Ryan here. This page is dedicated to our around the world (ATW) trip. I thought that it would be useful to give some additional information about this trip regarding how we planned for it, why we did it, how we afforded it, etc.
PACKING
This is our marriage summed up in a quick story. I spent months putting together a list of what I was going to bring on our trip. I read blogs, went on an amazon shopping spree, bought bags, electronic gadgets, and what I thought were the perfect amount of clothes. Nicole on the other hand (despite my constant nagging) waited until the night before we left and made a Target run. She threw what appeared to me to be randomly chosen items in her small carry-on and called it good. I thought that she was doomed. But to my surprise, she probably faired better with her packing choices than I did throughout our trip.
WHY?
I have been planning on doing an ATW trip for over two years. I knew that I would have a six month gap between undergrad and medical school. The last thing that I wanted to do was let this precious time slip through my fingers without something special to show for it. I have always thought that an ATW trip is a great way to see many different cultures and countries in a relatively short period of time. One reason that many people never take these trips, is obviously due to the lack of a two month gap in their work/school schedules. I realized that this break would be one of our only chances to do this, so we decided to run with it.
PLANNING
Planning our trip was a lot of work (although enjoyable work). I started messing around with our itinerary about year before we actually left. I remember that Nicole would not even acknowledge these plans because she did not want to get her hopes up that the trip would actually happen. Eight months before we left we booked the majority of our plane tickets. From there, I slowly began booking hotels and tours where needed. However, this was difficult during my last semester because I was also busy booking flights and hotels for the ten different interviews that I attended all around the country. By the time that I graduated in December, we had all of our flights booked, but still needed to book the vast majority of hotels. I spent the next two months researching and booking hotels. Tripadvisor.com was truly my best friend. By the time that we were three weeks away from leaving we had all of our flight/hotels booked.
ITINERARY
San Francisco--->Bangkok, Thailand (l night)
Bangkok--->Chiang Mai, Thailand (3 nights)
Chiang Mai--->Phuket, Thailand (3 nights)
Phuket--->Ko Yao Yai, Thailand (2 nights)
Ko Yao Yai--->Bangkok (2 nights)
Bangkok--->New Delhi, India (1 night)
New Delhi--->Jaipur, India (2 nights)
Jaipur--->Agra, India (2 nights)
Agra--->New Delhi (3 nights)
New Delhi--->Amman, Jordan (1 night)
Amman--->Cairo, Egypt (4 nights)
Cairo--->Istanbul, Turkey (1 night)
Istanbul--->Athens, Greece (1 night)
Athens--->Santorini, Greece(1 night)
Santorini--->Athens (1 night)
Athens--->Rome, Italy (4 nights)
Rome--->Barcelona, Spain (2 nights)
Barcelona--->London, UK (5 nights)
London--->Paris, France (4 nights)
Paris--->Amsterdam, Netherlands (2 nights)
Amsterdam--->San Francisco (1 night)
San Francisco--->Miami (1 night)
Miami--->cruise ship (1 night)
cruise--->Bahamas(1 night)
Bahamas--->St. Thomas(1 night)
St. Thomas--->Puerto Rico (1 night)
Puerto Rico--->cruise ship (1 night)
cruise--->Grand Turk (1 night)
Grand Turk--->Miami (1 night)
Miami--->Salt Lake City
FINANCES
There is no denying the fact that this trip was expensive. However, because we had been planning on doing it for such a long time, we were able to budget accordingly and save up airline/hotel points from credit card sign-up bonuses.
We started saving consciously saving money for our trip about ten months before we left. The most important change we made, was that we moved into my parents basement. Although quite embarrassing, this was the easiest way to save lots of money before our trip. Living with the parents as a married couple is never an ideal situation, but it was very easy with my parents. They made our life easy and loved having us (at least I hope so). Living with them was not bad because we knew that it was temporary and that we were doing it to save money for our trip.
We saved close to $5,000 on our trip from airline/hotel points. We used points to book our hotels in Egypt, Paris, and London. That is 13 nights for free! We also were able to use American Express Blue Sky Miles for 2 of our shorter European flights. Our flights from SF to Miami and Miami to Salt Lake City were booked using Southwest points and our Southwest Companion Pass.
There is no denying the fact that this trip was expensive. However, because we had been planning on doing it for such a long time, we were able to budget accordingly and save up airline/hotel points from credit card sign-up bonuses.
We started saving consciously saving money for our trip about ten months before we left. The most important change we made, was that we moved into my parents basement. Although quite embarrassing, this was the easiest way to save lots of money before our trip. Living with the parents as a married couple is never an ideal situation, but it was very easy with my parents. They made our life easy and loved having us (at least I hope so). Living with them was not bad because we knew that it was temporary and that we were doing it to save money for our trip.
We saved close to $5,000 on our trip from airline/hotel points. We used points to book our hotels in Egypt, Paris, and London. That is 13 nights for free! We also were able to use American Express Blue Sky Miles for 2 of our shorter European flights. Our flights from SF to Miami and Miami to Salt Lake City were booked using Southwest points and our Southwest Companion Pass.
PACKING
This is our marriage summed up in a quick story. I spent months putting together a list of what I was going to bring on our trip. I read blogs, went on an amazon shopping spree, bought bags, electronic gadgets, and what I thought were the perfect amount of clothes. Nicole on the other hand (despite my constant nagging) waited until the night before we left and made a Target run. She threw what appeared to me to be randomly chosen items in her small carry-on and called it good. I thought that she was doomed. But to my surprise, she probably faired better with her packing choices than I did throughout our trip.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
We learned a lot on our trip about ourselves, the world, our relationship, and traveling. Although our trip was everything that we hoped for, there are definitely things that we would have done differently. Firstly, we were very conservative in our planning. We had all of our flights and hotels booked before we left which brought peace of mind, however on an ATW trip you want to have the freedom to change your itinerary as you go along. We realized this in multiple destinations on our trip where we felt like we needed much more time. Also, we wish that we would not have done some of our tours. We payed for tours in India, Jordan, and Istanbul. We booked the tours before our trip mostly because these areas of the world were so foreign to us. We were not sure what to expect and wanted the security that comes with a tour guide. I do suggest getting a tour guide for India if it is your first time, because it can be an overwhelming place. However, we felt that we would have been better off in Istanbul and Jordan on our own. I will say though that our tour guides in both locations were absolutely great. It was nice to be able to get to know our guides and therefore their culture through them, but this can be done with people throughout the world on the streets and at the sites. We found that we felt rushed on some of our tours due to the tour guide. Also, most of the information that they share can be found in a simple google search. Don't get me wrong, I think that tours can be very beneficial, but when traveling on a budget, I don't think that they are worth the extra money.
We learned a lot on our trip about ourselves, the world, our relationship, and traveling. Although our trip was everything that we hoped for, there are definitely things that we would have done differently. Firstly, we were very conservative in our planning. We had all of our flights and hotels booked before we left which brought peace of mind, however on an ATW trip you want to have the freedom to change your itinerary as you go along. We realized this in multiple destinations on our trip where we felt like we needed much more time. Also, we wish that we would not have done some of our tours. We payed for tours in India, Jordan, and Istanbul. We booked the tours before our trip mostly because these areas of the world were so foreign to us. We were not sure what to expect and wanted the security that comes with a tour guide. I do suggest getting a tour guide for India if it is your first time, because it can be an overwhelming place. However, we felt that we would have been better off in Istanbul and Jordan on our own. I will say though that our tour guides in both locations were absolutely great. It was nice to be able to get to know our guides and therefore their culture through them, but this can be done with people throughout the world on the streets and at the sites. We found that we felt rushed on some of our tours due to the tour guide. Also, most of the information that they share can be found in a simple google search. Don't get me wrong, I think that tours can be very beneficial, but when traveling on a budget, I don't think that they are worth the extra money.
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