Recipe for a Round-the-World Trip

[Editor's note: Next week, we will be doing a special joint Q&A post. Please email us or respond in the comments below with any burning questions you'd like to ask (about the trip, or about whatever you want). If you don't, Zhou will be very sad and Kevin will have to make up the questions himself, which would make Zhou apprehensive AND sad.]

The short version:
1. Save money
2. Figure out where you want to go
3. Research tickets
4. Buy tickets
5. Research and buy gear
6. Quit job
7. Get shots
8. Get visas
9. Get married (optional)
10. Pack and leave

The long version:
1. Save money
There's an analyst in my group who keeps a spreadsheet, which he updates every day, of how much money he's spent and how many calories he's eaten. He called me over earlier this year and showed me the (unholy!) amount of money he spent in 2008 that made up his "going out" pie piece. Let's just say it wasn't more than I had paid in rent all year, but it was definitely in the same zip code. Luckily for us, Kevin and I are giant nerds boring people pretty happy people who are easily amused by a sub-par movie or a rousing game of Scrabble (I can't believe I just used the word "rousing" to describe a board game). Anyway, we're fortunate to have been able to save enough money to be able to go on this trip. Granted, we have been eating a lot of ramen lately. Just kidding, Mom! We have eaten a vegetable or two. Below is a nice graph (complete in Wachovia standard colors) that Kevin made of our budget. The reason the South America piece is so big is because we're planning on doing the Galapagos Islands (not cheap) and a stay in the Amazon rainforest (also not cheap). Also, here's a nifty calculator that I used to help come up with our budgets per country.


2. Figure out where you want to go
This one was a bit tricky. With the help of this book, Kevin and I made a list of countries we wanted to visit and put them into four tiers: must go, would like to go, would go if on the way, and wouldn't go to even if you paid us (Kevin: like the forest with the big rats in "The Princess Bride" or Pittsburgh). We then made places we might never get a chance to go to again (like Easter Island) a higher priority than more accessible places (like Europe), and in that I think we succeeded. The main exception: Antarctica is still a maybe. (Kevin says if his ESPN bracket wins the country, we can go! Unfortunately, this does not look likely.) We also tried to avoid rainy seasons and really cold or hot weather. Alas, even with me at the helm of the planning boat, things can't be perfect. We're skipping at least one of our "must go" places, and we're going to Japan in January and Egypt in July.

3. Research tickets
There are lots and lots of other people who advocate buying your plane tickets as you go - and I can understand that. Sort of. But as we aren't going that route, I'll go ahead and let them talk about the merits of "spontaneity" and "flexibility" (not that there's anything wrong with being spontaneous, it's just that the closest I can manage to come to that is "planned spontaneity"). We chose to buy round-the-world (RTW) tickets instead of buying as we go. There are a few different airline alliances you can buy a RTW ticket from. We chose OneWorld (Star Alliance is the biggest; you can read about them and others here), mainly because they offer a ticket based on continents visited, rather than miles traveled, and they have a fairly expansive network. All other RTW tickets (that I know of) price their tickets by miles traveled, which can make it difficult to zigzag between the northern and southern hemispheres and stay within your mileage restriction. With the routes Kevin and I were thinking of, it made a lot more sense to buy a 5-continent ticket from OneWorld instead, skipping North America (they don't fly to Antarctica).

The way the ticket works is this: you plan a route, using the cities that your particular airline alliance flies to (this means we'll be on a LOT of buses in South America. And Southeast Asia. And Africa). You are limited to 16 stops, four stops max per continent. You must cross the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans exactly once each. I don't see what other way there is to go around the world, but for whatever reason that's listed as one of the rules. There are lots of other rules, but you get the idea. The good thing about the RTW ticket is that you can leave all your flight dates (except the first) open-ended (see, planned spontaneity in action!), so if you decide to stay somewhere a bit longer than you first intended, you just call up American Airlines and ask them to put you on a flight later that week or later that month, no charge. But you can't make changes to the cities you're flying to or change your first date without paying a fee.

4. Buy tickets.
We decided to buy our RTW tickets starting in London (in conjunction with a one-way ticket to London) because it cut out a continent, which saved us money - and, for whatever reason, the tickets are cheaper if you buy your ticket in the UK ($2,500ish, depending on the exchange rate, from the UK v. $4,590 from the US for the 5-continent ticket). I don't know why the price discrepancy exists, but I'm sure I'll figure it out after grad school. I believe it has something to do with elasticity of demand. On second thought, maybe not. Anyway. The actual process of buying the tickets turned out to be a lot more difficult than I originally thought, until I figured out one important thing: not all of the ticketing agents know all of the rules. So if one disagrees with you and tries to tell you that you "have to fly American on one of these flights, or you can't book it with us" or that you "have to call British Airways, since they're the carrier of your first leg " or that you "have to pay the higher fare of the UK and US fares," don't listen. Just thank them politely, hang up, wait two minutes and call back. Trust me on this one. I finally figured this out after a few hours on hold and some, shall we say, "spirited debate" with various ticketing agents. Our RTW tickets ended up costing a little less than $3,000 each, including taxes and fees, which I think is pretty stellar (book your own tickets here).

There's an embarrassing story to be told here about one of us carelessly booking the tickets with the incorrect first date, and having to call and get the first date changed, which was a $250 fee per ticket... Luckily, the exchange rate had fluctuated so that when they re-priced our tickets, we ended up getting a refund. So everything ended up being ok. I won't tell you who stupidly didn't triple check the date before booking the tickets, but I will tell you the other person was extremely gracious about it and didn't even blame or make fun of her. I mean them.

5. Research and buy gear
Kevin has already mentioned some of the gear that we've bought for our trip, so I won't get in to much detail here. Our goal is to be able to carry everything on the plane with us. This self-imposed restriction means we will be wearing the exact same outfits in every single picture. I know this will seem sketchy and Photoshop-y, but I promise we really are going! We are modeling our packing list based on these two lists. Our most recent purchase was two headlamps, one of which I tried on yesterday - very stylish and practical, all in one headpiece. I'm really not clear as to how I lived without one before. It makes me want to go spelunking.

6. Quit job
This clearly doesn't apply to you if your job is to travel around the world and dance awkwardly. Or if this is your job. As for the rest of you, I don't have any specific advice as to how to go about quitting your job (Kevin and I are both on 2-year contracts), but these girls do.

7. Get shots.
[Kevin wants me to specify here that the shots we are referring to are the kind where they stick a needle in your arm. What other kind of shots are there?] We went to a travel clinic for ours, and they were really helpful. All you have to do is tell them where you're going, and they tell you what you need (we took their word for it). We ended up with seven shots in three sore arms. We also got malaria pills and pills for what some people euphemistically refer to as Delhi belly or Montezuma's revenge. I've read that some community health clinics offer immunizations at cost, so if you know what you need, that would also be a good place to go.

8. Get visas
[Kevin wanted to insert a joke here about American Express not being everywhere you want to be, but I nixed that idea.] Getting visas is another one of those little things you have to do that ends up being more complicated than you think. Different countries have different requirements, which seem to be constantly changing. Because our trip is so long and visas usually have a shelf life of a half year or less, we will be getting a few beforehand and a few along the way. Funnily enough, I still don't know what a visa actually looks like. I used to think it was a stamp in your passport, but after reading more about them, I think they're actually pieces of paper. I imagine them as those certificates they give you in elementary school for completing D.A.R.E. Remember, just say no!

9. Get married (optional)
Getting married gives you the perfect excuse to take a RTW trip (it's our honeymoon!), but that's not the reason we're doing it, right Kev?

10. Pack and leave
Five months and 12 days until we leave!!!

[Don't forget to submit questions for next week's post!]
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Puzzles for Postcards (list of winners):
Today we have a new kind of puzzle. It is called "Better Chargers" (or "Letter Changers"). To solve the puzzle, change one letter in each word to come up with a well-known phrase. [Remember, we are not sending out postcards anymore until the trip starts, but the person who gets the most puzzles correct by September will get to write a guest post on whatever they want! Is that enough encouragement?]

Today's Yummy Better Charger:
Get they bat cage!
East is pig.
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Scrabble Games: 36 (full log)
Zhou WPLB: 20; 363; 401; SOLVInG
Kevin WPLB: 16; 364; 390; DEnIZEN, DONATER

It Depends on Your Definition of Memorable

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Bear Grylls Split an Atom with His Bare Hands

[Editor's note: this day is a sad day for us, as it is the last Selection Sunday that we will get to enjoy for the next two years. This got me thinking - the five days that we collectively will miss most next year are, in no particular order: Selection Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday, Pi Day, April Fools' Day and Christmas.]

When I was little, I thought someday my life would be like that of Ken Griffey Jr. or Chris Sabo. My brother and I even used to dress up as them for Halloween, and most days in the summer. (I'm guessing Zhou did the same thing, although I have yet to see the pictures.) I think we did this so we could understand exactly how they felt as they wore their jerseys from door to door asking for candy. (As an aside, below is what Zhou and I now look like, with our friend Jing / Dot.)


But years passed, dreams died and reality set in. And over the past couple of months, I have finally figured out whose path I will follow. Zhou, if you're reading this, sorry to break the news to you this way, but it looks like we're heading down the path of Bear Grylls and Les Stroud.

For those of you who know nothing more than that Bear has a ridiculously awesome name and Les could be the punch line to the joke "What was the man after he dropped his shorts?" then please go turn on Discovery Channel right now. Fast forward through Dirty Jobs and Wreckreation Nation (you can do that these days, right?) and head straight for Man vs. Wild and Survivorman.

Man vs. Wild is a show about a man (Bear Grylls) and the wild (desolate locations around the world). Bear lives up to his name - he climbs down waterfalls, through bat-infested caverns, under massive glaciers... wherever his carefully planned out show takes him. He also eats everything imaginable, from live frogs and scorpions to bear poop and animal carcasses (I guess Zhou will have to be Bear). The only downfall to his show is that a camera crew follows him everywhere he goes, making one wonder how cool a show about his camera crew would be.

Survivorman is a show about a man (Les Stroud) and the wild (desolate locations around the world). Les lives up to his name - he does everything a little less dramatically than Bear. However, in a way he is more impressive, as he is stranded alone for a week with with pretty much nothing more than his camera gear, and he is an accomplished harmonica player (harmonican?).

Thoroughly hooked on these shows now, I feel that I have seen every location on earth, and they all have one thing in common: they are bleak and isolated, and without the right survival techniques, you'll be lucky to make it out alive. With this new knowledge, Zhou and I have two choices: cancel our trip or get the right survival techniques. And since we have already spent a quarter of our budget for next year, we're not canceling our trip. So the DVR is stocked full of our two new favorite shows (no, not Tool Academy and For the Love of Ray J), and we're taking notes.

One thing I've noticed is that it doesn't take a trip around the world to conform to the ways of Bear and Les. For instance, I cooked spaghetti the other day. When the noodles looked about ready, I pulled one of the more wriggly ones out of the pot and attempted to bite off the end as if it were a live snake. With an awful grimace, I forced the snake / noodle down, pausing as I finished to tell no one in particular, "Yech, that was horrible, but full of the protein I need to survive in these rugged conditions."


Lack of food isn't the only danger we will face as we fly Cathay Pacific from one foreboding location to the next. We will also encounter many bears. One of the most important things we've learned is that not all bears should be treated the same way. Grizzly bears will ignore you and let you be as long as you are quiet. However, they will most certainly eat you and your loved ones if you make any sudden movements or noises. Black bears, on the other hand, are scared of noise. Make as big of a ruckus as you can and they will run away, but act stealthy and they will rip you to shreds. Wait, maybe I have the two reversed... but that's beside the point. The point is, bear safety is key and you need the right survival techniques to avoid disaster.

While we're not fighting bears, we'll be sending postcards (and making smooth transitions into the next paragraph), so with that...
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Puzzles for Postcards:
Although a bit easy, the VQ seemed to go over well and we will begin working it into the rotation. However, we are running out of Charlotte postcards, and we are sure you're running out of eagerness to receive Charlotte postcards. So after this week, we have decided to vary up the game a little until we leave. From our next post until September, the person who solves the most puzzles will get to write a guest blog entry if he/she so chooses. (Please remember that this blog will be one of the hottest things on the internet by September, and you will therefore be famous.) In addition, we will continue adding your name to the list of winners. In the meantime, our final postcard for the time being will be sent to whomever solves the following:

It's Safe to Say "Seven Dirty Words" is Funnier Than This Anagram:

"Why did the ninth spy get tan pots? He wanted to test ten tags!"
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Scrabble Games: 28 (full log)
Zhou WPLB: 15; 359; 401; STUNTEd, WEDGIES
Kevin WPLB: 13; 366; 359; RETINAL