Travel Destinations

Someone wrote me an e-mail recently, asking where I'd be starting out on my travels, and then followed the question with the statement, "I guess I could go look at your blog." I blinked, and realized that actually, no, my blog doesn't yet say where I plan on going for my Big Trip!

That's a pretty big oversight, don't you think? A travel blog without too much discussion, yet, of travel!

So here it is - my general itinerary as I see it today, 11 Sep 2010. I fully realize that most of this will change as soon as I begin travelling, but... it's good to have a plan, right?

4 Oct - Depart US. **This ticket has already been bought**
5 Oct - Arrive Incheon, South Korea. Stay the night in Incheon, then take a bus to Songtan to stay with friends.
19 Oct - Depart Seoul, arrive Hong Kong.
25 Oct - Depart Hong Kong, arrive Bangkok, Thailand.

That's the part of the itinerary that's fairly firm, with the exception of the date I leave South Korea and get to Hong Kong, which may slip a day or two. I plan to buy that plane ticket sometime next week.

The rest of the itinerary looks something like this:

25 Oct - 18 Dec - Explore Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and Bali. All overland travel except for getting to Bali
19 Dec - mid-Feb - Explore New Zealand, first North Island with my friend Sarah, a friend of mine flying out from the US during her winter break, and then visit friends Matt and Fiona in Dunedin, and then possibly WWOOF (to be explained in a later post) and travel on my own a bit.

I don't really have dates for the rest, but this is the general order of destinations, to follow New Zealand, that I'm thinking right now:

Australia
Philippines
Nepal
India
Israel
Egypt
Turkey
Bulgaria
Romania
Ukraine?
Hungary
Austria
Czech Republic
Germany
Italy (actually, Mt Blanc, which is at the intersection of Italy, Switzerland and France)
Spain
Portugal

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Twenty-five countries in a year... I fully realize that this is absolutely crazy! However, I also understand, as I said before, that as I travel, things will change. Today, I figure that my "core" destinations (the ones I absolutely don't want to miss) are New Zealand, Israel, Mont Blanc and Austria. These will probably change, but New Zealand, at least, will probably remain my #1 destination.

What kind of travel will I be doing? That's another tough question. Right now I envision that it will mostly be free-wheeling, with the odd paid tour, volunteer experience and meet-up with friends.  I plan to find hostels or couches (via Couchsurfing, to be described later) as I go, as opposed to booking everything beforehand.

That's a good start on some insight into my tentative plans and planning. Let me know what other questions you've got!

--Z