The last few months have gone by in a flash! I was so absorbed by finishing and submitting my PhD and then having too much fun at Glastonbury that I even missed the 100 day deadline. But in less than three months Simon and I will be waving goodbye to good old England and strapping on those backpacks to head to the other side of the world. First stop: Peru! (you can check out our whole route here)
I can’t believe how fast time is flying and even less how much work we still have ahead of us before take-off. For all of you who are also planning a round the world trip I thought I’d compose a list of things to do before you go away. I will start with the things we’ve already sorted:
- Pick your route and book flights – duh! You can either go for a round-the-world ticket like we did or buy one flight and then book as you go along. We were a bit overkeen and booked our RTW flights in February with Travel Nation.
- Get travel insurance: do this as soon as you’ve booked your flights so you are covered in case of cancellation. I booked mine through Travel Nation.
- Book major activities in advance that could otherwise book up. We booked our places on the Inca Trail 9 months ahead of time as it quickly books up and we didn’t want to miss out. We chose Wayki Trek as our operators as they are environmentally friendly and have great reviews
- Go to a travel clinic and find out which vaccinations you will need. You should do this well in advance as some vaccinations require a course of two to three shots over a period of a few months so find out as soon as possible
- Set a budget and save. I basically read every blog on the web on how much money you need to travel to the countries on our lists and then calculated a budget from the figures I found. Fingers crossed we can stick to it!
- Buy all your gear! I started buying all my bits and bobs months ago so I could take advantage of sales and discounts. I only need a snorkel mask, an underwater camera case and walking trousers. The most important piece of equipment is your backpack so make sure you find one that fits well and has all the features you want (panel loading, not too big, pink etc)
- Get a debit or credit card which doesn’t charge you for cash withdrawals abroad. In the UK I found Metro bank to be the best option for us. They have a free current account and they print your debit card on the day of your visit for you to take home!
- Cancel all unnecessary bank cards, phone contracts, insurance etc.
- Check your passport is up to date and you have enough pages for all the stamps and visas
- Get a health and dental check before you set off
- Sign up for Wwoofing (World-wide opportunities on organic farms). It’s an international organisation where you can find organic farms or other small businesses who are in need of volunteers. You help out with whatever work needs to be done for about 4-5 hours a day and in return you get free accommodation and food! It’s a great way to meet locals and to learn a new skill or two. We are hoping to do some wwoofing while we’re in Central America and Australia
- This one is for the girls: Start thinking about contraception early on as you might want to change to a more road friendly method. For example, if you are using the Nuvaring which has to be stored in the fridge you might want to think about other options as you might not always be able to keep it cooled while travelling in warm countries. The patch (it’s like a nicotine patch) might be a great alternative.
- Start a blog to keep your friends and family posted, here are some of my favourite travel blogs.
And this is all the stuff we still need to do, aaahhh!
- Apply for any visas in advance (check the guidelines though as they might only be valid for 3, 6 or 12 months so don’t do it too soon)
- Apply for the Australian working visa if you plan to work in Oz at all. I am 30 already so I have to apply before my next birthday, but I can work at 31 as long as apply when I’m still 30
- Sell all your stuff! I haven’t really started with this yet but have sorted out lots of stuff to give to charity
- If you are planning to take a laptop of similar with you then you’ll need to decide between the many options out there. We were struggling to decide between a cheap‑ish netbook and a high end tablet. I was keen to have a proper keyboard and wanted Windows but Simon was after a light-weight tablet to play games on and just surf the web. We found a great compromise in the Lenovo Yoga Pad which is a real laptop but the touch screen folds over and converts it into a tablet. We are just waiting for a good deal now!
- Forward your mail to a reliable friend of relative
- Create a dropbox account or something similar so you can upload and protect your photos on the go
- Get a student discount card like the ISIC if you are eligible, you can save on lots of activities and entry fees around the world ü
- Update your CV and Linkedin account in case you want to apply for jobs while abroad
- Write down all your email, online banking and other important logins for your mum (or someone else reliable) in case you can’t access the internet for a while
- Do a trial pack a few weeks before you leave to make sure you can fit everything and can actually get the pack on your back without toppling over (I had to learn this the hard way at Glastonbury, think struggling tortoise on its back…)
- Collect everybodys’ addresses so you can send postcards from the road
- Throw a farewell party with all your friends and family!
What do you think? Did I forget anything important?
Cheers for that informative post, I think you’re well prepared and nothing can go wrong anymore. Wish you all the best and can’t wait to read your stories from around the globe.
Thank you for the lovely comment! I am still a bit nervous but it’s all the excitement I think 🙂 Can’t wait to start writing from the road! Good to see a fellow German travel blogger 🙂
Ich schreib einfach mal deutsch weiter 😛 Na klar bist du nervös, das wär ich auch auf jeden Fall, aber wenn ihr erstmal unterwegs seid und alles gut läuft, ob nach Plan oder nicht und du die ganzen unglaublichen Erfahrungen machst und tollen Orte siehst, dann verschwindet die Nervosität von ganz alleine. Ich werd deinen Blog auf jeden Fall weiter verfolgen und hoffe, dass ihr ganz viel Spaß unterwegs habt. Vllt. sieht man sich ja mal irgendwo unterwegs 😉 wobei ich in nächster Zeit erstmal nicht auf eurer Route unterwegs sein werde 🙂
Fiji ist toll, habt ihr vor zu tauchen? Ich war leider “nur” schnorcheln, aber das war schon der wahnsinn. für meinen nächsten Urlaub ist auf jeden Fall mal eine Scuba-Dive Stunde/Tag nötig.
Der Uluru ist auch einfach unglaublich, ich wusste er ist groß, aber dass er so groß ist und so eine Magie ausstrahlt, das hätte ich nicht gedacht, fast wäre ich gar nicht dorthin geflogen weil es so abseits ist. Wenn ihr in Sydney seid, versucht unbedingt es mal nach Byron Bay zu schaffen, ich fand den Ort total schön, voll das Surfer Flair dort (lies hier: http://s.shr.lc/14ossxs). Und Melbourne ist auch toll, am Anfang waren wir zwei nicht so Freunde, aber im 2. Anlauf wurde es besser und ich verstand warum alle so auf Melbourne abfahren 🙂 Also genießt eure Zeit und halte den Blog auf dem Laufenden, ich bin gespannt, gerade auf Lateinamerika und Asien, da das hoffentlich meine nächsten Ziele sein werden!
Hab ein schönes Wochenende!
Oh vielen lieben Dank fuer die netten Worte und die Unterstuetzung! Mein blog ist ja noch in den Kinderschuhen aber es macht mir unheimlich viel Spass und ich hoffe ich werde ihn auf dem Laufenden halten koennen wenn wir unterwegs sind. Ich ueberlege ja auch hin und her mit Uluru weil es ja wirklich nicht ganz einfach/billig ist dort hin zu fahren aber will es wirklic nicht verpassen. Und wenn es dir auch so gut gefallen hat dann werd ich es auf jeden Fall versuchen!
Deine Fotos aus Byron Bay sind echt der Wahnsinn, wunderschoen! Muss ich gleich auf die Liste schreiben damit wir das nicht vergessen. Ich hoffe ich werde auch lernen so schoene Fotos zu schiessen wie du, sind wirklich beindruckend.
Wir fahren ja als aller erstes nach Peru und dann Zentralamerika, da werd ich hoffentlich ganz viel bloggen und vielleicht findest du da nen Tip oder zwei!
Waere echt super wenn sich unsere Wege kreuzen wuerden, wer weiss wohin es uns verschlaegt. Lass uns doch in Kontakt bleiben wenn du moechtest?
da bin ich auf jeden Fall schon gespannt! auf jeden Fall bleiben wir in Kontakt, ich lass mir doch eure Weltreisegeschichten nicht entgehen 😛
Oh danke Dir! Ich hoffe wir erleben ein paar gute Geschichten 😉
ich glaube das bleibt bei einer Weltreise nicht aus 😉