Vlad Katz

1. When do you leave?
   September 2004

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

3. How much have you saved?
   $22000

4. How old are you?
   28

5. Nationality
   USA

6. Where do you live now?
   San Francisco, USA

7. Occupation
   Web Developer

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?
    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.

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 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.

12. What is your biggest fear about this trip?
    My biggest fear is that I won't have enough cash to make it for a whole year.

13. Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
    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.

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)?
    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.

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 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.

17. If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    Life is too short to just sit still in one little corner of the world.

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?
    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.

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

20. Why do you like to travel?
    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.

21. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    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!