Round The World

Alright! Ticket has been paid and the flights are:
starting on the 15th of Dec 2009 !!!

1) Warsaw (stopover in Madrid) -> Caracas … 4.5 month in South America
2) Buenos Aires (stopover in Sydney) -> Auckland … 3-4 weeks in New Zealand
3) Auckland (stopover in Hong Kong) -> Jakarta … 1 month in Indonesia ; then Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam (3 months total)
4) Vietnam (stopover in Hong Kong) -> Kathmandu … 3 weeks in Nepal ; then 2 months in India
5) India (stopover in London) -> Warsaw

10 flights all together, out of which the longest is Buenos – Sydney (14h) … I’ll put down roots…
We have more less precised plan for South America. We also know which places we would like to see in New Zealand and Asia the most. The plan for Latin America is:
– Venezuela – as soon as we get to Caracas we head to see the highest waterfall – Angel Falls/Salto Angel (8h in a overnight bus, a flight, 2 nights in the National Park Canaima). The next target is Santa Elena and 4-6 day trek to Roraima mountain.
– Brazil – from Santa Elena we try to get directly to Manaus city, where we spend a day or two and then take a boat going up the Amazon River all the way to Peru (10 days).
– Peru – getting to Peru we have to stop for a little while in Columbia. Our first destination in Peru is Iquitos where we gonna stay 2, 3 or more days. From there, probably by plane, we have to get to Lima. The next stop is Huaraz or Caraz and 5 day Santa Cruz trek. If everything works out we gonna spend Christmas on the trek. Later we head to Cusco/Cuzco to see Machu Picchu or before that we go to Huacachina, where we spend New Years Eve.
– Bolivia – from Cusco directly by bus we get to La Paz, where we spend 2 – 3 days and probably we do the Death Road getting to Coroico. Later with a tour guide company we go to the Salar de Uyuni, Laguna Verde, Laguna Colorado and Geysers el Tatio.
– Argentina – first target is Mendoza
– Chile – Valpariso
– Argentina again – Bariloche (plus Camoanario) and Esquel (if we find time). Next is Fitz Roy and El Chalten, Torres del Paine (trek) and Ushuaia (plus Tierra del Fuego). Then we go up North to the Valdes Peninsula and later Buenos Aires. From Buenos we do Iguazu Falls trip and come back to Buenos where from we fly to New Zealand.

That’s it!. Just before our first flight I’m going to post an entry about all the costs.

When I was reading different travel blogs I found few that minutely describe estimate of preparation. I’m also going to create this blog in similar character. I hope that someone find this unfo useful and helpful.
Having the trip plan ready and being awake to where and for how long we’re going to, it’s time to take care of:
– RTW ticket! :)
– vaccinations + malaria tablets
– proper clothes
– backpack, equipment and electronics
– everything else

RTW ticket
Precised piece of information about cheap flights you can find on the wikitravel.org/en/Round_the_world_flights. For those who have a lot of time and money, and don’t really care where and when they land, nay! they desire a bunch of great and not so great adventures, I recommend the kayak.com website and spontaneous, cheap flights (if they’re lucky). We used the oneworld.com calling a Polish agent of British Airways. I had sent by e-mail the planned route and a guy on the other side of the phone told me what should we change. So we realign it slightly, then the bookings were made and the whole ticket was ready to be paid.
Ticket is valid for a year and dates of individual flights are set in advance for the next 10 months while booking the ticket. Future dates are random. We’re allowed to change all dates for free.

Vaccinations
Not a little expense…that’s why it should be done in the cheapest way. The “must have” are
– Yellow Fever
– Hepatitis A&B (Twinrix)
– Typhoid
Additional is Revaxis (polio, diphtheria, tetanus). A supplement of the total are (what is not really necessary): meningococcal, rabies, cholera. All depend on a character and place of your travel.
There is few types of malaria tablets. Some of them are more expensive, some are cheaper. One type (Doxycycline) you take daily, other once a week. The second one (Lariam) is know to cause psychotic disturbances, anxiety, sleeplessness, and depression.

Clothes
You should have them as little as possible and they should be very practical (in the multifunctional meaning).They must be effective in a environment you gonna be in. One pair of good shoes/boots. The “backpacker style” with GORE-TEX would be the best. Also some trainers to give a rest to our legs + some thumbs/sandals. Good rainproof jacket or poncho. Good one or two warm jumpers. There is a lot of places in South America, where days are hot, but at night a temperature goes down to few °C above the zero. One pair of long, cotton, quick-dry trousers + one pair of shorts. 4 T-shirts, 1 par of swimming shorts, 4 of a underwear, 4 pairs of socks + 1 thick pair for trekking. A hat/bandanna?

Backpack, gear and ‘toys’
First of all a backpack has to be comfortable (hip belt, regulations straps etc.) It has to be big enough – 70l should do (plus a 30l as a day-pack). The backpack has to be a good quality, tough, durable (we don’t want it to burst while packing all that stuff we gonna carry all year long). Because our around the world trip includes few hikes, we gonna need more equipment then a emerge backpacking person. So what we need is: a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, trekking pole(s), knife, torch, water filter + iodine and neutralizing tablets, camera, iPod, a watch with alarm clock, GPS, external hard drive, backpack security metal netting…

Everything else
Here among some diary and travel guides I have to mention sunglasses, , quick-dry towel, plug adapter, travel pillow etc. …

Also we have to think about how we withdraw our money abroad. There is few options:
– travel checks. I find different opinions, but in general they’re not good.
– debit card
– credit card. It looks like it’s cheaper to use it then a debit card.
– CAXTON FX GLOBAL TRAVELLER CARD – pretty new thing and this what we have chosen. No fees at all, but you need to live in UK and have an UK bank account.