The plan

I am working on a more interesting and visually appealing entry to post here, but for the time being, here is our plan, in plain, ol English:

We have round-the-world plane tickets with the One World Alliance. After quite a bit of research, we determined these tickets were our best option. Not only were they the most cost effective, they allow us to change our dates of travel for free (as long as there are seats available in our class) and change destinations for about $150 (though we do not anticipate doing so). We have one year to complete all the travel in the scope of the tickets.

The cheapest flights we could find originated out of London (the dollar was actually somewhat strong at the time), so we used miles to get to London and started our RTW flights from there.

When we first started talking about doing this trip, a year seemed so long that our only challenge would be filling it with interesting places! Once we got into our research, however, we were saddled with the task of trying to figure out which places could wait until “next time.” Really, I know it’s hard to believe, but time flies once you mentally hit the road! We eventually whittled it down and here is our rough timeline (subject to change, of course!):

Oct 11: Chicago to London for the kickoff of our world tour with our flight to New Delhi

Oct 12 – Nov 9: India

Nov 9 – Dec 8: Thailand – Bangkok and the southern islands of Thailand

Dec 8 – Feb 8: Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and northern Thailand

Feb 8 – Mar 12: Singapore & Indonesia

Mar 12 – 19: Hong Kong

Mar 16 – 30: Japan (Canceled due to earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster)

Mar 20 – Apr 20: Australia

Apr 20 – May 14: New Zealand

May 14 – 16: Los Angeles

May 16 – 30: Home to Chicago

June: Ecuador, Peru & hopefully the Galapagos Islands

July: Chile

August: Argentina

September – October: Spain & hopefully eastern Europe

Oct 11: back to London

So, that is the plan in a nutshell. Hopefully, we budget properly and do not end up stuck in Chicago after May!