Itinerary - first pass

We have pared down our list of places to visit, but we are still debating about some destinations. However, we feel that it is time to actually publish our itinerary. Hopefully, this will help us make some final decisions - feel free to pitch in your $.02 if you have input.

The week before Thanksgiving (11/13 - 11/17) originally sounded like the best time to leave, but as that date approaches we are feeling that it is too soon. Obviously we are getting the jitters. That part is expected.

First, we will head to Aukland, NZ. We will spend between 4 and 6 weeks traveling from the North Island to the South Island. Then it is on to Australia.

We'd like to make it to Aussie by Christmas and/or New Years. We will start in Brisbane and head South towards Sydney and then on to Tasmania. We've heard that the North part of the island will be in the rainy season, so we'd kind of like to avoid that and stay in the South. We'll have to learn to surf!

The Pacific Islands / Malay Archepelago are next. We'd prefer to be in Malaysia/Java/Indonesia by late January-ish. Depending on the "mud volcano" we may miss Java. Bogus!

After that, it is on to Southeast Asia in February. I'm looking forward to Thailand, but there are a few spots in this part of the world which are compelling. Cambodia sounds nice. So does Vietnam.

March should find us in China. Erin's friend Barb is going to show us some sites in the Sichuan Province. We may go into South Korea, but that depends. We are still thinking about Japan as well. The real factor in whether and/or for how long depends on expense.

Next, it is on to India. I am tempted by Punjab and Erin wants to visit Delhi. A recent acquaintance told us that we will be there far too late, because it will be so hot. April is too early for the monsoon and too late for spring. I'm still excited about it.

Turkey follows. This part of the trip seems so far away (May); please excuse the lack of details from this point on. Istanbul sounds amazing and I'm very interested in getting to see the bazaars and markets. Mmm - Turkish Delight!

We'd like to get to Cairo and maybe some Northern African countries (like Tunisia & Morocco). However, this would take time away from Eastern Europe, not to mention June also may be a hot time to be in Africa. We'd also like to see Greece and Bulgaria and Croatia. We will have to see how our funds are holding out by that point in the trip.

Finally, we are going to Europe. This is likely one of the most expensive parts of our journey, so it kind of depends on what our 'resources' are looking like at the time. We really want to see some of the Tour de France in July, and I'd like to see the Palio in Sienna in August.

J