So Nicole and I have made the first official step towards our round the world trip, which will take place beginning in March of 2012 (just four and a half short months away!!). We purchased the plane tickets for the first leg of the trip! Here is our itinerary thus far:

(doodling while talking to Sarah, our awesome travel agent at Airtreks)

March 1st we leave Atlanta and fly to Nadi, Fiji (with a brief layover in LA). After about 5 days in Fiji we hop a flight to Auckland, New Zealand, where we will spend about 3 weeks doing whatever we see fit, eventually making our way overland down to Christchurch. From Christchurch we fly to Sydney, Australia, and again spend 3 weeks wandering around getting lost and most likely sunburned. We’ll make our way overland to Cairns, flying from there to Bali, Indonesia. Again, 3 weeks to explore and then explore some more. Overland to Jakarta, then hop another flight to Singapore. From that point on, we are planning to travel overland up through Malaysia to Thailand and then will run all over the place there (including diverting over to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia). Trains, buses, animals, whatever.

We don’t have too much of a clue as to what we are going to do in all of these places just yet, but I’m fairly certain we will figure it out at some point. There will be some planning, and probably a whole lot of “winging it.” Time for more research and advice from friends/fellow travelers. We’re looking into all kinds of online travel communities (couchsurfing.com, workaway.info, wwoof.org) and I seem to be watching The Darjeeling Limited (India is later) a couple of times a week, so we should be good. Throw a few malaria pills in there and we’re set. I’ve got a house to move out of, stuff to get rid of, and last minute funds to procure. Let the countdown begin!