How much does this cost?
Lots of people keep asking me this question when they hear we are traveling around the world. No, we aren't secret millionaires either!
Earlier this year, we got outrageous credit card offers for American Airlines. Will signed up and got 50,000 miles and I got 75,000 free miles! Well, it only costs 30,000 for a overseas plane ticket. However, there are limited seat and tickets available. You have to act fast or you lose out on the good deals. For example, Will got his USA to London flight for 30,000 miles, but they were out of those tickets when he went to book mine, so it cost me 60,000 if we wanted to fly together. We priced out the entire trip through a "fly around the world" tour and that would have cost around 6,000 each. We chose locations based on what we were interested in and what had the best deal...for example, we almost went to Hong Kong instead of Australia. Final cost for all plane tickets each is a little under 2,000 each. And hey, we are saving money by taking the 3 "red eye" flights instead of booking a hotel.....right? I will let you know later if that was a good idea or not. But, that also allowed us to spent more time touring and more time in each country.
Why three weeks?
That is the exact amount of time Will gets off each year...including roaming holidays all lumped together.
Other travel stuff:
We have always traveled with carry on luggage only...if we time it out, it really works well. Example, I have 6 days worth of cloths. Day 6 is in Switzerland and I know the hotel next door has laundry facilities....and I brought my own powder soap. The only bad part is not having enough room for souvenirs...but that also means I can not spend as much money and Will is happy about that!
Why now?
Will and I want to travel BEFORE we have kids. Now I have said that for the last 3 years....so don't start asking questions. :)
Hotels:
We get most of our hotels from recommendations from Rick Steves tour guides. A friend recommended our Maui location and we are stay with friends in Dubai. I had to look outside of Rick Steves for 3 locations and I did that by searching for bed a breakfast type places and by looking at nice hotels. The good thing about hostels is that they offer laundry, internet, and a free breakfast. Some of the bed and breakfast places I found were on a hostel website.
Meals:
Book a hotel with a included breakfast when possible. Lunch is normally a sandwich from a museum or deli or coffee shop and dinner is a recommended place fro Rick Steves with a strong local feel rather than the strong "typical tourist" feel. When we are staying in a place long enough...we find a grocery store and buy sandwich materials, snacks, and chocolate cereal!
Transportation:
Decide how you are going to travel before you get to the country. We already know which travel passes we want to buy...the thing that put us behind in London was finind out where to purchase them! If you are flexible and patient...that won't bother you.
Other tips I am still learning....
Check 3oz bottles for leaks. I've used these for 3 years now and one is broken. :(
Always take hand wipes with you.
Pack the little toliets paper travel rolls...they really come in handy in high travel tourism places.
Take an empty water bottle with you.
Meet the local people. Some of our best memories are from meeting the fellow travelers or hikers and finding out their stories and sharing ours.
