A round the world trip? Yes, please.

I don’t even know when the idea of going around the world occurred to me, or how long it’s been my dream for. But I vividly remember when I decided and started telling people that in the summer 2017 I would make it happen. It was last July.

I had, however, been giving it some thought since the beginning of last year. I don’t know how many people took me seriously, but my mom, not being much of a fan of my adventures, thinking it was a long time ahead, told me: ‘You will change your mind.’  And here I am, one year later, determined more than ever to give it a go. I’m sorry, mom, I’m going. 🙂 I am setting off on August 1, 2017.

And what is the plan? The plan is to go around the world in 365 days, unlike Verne’s Phileas Fogg who made it in 80 days. Do you remember the cartoon? It used to be my favourite. I can still remember the opening theme in Slovak.

There are countries I would really like to see and so I chose a route accordingly. I will be going from Slovakia, my native country, which is kind of symbolic, considering I have lived in the Czech Republic for nearly nine years. I will be heading east more or less following this route:

Slovakia – Ukraine – Russia – Kazakhstan – Kyrgyzstan – China – Vietnam – Laos – Myanmar – Thailand – Malaysia – Singapore – Indonesia – Australia – Canada – Mexico – Belize – Guatemala – El Salvador – Honduras – Nicaragua – Costa Rica – Panama – Europe.

I could have gone west first but weather-wise and cost-wise this route seems more favourable. Now, this looks like a fixed plan, but it’s not. I am open to new ideas, challenges and plans. I want to be flexible and spontaneous. At this point, only the Slovakia – Kazakhstan part is more or less settled (still waiting for Russian visa though.) Also, the Central America part would make the trip longer than 365 days so I might be heading back from either Canada or Mexico.

I think big and therefore I am tempted to add other beautiful countries to my itinerary such as Tajikistan, Nepal, New Zealand, Fiji, Palau, Samoa and African countries like Botswana, Namibia, Madagascar, Morocco and Ethiopia, but I think that would be taking it too far. I am not a millionaire after all. But let’s see.

I am a huge fan of travelling by train, so my dream is to go all the way to Vietnam and further to Singapore by train (although there is no rail link between Vietnam and Thailand). I will be travelling by train on this route: Zvolen (SK) – Košice (SK) – Lviv (UA) – Kiev (UA) – Moscow (RU) – Astana (KZ) – Almaty (KZ) – Ürümqi (CN) – Xi’an (CN) – Nanning (CN) – Hanoi (VN) (the route in China is very approximate as I will be zigzagging the country for a month).

I would really love to go all the way to Australia without flying but it will certainly prove to be more of a challenge than getting overland to Singapore. Any ideas how to make it happen?

I will only need visa for the following countries: Russia (60 EUR), China (60 EUR), Vietnam (25 USD), Laos (30/35 USD) and Myanmar (50 USD) unless my itinerary changes. I am only applying for Russian and Chinese visas in advance. The rest will be dealt with on the way.

By going on this trip, a few of my dreams will come true, something I came to realize is possible and makes life worthwhile. I will finally go to Australia, my childhood dream; I will go around the world; I will go to Asia all the way by train and I will have visited all continents except Antarctica. In addition, I would like to try teaching English abroad, ideally in a developing country and also some sort of volunteering.

Also, as a lover of languages, I would like to spend some time in a Spanish speaking country, where I would like to improve my Spanish. And there is more. I would like to couchsurf as much as possible – good news is that I have already found a host in the first place I will stay – Lviv. And I would  like to hitchhike more than I used  to. The trip is all about experience and experiences.

So let the count down start! Can’t wait.