Not Enough Time for [Fill in the Blank]

Most of our stays will be about three days in a given country -- not exactly what the RTW Traveler Conventional Wisdom dictates.

If you read the books and blogs about long-term long-distance travel, as I have, you recognize some themes. Travelers take at least a year. They leave their plans loose. They carry backpacks, never wheelie bags. They always spend time in Thailand. And they never, ever associate with Tourists, unless their parents are picking up the tab.

We recognize that we won't be immersed in every culture. But we're comfortable with that, largely because of our 2007 visit to South Korea.

It lasted 15 hours.

We stopped in Seoul in order to make our free frequent flyer trip to Australia and New Zealand work. (Thank you, Marianne P., for the routing idea!)

In our 15 hours, we traveled on public transit. We strolled through palaces and temples. (The photo is of a sort-of changing of the guard at one important site.) We ate multiple yummy Korean meals. We talked with local people. (They wanted to practice English.) We shopped and bought cute souvenirs. We got a basic grasp of local geography, and we took lots of photos, despite the gray weather. It was a blast. Exhausting, but unforgettable.

From the Beginning

Like so many things, this trip started in the Tune Inn, our neighborhood dive bar.

My husband and I were there at some point in late 2008 or early 2009 -- probably after the election and before the Inauguration, when work had slowed down a bit. We were discussing what big trip we might take to celebrate my 50th birthday in May. Well, mostly to celebrate my birthday. He had pretty much been working seven days a week since late 2007, so 2009 looked like the year to go somewhere.

But where? African safari? (Definitely someday.) Grand Tour of Europe? (There are so many places we've never seen!) Antarctica? (Nah... wrong time of year.)

Then there was that guy we met on Easter Island in 2004. He was celebrating his 50th birthday by visiting his 50th country. (Europeans have it easy -- they can knock off a couple dozen countries on long weekends.)

My husband suggested the big one: Why not all the way around the world this time?

I had plenty of logical reasons to shoot the idea down. It would be expensive. It would be exhausting. We couldn't take off the months and months you need to do it properly.

Yet week after week, usually in the same booth at the Tune Inn, we kept coming back to it, picking at the details.

Sure, it's expensive. But why save money on all those brown-bag lunches if we don't spend it on what we really want?

Of course it would be exhausting. But as we get older, it would only get more difficult.

And who says it has to take months and months?

We played with plane schedules. We poked at alternatives. In March, we finally decided to do it.

Our Flight Schedule

If you are not closely related to us, you really don't want to read this entry. It's boring. It's our flight-by-flight airline itinerary, meant for people who want to know flight numbers, times, etc. All days and times are local, and subject to change.

• May 22: Depart Washington (DCA) 10 a.m., American Airlines Flt. 1429, arrive Dallas (DFW) 12:20 p.m. Change planes. Depart DFW 1:20 p.m. American Flt. 5, arrive Honolulu (HNL) 4:35 p.m.
• May 26: Depart HNL 12:05 p.m. American Flt. 5917, arrive Tokyo (NRT) 3:30 p.m. on the next day. (Crosses international date line.)
• May 29: Depart NRT 4:10 p.m. Japan Airlines Flt. 729, arrive Denpasar, Bali (DPS) 10:25 p.m.
• June 4: Depart DPS 4 p.m. Cathay Pacific Flt. 784, arrive Hong Kong (HKG) 8:45 p.m.
• June 7: Depart HKG 2:25 p.m. Cathay Pacific Flt. 751, arrive Delhi (DEL) 7:45 p.m. (This touches down briefly in Bangkok.)
  
• June 10: Depart DEL 5:30 a.m. Royal Jordanian Flt. 193, arrive Amman (AMM) 8:45 a.m.
• June 12: Depart AMM 1:15 p.m. Royal Jordanian Flt. 501, arrive Cairo (CAI) 2:45 p.m.
• June 14: Depart CAI 11:45 p.m. Iberia Flt. 3735, arrive Madrid (MAD) 3:45 a.m. June 15.
• June 20: Depart Barcelona (BCN) 10:55 a.m. American Flt. 151, arrive New York (JFK) 1:45 p.m.. Depart JFK 4:15 p.m. American Flt. 4755, arrive DCA 5:50 p.m. And home!