Monday, April 20, 2009

Our Plan of Attack

We finally have all of our early flights booked… and not a moment too soon. The big drawback to booking the RTW ticket out of the UK is that we had to buy a one-way ticket from San Francisco to London. I had been keeping my eye on the flight prices which were pretty reasonable last month, but lately have been creeping up in cost. Fortunately we found a one way special on United Airlines which happens to also be a non-stop flight: Sweet.

Now that we are locked in for a departure date (May 26th), I can get a solid travel itinerary in place. Note: Since all of the flights can be changed easily, we don’t have to (and probably won’t) stick to this itinerary 100% of the time…

Spain (35 Nights)

Madrid (4 nights)
Tue, May 26 2009: (SFO -> LHR)
Wed, May 27 2009: (LHR -> MAD)

First leg of the trip: We book our own flights from SFO to Spain, as the OneWorld Explorer ticket starts from London.

Toledo (1 night)

From Madrid, head to Toledo and stay overnight.

Andalusia (10 nights)

Grenada / Córdoba / Seville / Gibraltar

Barcelona (7 nights)
Basque Country (7 nights)

Pamplona (2) / San Sebastián (3) / Bilbao (2)

Cantabria / Castile-LeÓn (5 nights)

Santander (2) / Salamanca (2) / in route to Madrid, stop in Ávila (1)

Madrid (1 night)

Stay overnight near the airport to catch an early flight.

U.S. East Coast (14 Nights)

New York, New York (7 Nights)
Wed, July 1 2009: (BCN -> LHR)
Wed, July 1 2009: (LHR -> JFK)

Entry point to the East Coast: First flight using the One World Explorer Pass, since we technically start in London. Visit Dawn Camner, 4th of July in the states. Drag Sun-D up from Washington DC.

Washington DC (3 nights)
Wed, July 8 2009: (JFK -> IAD)

Visit Sean Donato.

Raleigh, North Carolina (4 nights)
Sat, July 11 2009: (IAD -> RDU)

Visit Bob, Steph, and Cate… Spend a long weekend in RTP catching up.

Central America (37 Nights)

Cancun, Mexico (0 Nights)
Wed, July 15 2009: (RDU -> JFK)
Wed, July 15 2009: (JFK -> CUN)

Entry point to Mexico and Central America: Launching point to the Pacific coast.

Zihuatanejo, Mexico (7 nights)

Beaches, deap sea fishings, Ixtapa…

Hualtulco, Mexico (7 Nights)

Beaches and surfing...

Havana, Cuba (10 Nights)

TBD

Belize & Guatemala (11 Nights)

Ambergris Caye (6 Nights): off the coast to hang out and dive/snorkel.
Cayo, San Ignacio (4 Nights): Exploring caves and underground rivers… Rainforest.
Tikal, Guatamala (2 Night): Explore Mayan ruins. 2nd night might be spent in Belize to get ready to catch flight back to Miami.

Miami, Florida (3 Nights)
Fri, Aug 21, 2009: (CUN -> MIA)

Visit Gina Spencer, etc all…

South America (68 Nights)

Lima, Peru (1 Night)
Mon, Aug 24 2009: (MIA -> LIM)

Entry point to Peru… Get acclimated to the time zone.

Cusco, Peru (4 Nights)

TBD

Aguas Calientes, Peru (1 Night)

Hike around Machu Picchu… Just stay overnight.

Puno, Peru (6 Nights)

Lake Titicaca.

Arequipa (2 Nights)
Lima (1 NIGHT)

Overnight to catch a flight the next day.

Buenos Aires, Argentina (25 Nights)
Wed, Sep 9 2009: (LIM -> EZE)

Entry point to Argentina: TBD… 25 nights in Argentina.

Santiago, Chile (27 Nights)
Sun, Oct 4 2009: (EZE -> SCL)

Entry point to Chile: TBD… 27 nights in Chile.

New Zealand / Australia (46 Nights)

Aukland (2 Nights)
Sat, Oct 31 2009: (SCL -> AKL)

Entry point to New Zealand and the South Pacific: No time actually spent here… 2 nights lost on the plane ride over the international date line.

Raratonga, Cook Islands (7 Nights)

Relax on the beach.

New Zealand South Island (20 Nights)

Sydney, Australia (7 Nights)
Sun, Nov 29 2009: (AKL -> SYD)

Entry point to Australia: We might cut this short and spread more time out between New Zealand and Cairns.

Cairns, Australia (10 Nights)
Sun, Dec 6 2009: (SYD -> CNS)

Great Barrier Reef

Southeast Asia (68 Nights)

Hong Kong (2 Nights)
Wed, Dec 16 2009: (CNS -> HKG)

Skip over Shanghai… Get Ward to meet us out in the Philippines.

Cebu, Philippines (19 Nights)
Fri, Dec 18 2009: (HKG –> CEB)

TBD: Need to refine this part…

Bangkok, Thailand (1 Night)
Wed, Jan 6 2010: (CEB -> HKG)
Wed, Jan 6 2010: (HKG -> BKK)

Entry point to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (12 Nights)

TBD: 2 weeks? Need to figure out where to go.

Hanoi, Vietnam (12 Nights)

TBD: 2 weeks? Need to figure out where to go.

Laos (11 Nights)

TBD: 1.5 week in Laos (per Rod’s reccomendation).

Phuket, Thailand (11 Nights)

We may not actually go here, but we’ll go to some beaches outside of Phuket.

MOROCCO (23 Nights)

London, United Kingdom (2 Nights)
Tue, Feb 23, 2010: (BKK -> LHR)

this is the last leg of our round-the-world air pass… and we are required to end it in London. Get acclimated to the new time zone here, and use the time to plan our return route and book itinerary for Europe and Morocco. London should be an easy spot to book discount flights to Turkey, Croatia, Morocco, etc.

Morocco (21 Nights)

Eastern Mediterranean (35 Nights)

Turkey (21 Nights)

TBD… where to go in Turkey?

Greek Islands (14 Nights)

Just the islands… TBD with Croatia

Eastern Europe (39 Nights)

Croatia / Slovenia (18 Nights)

Need to determine split between Croatia / Slovenia / rest of Eastern Europe.

Prague, Czech Republic (7 Nights)
Budapest, Hungary (7 Nights)

St. Petersburg, Russia (7 Nights)

time and weather permitting…

London & Back (1 Night)

Head back home

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