World trip: our itinerary

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As you know from our article ‘Preparing a world trip: challenge or not‘, there was some unforeseen development when it comes to our itinerary.

In the end we have kept less than 20% of our first draft. We have made some choices due to budgetary, time, and logistic constraints. But in the end, the result satisfies the both of us. The program for the world trip seems fantastic to us.

Find below our itinerary:

Russia – Mongolia – China

      1. Russia

We are going to mention those countries in the same paragraph since we are going to take as a mean of transportation to go through them the transmogolian. This legendary railway line connects Moscow to Beijing, passing by Ulan-Bator  in Mongolia. Visiting those countries was an evidence for us, for that matter we will start our world trip with it.

For Arthur, Russia was a mandatory stop. Having learned Russian when in high school, he has since then kept a reel interest for this country, its langage, culture. We plan on staying a little bit more than one month in Russia and will visit Moscow, Kazan, Iekaterinbourg, Novosibirsk, Irkoutsk and Ulan Ude.

• Our objective in Russia? Work in organic farms.

     2. Mongolia

Mongolia will be for us a complete discovery. At first we didn’t know much about this country, but the more we learn about it, the more we want to explore it. First the possibility to do a trek in the Gobi desert is really tempting. The tells from other travelers and their pictures have caught our attention. Then, of course the missions that we would be able to do in this country have convinced us to go there even more deeply if needed. Being able to work in some remote areas, sleep in yurts, take care of livestocks, this is exactly what we are looking for. We think about staying in the country for three weeks.

• Our objective in Mongolia? Taking care of livestocks.

     3. China

Ahhh China. I’ve been wanting to go in this country for a long, and finally this wish will become reality. I’ve had the opportunity to take Chinese classes at the university when I was still a student in law. It had a great time back then. We were only about a dozen, coming from different fields and joining the class a couple of times a week to learn this fascinating langage. Since that time, my level in Chinese decreased due to the lack of practice. But after our stay there, it might help to revive my knowledge.

For Arthur, visiting China wasn’t really at the top of his ‘wish list’. He has already been there, working for 6 months as an intern, he has already had the time to visit most of the touristic places that I want to see. To keep a bit of ‘discovery feeling’ for him, we have decided to go to Yunnan. It seems like the area located in the South West of China is beautiful and is worth seeing. We plan on staying three weeks in China.

• Our objective in China? Work in schools or do social missions

Australia

Australia is worth having its own paragraph. Why? Probably because it is in this country that we plan on staying the longest. We will be there at least 2 months. This interest for Australia is due to several factors.

      1. The Australian Dream

Yes, for us it is not the American Dream but the Australian Dream. After all, who wouldn’t dream to live in this country? An idyllic island, hot weather (after living in Norway, I can tell you that it is really important), a fauna and flora very diversified, a distant country that nevertheless seems accessible.

Australia is without a doubt a strong candidate on the list of possible ‘corners of paradise’. We will fly to Perth, from Hong Kong, and will cross over the South of the country to end of Australian journey in Brisbane.

But the way of life in this place isn’t the only reason why we are eager to go there during our world trip.

      2. La viticulture

The main purpose for this world trip is to travel and learn at the same time. One of the subjects that we want to get deeper into is viticulture. We hope to work in several vineyards during our world trip to learn more about different ways of production. Australia is of course a mandatory stop when it comes to viticulture. It seemed logic for us to add Australia in our itinerary.

• Our objective in Australia? Work in vineyard.

Peru – Chile – Bolivia

Let’s talk about those three countries in a same paragraph. We won’t lie; South America is for us an area full of mysteries. We don’t really know what to expect (it’s probably what is the most exciting about it). None of us speak Spanish (yet?) and none of us  know much about South America. So why go there?

     1.  Chile

It’s through this country that we will get to South America. In fact the flight path between New Zealand and Chile is THE entry point the most simple and the less expensive to connect Oceania to South America. We knew then that we had to go to Chile. But this country seems to us really interesting to have on our itinerary in order know more about viticulture. We are sure that by going there we will be able to learn more about the techniques of production of wine.

• Our objective in Chile? Work in vineyards.

     2. Peru

Ok, I was born in the 90s and The Emperor’s New Groove is an iconic cartoon for me, but it’s not the only reason why we want to visit this country. I’ve always wanted to see, incas, mayas or aztecs temples. I thought that we would go to Mexico or Guatemala but Arthur has already been there and we want to keep as much as possible a ‘discovery aspect’ for our world trip. Therefore we don’t want to have too many ‘already seen/already visited’ in our itinerary.

Maturing our project, and after understanding that we would go through Chile to get to South America it seemed coherent to is go to paru. That way we will both discover the inca civilisation and go to Machu Picchu. And another great aspect about it: it won’t be to complicated to get there. Indeed, Chili and Peru have common borders.

• Our objective in Peru? Work in farms

     3. Bolivia

Difficult to mention the Inca Empire without talking about Bolivia or the Titicaca lake. This famous lake is believed to be the cradle of this civilisation. This supposedly history is intriguing and fascinating, and so why not go to Bolivia? After all this country has a lot of assets: cultural diversity, breathtaking landscapes.  Plus the possible missions we could get in Bolivia are plentiful and diversified. Work in a farm? In the production of sugar or coffee? In a vineyard? a school? Everything seems possible in Bolivia.

• Our objective in Bolivia? Everything is possible.

South Africa – Tanzania

Reading other travelers blogs who have done a world trip, we have noticed that very few of them had Africa on their itineraries Why? We don’t know. But anyway, for us this continent was an important, if not mandatory, stop.

     1. South Africa

Just like for South America, we don’t know much about Africa. It will then be a complete discovery for us.

South Africa appears on our list because it is an important producer of wine. To stay coherent with our wish to learn as much as possible about viticulture, it seemed smart to go to this country. We hope that stay one month in South Africa. For now we are not sure about the cities we will visit in this country, I think that we will adapt our path depending on the Woof, Workaday or HelpX missions that we will find.

• Our objective in South Africa? Work in vineyards.

     2. Tanzania

One of Arthur dreams is to fly over the african savanna. Knowing how to pilot small planes, the dream could definitely come true. We thought about going to Kenya at first. But, after talking about our project our relatives, it seemed more evident that Tanzania was the perfect destination for our world trip. The people who have visited this country recommended it to us, and after doing our own researches we quickly understood why. Wildlife of the Serengeti, heavenly beaches in Zanzibar, or the snow-covered top of the Kilimanjaro…. No doubt, Tanzania will be the perfect way to end our world tour. We plan on staying there one month.

• Our objective in Tanzania? Work in an animal sanctuary.

You now know everything about our itinerary. What do you think? Want to give us some advice or tell us about the itinerary you have done/want to do for your world trip? Leave us a comment!