Around the world in 150 days

... give or take anyway. That's the amount of time I am planning on travelling the world come February. Now because my return flights are so far in the future (late July, possibly August next year) I cannot book anything until the end of this month, which is a plus as I haven't got my route entirely sorted yet.

The only solid part of my trip I have decided on is the Australia leg. At some point in my travels I shall fly into Perth and then get the Rail Explorer Pass which gives me unlimited rail travel on the India-Pacific (Perth-Adelaide-Sydney), the Ghan (Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin) and the Overland (Adelaide-Melbourne) routes. My plan is to go Perth-Adelaide-Alice Springs-Adelaide-Melbourne-Adelaide-Sydney before then getting a Greyhound bus from Sydney to Brisbane stopping at some of the places (especially Surfer's Paradise) along the route. From there I'll fly out of Brisbane down to New Zealand.

Before that however I want to see some of Southeast Asia. Ideally I'd like to fly into Hanoi in Vietnam and then travel down through Vietnam, through Cambodia into Thailand and then overland from Bangkok to Singapore. BUT safely does come to mind, especially as I am a not-very-large girl travelling by myself. I've entertained the idea of going with a group, but the only routes I can find so far are Bangkok-Hanoi, not the other way around! Which is very fustrating. So I am considering doing the Vietnam and Cambodia section by myself and then joining a tour for Bangkok-Singapore. I am loathe to do everything perfectly organised, as I want to experience the countries I visit, rather than have things arranged and sterile, but I do realise there is a fine line between freedom and safety.

From Singapore I can fly to Perth and start the Australia leg, then after New Zealand I'd like to do some of the South Pacific islands - notably Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands before flying home via Los Angeles. Obviously this is all time (and money!) dependent!

But it is exciting to plan, and as my job sucks and kempo has gone REALLY screwy at the moment it is one of the few things keeping me sane! Joys.