We are on our way!

We've bought our first round of plane tickets! Yeah!!! No turning back now, we're on our way (at least to Thailand).

There are numerous ways to purchase airfare for a RTW trip, but we opted for buying individual tickets. Check out the website for a more indepth description of the different options available. We decided to purchase the first few tickets before we depart on our trip just to solidfy our departure date (so that some of us don't keep changing the date...Jason). We haven't decided if we're going to buy all of our tickets prior to departure or purchase the remaining ones on the road...we'll just play it by ear.

Charleston to Berlin - July 13, 2009
- Overland from Berlin to Rome

Rome to Athens - August 10, 2009
- Check out the sites around Athens; the Greek Isles will have to wait until the next trip.

Athens to Cairo - August 12, 2009
- A couple of weeks taking in the history and some diving in the Red Sea.

Cairo to Jo'Burg - August 25, 2009
- Explore South Africa with a rental car from Jo'Burg to Cape Town.

Cape Town to Delhi - September 20, 2009
- Explore Rajasthan!

Delhi to Bangkok - October 2, 2009
- Setup tiki bar on the beach! Just kidding, maybe...

Where are we going?

Our dream is finally starting to come true; we are backpacking around the world for a little over nine months. Our departure date is set for July 13, 2009 with a return of April 10, 2010.

We will hit all of the continents except for South America and Antarctica and potentially travel around 22 countries depending on our overland route in Africa. We will be taking planes, trains, buses, ferries, and who knows what else. Here is our rough itinerary:

DATE	DEPARTING	ARRIVING
7/13/09	USA	Germany
7/16/09	Germany	France
7/18/09	France	Germany
7/29/09	Germany	Italy
8/10/09	Italy	Greece
8/13/09	Greece	Egypt
8/25/09	Egypt	South Africa
9/20/09	South Africa	India
10/2/09	India	Indonesia
10/12/09	Indonesia	Malaysia
10/27/09	Malaysia	Indonesia
11/2/09	Indonesia	Australia
11/14/09	Australia	New Zealand
12/4/09	New Zealand	Australia
12/17/09	Australia	Vietnam
1/5/10	Vietnam	Cambodia
1/12/10	Cambodia	Thailand
1/26/10	Thailand	Laos
2/6/10	Laos	Thailand
2/21/10	Thailand	China
3/20/10	China	Japan
4/10/10	Japan	USA