My Seven Month Solo RTW

36 hours after receiving my college diploma, I flew across the big pond and began a world tour that would define my post-graduate era. What began as a family trip to Italy slowly became a Eurotrip, an au pair experience, an African overland jaunt, a pilgrimage to the Himalayas, and a service trip to Cambodia. I documented the entire experience for the pleasure of your viewing (I’m always thinking of others…).

I encourage you to check out all the intriguing aspects of this adventure. Lemme take you through them…

Alongside Me

I kept my cameras close at all times in order to document the visual and audio experience of each destination. Through these videos, I hope you feel as though you understand the destination and the emotion of the event a little more intimately. Unfortunately, YouTube likes to pull the music off my videos if it’s too cool, so some of my videos temporarily have no sound.

In the Bag

Here’s the practical information on what I packed for this 7 month RTW trip. Maybe you know a lot more than I about what to bring along a journey of this extent, and I’d love to hear some comments come my way on this topic, if you’ve got them! I included my original packing list and hindsight comments on what was really necessary.

Photographs

I got into travel thanks to a love of photography, and even though that shutter passion has lessened its grip a smidge, I still take photos constantly and care deeply about documenting a place with all its wonder in tow. I travel with a Nikon D50 (which is sadly no longer being manufactured) and a Tamron 18-200 lens. Also, my Canon Powershot plays a crucial role in taking beautiful shots when the DSLR is just too bulky or obvious.

The Itinerary

I kept track of where I was for each of the 203 days abroad in 24 countries by scribbling each day’s location on the inside cover of my journal. I consider this sort of travel to be “pupu platter” travel, not something I recommend for the spiritual traveler or the weary. Moving around like this required periodic rest periods and lots of hot showers to melt the exhaustion away.

Why on Earth?

I thought I’d walk you through the reasoning as to why I decided on this trip. Why did I spend my life savings and sell my car to travel the world? Why did I choose the destinations I did? The questions were all real, and so are the answers.

My Travel Stories

Find out what really happened on safaris, on mountain treks, on Italian babysitting duty, at all times on my Big Journey. This trip took a lot out of me, which was planned and anticipated, and I included every lovely detail in my musings. And for those interested, these pieces will soon coagulate into a book…but that’s way into the future

Enjoy.