Around the world in ?????? days.

[ray.duke]

OK guys I'm very excited about this now. I've been searching online for safari's and things of that sort when I ran across a website with some amazing treks. Now let me say, before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not rich or stuck up, far from it in fact. I'm working my ass off in Afghanistan living in horrible conditions and eating crap for food. I happen to be single and saving money here while not paying taxes. Moving on, this company that does the tours, they are cheaper than most, probably very unorganized by their own admission, and they appear to be my best bet. By combining 8 of their trips, each between 30 and 85 days long, I can see most of Asia, a good portion of Africa, the middle east, and nearly all of South America. These are "ground expeditions". Most of the travel is in a 4wd vehicle or on horse or camel, etc... Lodging ranges from tents to grass huts to hostels to locals to even hotels every now and then. Most food is provided, but not all. Group sizes are limited to 18 people with a minimum of 12, and most of the stops include 3 days to wander or hike or whatever. What I'm looking at is a cost of about $30,000, and 420 days of travel. This doesn't include all of the film and shipping costs I'll incur, and it doesn't include the weeks or even months I may be sitting in some random town somewhere in the world waiting for my next leg to begin. At any other point in my life I would have slapped myself for even considering spending 30,000 on a trip around the world, but seriously, what sane single person with not ties and no debt would turn down an adventure such as this? Pease keep the ideas coming, as I'm sure this trip won't cover all of the places I want to photograph, and hey, if anyone is interested perhaps we could make a team effort.

[claudiocambon]

As the tattered Tourism Board poster says in Zia International Airport in Dhaka, "Come to Bangladesh before the tourists do."

[Ron Marshall]

OK guys I'm very excited about this now. By combining 8 of their trips, each between 30 and 85 days long, I can see most of Asia, a good portion of Africa, the middle east, and nearly all of South America.

I've done mostly independent travel, tours can be great or they can be hell. Ask for references and do the research on this company.

Check out Lonely Planet's website and their guides for more ideas.

Good luck!

[Richard Wall]

I think what you are doing is a wonderful idea. I have done a similar thing on two occasions in my life. Although only for 9 months at a time and not around the world. However, I think the tour thing may be difficult to do with LF. Most tours don't give you time to yourself, typically they have you constantly moving between stops.

As an alternative, you might think of this as a series of hops. Gather a list of must travel to locations. Then find lodgings in those spots. With the internet it is pretty easy to find apartments to rent. Rent a place for a month at a time then move to the next location. By doing this you can mix tough locations (Zimbabwe) with easy locations (south of France). It also gives you time in a location where you can get into the local way and photograph the area at a more leisurely pace.

Good luck and keep us posted, and by all means be safe in Afghanistan!

Richard

[cyrus]

Central Asia and Iran

[jnantz]

chile

[eddie]

SE Asia. NZ, nepal, tibet, iryan jiya.

hit myanmar for sure. some great photo ops there. way better than angkor wat. check my gallery for some pics.

eddie

[Maretzo]

Mongolia has an incredible light (cool and dry air), do not miss it!