In Travel Talk

Plan Your RTW Around History’s Greatest Journeys

Posted by: on Aug 19, 2008 | 7 Comments

One of the questions I often get from people starting to plan an around-the-world trip is “where should I go?” There are many ways to start to put together a trip:

  1. Get idea from your picture books in the library
  2. Paste a route together from the “classic routes” in the front of Lonely Planet Guides
  3. Think back to the “far away, exotic lands” you read about or the stunning articles you saw in National Geographic as a child
  4. Plan a route based on a theme (museums, tallest buildings, festivals)
  5. Grab inspiration from historic explorers

If you’re interested in in #5 this site (flash) might be of some help. It has potential to be much more than it is but it does give an overview of historic explorers’ routes like The Silk Road and Marco Polo’s route from Europe to Asia (two that I briefly followed). I wish more information was listed on the individual route pages but this is something to start with.

7 Comments

  1. Ant
    August 21, 2008

    Or for shorter trips, follow Mother Nature’s tears;

    The Amazon: Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela
    The Ganges: Nepal, India and Bangladesh
    The Nile: Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea(!) and Kenya
    The Mississippi: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana
    The Mekong: China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
    The Danube: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine

    I could go on, but I’m getting a bit bored of Wikipedia!

  2. Megan
    August 26, 2008

    Sure, there’s tons of possibilities. I like the idea of regional travel in following rivers as well.

  3. Malena
    August 27, 2008

    I planned mine around candy :)

  4. Megan
    August 27, 2008

    Then there’s you, of course, Malena!

  5. Emanuele
    September 8, 2008

    Hey there, thanks for sharing that link! I’m planning a gap year myself and that site is very “inspirig” :-) also, I like your blog. Well done!

  6. Megan
    September 8, 2008

    E?
    I just found another link today. This is a Google Map with Marco Polo’s trip, check it out: marco…

  7. Emanuele
    September 9, 2008

    Thank you! Actually looking up into google maps is another way to get ideas for travel itineraries. I have found a few users’ RTW routes…