Around the World in 80 Days

I'm starting to plan Brandon's college graduation gift. He gets out of the military in 2014, by which time he should have enough college credits earned that he only needs about 2 more years of full-time college left. So we're assuming this trip will take place in 2018.

We're taking a trip around the world.  At first I thought 12 weeks would be good.  Then when I was calculating how many days that would be (84) I decided, why not make this a cool theme?  So Around the World in 80 Days it became.


So here’s my tentative plan for the Trip Around the World.  The number in parentheses is the number of days we plan to spend in each country, though that also includes travel time between destinations.

This itinerary is based on our trip starting and ending in WA and the countries are in order based on flying east around the world.  Some destinations will be spent relaxing in luxury (French Polynesia), others will be adventurous (Costa Rica).  Sometimes we’ll stay in big cities (Paris), others we’ll only travel the countryside (Belgium).  I want to do something unique to each area so we get the best experience.  We don't plan on renting a car except maybe in England or Australia, everywhere else will be spent using public transportation.  All of Europe will be spent traveling via train.  For places that only have a few days earmarked like England and Germany, it’s because we’ll probably have already visited that area by the time we make this trip in 2018.  So there’s no need to spend a full week in that country again, just enough time to visit some places we didn’t get to visit the first time around.  But if it turns out that we don’t get to visit those places on a separate trip then I’ll change the days around so we can have more time to spend in those countries.

I'm thinking about maybe adding another country to this list, most likely Indonesia or Ecuador (Galapagos Islands).  I would shave off 2 days each from Australia and New Zealand and maybe a day off Moscow to make up for it.

Comments and suggestions are welcome considering Brandon has absolutely no opinion, he just wants me to tell him when he needs to get on a plane.  Typical.  Please note that we'll be taking this trip in the spring or fall to allow for the best weather possible between the two hemispheres. And yes, I am dead serious about taking this trip.

Costa Rica (6)
England (4)
France (4)
Belgium (4)
Germany (3)
Switzerland (4)
Italy (4)
Austria (3)
Czech Republic, just Prague (3)
Romania (3)
Russia, just Moscow (5)
Kenya/Tanzania African safari (10)
Japan (8)
Australia (7)
New Zealand (7)
French Polynesia (5)

Total: 80 days!