The idea of going on a long-distance trip is like a weed, which once installed in your head will grow, grow, until it takes up all the space in your thoughts. It’s a bit like a drug, it’s better never to approach it, because once imagined, the trip will grab you and won’t let go!
If like us (it was at the beginning of 2011), you imagine the possibility of going on a world tour, you must certainly ask yourself the difficult but exciting question: where to go? This step is one of the most fun and challenging steps in preparing for a round the world trip. On paper, all delusions are allowed, even the craziest! But there is a long way to go from dream to reality …
In order to help you structure this reflection, we propose to present to you the method we used to design the itinerary of our round the world trip, embellished with our “post trip” analysis and the round the world planner that we had the idea of creating to facilitate this process.
Itinerary around the world, quite a story! Which itinerary for a world tour? When to leave? Where to go? Our experience and our advice to design your round the world itinerary according to the budget, the climate and your desires.
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Summary
When to leave?
Everyone has their own “good time” according to their life story, their projects and their opportunities.
What time of year to leave?
How long to leave?
Where to go?
The first list of all possibilities
Together, confront your desires
Sort and select your countries
How many countries to select?
In which order to organize the stages or design your itinerary strictly speaking
WHEN TO LEAVE?
EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN “GOOD TIME” ACCORDING TO THEIR LIFE STORY, THEIR PROJECTS AND THEIR OPPORTUNITIES.
There is no better time in life to leave: it depends on your plans and opportunities. Even if the majority of tourdumondistes are between 25 and 30 years old and have a short professional experience behind them which has allowed them to save a little, some leave before entering the workforce and after long studies (this is the case in particular many Germans or Americans whom we had met during our trip, it is for them the initiatory journey before entering adult life and having family or professional constraints), others leave on occasion an extended honeymoon or are waiting for the right time to leave with the family and for everyone to enjoy it, others still will realize their dream in retirement (like this octogenarian crossed at the Myanmar Embassyin Bangkok on Asian routes for 4 months).
For us, the good time had arrived, when one of us was able to take a break from his long studies, and the other had worked long enough in the same company to ask for unpaid leave. Moreover, we had the possibility of saving enough money to carry out this voyage which trotted in our head for several months.
WHAT TIME OF YEAR TO LEAVE?
This will depend on professional opportunities, the provisional plan to gather the necessary savings, the calendar of preparations, your project and the seasons in the countries you wish to cross, even the high and low season for long-haul flights and tickets. plane around the world (read our article on the subject for more details).
HOW LONG TO LEAVE?
The duration of the trip is one of the information necessary for the design of your itinerary. Indeed, depending on this you can plan the number of stages and therefore countries that you will have time to discover according to the pace at which you wish to travel.
The majority of world tours last between 6 months and a year, but the average is one year (this is also the limit for using a round-the-world plane ticket). For our part, we made the choice to leave for 6 months for two main reasons, quite down to earth if one can say: the possibility of taking an availability in the studies of Aude was 6 months and our ability to save would allow us to travel during this period without depriving ourselves too much. In addition, 6 months also allows you not to cut your ties with France too much and the administrative procedures are much less important than for a trip of 1 year or more (insurance and health, bank, taxes, etc.). However, 6 months is actually quite short and you have to keep in mind that you won’t be able to do everything, that you won’t be visiting a temple nearby and that you will save some for the next time!