Perhaps
you’re inspired by this blog to go traveling for a while, or you’re just
curious what it would take, or maybe you’re already planning a trip, or
you suffer from severe insomnia. In any case, I thought some people
might be interested in what we did to prepare for our trip. First off,
we got a lot of our info from “The Rough Guide to First-Time Around the
World.” It was a great resource. In general I’ve been a big fan of the
Rough Guides travel guides. They tend to have more background info than
the Lonely Planet and, because they’re slightly less popular, get you
slightly off the beaten track.
Everybody
wants to know how much it costs to go on a trip like this, but most
people are afraid to ask. Here’s what it cost us, as close as I can
figure it. From Jun 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009, we spent $44,937. That
includes about $2,468 in medical bills, which we later got $468 back
from our health insurance for. (Basically they covered it all from our
deductible on.) We had paid IMG insurance $2407 before we went on this
trip to be covered for the year. I picked them mainly because their
insurance will cover you for a full month when you return to the US,
which would give us time to figure out health insurance once we got
back.
There were
some other things aside from insurance that we bought before our trip
that were definitely part of it. We’d bought plane tickets from LA to
DC, NYC to Paris, and Munich to Dar Es Salaam for a total of $2881.
We’d paid for our Tanzanian safari which was $3120. Finally we paid
$1685 to get shots so we wouldn’t get any number of scary diseases. We
also bought a bunch of travel gear, but I’m going to leave that out. So
the bottom line for the money is, drumroll please… $54,562. That’s
quite a bit of money, but for what we got it was totally worth it. If
this number is scaring you from taking your own trip, don’t be. This is
just what we did. You are totally different! We could’ve easily saved 10
or 20 thousand dollars by not visiting Europe, not doing our African
safaris, not taking the container ship, and eating cheaper.
Packing and
what to bring is another subject that’s endlessly debated. I made a
decision to just go with the list on
onebag.com and I don’t regret it. It’s a good
list. I brought some harmonica stuff that I ended up never using, and
had to ship home. Definitely bring 4 pairs of underwear. 3 is not
enough. And don’t sweat your packing too much. Just about everything you
might need is available for sale in any major city in the world. Do
bring a money belt. It made us feel like our money was in a safe place.
As for bags, I highly recommend Rick Steves’ Convertible
Carry-On.
It’s light, has the right amount of pockets, and sturdy enough to show
little wear even after a year.
If you have any questions I didn’t address here, leave a comment. I’ll
do my best to answer questions.
And finally, I’m done blogging this trip! It sure felt like a chore at
times, but I’m glad to have done the work and look forward to rereading
it all in a few years.
