A childhood friend and I have decided that we would like to travel the world for an entire year. However, since we are about to graduate from college we wont be doing this in a "traditional" since. Instead, we will backpack and frugally explore our planet. We both have a strong military background which should serve us well. Before anything happens we will need to plan, save, and prepare ourselves for what will undoubtedly become the adventure of a lifetime. Any thoughts, comments, concerns, or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Definitely read Tim Ferris' The Four Hour Workweek -- he's got hundreds of ideas to help you accomplish your trip, including funding it and where to go to live well cheaply. http://www.thefourhourworkweek.com

backpacking frugally around the world for a year with a friend actually IS the "traditional" sense of the gap year. you will meet tons of british and australians and israelis doing exactly that. also tons of other europeans(german, dutch, french, etc.) and some north americans. in fact, the israelis do it after military service, so you'll have that in common. military background will only help you to maybe not miss busses and trains.

as for saving, as much as you can. as for planning, europe is expensive, so stick to the third world. for the cost of a beer in Oslo you can get a room, food, and a couple beers in Laos or Cambodia.

many people include india and southeast asia. i spent the last 2 years travelling. i left after university and went around the world twice. my favorite is southeast asia.

if you are traveling on an american passport, this will help:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1765.html

and this will help you for travel to any place on earth:

http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/

and it WILL be the adventure of a lifetime. enjoy.

My apologies for the long gap in updates. I never thought my comment would get so many views. Well, I might as well fill everyone in on the full picture now. I am set to serve my second tour of duty overseas in the next few months. To most this may seem like a horrible perhaps even terrifying event...well it is. However, it will be a magnificent spring board for my year of vagabonding (financially speaking). This idea actually came about while watching the travel channel late one evening with my childhood friend. I suggested it and he said sure, sounds fun. My plan right now is to keep a video journal of my experiences overseas. This should give me some insight as to whether I will want to document my world tour. So, I'm now faced with the daunting task of planning this adventure. As one of the previous posts suggested, I checked out "4 day work week". I have since purchased the book and am very excited to devour its contents.
The rough draft of our travel itinerary has us going through 89 different countries. Starting at the bottom of South America and working our way back to the states. From there, over to Europe for a few months. This is where it gets a bit complicated. After Europe that plan is to travel down the Western coast of Africa. I've been told that a number of the countries along this route would be quite dangerous. So, I'm not sure if we want to cut Africa a bit shorter or what. From there, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Korea, China, Japan (sushi...Yum!) and then home.

So if you have any insight into any part of my upcoming adventures I would GREATLY appreciate hearing it.

Nathan Craft
SGT. Craft

Quote Well, my friend, you are embarking on quite a journey. A trip that touches on the most incredible parts of your mind and soul. But, remember this- world travel is a addiction. For me, I have delivered papers in San Diego on such topics as PTD (post travel depression)and travel addiction-which led to say that international budget travelling is like a mixture of golf and heroin-yes, its that bad-or good-it depends on your point of view. I am somewhat famous in certain areas of this genre, and have been called the best travel consultant out there. I spent 15 years backpacking around the world-stopping to work in Japan,Thailand, Taiwan, Isreal, Australia, canada, England, Greece, and the Philippines. 66 countries later I am now "stuck" in Atlanta, Ga. with my Philippine wife and 3 children-2 of whom were born over there. If you have any questions use your thread to this discussion and I'll keep an eye out for you. Yes I spent 6 months in south america in '91-'92, so I think I have you covered. Good luck, my friend. I very much envy you-but it's your turn---enjoy.