Updates on My Upcoming RTW Trip

It has been a couple of months since I have updated any information about my upcoming trip, which begins in 8 days at this exact moment in time. The amount of nervousness, excitement, fear and amazingness I feel can not be described. This is something I have waited and saved up for almost my whole life and now this moment is finally here. Will I succeed? Will I fail? What's going to happen? How many amazing people can I meet along the way? How homesick am I going to be? All of these questions and more are running through my head at a speed faster than the road runner running in Wile E. Coyote. But I have confidence and a strong support system to help me through this highly emotional and pivotal point in my life.

Since my last update, I have added one more flight to my journey going from Phuket, Thailand to Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia (costing me a whopping $29.03!). I've also began purchasing and gathering all my gear that I'll be needing (stay tuned for a future post on my checklist) and I purchased five months worth of travel insurance from World Nomads. I chose to start off with five months just in case I don't have the funds to continue for a full year. If it turns out that I can, I'll extend my policy then. The ease of setting up my insurance with World Nomad was a huge plus and their prices are very reasonable. I got my policy for just $1.80 per day.

I am in major pucker mode though, because I sent off my passport to a Chinese visa agency. It wouldn't have been a problem and I would have had plenty of time to receive my passport back, HOWEVER, I was dumb and didn't notice that the embassy was on holiday for Thursday and Friday (my package arrived at the agency on Thursday). My application did not begin processing until May 5th. I leave May 16th and the agency told me I should be getting it back by May 14th. Very, very, very close to my departure date and putting me in a semi-panic mode. FYI: Learn from my mistakes people! Don't wait until the last minute and look up the embassy holidays! I'll put up a post later about the process of getting your Chinese Visa, after hopefully getting approved.



I graduate on Saturday and head back home for the week before I leave. During that week, I will be gathering up the last little bit of gear I need, going to a dentist and eye appointment and saying my final goodbyes to my friends and family. Although, it's more of a "see you later" and not a "goodbye."