Here I Go...

My plan is to use this blog to communicate with all of you back home while I’m away. I’m hoping its easier than a mass e-mail but if its not I’ll resort back to that. By far the most common request is for my itinerary so here it is:

• January 8 to March 15 – Australia and New Zealand
• March 15 to June 7 – Southeast Asia (and hopefully India and Nepal)
• June 7 to July 12 – Eastern Europe (the last two weeks with my family in Greece)
• July 12 to October 18 – Western Europe (moving generally north to south)
• October 18 to December 20 – South America
  

I hope to see many of you out there somewhere. Shoot me an e-mail and we’ll figure something out. I will have e-mail access and will check it a couple times a week or more.

So here’s what’s happening as Jan 8 approaches…

Forty-eight hours until departure and I can tell you this about planning a year-long, ‘round the world trip: It’s a pain in the ass.

I intended to have two weeks in Rhode Island to get everything ready but airline booking forced me to leave a week earlier. I haven’t really slept all week and now I’m literally dizzy with exhaustion (or is it a sinus infection?). A partial list of the crap I’ve been doing: getting medical insurance, deferring college loans, preparing my taxes, setting up my bank account, confirming my flight, setting up my laptop, making copies of all the vital things I’m sure to lose at some point, loading my IPod, etc etc etc.

My bag is 98% packed and its actually lighter than I expected, probably under 50 pounds. Its mainly camera, computer and other electronics. I’m bringing very little clothes: 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of shorts, 1 bathing suit, 3 t-shirts, 1 sweater, 1 collared shirt, 4 pairs of socks, 4 pairs of boxers, and a rain coat. Avoiding cold weather for the year makes packing easier.

I still don’t have a wallet or a guidebook so I’m off to buy those now.

What will I do when I arrive in Sydney? I dunno. It’ll be 8am and I will have been traveling for 30+ hours. I’ll find a hostel and maybe sleep or grab lunch or something. After a week or so I’ll go somewhere else, depending which way the wind’s blowing. Not sure if it’s a good plan, but it’s the plan I got.