We will try to answer here some of the common questions regarding our trip. Use the comments form at the end of the page to ask a question or just send us an email.
Because we want to and we can? We don't have any sort of existential crisis or any major questions to answer, but we hope to have fun and learn a lot. And then: "The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn't even think to ask." (180° South (amazon link).
We always wanted to travel and we were going to wait until the children grew up and left our home or until we retired, then one day we learned that some people don't wait that long. Shortly thereafter we realized that there are quite a few families that travel with their children, taking one year off and circling the world. Reading about their travels we knew that we can also do this. After a few months of further learning we realized that we have to do this. Now.
Our children have been home-schooled (this is legal in USA) and we see the official curriculum for their grade as the starting point only. Giving them food, shelter, a nurturing environment and an education is OK. We can and we will give them more.
- Why do you do it?
We always wanted to travel and we were going to wait until the children grew up and left our home or until we retired, then one day we learned that some people don't wait that long. Shortly thereafter we realized that there are quite a few families that travel with their children, taking one year off and circling the world. Reading about their travels we knew that we can also do this. After a few months of further learning we realized that we have to do this. Now.
Our children have been home-schooled (this is legal in USA) and we see the official curriculum for their grade as the starting point only. Giving them food, shelter, a nurturing environment and an education is OK. We can and we will give them more.
- Are you mad?
- Are you rich?
Yes and no. With a doctor's salary in the States we make more money than 99% of the people in this world. But we also make less than most doctors in US and life here can be quite expensive. Like most middle class Americans we live from one salary to the next hoping to save some for retirement and children's college and trying to pay the bills and the credit cards when they're due. Deciding to take this trip means a major realignment of our financial goals. It also means giving up the monthly salary and taking up some debt, but we figure that we will spend only a little more than what we spend in a year at home and get a much higher return.
- How much money would this cost?
There are several ways to figure out a budget for a RTW trip and many factors will influence the final cost. First, we made up a generous budget for per day expenses for everything and factor in $30,000 for 5 plane tickets. Then we added a round number for bills and mortgages that would have to be paid at home, added some money for the return to home and return to work time. With a rough number figured out we did adjust our financials, we cut down our expenses and projected a departure day at the end of 2011.
In the second phase, figuring out some destinations, I built a spreadsheet to allow for itemized expenses per country, add cost per leg of trip, then add some of the cost of the special events (camper in New Zealand, boat in Australia) or special costs (visas). Itemizing like this and adjusting the per day budget per country gave us a better idea of how much money we might need, where can we save some and how much can we afford.
Unfortunately we don't have the money and we won't have all the money, but we can borrow a lot and we'll pay it all when we get back.
In the second phase, figuring out some destinations, I built a spreadsheet to allow for itemized expenses per country, add cost per leg of trip, then add some of the cost of the special events (camper in New Zealand, boat in Australia) or special costs (visas). Itemizing like this and adjusting the per day budget per country gave us a better idea of how much money we might need, where can we save some and how much can we afford.
Unfortunately we don't have the money and we won't have all the money, but we can borrow a lot and we'll pay it all when we get back.
- How long you will be gone?
Several months, between 6 and 15. After 3-4 months on the road we will know better what is our style and what we want to do. We also want to prepare for some of the reentry hurdles and at this point we don't know if we should say the minimum or the maximum or something in between.
- Where will you go?
The "route" tab (at the top) should give all the details.
- What about the school?
Our children have been home schooled for most of their lives. In preparation for this trip we will adjust their schedule and curriculum to cover some of the material ahead of time, some will be left for them to catch up when we get back and some will be continued as a "roadschool". They are invested in this trip as much as we are so they are giving up their vacations and some Saturdays, working longer hours during the week to cover a lot more material. Some subjects like history, geography and biology will be much more appropriate on the road. They will improve on their foreign language skills practicing "live". They will have plenty of books and plenty of time to read all that's required. They will write about their travels and improve their writing strengths. I like the way Charlotte, a nurse from England who did a similar trip, put it: Ali and Maisie have learnt so many things here that would have been out of their reach if we had decided on a new kitchen and a better car instead of this trip.
- How does someone get a RTW ticket?
There are a lot of resources on the internet. I started on the wikitravel.org site and learned about the options. I also like this link. OneWorld demo. There are specialized companies that arrange this kind of tickets and the most famous in US is Airtreks , I would suggest to start with them, despite my poor experience with them.
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