One of the most exciting things when traveling is trip planning.

And that emotion is multiplied when we talk about a trip that covers a large part of the world and that may have to circumnavigate the globe.

As we already advanced in a previous post, one of the projects for 2021-2022 that we have and that fills us with emotion is to make a trip of six months or a year around the world.

In preparation for our trip around the world, we have prepared three preliminary routes including the places we want to visit. This is a previous list, which can be changed over time.

Previous considerations

 

There are two points that we have considered vital to make these routes: time and money.

These are two limiting factors when planning a trip. And even more, an ambitious journey like this.

The first thing we have mapped out is to reach the “kilometer 0” of our trip and from there, follow a route joining geographically close points and including tourist landmarks or personal interest to maximize the enjoyment of our trip, while saving the most.

As the points of visit are relatively close to each other, we can use cheaper transport such as buses, ferries or taxis on short journeys.

In the long run, this way you can go a long way, but you need to have enough time.

That’s why each of the three preliminary routes we’ve done will be covered in about six months.

 

Economic considerations

 

It may seem challenging to spend six months to a year abroad

Why not make several shorter trips?

Why not visit one country or area, go home and then visit another?

In fact, this is much more expensive in the long run, because of the number of transcontinental flights we would have to make.

If you are already at your destination, it is much cheaper to travel on short journeys and thus travel even entire continents without having to take a plane, or do it as little as possible.

But for that, as we said, you need time. And spending time abroad requires you to have a source of income while traveling or to go with a lot of money.

This will be a topic for an upcoming post, but we are studying two sources of resources for our journey:

  • Getting a job online (with the current pandemic many places have been opened) in some sector that we know, such as actuarial sciences, data analysis, etc.
  • Volunteer (room and board)

For now, we need to do more research and our findings and decisions will be discussed in another article.

Our routes: Southeast Asia

 

For our routes, we have chosen to include places that have always had a magnetic attraction in us, places that we have visited but want to know better or places that some of us have not visited.

Our route in Southeast Asia would start on the island of Bali, belonging to Indonesia. From there continue on your way to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, the mysterious Laos, Vietnam (Hanoi) and Cambodia.

Then take a flight to the Philippines and then return to Indonesia. We would not return to Canada from Indonesia, but would make a stopover to visit Australia.

  • Indonesia (Bali)
  • Singapore
  • Malaysia
  • Thailand
  • Myanmar (according to its political situation)
  • Laos
  • Viet Nam
  • Cambodia
  • Philippines
  • Indonesia
  • Australia

Our routes Europe I

 

For our European Route I, we put the emphasis on the Greek Islands, the Dalmatian Coast, Balkans and Eastern Europe. Beautiful destinations and cheaper than Western Europe.

From south to north of the Mediterranean to Poland, to finally take a flight or ferry to Scandinavia. Visit Norway and get to know the fjords (sea cliffs) and continue on your way to Denmark and Sweden.

  • Greek islands
  • Bulgaria (Sofia)
  • Croatia ( Zagreb and the Dalmatian Coast)
  • Hungary (Budapest)
  • Austria (Hallsttat and Strasbourg)
  • Poland (Warsaw)
  • Norway (Oslo, fjords )
  • Denmark
  • Sweden (Stockholm)

 

Our Routes Europe II

 

We would like to make this route followed by the previous one. That would require a trip of about 1 year and we still don’t know if we’ll do it together or with a short break upon returning to Canada.

Here, we would focus on Central Europe and its natural and cultural beauties.

  • Germany (Hamburg)
  • Netherlands (Amsterdam and the countryside with mills)
  • Belgium (Bruges-Leuven)
  • Luxembourg
  • East Francia (Colmar, Alsace, Strasbourg)
  • Switzerland
  • Principality of Liechtenstein
  • Monaco
  • Italy

All routes in one trip?

 

Originally, what we plan to do is spend about 6 months doing the Southeast Asian route and then return to Canada.

After spending 3 or four months there, we would embark on the next stage: Europe.

We will have to analyze if we can make routes I and II of Europe in a single trip (duration of 1 year) or we will have to return to Canada after the first route and then undertake the second.

 

Conclusions

 

These routes are designed for our trip, but they can also be useful if you are thinking of making a trip of around 6 months.

Taking into account proximity and availability of transportation, we believe that you can know the most sites in less time.

We have tried to optimize to achieve maximum enjoyment with the least time and money invested.

Later there will be more deliveries of our project.

Stay tuned!