This is a key point of your planning. In the beginning we went crazy thinking of going everywhere, but you need to realise what is most relevant for you.

So now that you have an idea about the costs you can decide how long you would like to travel for and where to go. Basically the itinerary is influenced by four elements: places you want to go x how long you can travel x climate x legs available in the round the world ticket.
See below a step-by-step guide to help you outlining your itinerary based on our experience.

STEP 1: list all countries you want to visit in geographical order. If you have no idea where to go search the internet and travel books. At the end of this page you will find some books we used in our search.

STEP 2: define the time you have available for your trip. Remember that if you intend to use a round the world ticket you have a maximum of one year.

STEP 3: place the number of days you wish to spend in each country (never place less then 7 days or your trip you’ll be in a hurry). If you surpassed the total days you have you can already re-evaluate your plan.

STEP 4: evaluate the seasons of the year you would like to spend in each place. After all you wouldn’t like to get -20 degrees in Russia and the rainy season in Indonesia. For this we found a fantastic French website where you can find the last 3-year-average of rain and temperature of all the cities in the world. This helped us a lot. Go to Levoyageur.

STEP 5: now you have to build the puzzle, fitting in the countries with a certain geographical sequence, in the seasons you want and with the legs available in the round the world ticket. For that you can use the excel sheet we provide for download below and the round the world simulators indicated in the section “Tickets”.

Looking at these 5 steps, it sounds easy, but this is the most complicated part of your planning. We made 7 different itineraries till we got to the ideal plan. It is a lot of work but it will be worth it. See below how our itinerary looks:

If you would like to see our itinerary in more detail, click on the image beside it.

If you wish to download the excel sheet to help you building your own itinerary, click here.

Remember that your itinerary can still be flexible during the trip and without a doubt you will feel like changing it in the middle of the way. But, your round the world legs will be the base plan to give you some direction.

 

Some books that can help you on your search:

  • Vagabonding – An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Rolf Pots – Villard)
  • The Road Less Travelled – 1.000 Amazing Places Off the Tourist Trail (Bill Bryson – Eyewitness Travel)
  • The Asia Book – A Journey Through Every Country in the Continent (Lonely Planet)
  • The Travel Book – A Journey Through Every Country in the World (Lonely Planet)
  • 501 Must Take Journeys (Bounty Books)
  • 1000 Places to See Before You Die – A Traveler’s Life List (Patricia Schultz – Sextante)