world trip

Travel by the numbers:
Days traveled:	134
Countries visited:	5
Flights taken:	18
Miles traveled:	56,298
Rainy days:	5
Pictures taken:	5441
Puppies missed:	2
Amazing restaurants:	9
Weight gained:	not telling
Updated on April 20, 2010

We have split up our year-long itinerary and will return home to be with Chewy and Abby for a few weeks in between each leg (because Patrick and I suffer from a little-known disease where we shrivel up into grumpy little balls if we don't receive sufficient puppy kisses). Flip through the flash map above to see where we have been and where we are going or check out our itinerary below:

• Australia: Sept. 21 - Oct. 26, 2009
• New Zealand: Oct. 26 - Nov. 23, 2009
• Chennai, India: Jan. 7 - Jan. 17, 2010 (to visit family)
• Thailand: Jan. 17 - Feb. 15, 2010
• Cambodia: Feb. 15 - March 6, 2010
• Japan: May 25 - June 20, 2010
• South Korea: June 20 - June 27, 2010
• China: June 27 - July 29, 2010
  
• South Africa: Aug. 22 - Sept. 26, 2010
  
• Namibia: Sept. 26 - Oct. 21, 2010 (overland trek)
  
• Botswana (overland trek)
  
• Zambia/Zimbabwe (overland trek)
  
• Europe (with our doggies) - July 27, 2011 - ???

If you are interested in the logistics of planning a crazy adventure like this, you can read about how we decided to travel round the world, why we planned our trip, my pre-trip freak out, mid-trip giddiness, and all the nifty gear we take with us (including packing lists).  Recently, our trip changed from a one year adventure to a three year extravaganza involving us, our dogs, and our car trekking across the ocean to Europe in July 2011.

Comments (36)

Akila, This is such a great itinerary! You know I'll be travelling with you with each step of the way! Bon Voyage!! I will definitely link your site. Actually, I'm thinking of doing a post wherein I should feature ALL the people I know who are travelling around the world! -- jen Laceda 06/24/2009 13:52:05

Thanks Jen! I would love to read about other world travelers so I hope you write that post. -- Akila 06/28/2009 15:03:16

Great itinerary! I expect a post on how disgusting Vegemite is a few days after you arrive in Sydney! Haha! -- Daniel 07/02/2009 20:08:06

Having just returned from a month in Australia and NZ, I am glad to see you are dedicating one month to EACH !! So much to see and experience there. Let me know if you want any suggestions or have any questions. Cheers -- Raul (ilivetotravel in Twitter) 07/03/2009 13:03:29

Thanks for the Twitter follow, looking forward to reading about the upcoming trip! Just subscribed to your RSS feed as well. Let me know if you'd like a link from foxnomad too (foxnomad.com/links). -- Anil 07/03/2009 13:12:37

Thanks Daniel. Whenever I think about Vegemite, I think of that Men at Work song. Don't know what it is really but it looks interesting. Raul, great to see another Atlantan traveling. I will definitely check out your posts about both countries because we are overwhelmed by all there is to see in two such amazing places. Anil, I have added you to our links. Great site! Of course, we would love it if you would add us too. -- Akila 07/04/2009 14:56:16

Thank you very much Akila, I've added you to my links page as well. Keep in touch, -Anil -- Anil 07/06/2009 08:38:48

What an amazing itinerary! I'm a bit jealous, but so excited to read along as you go! -- Camels & Chocolate 07/14/2009 10:56:31

Thanks Kristin! -- Akila 07/20/2009 18:11:22

Amazing...something I too would want to do...Best of Luck for your world trip...have bookmarked this site...hope you have an amazing experience...btw, if you haven't watched "Where the hell is Matt" about a guy dancing around the world, chk out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY -- axw11 07/26/2009 09:35:45

Thanks axw11! I love Matt's video. Whenever I get down, I either watch his video or the Christian the Lion video and I am instantly cheered up. We are looking forward to our trip and are excited about encouraging other future global travelers out there! -- Akila 07/28/2009 17:20:04

Wow, Akila! I love the itinerary and the website. I especially love the cherry blossoms bit and the time in Egypt. Have a fabulous time. We should meet this time when you're in India - I'm away in London between mid September and mid-December, and wondering whether to hop over to Toronto just before New Year's to meet Uma. But I see there's a wrinkle in time when we will both be in India - so keeping my fingers crossed. -- Bharati 08/03/2009 12:33:36

Thanks Bharati. We are really excited about going to Japan - Patrick has wanted to go there forever. I hope that we will be able to meet up this time in India. We definitely want to go to Bangalore, so hopefully, we'll see you then. -- Akila 08/08/2009 18:01:24 Akila's recent blog post: pressed vegetarian sandwich

I'll be in Melbourne Sept.15-19th/Oct.1-4 and in and around Sydney Sept.20-30 Let me know if you are up to foodie adventures! If not, can't wait to hear more about your trip! -- Mai 08/07/2009 16:52:31

Mai, We'll be in Sydney when you are -- I think we are leaving on the 30th, too -- so we would love to meet up and find some great food spots. Shoot me an email at theroadforks [at] gmail [dot] com and we'll try and work something out. Look forward to hearing about your trip, as well! -- Akila 08/08/2009 18:00:50 Akila's recent blog post: pressed vegetarian sandwich

The diversity of your itinerary is what makes it so enviable. The African wilderness, the Egyptian mystique with a splash of the Aus/NZ beaches and some Asian exoticism thrown in. Also your stops are for over 10 days which is great coz I feel it takes some time to actually feel the pulse of any town/country. Like the difference between a "point 'n shoot" camera and a 12 MP SLR with a gazillion X optical zoom. Keep posting! P.S - Loved the grumpy ball comment. -- Vinay Gangoli 08/18/2009 10:27:06

My humble opinion - you may want to give even more time to India and China. People refer to India and China as if these were just two countries equivalent (in size and diversity) of another European country. Either of the two can be overwhelming, especially when the cultures are so different from your own (I am guessing). I think when you start to plan the country details you would see this. Also, since you are going from Australia to SE Asia, why not stop by somewhere in Indonesia? Again, humble opinions only and definitely personal bias - I'd cut a couple of days in Australia big cities to accommodate a trip to Bali. The "exotic scales" are just different. It's exciting to follow your blog from the early stage. Judging from your short trip posts, now you have been fewer places than me but I will keep reading till you pass me and go much further beyond. Ah, I am thinking of taking my year off too now ... -- TT 08/20/2009 13:55:51

Thanks Vinay (and sorry it has taken me so long to respond)! We realized a long time back that we like to travel SLOWLY. I definitely don't want to be the couple who remembers the whole trip as a blur of faces and museums. TT: Thanks for commenting and so sorry I am late in responding to you. The reason we are only spending a month in India is because my grandparents and most of my family are in India. We go back to India every three to four years so India isn't quite as exotic for us as it is for many people. My family is mostly in Chennai so we will definitely visit that area and Patrick has been through the Golden Triangle two times ago, and we saw Mysore last time. I have seen most of South India but Patrick hasn't really seen much of it. I think, this time, we are going to travel from Mumbai down to Cochin for about 3 weeks and then spend a week with family in Chennai. We are definitely going back to India in another two years and I REALLY want to go to the Himalayas that time if it's not too cold up there. China is another story, though. I think we are probably going to end up spending closer to 6 weeks there once we work out the logistics. Too many places to see, too little time! We might go to Indonesia on the Southeast Asia part of our leg but aren't quite sure. I have heard only good things about Bali so it would be a wonderful place to go. I'm glad you are following along! We have actually traveled a bit more than what is reflected in our "short trips" section and I am slowly getting those trip reports up. In the next three weeks, I am hopefully going to get more of those trips posted up there --- as long as I don't spend all my time off cuddling our puppies and laying by the pool. :) -- Akila 08/27/2009 10:27:47 Akila's recent blog post: the pre-world trip freak out

Akila, See - my bad assumptions (about India) :-) . I am so excited for you, probably mainly because you are doing something I am still working up courage for. Sept 21st? Can't you start just tomorrow? :-) This is like waiting for the favorite show on TV ... -- TT 08/27/2009 17:21:31

Oh... I know I am creating chaos on your already chaotic drawing board (again, assumptions :-) ). See you are leaving India from Chennai, I am guessing then on a budget airline to Bangkok? If you go through Singapore instead and take the train through Malaysia all the way up ... also, logistically, without considering personal circumstances, wouldn't it be more convenient (when starting out of SE Asia) to go through China to Japan, instead of Japan to China? I will shut up now :-) . You can see how much I want to pretend this was my plan ... -- TT 08/27/2009 17:29:05

What an incredible itinerary. I'm excited to read about your upcoming travels. Mmm...I'm getting hungry already just thinking about all the yummy dishes you're going to sample. -- Carrie 08/27/2009 21:13:00

We may still be in India when you get there. We will keep in touch, you never know we may cross paths! -- Dave and Deb 08/31/2009 15:10:05

TT - Actually, I am so glad we don't start tomorrow because we still have so much left to do! And, thank you so much for your suggestions! We appreciate any help that y'all give us in making our plans because there are so many places we want to go and trying to figure out our itinerary has been a challenge --- fun, but a challenge nonetheless. Originally, we were planning on flying from Chennai to Bangkok but my brother went to Malaysia a few years ago and he has been telling us that we must go to Malaysia. We also have a friend in Singapore so that route is certainly a possibility. Do you think it is better than directly flying to Bangkok? The reason we wanted to go to Japan first is because late March/early April is cherry blossom season and we have always wanted to see the cherry blossoms in Japan. I also read that China is still quite cold in March and it would be better if we went to China in late April/early May. We are flying back to the U.S. between the SE Asia and Japan/China leg so I don't think we will be saving money either way. Carrie, thanks! Dave and Deb, we'll be following your trip too so hopefully we will get to meet in India. I know that several other RTW travelers (Gillian from www.One-Giant-Step.com and Eva and Jeremy from www.forksandjets.com) may be in India in the December/January timeframe. Hopefully, we'll all be able to meet up! -- Akila 09/01/2009 09:22:53 Akila's recent blog post: west maui: the easy way or the hard way?

Personally, I'd start from Singapore and slowly up to Bangkok. I think Singapore does not get enough credits from travelers and it seems that you are into food, Singapore then definitely is a not to miss place. Along the way, you have Ipoh and KL and south Thailand beaches to explore. Since you only mentioned "China", it's hard to tell whether it'll be cold in March for you. China is a vast country. March can be cold in Beijing but definitely not in Hainan :-) . Cherry blossom is great. The whole Japan turn pink! You should go to Osaka to get drunk with the locals at picnics! -- TT 09/04/2009 15:12:34

I just found your site and as a self professed foodie I am certainly going to follow. Also your itinerary is nearly a mirror image for the one my wife and I are now on with our year long around the world trip. I hope we can learn from each other. I just added you to our links and twitter account, hope you will do the same. Maybe we will cross paths in Japan or China. -- Keith Sutter 11/12/2009 14:43:19 Keith Sutter's recent blog post: The Food of Turkey

Yay for you guys!! Just tooling around your site now. I did 2 1/2 years around the world 2006-2009. IT was amazing. I am excited about your trip and site. It keeps me in the travel mode. Plus, don't get me started on food....yummmmm. Happy travels! Lisa www.llworldtour.com -- Lisa 11/18/2009 17:03:45 Lisa's recent blog post: Link O? the Week: Everybody Wang Chung Tonight

Thanks Keith for following along and congrats on your round the world adventure. It sounds like y'all are having a great time. We look forward to keeping in touch. :) -- Akila 12/21/2009 11:40:09 Akila's recent blog post: marlborough wines: why did we leave?

Thanks Lisa. I am sure it is a good feeling being home after such a long journey - but I am sure you miss being on the road, too. It's always the Catch-22 of travel, right? Look forward to keeping in touch! -- Akila 12/21/2009 11:41:30 Akila's recent blog post: marlborough wines: why did we leave?

How is the trip going? Dan in Miami -- dan 02/02/2010 16:31:23 dan's recent blog post: Go Travel!

Dan: The trip is great! We are having a blast - though we are starting to realize that one year is not nearly enough time to see all we want to see. But, isn't that always the way things are? -- Akila 02/05/2010 23:51:19 Akila's recent blog post: elephant beauty at patara elephant farm

Can't wait to read about your adventures when you go to Africa. Lately I've met quite a few people from South Africa, it seems amazing. Dangerous at times, but still an amazing place. I'd really like to go there some time. -- Sofia - As We Travel 02/28/2010 07:36:23

Thanks Sofia. We have heard from so many people that South Africa is one of the most beautiful but also one of the most dangerous countries in the world. It should be a very interesting place to visit, made even more interesting because of South Africans views towards Indians and Caucasians after the end of Apartheid. -- Akila 03/02/2010 06:12:29 Akila's recent blog post: gear: amazon kindle for travelers

Found my way here from the GranTourismo Comp - love the blog! Do you two work location independent or have you taken a year off in order to do this awesome itinerary? All the best! -- Heather 03/27/2010 16:31:16

Thanks Heather! We took a year off but are continuing to work, so I guess you could call us location independent professionals now . . . though it happened through circumstance rather than plan. But, maybe that's the way all good things happen? -- Akila 04/20/2010 14:49:22 Akila's recent blog post: silky stylings

Great blog with wonderful pictures. Hope to see you soon in China, if you need any assistance or tips for China please contact with us, we will be happy to help. -- Sanya 05/18/2010 12:09:22

Thanks Sanya! If we need any help, we'll let you know. -- Akila 05/19/2010 20:25:46 Akila's recent blog post: 4 countries, 40 hours

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