Introducing...

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my travel blog where you can find all sorts of fun info on my travels, adventures, and how I'm actually doing this. If you don't already know, I'm a 24 year old who just graduated the University of Michigan in December 2011 with a Computer Science Engineering degree, and I have 6 months until I start my job in the bay area! What better to do than travel the world?

I always planned to take some time off after I graduated, but it wasn't until last summer when I actually started thinking about it. Props to my friend Mark for giving me all sorts of links and information on "travel hacking" which allowed me to get enough AAdvantage miles by last November to get my entire around the world ticket on business class for free! Which actually means 220,000 AAdvantage miles plus tax which ended up being hundreds. Still a small price to pay to go all the way around the world I thought. I naively thought I could keep my expenses low if I just got my plane ticket, but I have already discovered that this is most definitely incorrect...and I haven't even left yet.

Here's my itinerary as of now, with details on what I expect to be doing in each place. The ticket I have does have flexible travel dates, but realistically that depends on availability which is already pretty slim for the beginning part of my trip, but once I get to China and onwards I might be able to change how long I stay in each place.

Peru: Jan 24 - Feb 13
First I head over to Cuzco and do the inca trail, then I head down to Puno and lake Titicaca. Then I still have 10 days or so and need to figure out what I'm doing. Probably some Arequipa, Lima, sand dunes, and maybe some Amazon.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil: Feb 13 - Feb 28
One word...CARNAVAL!! I'll have a few days to do some other things but the first weekend I'm there is all about carnaval. I already have a costume that I can pick up once there and dance in one of the parades with a samba school. No idea what I'm doing after carnaval. Maybe I'll leave Rio for a bit...

India: Feb 29 - March 22
I think I may first go to New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur first, which are some common tourist destinations. If I have enough time I'll take a train back to Mumbai for Holi: The Festival of Colors that is on March 7th and visit my friend CK who lives there. Then I'll have a while to explore more of India, still figuring this one out.

Southeast Asia: March 22 - April 18
I arrive in Bangkok, but I plan to go to Singapore for a weekend right away to visit my friend Mark. After that I plan to bus/train to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Then maybe Vietnam. Then I'll actually spend time in Bangkok, especially during Songkran, which is some water festival in town where everyone shoots each other with water guns. Yep sounds like fun.

China: April 18 - May 10
Damn China is big. I fly into Hong Kong for a week, and then I go to Beijing for two weeks. From those places I can take smaller transportation options to other surrounding places.

Japan: May 10 - May 24
People tell me it's really expensive over there in Tokyo, but I found this link to a hotel that I could stay at: http://www.newkoyo.com/index.html, or maybe I could couchsurf. They advertise their price so hard I might have to book way in advance. I also plan to go to Kyoto and probably some other places around Japan.

Australia: May 24 - June 7
I fly into Sydney, but my no means do I intend to stay there the entire time. By this time it'll be a little cooler than the hot summer months of Australia.

New Zealand: June 7 - June 17
Fly into Auckland. I'll probably go to the south island for a while too, but before that I'll have to visit the guy who made my ukulele.

LA: June 17 - June 26
There's no direct flight from Auckland to Dallas, so I figured I'd spend a week in LA.

Right now I'm in Dallas, TX planning, shopping, and preparing for my epic adventure. I have plenty more to tell about everything that's going on, so look forward to future posts!