The Trip Basics

Starting September 10, my friend Katie and I will be embarking on a year-long, round-the-world backpacking trip. Although we will be working and volunteering with a variety of groups throughout the journey, we are not affiliated with one group or organization. We have planned this adventure ourselves, creating budgets, planning itineraries, networking and researching. Our budget is about $6,000 a piece for all our travel (flights, trains, buses, tuk-tuks and taxis, among other means of transportation), accommodation, food and miscellaneous costs. The budget is tight, but we have Faith that God will provide.

Our current trip itinerary, much is yet to determined and open to change, is Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, India, Nepal and Egypt. After Egypt, Katie and I part ways. She will be traveling to Kenya with her boyfriend Brian, and I will be traveling to Greece, Spain and Morocco.

To initiate our trip, we used STA’s, a student travel site, round-the-world trip-planner to explore the travel possibilities. (Our countries have changed many times since we first used the site’s maps during the fall of 2009.) Throughout the planning process a huge component has been to find the cheapest means of transportation possible, whether by air, land or sea. From the beginning we were blessed with a helpful travel agent at STA who helped us find travel deals, but Katie used her research saviness to hunt out deals from a number of airlines. She really is gifted at unveiling the hidden deals!
Other than actually getting to and around each country, the greatest expenses are accommodations and food. Whenever possible, we will be volunteering and working in exchange for our room and board. One of the organizations we are working through is the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), and network of who invite people into their lives –much like a host family. In exchange for a few hours of labor daily, we will receive a place to stay and food. Also, we will deepen our experience and learn more about local cultures by staying with natives; we will learn about organic agricultural practices and sustainable living. We will be wwoofing in Argentina, New Zealand and Australia. I will wwoof in Morocco and Greece.
During our time in India and Southeast Asia we will be volunteering in orphanages, teaching English and serving the poor.