Go Big Mike!

Mike Manning’s personal site. I’m travelling the world starting August 2007.

Trip itinerary overview, Take 1

Our world is big and full of great things to see and do, and I know I’m not going to be able to partake in all (or even most) of them on this trip. I’m saving some real gems for future trips. But I’m excited about all the great places I’m planning for this trip.

Flexibility is important to me, so almost all dates and locations are subject to change. I haven’t booked any flights beyond the initial starting flights. Rather than buying a RTW ticket, I plan to buy one-way flights as I go. The only dates/locations that aren’t flexible are those where I know I’m meeting people, ie my Dad in Nepal.

The first “leg” (Asia), through the end of 2007, I consider “firm”; I’m planning on travelling that for sure. Future “legs” in 2008 are more tentative. I’ve never travelled for more than 3 weeks at a time, so committing to “12 months around the world” in one whack seems overly aggressive. But assuming I’m still happy and healthy, I’ll keep rolling on.

2007
LEG 1
Aug–Russia (Trans-Mongolian Railroad)
Sep–Mongolia, China
Oct–China, Nepal (trek w/ Dad)
Nov–Vietnam, Laos
Dec–Cambodia, Thailand

2008
LEG 2
Jan–Indonesia/Malaysia(?), New Zealand
Feb–Brazil (just Carnivale?), Argentina
Mar–Argentina/Chile
Apr–Bolivia, Peru
LEG 3 (getting more nebulous here)
May–South Africa, Zimbabwe
Jun–Tanzania, Kenya
Jul–Egypt, Jordan, Turkey
Aug–Italy, ?

Sound fun? Come out and join me!

And if anyone has friends or family in any of these places, please let me know. I’m sure I’ll meet lots of cool travellers along the way, but it would be great to have some local contacts along the way (shockingly, I’ve already got 2 solid contacts for Mongolia! Go figure…).

July 19th, 2007 | Category: travel, rtw |

7 Comments so far

  1. Berk
    July 23rd, 2007

    | 4:39 pm

    Go Big Mike! This sounds like an awesome plan! And a little aggressive indeed… :) I will give my friends’ info in St Petersburg. They may be able to set you up with some local entertainment! :)

  2. ian c rogers
    August 3rd, 2007

    | 5:51 am

    I know you hate it, but Twitter would be a pretty great way to follow you around the world. Mickipedia was Twittering from her travels and it was fun to follow. She just finally posted about her journey, too, in case yer curious:

    http://twitter.com/Mickipedia?page=3
    http://www.mickipedia.com/?p=907

    Go big, Mike!

    ian

  3. christopher andersson
    August 3rd, 2007

    | 9:03 pm

    Get on TWITTER!!!! I want to get little updates of what you are up to!

  4. SteveR
    August 6th, 2007

    | 5:41 pm

    Bookmarking now. Don’t miss your flight tomorrow.

  5. Heath
    August 11th, 2007

    | 2:01 pm

    A great way to meet up with people on your trip is via the www.couchsurfing.com website. We’ve been using it on our www.tuxedotravels.com project, and it’s helped us meet local people as we travel aswell as often saving us a relative fortune on accomodation costs.

    Hope this is of use,

    Heath
    The Tuxedo Traveller

  6. mike
    August 12th, 2007

    | 8:52 pm

    Heath, thanks for the note. I signed up for couchsurfing before leaving LA, and plan to at least try to meet up with some locals for a drink in various places.

    Looks like you guys had a great adventure! Congrats on surviving it! :)

  7. McCabes
    August 15th, 2007

    | 6:26 am

    Hi Mike! We’re enjoying your posts and the photos.
    If you really do make it to Turkey next July we’ll have to hook you up with Aylin’s relatives…
    Keep having fun!
    Tina, Jay & Abby

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