9. Have you traveled around the world before?
   No

10. What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
    London - Thailand - Australia - New Zealand - Florida - Fort Lauderdale - Mexico - London

11. Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
    I've never traveled RTW before and my friends and I decided to seize the opportunity while we're still young.

12. What is your biggest fear about this trip?
    Being able to save enough money before we leave and obtaining visas for all the different places.

13. Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
    The friends I'm travelling with are supportive, the others - not so much as they tend to make me feel bad if I don't go out with them all the time. As for my family, they still believe I won't go because I've been saying 'I'm going travelling this year' for the last 3 years and still haven't!

14. How much planning and preparing have you done?
    Just Enough

15. What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
    Bikini, flip-flops, sarong, music and a few other bits and bobs. Most indispensable item - camera (and of course, my passport)

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?
    It will give me more of an appreciation of different cultures and ways of life. As I have had to leave my country due to political unrest, I would hope that my travelling would give me some indication of the place/country I may want to live in one day.

17. If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    I can't wait!

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?
    Personally, I feel one/two week vacations are not long enough. You usually have to leave just when you are getting into the swing of things. It's too short a period to experience enough of a place.

19. What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
    Hard to say really......

20. Why do you like to travel?
    I embrace change, enjoy meeting new people, exploring new places and learning about new cultures. I'm hoping to one day have a career that allows me to keep this desire alive.

21. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    Take the bull by the horns!