We started planning our trip in September 2002 and it took us 9 months. We did it whenever we found time, mostly in the evenings, as we both held full-time jobs till our departure and our positions required 9-10 hours in the office every day. The planning process can be summarized in the following major steps:
1. Itinerary (including flight tickets)
At first, we only had a few destinations in mind we wanted to visit (for example Tibet), but we had no overall plan. For four months, every other Friday Marek went to a library and came back with photographic travel books and guide books (mainly of the Lonely Planet edition) and intensively studied them over the weekends. We were looking for inspiring destinations and also researched practical information, such as what might be the best season when to visit a particular country (to avoid rain season, excessive heat, hurricanes, etc.), how expensive it would be to travel in each country, how would we be able to access money there (travel checks?, ATM?), whether we would need visas and how to get them, how quick and reliable transportation is, etc.
When creating our itinerary, we tried to keep the following criteria in mind:
When we finally created a list of places we would want to see, our biggest challenge was to reduce it to an itinerary that would fit into 12 months. It also was not a straightforward task to arrange the countries into a route that would make sense, would avoid extreme weather conditions and would allow for affordable air-tickets.
We expected (and were proven right) that air tickets would be the most expensive item in our budget. We ended up purchasing Round-the-world (RTW) ticket from British Airways. Other Airlines offer similar tickets. The preference of one versus the other usually depends on what are the specific countries that one travels to (not all airlines cover all countries) and how many miles does one expect to fly. In addition to RTW tickets, some companies offer discount one-way tickets that can be combinef into a RTW itinerary, but these did not turn out to be beneficial for us. It is also important to make sure that the purchased tickets allow certain level of flexibility. (Usually one is allowed to change flight dates for free, but only some services allow for changes in flight segments.) Even the best planned itinerary may change once you are on the road for several months.
Our itinerary changed several times. Originally, we wanted to travel across Russia and take the Trans-Siberian train to China, but modified our plans because of SARS. You are welcome to take a closer look at the development of our plans in section ITINERARY.
2. Obtaining visa
First we had to determine which countries have visa-waiver treaties with the Czech Republic. Our Ministery of Foreign Affairs maintains a website with very good information, including a list of such countries. For countries that required visa, we looked up all the necessary information on a website (of their embassy in Prague, if such existed, or their embassy in Washington D.C. or somewhere else in the world). Some countries issue visas that are valid for one year (for example Australia) and we obtained such visas before the trip. However, most countries issue visas with 3-months validity only and those we had to obtain while on the trip. Fortunately, some countries allow visitors to get their visas directly at entry points (for example Nepal, Thailand or Kenya), which saves lots of time and hassle. Many countries require a proof of purchased return (or ongoing) flight ticket or a proof of sufficient funds before permitting entrance to the country. We had to arrange for new passports before the trip, in order to have enough pages for all the visas and stamps.
3. Access to money
It was very important to determine how we would be able to access money in the various countries. Fortunately it turned out that technology is reaching even the far-away places quickly. At almost all the places we visited there were ATMs that could be used with international bank cards. As a back-up, we had travel checks, but had to use only a few of those in the end.
4. Immunization (including a medical kit and health insurance)
It is best to start with immunization planning about six month before departure. Certain vaccinations come in three doses and have to be given multiple months apart. We had to determine which injections were necessary, take a look at our old immunization records to verify which of our previous vaccinations were still valid and get the rest of them taken care of. We purchased necessary medications (for malaria, diarrhea, upset stomach, pain, etc.) It was also very important to find good health insurance, since our health insurance from work was going to get terminated at the time we start our leave of absence. We went with insurance from the Czech provider Kooperativa, which appeared to offer the best coverage/cost ratio at that time.
5. Equipment (not only backpacks and clothes, but also technical equipment such as digital cameras and a computer)
What to take with you for a trip around the world? It is very important that one brings things that are durable and light and that there are as few of them as possible. Since our route was going to take us to both tropical regions and high-altitude mountains, we had to be equipped for wide variety of temperatures. We also carried several pairs of shoes (sandals, walking shoes and hiking boots). Before departure, we left camping equipment with our friends who shipped it to us for the second half of our trip. However, we carried light sleeping bags during the entire trip. We also had digital cameras and a small laptop that we used to store our pictures, write diaries and maintain our website.
The table below lists most of the things that we carried. The total weight of 36kg was reasonably comfortable, but clearly packing even lighter would have been better. Several times, when we knew we would be returning to the same city, we left half of our stuff in a hotel and picked it up several days/weeks later, when we returned. After all, it is much easier to squeeze into a crowded bus with one backpack than with two.
| TOTAL | 36,2 kg |
| General stuff | 17,3 kg |
| Backpacks,
sleeping bags (backpack Arcteryx Bora 80l, backpack Mystery Ranch Blues 70l, down sleeping bags Western Mountaneering - Megalite rated 0°C, small backpack, waste pouch, thin sleeping bag liners, etc.) |
9,4 kg |
| Technical
equipment (GPS, compass, laptop Fujitsu with CD burner, digital cameras Nikon Coolpix 995 and Coolpix 3100, binoculars, electric socket adapters, etc.) |
4,7 kg |
| Maps,
guidebooks (maps of Thailand, India, SE Asia and China; Lonely Planet guidebooks for the first few countries) |
2,1 kg |
| Other (travel documents, sport watches, sun glasses, cards, notebook and a pen, pocket knife, strings, batteries, flashlights, iodine for water purification, duck tape, water-heating spiral, a cup, etc.) |
1,1 kg |
| Medical kit and toiletries | 4,3 kg |
| Medical
kit (Plasters, bandages, disinfection, eye drops, vitamins, malaria pills Malarone, cold medicine, antibiotics for diarrhea, Ibuprofen, Dramamine, medication for upset stomach, medication for high altitude sickness, aspirin, etc.) |
1,8 kg |
| Toiletries (Sunscreen, mosquito spray, soap, shampoo, comb, hand lotion, toilet paper, small scissors, etc.) |
2,5 kg |
| Cloth and shoes | 14,6 kg |
| Jitka (Sandals Teva, hiking boots, walking shoes, waterproof jacket and pants, gloves and a cap, skirt, pants, shirts, T-shirts, towel, swimwear, fleece jacket, etc.) |
6,1 kg |
| Marek (Sandals Teva, hiking boots, walking shoes, waterproof jacket and pants, gloves and a cap, two pairs of pants, shirts, T-shirts, towel, swimwear, vest, etc.) |
8,5 kg |
| Camping
equipment (tent, stove, etc.) (we left this at home and had it shipped to us before we went to Africa) |
4,9 kg |
6. Employment
We hoped to arrange for some sort of leave. However, we were ready to quit if that did not work out. Fortunately, both of our employers were interested in us coming back and accepted our request for one-year unpaid leave. That significantly simplified our situation, since if we had to quit, our work visas would have become invalid and we would have to sell all our property and leave the United States.
7. Things left at home (what to do with the house, car, mail, bank accounts, etc.)
Two things were the highest priority for us: what to do with the empty house and how to make sure that we can remotely access our bank accounts, insurance polices and other documents that we may need during the trip. We managed to rent our house, we stored our cars on a farm not far away from the city and we arranged to have access to all our documents and accounts over the internet. We also made copies of various other documents that we might need and saved them on a secured internet site. In addition, our friends were taking care of our mail for us and informed us whenever any difficulties arose (and surely some did). Thanks to the help provided by Jana and Richard and also our parents, we managed to resolve all problems remotely, while we were far away. We very much appreciated their support.