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Me-go: Around-the-World
About Megan
26 May, 2006 It sounds crazy to most people, especially my fellow Americans, but it’s true. Growing up my family traveled around the U.S. and even spent a few hours in Tijuana, Mexico. But I didn’t really start traveling until I spent my junior year of college studying in Newcastle, England. England was a turning point for me. I saw how other people lived and discovered many things that were better than the U.S. and many things that were worse. I met new people with different viewpoints. I lived without a phone or a television. I developed an unhealthy obsession with fries covered in salt and vinegar. During my time in England I was able to travel around Europe easily. My first big trip was the three-week winter break. I had planned on traveling with a few other Americans from my home university, but I overslept and missed the train. I was on the next train to London and waited at Dover until 4am, but no one showed up. When I got to Paris I spent three days searching for my friends before I accepted that I was alone. I changed my plans and saw the places I wanted to…
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Taking the plunge The first step to taking a RTW or extended trip is deciding to do so. It’s easy to fantasize about traveling, or talk about doing it “some day” when you have “enough time”, “enough money” or are at the right stage in your life. You will never travel if you wait around for the circumstances to be right. By the time you think you have enough money and are stable in your career you will probably have a family or other commitments. You can alway travel once you’re retired, but who’s to say you will be physically able or even alive in 40 years? The reality is you only have enough money and enough time if you make it happen. Saving money for a trip may mean moving in with a roommate or family, selling your car or house and giving up spending money at bars or on movies. I saved for five years before getting up the nerve to leave my job. And there will never be a time when you can leave a job with no consequences???either to your career advancement or health insurance. If you make travel a priority in your life you can…
Route
The route I chose is not quite the typical route for RTW’ers. Because a lot of people who go on similar trips leave from either Europe or Australia it makes sense for them to travel East. I am leaving from Chicago, Illinois and decided to travel West instead. A lot of this had to do with wanting to see Japan first and not start out in ‘difficult’ countries like Tanzania or India. The weather was taken into consideration as well. Planning a route for a RTW trip can take a lot of work. It is certainly possible not to plan at all, but if you want to avoid monsoons, winter and other unpleasentries it’s best to plan ahead. ??Unfortunately, there is no magic way to determine what your route should be. I started thinking about where I wanted to go on my RTW about 5 years ago, when I first met people traveling RTW. I have always wanted to go to Japan, but Asia seemed very far away. I decided that I would go to Asia on my RTW and avoid places I had already been, namely Europe. In my mind my RTW trip would be about new places and…
Finances
Below are my basic cost breakdowns. It includes costs broken down by country for visas, hotel, transportation, food, sightseeing, and souvenirs. As you can see, sometimes I will spend a lot on souvenirs (Thailand) and sometimes it’s the transportation (Japan, Tajikistan) that raises my daily budget. It’s easy to see the huge impact visa fees can have on a budget when you compare Phase I (mostly SE Asia) and Central Asia in Phase II. “Food” includes drinks, beer and snacks. “Souvenirs” includes presents, potcards, postage and shipping. “Misc.” includes internet, phone, books, clothes etc. Phase II made me realize that a few things were dramatically increasing my daily average in certain countries. Because of this, I pulled out shipping costs, clothes and supplies (backpacks, guide books, shampoo etc.) into seperate categories. I tend to save things up to ship from reliable places like China and I also bought a lot of my supplies in China so you can imagine how including those costs in China’s daily average would be misrepresenting my average daily expenses. Phase 1 remains as above, including shipping etc. in individual country costs. This reflects traveling alone, mostly by land with any air tickets bought along the…
Packing
FAQ
Around-the-world travel is not common in The U.S.A. and is a very novel idea to most people I talk to. I really enjoy talking to someone new who has never heard about my travels before. Not only have they not heard the details of my trip, or my often-repeated stores, but they have a sense of amazement on their faces. Usually, the first question I’m asked is “how is it possible?” After that a person may walk away or talk about something else until they get that same look on their faces and ask about shots or booking hotels. I also receive a lot of questions via this site. Other travelers planning their own trip ask very specific questions about a particular place or border crossing. Non-travelers ask more general questions about how I saved money or manage my career. Below are a few answers to me more common questions. Feel free to send me an email or comment on my blog if you have a question that isn’t answered somewhere on this site and I will reply when I find an internet connection on the road. How can you afford to do this? First of all, traveling can be…
Extras
Trip Statistics: Phase 1
Days gone: 185 Countries visited: 7 Photographs taken: 9,303 Average photos taken per day: 50 Cartwheel photographs taken: 42 Novels read: 16 Days sick: 3 Number of love letters received from monks: 1 Favorite country: Myanmar Least favorite country: Vietnam Place with biggest culture shock: Beijing, China Place with least culture shock: Thailand (overall) Biggest culture shock: Chinese people spitting everywhere Surprisingly not a culture shock: Squat toilets Best sights: Great Wall of China u0026#038; Angkor Wat temples (Cambodia) Favorite place to live: Tokyo, Japan Least favorite place to live: Chengdu, China Most overrated town: Vang Vieng, Laos Most underrated town: Beijing, China Most interesting culture: Tribal people in Myanmar, Laos u0026#038; Western China Least interesting culture: Thailand Most sanitary country: Japan Least sanitary country: China Place most like how I pictured it: Bangkok, Thailand Place least like how I pictured it: Xiahe, China Hardest culture to understand: China Best souvenirs: Kengtung, Myanmar Nicest people: Myanmar Meanest people: Vietnam/China (with China it’s a cultural thing) Hardest country to travel in: China Easiest country to travel in: Thailand Worst roads: The border around China and Laos Best local food: Hoi An, Vietnam Worst local food: Muang Sing, Laos Best hamburgers: Saigon,…
Trip Statistics: Phase 2
Days gone: 425 Countries visited: 17 Photographs taken: 27,230 Average photos taken per day: 64 Cartwheel photographs taken: 109 Novels read: 24 Days sick: 10 Favorite country: Tajikistan Least favorite country: Tanzania Place with biggest culture shock: Moynaq, Uzbekistan Place with least culture shock: Amman, Jordan Biggest culture shock: The yak smell in Tibet, crippled beggars in India Surprisingly not a culture shock: Shared taxis in Kyrgyzstan, buses in Ethiopia Best sights: Petra, Jordan; Mt. Abu u0026#038; Madurai, India; Samarkand, Uzbekistan Favorite place to live: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Least favorite place to live: Northern India Best sunset: Kendwa, Zanzibar Best sunrise: Tsiribihina River, Madagascar; Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania Most overrated town: Khajuraho u0026#038; Pondicherry, India; Stone Town, Zanzibar Most underrated town: Kampala, Uganda; all of SW Ethiopia; Dushanbe, Tajikistan Most interesting culture: Southern Ethiopia, Tibet, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan Least interesting culture: East Africa Most sanitary country: Jordan Least sanitary country: India Most mosquitoes and cockroaches: Ethiopia Place most like how I pictured it: Varanasi, India Place least like how I pictured it: Lhasa, Tibet Hardest culture to understand: Egypt Best souvenirs: Bukhara, Uzbekistan; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Nicest people: Tajikistan Meanest people: Tibet, Uzbekistan, Northern Kenya Hardest country to travel in: Ethiopia, Tajikistan Easiest…
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Souvenirs
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