Nathan's Insights

Well I’ve basically completed my clothing checklist for the cold environment in Antarctica and Iceland. Let’s see;
– expensive wet weather jacket
– thermal underwear
– water proof pants

Plus I purchased ear plugs, hiking pants and a travel wallet. Almost done now. Just need to work out if I need a new digital camera.

Less than 13 days to go.

With only two weeks remaining until my trip commences I’m now focusing on what activities I’ll be doing during the free times between my organised tours.

Today I booked seven interesting activities;

• Sentosa Island Images of Singapore Morning Trip with optional Underwater World
• Singapore Zoo Night Safari Tour with optional Buffet Dinner
• Singapore Jurong Bird Park Tour
• Bangkok Thai Kickboxing
• Thailand’s Ayutthaya Temples and River Cruise from Bangkok
• 2012 London Olympics: Bike Tour of Olympic Park and East London
• Tigre Delta Day Trip from Buenos Aires

The kickboxing should be very interesting as should the bike ride to some of the London Olympic venues.

Now that I’ve also organised some additional foreign currency and airport transfers the trip is feeling more real and nearly here.

I’m now less than 26 days until I’m off on the road for my 139 day adventure.  Hiking boots have now been broken in.  Most hotels have been booked and paid.  I still need to purchase some cold weather gear and binoculars and there are a lot of activities I haven’t purchased just yet.

I’ve worked out the most likely locations I’ll be in over the 139 days.  I should be in Palenque, Mexico for Christmas Day, Caye Caulker, Belize for New Year’s Eve and Antigua, Guatemala for my birthday (9 January 2013).  Full details:

World Trip 2012-2013 Where in the World

Key Information
18 countries (& Antarctica) with 4 tours – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, England, Iceland, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Antarctica, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
24 Flights (12 Economy 12 Business) over 139 days  – 47,463 miles (36,232 Bus / 11,231 Econ), 106 hrs 3 mins (75 hrs 40 mins Bus / 30 hrs 23 mins Econ)

Tours

Tour Guide Colours of Asia – 14 days (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand)

Tour Guide Antarctica – 22 days (Argentina, Chile, Antarctica)

Tour Guide Beautiful Cuba – 8 days (Cuba)

Tour Guide – Central America – 59 days (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama)

Well the last flight has been booked and I’m a little over 2 months to go for the start of a 139 days 18 country (plus Antarctica) adventure.  I extended the trip by 9 days to guarantee the Central America trip and added a 7 day trip to Cuba.

I’ll be taking 24 Flights in all (12 Economy & 12 Business).  This is 47,520 miles of flying (32,510 Bus / 15,010 Econ) which equals over 106 hrs 8 mins in the air (68 hrs 55 mins Bus / 37 hrs 13 min Econ).

Its time to start figuring out what clothes to bring to Antarctica keeping mind I have to travel and carry items for over 4 months.

I now have a iPad so I can post a daily journal to this blog and photos to Facebook and a kindle for reading while on the expedition.

One downside of the extended trip is I arrive back in Melbourne on Wednesday around 2.15 pm on 13 Feburary and now I have work the very next day instead of having a few days to ‘adjust’.  Let’s see how that works out!

My trip is now booked, 17 countries over 130 days with 3 tours; Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Iceland, England, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Antarctica, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama.

Watching and dealing with a colleague with a terminal illness who is about my age as made me even more determine to get out an experience the world.  You never know wants around the corner and I don’t want to have regrets by delaying and never doing.  Money can always hold us up but if you want it enough you can find a way, it comes down to choices.

Leaving Melbourne on Thursday 27 September 2012 at 9.30 am and returning to Brisbane on Saturday 2 February 2013 sees me out of the country for just on 128 days (with a few extra days in Brisbane making 130 days overall).

I had previously worked out the tours I wanted but in booking this trip I made up my mind about my optional Europe place to visit and this time it’s going to be Iceland. It was going to be Denmark but I realised just how far out of the way Iceland is and I was going to be in England and I found a very good package travel using Iceland-Air, so it’s off to see the Northern Lights for me!

I managed to score an award business class around the world ticket so I now have a comfortable seat for over 57 hours of long haul flying – a little different from my backpacker days 🙂   I also had to paid for some short haul flights inside Europe, USA, Argentina and to get to Mexico from USA, cost a few hundred each, unfortunately these flights are in economy 😦

Highlights should include;
Grand Palace (Bangkok), temples and mosques in Asia, night zoo (Singapore), Northern Lights (Iceland), ATV (all-terrain vehicle) across snowfields, London Show, visiting castles in Germany, Flamenco dancing (Madrid), Trekking through Patagonia’s Glacier National Park, Antarctica landings, visiting the White House, enjoying Broadway shows (NYC), Everglade airboat (Miami), Pyramids (Central America), Mayan ruins, snorkelling coral reefs off Belize, and visiting volcanoes (Iceland and Central America).

There are 6 legs to this trip, Asia (27/9/12-15/10/12), Europe (15/10/12-26/10/12), South America / Antarctica (26/10/12-21/11/12), USA  (22/11/12-30/11/12), Central America (30/11/12-28/01/12) and finally USA / Australia (28/01/12-04/02/12).

This is a big around the world trip going from near the northern top (Iceland) to the southern tip (Antarctica). I’ve be taking a few days off when I return to recover. I think this is going to be my biggest and best ever trip with a little bit of comfort in the mix. The Central American tour still isn’t guaranteed either which could change thing a bit.

This is why I work, so I can afford to travel – 4 months of work on paid leave (long service leave).