My RTW Plans As you can see from the map, this is the rough plan for travel around the world, which I estimate will take roughly 2 years to accomplish. The lines are rough, as in I'll be going in that general direction, but there's no set path way. I oriented the trip around hubs. The idea is to rent an apartment in these hub areas and I can do vagabonding (cheap back packing) to the surrounding areas when I want. The hub is my base camp, so I can leave my lap top there and get work done. Here are the hubs (I start in Halifax, NS, Canada)... Dublin, Ireland - My UK hub This is where I'll hang out in the UK. I've seen some apartments for rent that I could get for a decent price (with furniture and internet). The plan is to check out Ireland and take a little time over into England and Scotland. Prague, Czech Republic - My Europe Hub The city might change in this case because I've heard that Prague has become quite the touristy spot. If that is so I'll just head further East and find something (Maybe Budapest). I like Prague due to the geographical location. It's smack in the center. I can bounce off to Germany, Austria, Poland, and it is close enough to Italy. I was thinking of vagabonding my way down the coast of Italy and catching a ferry over to Greece. Than I'd work my way up to Moscow. Trans Siberian Railway - Not A Hub I don't plan to stay long in Moscow, just enough to see the sites, than I head on the Trans Siberian Railway. I think it is the longest in the world. It goes through 8 time zones if I'm not mistaken and takes roughly a week to ride. I think it costs $400 to ride it for that time, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than a flight. The train would travel across Russia, through Mongolia and into Northern China. Seoul, South Korea - Korean Hub This really isn't a hub, but I do plan on staying here for a while. I've been fascinated with it since I almost went over there to do TESL. I had a friend tell me all about it and I'm fascinated. Seoul has a metro population of 24 million making it a fucking huge city. That means I need a lot of time to spend there, plus I can't wait to try the food. I understand this is one of the more expensive Asian places to go, but I'm fascinated by it. Bangkok, Thailand - South East Asian Hub I plan to work my way down from South Korea and down the coast of Vietnam (for simplicity sake) before I cross over to Bangkok. I do plan to pick up an apartment here for a few months. I can get a fully furnished, AC, Internet, pool, security, etc for a few hundred a month. I will do some back packing into Cambodia and Laos. They're much cheaper and should be able to find some accomodations for a $1/night. I'll eventually head down to Singapore on my way out of Asia. I might stop over into Malaysia. If I do, I'll have a free place to stay. Woo. Darwin, Australia - Somewhat of a hub To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do in Australia. I think Darwin will end up being a hub for the fact that is less of a tourist city (Sydney, Melbourne, etc are touristy cities). Basically I want to go to the outback and see what's happening in the middle of the wasteland. Crossing The Pacific This is going to be my most expensive part of the travel. The flight from Australia/New Zealand to South America (Santiago, Buenos Aires) will cost me a nice chunk of cash. Email me if you have any better ideas for getting across the pacific. I know there are cargo ships going across and maybe there is a way I can get on one of them and work my way across. South American Hubs I have a few places in mind, but it seems like the more I research the more a certain country excites me. I was at first thinking Buenos Aires, Argentina as the only hub, but I things will probably change. Santiago, Chile looks very cool place and it's like all the countries in South America - cheap. I might actually change Buenos Aires as a hub. People say it's cheap, but I don't see it like that. I think it's starting to get a little touristy. Right across the water from Buenos Aires is Montevideo, Uruguay, which is definitely a hell of lot cheaper. I was looking at apartments in that city, they're like half what they are in Argentina. The plan is to continue North. I'll probably go into Brazil, even though I heard you'll get mugged at least once while you're there. I want to go to Peru and take that 2 day hike out into the jungle to the Machu Picchu site. I believe it is one of the Wonders of the World. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Columbia. I'm afraid of getting kidnapped by drug lords and if you're on the ground, you have to pass through Columbia to get to Central America. I might fly or I might go through it. Central American Hub Panama and Costa Rica are the ideal places for travelers, so I'm not going there. If you look on Craigslist for an apartment, you're basically going to find that you'll get gouged. I'm thinking somewhere around Grenada and Nicaragua. Either way, I hope by the time I get there, I'm more tolerant of the heat. Canadian's don't do so well in these snowless climates. Mexico I don't believe there will be any hubs in this country, so I'll definitely be vagabonding my way up the West Coast. At this point, I'm not even sure how money will be. One can hardly guess. United States I have no hub in mind here either, though I do want to rent an apartment for a month or two. I need a place where I can get cheap rent, but isn't a boring place like Montana. Maybe housing prices will still be in a slump in Las Vegas when I get there. Either way, I'm taking the Amtrak trains across the US. I might buy a country wide pass or I might just grab whatever special they have and run with it. The plan is to enter in California and work my way East. Nevada and Texas are two States I want to visit. Back Into Canada I'll enter back into Canada are the Maine, New Brunswick border and than I'm practically home.