Planning ‘The Trip’- Phase I: Laying the Groundwork

Once it was decided that we definitely would take on an around-the-world adventure, it became necessary to start making some semi-definite plans. To begin, I got busy with reviewing the many, many travel-related books we have had on hand for a long time. I am speaking of things like Frommer’s, Baedeker’s and Michelin publications. While they contain a vast array of information, they can get out of date very quickly with regard to accommodations, dining recommendations and information of that type, but the remainder of the information contained in them is usually quite durable… However, poring over those things isn’t what I would classify as my favorite kind of “recreational reading.” That is to say, it takes me some effort to stick with them. Despite that, I have managed to persevere and that type of book, at least for me, does a good job of laying a mental foundation.

I have been supplementing that foundation with maps. Maps have always been a favorite of mine. I actually can spend hours reading them. I don’t mean referring to them… I am talking about reading them. For as long as I can remember, I have been able to immerse myself in maps in much the same way as other people immerse themselves in good books. I have done a lot of map reading since we got serious about this trip.

I have also gotten on the internet and started searching for anything related to this type of journey. The first thing I did was Google “around the world trips.” To say that the result of that search was overwhelming is an understatement… there were over 121,000,000 of them. That’s 121 million.

So… Where should I begin with this avenue of approach? Well, I used my usual tactic of starting with the first one, then the next, then the next and the next, then skipping down several, then skipping a few more, then skipping a few pages, then skipping it all together for a while and having a few of those Arubian rum concoctions.

Later, when I could see one screen again, I started to give the sites I would visit a quick “once-over” and then I would set about the task of organizing the websites I wanted to re-visit at some point into categories, based primarily on three things:

1) sites to plan travel routes and buy tickets
2) sites that were basically travel brochures, and
3) sites that were personal accounts (blogs)

Over a period of time, I had gotten fairly well acquainted with which ones to give a cursory glance, which to pore over a bit longer and, ultimately, which to add to my browser’s “favorites” list.

It took a relatively short time of doing that, as well as all that travel guide scanning and map reading, before I came to the realization that I would either need a lot more time and a bigger hard drive or I would need professional help. By ‘professional help’, I mean a real, live person with some knowledge, experience and a little savvy about the subject of round-the-world travel…

In other words, I would need a travel agent.

Coming soon: Phase II.