RTW - staring at a blank sheet of paper...
 

OK. I've put a date in the diary, and people keep asking me which way I'm going round, so rather than stare at them blankly, I'd really like to be able to respond.

I'm staring a blank sheet of paper that has 'RTW Route' scribbled at the top. Any tips on where to start/variables to consider - just to get the grey matter moving? How did you do it? Where did you start?
Liz

Hey Liz,

Some rough variables to consider:

Departure date and how long you have.

Preferred circumnavigation route: North/South or East/West

Countries or continents you absolutely need to see vs. want to see vs. don't care to see.

Seasons (summer/winter & wet/dry) in the countries you will be visiting and how that will effect the possibility or enjoyment of travelling there.

As an example of a first step many folk have left from their doorstep in London in spring and rode across to Vladivostok. Or you can leave in the fall and ride from London to Cape Town via the east or the west coast. Or...

Hope that helps a little bit:)

Follow the good weather (or at least the less-bad weather) wherever it takes you. That'll define your basic route. But if it doesn't, you could try the technique I've sometimes taught indecisive folks in another context: if your choice is left or right, chose right; up or down, always choose up; yes or no, the answer is yes. That'll solve 95% of all issues.

The point is that it doesn't really matter which direction you set off in; what matters is that you commit, then go. The rest will sort itself out soon enough.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Hi Liz.

I'm in pretty much the same situation. I need to commit soon. I've got the bike, got the time and nearly got the funds.
If we put our heads together maybe we can spur each other on.
I'm in Oxford.
Paul

My 'one day I'm going to do this' plan has always been to head west to start with, probably to Canada, then down through North and South America.

I figure that the culture shock of being on the road would be less, or at least easier to cope with, in a country that speaks the same language. Gives you a chance to get into the travelling mind set before you start having to deal with not speaking the local lingo too.

wall map purchased, thanks.
 

OK, OK. I know - how difficult can it be? Just go. Thanks for the food for thought guys - helpful, and Paul in Oxford - great idea, how do I contact you?

Kind regards
Liz

Hi Liz,
Drop me a line on city-paul 'AT' hotmail 'DOT' com . See if we can come up with a plan.
Paul

Liz

Me and my good pal Mark are setting off on a RTW trip in April 2011. We thought long and hard about which way. We decided to stay northern hemisphere but are going west. Our only reason for doing this is because if we go east we will finish our journey on the east coast of the States and fly home - by going west we will actually ride back through Europe and be able to ride our bikes back to our front doors - that's the only reason we chose that way round, it's kind of a psychological thing I suppose.

Another route, which is a popular route, but backwards, is the route I'm taking in january. Down from the UK to Cape town then across to South America, North into the States through Central America and Mexico, then fly to Singapore and west from there, through india and Eastern Europe until I get home. The only reason I'm taking this route is that I was just going to ride around France and Spain, but my line kept going on and on!

Nick

What im doing is looking at a map , mark where you are starting from .
next , where will you be leaving your country from ? Border point or airport or sea port , in my case as new zealand is an island its Auckland , so ive got the first stage of my trip from Christchurch to Auckland .
Then from that point , where would you like to go ? places youd like to visit that you might never get to see again ?
Me id like to go to Australia , so thats my next stop from Auckland . Then from there Id like to see asia , so ive marked down singapore from Australia .
If your doing RTW then youve already got your final destination , before you know it a path is forming in front of you .
If you think to yourself , I dont want to go there id rather go this way . Then thats the way to go !
Follow your heart ...