I love the flexibility of not planning a trip – no worries of accommodations you’ve pre-booked, the opportunity to hop on a road-trip, switching your plans on a whim and landing five countries away. Then subsequently laughing at yourself for being completely unprepared for the climate. It’s spicy, romantic and mysterious. The thought of unlimited possibilities is awe-inspiring. It pumps adrenaline through my veins – and I’m just sitting here. You have the whole world available to you – and you know it!
planning
Pre-Departure Shopping List
At this point, I think I have purchased all the items I need for my trip. The main hurdle was not having traveled for more than 10 days. Now I’m going on a multi-month, multi-continent trip around the world. Oh, and all by myself. So many countries, changing seasons, and months I’ve had to think of.
My first step was to find a packing list. I basically took ideas from multiple blogs and compiled my own list, which changed frequently. When it’s all said and done, I’ll see what was useful, what I took that I did not need, and what I did not bring that I wish I did. Only time will tell!
I’ve been purchasing products slowly over the past month or so, only obtaining items that would be necessary and useful. I asked myself, “Is it reasonably priced, can I find it on sale, is it good quality, and will it make my life easier on the road?”. If so, purchase win!
Go-to purchase websites:
These sites are where I’ve done most of my online shopping.
- www.rei.com
- Their selection is great and its free shipping over $50. I’d regularly check their sale/clearance section and also wait for special deals over the holidays (i.e. Memorial Weekend, anniversary sales, member sales, etc.)
- www.backcountry.com
- Another website with great selections, free shipping over $50, and good sale items. I would also wait for special holiday sales.
- www.steepandcheap.com
- Steep and cheap has a ton of great deals. Check back frequently as quantities are limited and so is the duration. I’ve purchased a lot of high quality items here at a steep discount.
- www.amazon.com
- We all know you can buy anything from Amazon. Any items that I couldn’t find on sale anywhere else I purchased through here so I could quality for free shipping.
Purchased items:
Here are the items that I have convinced myself that I need for this trip. Not everything is listed as I bought a few trivial items that don’t need to be included. I’m not certain I will bring everything (I’ve bought way more than what is below) but we shall see in about a month!
Organization
Packing cubes
- I already know I need these to keep my life together. Otherwise I would treat my backpack like it was an over sized laundry bag. I’m not interested in shuffling around through everything just to find what I need.
- I originally purchased the medium sized cubes as they seemed most versatile but, I returned them and bought the small size. The medium size seemed great for luggage but they seemed too large for my pack after being stuffed with clothes.
- I also have items from the Eagle Creek Pack-it system. Specifically the medium packing cube (these have less structure than the Ebags), a toiletry bag, a specter cube, and a quarter cube. All of these items were bought on sale though the links above. I opted for various sizes and shapes so I could play around with packing them when the time comes. Not sure which ones will be going on the road with me.
Money Belt
- I have never once traveled with a money belt. But, since I’m going through so many countries for an extended period of time I found it prudent to have one this time.
Day Pack
- This pack compresses really small into it’s own built-in pouch. If expanded, this pouch is where you would put your important documents. This I got on sale at travelcountry.com.
- My intention is to have this as my carry-on. I wanted avoid having too many bags or purses with me. This is light, doesn’t take up much space, and has a lot of room to keep my necessary items on me and a change of clothes. I plan on using this as a quick day trip/overnight/weekend bag too.
Useful Stuff
- I purchased this kit in the XL size. It also comes with a wash cloth and travel size liquid soap.
- Technically I haven’t purchased this yet. But my wonderful work crew is supposedly getting me this as my going away gift. I plan on staying as active as I can during my travels and I’m not interested in carrying around days worth of stinky/sweaty clothes. With this, I can wash small amounts of clothes without having to shell out a bunch of money.
- This will also double as a dry bag should I need one.
- We’ll see how well these work. I plan on using them with my Scrubba.
- No clothespins needed!
- Seemed necessary in order to protect my pack while in transit. The last thing I want is for my bag to get snagged at the airport and have them snip off a strap. Also, it’s water repellent. I remember getting drenched in Florence to catch a 6am train. No umbrella, and my stuff was soaked. This works as a rain cover.
Electronics
- In theory it’s a fantastic idea. The link above states an EU Plug, but disregard that because you will receive one with a USA plug. I was trying to avoid needing an adapter in Europe but oh well. The ports support plugs from multiple countries and it also has USB plugs. Not sure if I will bring this as it is pretty big and heavy. I’ll assess that when I figure out packing.
- I hope this works well! This was my adapter solution based on all the countries I was going to.
Clothes
- Seems like a functional item. We’ll see how much I wear it. Most likely I’ll wear it as a simple dress or skirt.
- I bought these because they have an ankle strap and they’re completely rubber so I don’t have to worry about destroying them if they get wet. They come in various colors and are nicer than standard flip-flops if you want to dress them up a bit.
Money Saving Tip!
Shop at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Ross for items like microfiber towels, travel sized shampoo/conditioner/toiletry bags, packing cubes, and other miscellaneous items. They are cheaper and you can actually see the product to ensure the dimensions are okay.
I actually found a microfiber towel at TJ Maxx recently for $5. I purchased mine for about $45 through the link above. Now, I still would not have changed my purchase as I wanted the XL size and not a medium size towel. But, for someone that doesn’t have long, thick, Asian hair down to the lower back, the medium size seemed like it would have sufficed.
Also, Holidays = Sales! ALWAYS! So keep your eyes peeled around these times and hold off on purchases if you can.
Useful sites for preparation
With the profuse amount of vacation days I get the longest time I’ve been overseas is twelve days, including flight travel. I didn’t really have too think much. Just throw stuff in a backpack/suitcase and go. If I needed or forgot something, well I’ll be back in the States before I know it so NBD. Multiples flights, changing accommodations frequently, traveling on a budget, and smart packing was never really an issue. As far as long-term travel goes: Me = Clueless. Ha!
So far these are some of the sites I’ve been using to help me.
Cutting accommodation costs:
- Couchsurfing
- I have yet to actually couch surf but, I have met people in my local town through it and had an experience with it in Florence when a gracious local reached out to me and and we spent the entire day exploring the town together!
- Workaway
- I’ve been preusing this site for a couple years. There have been so many opportunities I would have loved to partake in had I actually had the time to. It looks like most people would prefer you to stay at least one month and that wasn’t an option for me. Now, I will be able to! I have a couple of hosts I’ve been eyeing and I hope it pans out for me.
Flights:
- Airtreks
- I decided to go the route of booking with an agency. I did consider booking one way tickets on my own but as this is my first time around (I’m speaking as if I’m going to do this again and I haven’t even left yet lol) and I do have certain destinations I have to be at, I figured I’d use an agent to work all of this out with me. Time will tell if pre-booking my flights will bite me in the butt.
- My first step was actually trying to use my Star Alliance miles to book tickets with their RTW program but the website wasn’t very user friendly to me. Maybe the some of the routes weren’t serviced by Star Alliance. Nonetheless, it became a headache and decided to go with a company that specializes in this type of thing, regardless of airline carrier, and would provide me with a person to talk to.
Resources:
- Bootsnall
- I came across this site as I was trying to search for RTW travel agencies. I signed up for their “Plan your RTW travel in 30 days” which will be a useful checklist item for me. I’ll be able to check my progress and the things on my to-do list against their suggestions. They also have reports, travel guides, and you can connect with other long-term travelers.
Blogs:
- Nomadic Matt
- Ottsworld
- Travel Fashion Girl
- A Dangerous Business
- Most of the blogs I have been following have been female traveler blogs as I know packing will be my biggest challenge. Seriously, how am I supposed to pack light and have look cute at the same time? I know I am going to over pack and hate myself for it later.
The more and more I research on preparation, the more I realize there are SO MANY people that have done this! There’s actually so much information out there that its hard to handle all of it. I’m thankful to have found so many resources on the web of people traveling around. I’m not sure what I would do without all these other blogs and websites!
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PROGRESS
Don’t lose sight of the now
It’s just about four months before my big trip!
I feel like I still have a million things to do and I am constantly reminding myself to live in the present. Every free moment I get I am thinking of how to prep for this trip. What do I need to buy? What health insurance do I go with? Which locations are an absolute “must” for me to visit? How do I get from point A to point B? What languages do I need to learn? While these thoughts are valid and necessary it’s been difficult to remember that I still have a life here for the next four months.
I mean c’mon, who wouldn’t be excited and anxious about going on a round-the-world trip. I find myself with my head in the clouds fantasizing about it. Regardless, it isn’t an excuse to completely drop everything that’s going on now. So to keep myself on track in the present these are the current things I need to put my focus back on.
1) Work
Yea, that thing the PAYS me. Our busy season started in December and will continue through April. I’m not a fan of anyone slacking off at work. I believe in working hard and doing a good job. I’m determined to leave my company with such a good impression of me that they would gladly hire me back when there is another opening (if I ever come back, haha). My career and making money is important to me. I’ve worked hard to get here and I’m not planning on ruining my professional reputation and character.
2) Fitness
I belong to a cult. Two cults actually. One is called Crossfit and the other is called Yoga. My previous fitness regime was Crossfit five days a week at 6am and hot power yoga once or twice a week. Now it’s more like Crossfit maybe once a week and yoga here and there. I used to be in really good shape. Whatever muscles I did have are now encased in a layer of fat. There are a lot of reasons why my routine was thrown out of whack between moving, switching gyms, more work hours, and time needed to plan my RTW trip. This was actually my obsession before I caught the travel bug. Back to clean eating and regular exercise. Besides, I need to make sure I’m bikini ready. Ha!
3) Friends/Family
I love my personal time. When I’m not at work, I enjoy planning for my RTW trip. But, its hard sometimes to pull myself away from it and hang out with my friends or family. Especially when they don’t really understand. They think its just some big vacation but it’s much more than that. It’s also easy to justify not going out and spending money because I’ll need it for when I am voluntarily unemployed and globetrotting around the world. That doesn’t mean I currently should live under a rock and avoid people.
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FOCUS
Memories from another life 