RTW: Prepare
It all started when a few trips that I needed to take back-to-back looked like an awful lot of flying. Looking for ways to mitigate the time and expense, I remembered others speaking of getting a great deal on "around the world airfares". It turns out that for a trip that does have certain date, order and timing requirements there really aren't any good deals like that. But there is an entire industry around this concept - for which the acronym is, yep: RTW. 'Round the World.
I should probably have updated this blog sooner with the hours and hours of research and planning that I had to put in. Pretty much all of my downtime through the holidays was spent trying to find the least painful (and by that I mean least expensve without being horrifying) ways to accomplish this very large trip. How to make sure I can stay connected. How to squeeze in some fun and adventure. Working out how on earth I am going to stay fit (and continue training for the MS 150???).
Ultimately I booked every stage of it independently. Just a few pieces of leisure activities yet to work on - but I have a flight for every connection and a bed in every port. Sometimes even a few meals thrown in. Always an internet connection, and when it was affordable, a fitness room with a bicycle. When I don't have the fitness room I'm going to try to hash. Which means, ugh, I'll have to run. But running is the one and only fitness regimen that can be done almost anywhere under almost any circumstances and without any thing that weighs anything having to be brought along! (What is hashing,you ask? http://www.gthhh.com.)
As to the expense, I did pretty well. My father always calls this phenomenon the "magic god of numbers" - I was keeping a column for hours spent flying and the cost and nights spent in hotels,etc. and the cost. The two columns came out about the same -within just a few dollars.
The numbers are: 41 days of travel (38 nights of accomodation), 88 hours of flying.
I am now in the stuff-purchasing and stuff-gathering phase. My biggest concern is the lowest-common-denominator weight limits for baggage. Seems ironic that I am gathering and even purchasing because of the concern of having too much stuff, doesn't it? But my second biggest concern is making sure that I can function as a human and as a business - every step of the way. So I bought one of those sleep sacks (because, yeah, I did book some fairly low cost sleeping arrangements!). A luggage lock. Some of those compression bags.
There may be some more notes about the preparation - then this blog will begin in earnest when I start traveling. Be prepared for some fascination, some revelations and - some ranting, I'm sure.
I should probably have updated this blog sooner with the hours and hours of research and planning that I had to put in. Pretty much all of my downtime through the holidays was spent trying to find the least painful (and by that I mean least expensve without being horrifying) ways to accomplish this very large trip. How to make sure I can stay connected. How to squeeze in some fun and adventure. Working out how on earth I am going to stay fit (and continue training for the MS 150???).
Ultimately I booked every stage of it independently. Just a few pieces of leisure activities yet to work on - but I have a flight for every connection and a bed in every port. Sometimes even a few meals thrown in. Always an internet connection, and when it was affordable, a fitness room with a bicycle. When I don't have the fitness room I'm going to try to hash. Which means, ugh, I'll have to run. But running is the one and only fitness regimen that can be done almost anywhere under almost any circumstances and without any thing that weighs anything having to be brought along! (What is hashing,you ask? http://www.gthhh.com.)
As to the expense, I did pretty well. My father always calls this phenomenon the "magic god of numbers" - I was keeping a column for hours spent flying and the cost and nights spent in hotels,etc. and the cost. The two columns came out about the same -within just a few dollars.
The numbers are: 41 days of travel (38 nights of accomodation), 88 hours of flying.
I am now in the stuff-purchasing and stuff-gathering phase. My biggest concern is the lowest-common-denominator weight limits for baggage. Seems ironic that I am gathering and even purchasing because of the concern of having too much stuff, doesn't it? But my second biggest concern is making sure that I can function as a human and as a business - every step of the way. So I bought one of those sleep sacks (because, yeah, I did book some fairly low cost sleeping arrangements!). A luggage lock. Some of those compression bags.
There may be some more notes about the preparation - then this blog will begin in earnest when I start traveling. Be prepared for some fascination, some revelations and - some ranting, I'm sure.
