Kim and I have been plotting and planning for a while now and are starting to ‘solidify’ plans for our next two years. You know, people tend to ask “where do you want to be in X years” and we have been asking ourselves the same thing.
First, we plan to take time this summer to travel around the USA some. Not sure where yet, but we’d like to visit friends out East and South. Maybe take 4-6 weeks of roadtripping in the Defender with the dogs (sorry Alex) and just go where the winds take us. Camping most of the time, maybe a motel here or there, but otherwise keeping it cheap.
Second, as mentioned in the previous post, Kim and I will both be trekking in Nepal this Fall.
Lastly, we have tentative plans for taking a trip around the world (or wherever we end up) for all of 2009. Ideally we’d leave in January of 2009 and head first to some place like New Zealand or Australia, then our thinking is to head north through Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Nepal. After that make our way to Russia, Europe (yes, it’s one country now), then South again to Africa for a classic safari followed by the wonders of Patagonia. Lastly we’d head north some how. These are real tentative plans. Right now, with the reading and prep work we’ve been doing, we like the idea of not being too set in where and when. We’d prefer to go where our fancy takes us and not be too set on having to leave a place only because we have a plane ticket the next day. Some things will require pre-planning especially where Visas are concerned, but all in all, we want to just experience places as a family and see what life is like around the world.
We both have started doing some research into not only what it’d take to accomplish such a journey but also how much it’ll cost. :) Setting up this blog to keep track of our thoughts is one step. I’ve also looked around at a number of other resources including the book listed below. Among the blogs I’ve found, Roaming Rob’s has been handy with his Packing List(going light with just carry-on luggage is one of our goals) and his Preparation page, especially the advice on looking into banks that offer to refund ATM fees while abroad. We’ve also been hitting the library as hard as we can to gather more books which I’ll be sure to reference here when we come across solid info. Of course, this is solid info through the eyes of novice world travelers, but you gotta start somewhere!!
Onward!
