Well, several months ago I started to automatically withdraw money off of my pay cheque every 2 weeks. Despite a lot of other things going on, taking on a larger rent, training for an IronMan, a pre-arranged sailing holiday to the British Virgin Islands and then the road-trip stag to Montreal and wedding (in Halifax, Nova Scotia) of one of my best friends Vaughn. All these events are extremely exciting although made saving for the trip a bit more difficult... there are worse things in the world than having a very exciting and fulfilling life so I don't really feel that sorry for myself!

My plan is to have $65/day Canadian for the 12 months that I plan to be away. I realize that many places that I will be traveling in Asia will cost less than that but the trip will be ending up spending summer in Europe and than can be expensive.

Also, I suspect that sleeping in dorms and going on the cheap will get a bit boring after awhile and I'll want to treat myself to a nice hotel, good meal and perhpas the occasional first class seat somewhere.

Originally from the Maritimes in Canada, I have been a resident of Toronto for over 10 years. One of my passions is traveling but my life's dream has been to set off on an adventure for a year, seeing what there is to see and hopefully helping out along the way. Traveling is an education - this trip will be a PhD in Discovery!

I have been dreaming about taking this trip for years but it was only only in 2005 that I started to seriously putting it into a plan...I knew that I could pull it off if I made it a proirity.

Some things in life (and in travels) are certain, it's the unexpected things that happen along the way are sometimes the most interesting and can be the biggest learning opportunity.

Despite all the planning, living is where everything happens... take a deep breath and share a few steps with me!