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Author: Sean Keener

Christine Veleber – Around-the-World Traveler

  1. When did you go on your RTW trip?
    April-November 2001

  2. How old were you when you took this trip?
    31

  3. Including your air ticket and other expenses (from accommodation to souvenir-buying), about how much did your trip cost?
    US$35,000 for 2

  4. Nationality
    USA

  5. Where do you live now?
    New Jersey, USA

  6. Occupation
    Before your trip: publishing exec

    Now: Unemployed – hoping to be full-time anthropology student.

  7. How did your travels affect your career when you got back?
    May I never sit in a cubicle again… I want to devote my career to the study and teaching of culture.

  8. What is the route you took/places you visited?
    Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Australia, Costa Rica, one month “wind-down tour” of Southern USA.

  9. Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
    It began with this question, “Before we have kids and get tied down, what would be our biggest dream to fulfill?” Today we ask, “How small do they make backpacks, and how much weight can a child carry?”

    My biggest influence was my imagination. I never knew anyone who did such a thing. I found people on the internet who did and thought, “Me too!” I’ve always been fascinated with the world and wondered if I had it in me to partake in such an endeavor.

  10. Out of all your experiences traveling around the world, what was the:

    • Best Moment

      The knot in my stomach of excitement and fear that I got the night before we left for a new country

    • Worst Moment

      Sept 11th in Thailand (NYC is our backyard)

    • Biggest Hurdle, Obstacle or Difficulty?

      Crossing the street in Vietnam

    • Biggest surprise?

      How well we adapted to life on the road

  11. Who is the most memorable person you met on your trip and why?
    Our fellow passengers and crew of the ill-fated cruise on the Princes Monika in Turkey, and Lyn, our 7-year-old guide in Cambodia.

  12. How much planning and preparing did you do?
    Winged it a lot

  13. What was your favorite piece of gear?
    cipro – it kills anything in 2 days

  14. What did you bring, that in hindsight you could’ve left at home?
    clothes, books

  15. How did your round-the-world trip change your life? How did it affect and change you as a person?
    I feel like a citizen of the world, not just my country. I will never look at myself or my country the same way again. I am calmer, more confident, more patient, and have more respect for life and death. I could go on and on… but I should note that I feel that I’ve changed in ways that people at home cannot understand, and it does feel a bit isolating at times.

  16. If you had to sum up your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    This trip, by far, was the most incredible experience in my life that NO ONE can ever take away from me.

  17. Are you planning more trips and travels for the future? Are you planning another round-the-world trip?
    Every day I wait for the phone call from John (my husband and travel partner) where he says “Let’s go.” My backpack is always ready… We’ll be out there again, just don’t know when! We’d like to live abroad as well.

  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 RTW is for everyone… however there are tons of people in the USA who can do it and never will. Not that I’d want to “share my trip” with an influx of others, but I think if more Americans stepped out into the larger world, our country would be a very different place…

  19. What is the most valuable thing you learned?
    99.9999999% of what we think matters, doesn’t.

  20. What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
    Too dangerous – I feel safer abroad than here in the USA. Too expensive – if I hear one more SUV-driving, McMansion-owning person say “I’m soooo jealous, that’s, like, my dream, but I could never afford to do thaaaaaaat,” I may be arrested for assault. (In which case I’d flee to Thailand… hmmmmmmmm)

  21. Why do you like to travel?
    Somewhere in Turkey the “like” turned into “obsession”. It is a part of my DNA strand or something.

  22. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    Be flexible.
    Don’t plan too much, you’ll be disappointed.
    Don’t rush through a country.
    Don’t spend all of your time in Western cafes.
    Don’t get so caught up in “recording” the trip that you forget to look, listen, and learn.
    A smile goes a looooong way!