Ok here is the tentative plan for my round the world trip. As it stands, I have a good idea what I will be doing for the first couple months and then the trip becomes hazy. I’ve done this on purpose as I hope to keep a lot of flexibility for when I find a place I really like and want to stay longer.

January 30 – Leave Washington, DC for Portland, Oregon. I’ll stay with a friend and use this flight to cut down on the initial travel leg distance. I’ve also never been to Portland!

February 2 – Leave Portland and fly to Auckland. My flight routes to Honolulu for a short layover then an overnight 12 hour stop in Brisbane, before ending in Auckland. Australia will end up being my first country of this trip on a technicality. I arrive in Auckland on the 4th very early in the morning. I’ll probably just set up camp in the airport until daylight hours.

February 4-March 1 – New Zealand

March 1 – 31 – Australia

April – Mid May – Southeast Asia. I’d love to go to Bali, the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia. I have a decent amount of flexibility here, but haven’t made any concrete plans. Suggestions?

Mid May – Mid June – China. I’m meeting my two best friends in Beijing where one will be headed for a choir tour. When he is done, we’ll travel around Beijing and go see the Great Wall. After he returns to the States, my other friend and I will do some more sightseeing and we’ve even talked about taking the overnight train to Mongolia!

Mid June – Mid July – No specific plans. Maybe I’ll return to Southeast Asia, head to Japan, or head to South Korea.

Mid July, no more than 3 days – Dubai. I love architecture and especially that of skyscrapers. Since I’ll be transiting from Asia on to Europe, I must stop and see the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

Late July – Jordan. If I can make the timing work, I will brave the intense heat of summer to see Jordan. I would love to check out the Dead Sea, Amman, and Petra.

August, September, October – The max amount of time an American can stay in Europe without a visa is 90 days. I plan to put that limitation through its paces. I’ll enter Europe through Turkey or Greece and spend my time slowly weaving my way through Eastern Europe before finishing in Spain. I have family in Scotland and Italy, so I hope to make stops there. And I’m also planning on meeting some friends from the travel hacking community in Munich for Oktoberfest.

November, December – South America. I’ve only been to Paraguay, and that was ages ago as a teenager. I have some friends in Rio de Janeiro, so my current plan is to fly from Spain or Portugal down to Rio and explore the Brazilian coastline. From there head to Buenos Aires and then Santiago.

January – Central America. I’ll finish my travels by heading north to Panama and Costa Rica, before heading back to Washington, DC, just in time for winter. 🙁

Whew! I expect this to change frequently, but that is just the fun of such an open-ended trip. If you have suggestions for places to check out, let me know below or shoot my a message on any of my social media accounts!