Planning your round the world trip is a fun, but difficult task. You’re planning a super long journey (yay!), but you’ll have to make some difficult choices. Which countries do you want to visit? And in what order do you want to visit them? Creating a wishlist with countries you want to visit is a good way to start. Part two is a lot trickier: which world trip itinerary do you choose?
Choosing a world trip itinerary is an important part of planning your round the world trip. There is so much beauty to discover. Where do you go and which destinations do you skip? These tips will help you to determine the ideal route for your world trip.
1 – Take a look at your wishlist
Planning your trip around the world starts with selecting the destinations you want to visit during your trip. But how do you decide which countries you want to discover during your trip? Creating a long list will all countries you potentially want to visit is quite easy (and fun!). This list is a nice starting point to get started with your world trip itinerary.
Are you traveling together with someone? Put your list next to that of your fellow adventurer and check which destinations appear on both of your lists. Also, there may be countries on one of your lists, that the other one really doesn’t like. Skip those for this trip and see if you can visit them on another time. Then prioritize your wishlist. Which countries do you really want to visit? And which countries do you consider a bonus? Also keep in mind that some countries might be easier to visit during a separate trip, because of the weather or the location.
2 – Choosing a world trip itinerary
Unfortunately, even during a world trip, you can’t see all the places that you would like to see. Making choices is difficult, but in the end, these choices also result in a better world trip itinerary. Before you start to look forward to certain countries, it’s smart to see how long you want to travel and what’s your daily budget. Do you have a small daily budget? Then you can skip expensive countries like New Zealand or Argentina. And is it really relaxed to visit twenty countries in three months? How many countries you do want to visit during your world trip, is a choice only you can make and really depends on the way you like to travel. We like to take some time in a country and the planning for our world trip is, therefore, to stay in a country for one to two months on average. Decide based on your wishes how many countries you want (or can) visit during your journey.
3 – The right order
Did you determine which countries you want to visit during your world trip? That’s great! Then the time has come to start planning the route for your around the world trip. How difficult it is to nail down your route depends on the number of countries you want to visit. But whether you’re doing three or fifteen destinations, these tips can point you in the right direction:
- The direction you’re traveling in
- Seasons
- Special events or parties
The first point simply means that you have to determine whether you are heading east or heading west during your trip. Of course, you can also fly all over the world, but that is not very friendly to the environment or your wallet. It is, therefore, smarter to see which countries are in the direction you’re flying in. It makes a lot more sense if you’re starting your round the world trip in Kazakhstan and then fly to China and then to America, for example. Try to keep your mileage to a minimum.
You can also take the seasons into account. Do you want to go to destinations with a long rainy season? Then first check when’s the best time to stay there and adjust the rest of your plans accordingly. However, it’s important to realize that the rainy season isn’t the same in the whole country. For instance, in Thailand, it can be rainy season in the north, but fine in the south.
The same thing goes if you want to attend certain events or parties. For example Loy Krathong in Thailand or Carnival in Brazil. These festivities are set to specific dates and if you do not want to miss them, you will have to be at a certain place at a certain time. If you want to experience this type of event during your trip, use the period of such an event as a base and build your travel itinerary around it. Keep in mind that the prices may be slightly higher in these busier periods.
How flexible do you want to be?
Are you planning and booking an around the world trip? Then you have roughly two camps. One group books all their tickets and sometimes even hostels in advance and the other group travels the world without booking anything in advance. Because you can access the internet almost anywhere and everywhere, the latter has become a lot easier. This way of traveling also gives you the most freedom because you can adjust your journey anytime if you want to stay somewhere longer than you expected. But if you are not used to this way of traveling, it can be difficult to let go of everything and just see where you end up.
If you want the best of both worlds, you could only book some airplane tickets in advance. Imagine you fly from Europe to Indonesia and then three months later from Bangkok in Thailand to Australia. How you organize these three months in between is entirely up to you. But that flight from Bangkok to Australia gives your trip a little more direction. Also for the first night after a long flight, it is wise to book a place to sleep before you go. Especially if you don’t feel like strolling around in an unknown city looking for a place to sleep with your way to heavy backpack on your back after being uncomfortable in an airplane seat for a decent amount of time…
Generally speaking, the more flexible you are, the cheaper your trip is. Being flexible also gives you more opportunities to end up in special places that you never imagined visiting when you planned your round the world trip itinerary.
Are you flying?
Are you planning a round the world trip, then you’ll probably think of flying to your destinations. But you can also travel the world perfectly by train, boat, bus, car or even bicycle. Better for the environment and a way to see a completely different side of the countries you are traveling through. For example, the Trans-Siberian Express is a good way to travel from Russia to China. It’ll take some time, but slow travel is a trend for a reason; you’ll see so much more of a country!
Have you ever been on an around the world trip and do you have some tips for planning a perfect world trip itinerary? Tell us in the comments!
