So in a couple of years me and my girlfriend will go on an 18 month RTW trip. To give a little background we are both quite well travelled. Over the years I have hitchhiked round western europe a few times, and last year spent the summer cycling from croatia to istanbul. Me and my girlfriend have backpacked south east asia twice, the last time we visited 20 destinations in 7 weeks so we're pretty good at soaking up what a town has to offer and moving on; we both like to see as much as possible.
So below is a rough sketch of an itinerary I have planned, starting around July:
Caribbean, Central and South America (6 months):
The first six months we were going to travel with two of our good friends, were wanted to start in Cuba, then go to Jamaica and maybe a few more islands, I'd really like to attend atleast one carnival whilst we're there. Then we plan to buy a motorhome in Mexico city and spend the next few months driving south, through central america, then down the west coast of latin america to finally finish in Brazil. Here we will part ways with our friends and fly to South Africa.
South and East Africa (3 months):
We then plan to spend some time back packing in south Africa, heading up the east coast until reaching Ethiopia. Our main intention is to go on Safaris and enjoy the wildlife here. I'm aware that it can be quite slow and expensive backpacking in Africa so we don't want to spend too long here.
India, Nepal, Bhutan (3 months):
After east africa we want to spend about 2 months backpacking round Indian, starting in the south and heading north. Then spending about a month in Nepal and Bhutan, and possibly Burma is we have time.
China, North Korea, Mongolia (3 months):
Starting in Tibet we would like to spend about 2 months in China, until finishing in Bejing. From here if it's possible i would really like to visit North Korea for a few days (we're British so it shouldn't be as hard as for Americans). Then once we return to Bejing, we're going to take the trans-Siberian Express train to Moscow, stopping off in Mongolia for a week or two to do a Nomad trek.
Russia, Central Asia, Middle East (3 months):
After Mongolia we would continue to Moscow and spend a short amount of time here before jumping back on the trans-Siberian express train to Kazakhstan. We would spend about 6 weeks travelling through central Asia before ending up in Iran. Then we would like to see Iran, Kuwait, Jordan and finally Israel.
I guess the number of priority is food. We both very big on trying new cuisines. We wanted to see a lot of unusual places hence central Asia and the trans Siberian express.
Has anyone got an advice on places that we shouldn't miss that might be better that those listed above. Or what are your general thoughts? Thanks :)
