# Travel Talk > Round the World Travel >  I'm off around the world ...

## travelworld

Well I've done it; I've dived out of my 'comfort zone' of having a nice car, job etc and jacked it all in to travel around the world.

Last September I did a three week 'tour' of Europe (see my blog: www.oneotteraroundtheworld.blogspot.com) and loved it. After this 'trial run' I've taken a deep breath and book the below itinerary:

In May of this year I shall be travelling from London to...

Toronto CANADA - I have 5 weeks to travel to the west coast to
Vancouver CANADA - before heading south to 
Seattle USA - I have a couple of days here before flying to 
Anchorage USA (Alaska) - I've booked a 2 week tour with 'trek America' around Alaska which looks fab. After this I've got 2 weeks to travel south to
Vancouver CANADA - to catch my flight home (mid July)

Haven't really got anything planned for this trip (trying to keep my mind open to new things) but I would like to go to Nigeria Falls, watch a baseball game (or ice hockey ... some sport) and also visit Chicken to eat Chicken    and possibly Inuvik for a day. My main type of travel across Canada will be train or coach (depending what is cheapest at the time).

After the above trip I have 6 weeks at home in which I have my sisters wedding, go to the Spa F1 race and that's about it. In September I shall then travel to...

Las Angeles USA - for a 3 day stop over. Then onto
FIJI - for 3 weeks; then onto
NEW ZEALAND - for 5 weeks. Then I've got a 3 day stop over in
Sidney AUSTRAILIA - (_it would have been longer, but I've had to cut some time out for my sisters wedding, and unfortunately Australia had to bit the bullet ... I did decide to go travelling before she decided to get married_  ) before heading to
JAPAN - for 2 weeks. In early December I'm flying to
SINGAPORE - for a week. Then onto
MALAYSIA - for 3 weeks. Then
THAILAND - for 3 weeks. Then
LAOS - for 2 weeks, heading south to
CAMBODIA - for 6 weeks; _(3 of these weeks will be spent in a orphanage in Phom Penh)_. After this I'm heading north through
VIETNAM - for 3 weeks before finishing off in
CHINA - for 5 weeks, before flying home from Beijing.

Few   

As you can see I'm trying to pack a lot in within the year (but hopefully not too much so I can get a good feel for the country ... the actual country and not what a tour guide wants to show you).

I do have just one issue and that is Japan. Japan is one of my top 5 countries the tour has been based around _(the top 5 are Canada, New Zealand, Japan, China and Vietnam)_ but I'm not sure what to do. 

Firstly I was planning on spending 4 weeks there; however it just got too expensive and so I dropped it to 2 weeks. Now to make the most of my short time in Japan I did decide to look at a organised trip for 9 days (provided by the STA). However after speaking to my family we thought it to be a little expensive and that I should be able to get around quite easily on my own; the train network is brilliant (I'm thinking of buying a Japan rail pass) and, with all the exporting to English speaking countries, I would of thought a few people might be able to speak English.

However I wondered what fellow travellers thought on Travel Pod; I've been reading the forums for about a year now _ (in preparation; I haven't posted much as I have little knowledge within travel)_  and there does seem to be a consensus that it's best to do it alone; however I'm only in Japan for 13 days ... do I really have the time to do things myself, or would I get more out of a tour?


I'm well excited, and terrified at the same time; this trip is a massive commitment, both financially and time wise, but what a reward ... being able to travel around the world on my own steam.

Thank you
www.oneotteraroundtheworld.blogspot.com

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