Bon Voyage

Hi all,

The time is drawing near for our “Round The World” adventure to begin. As the departure date approaches, we are busy buying gear, making overseas arrangements for the first leg of our journey and spending time with family and friends.

Our emotions range from pure excitement to “preparation” anxiety (as Eric calls it). Our path ahead is starting to become clear – to the extent it can be – and this trip is finally beginning to feel like a reality. While we don’t exactly know what lies ahead, we do know that whatever we encounter and whomever we meet, we will learn a great deal about the world, ourselves and each other.

For this first journal entry, we wanted to share with you our trip itinerary (subject to slight modifications as the trip progresses J ) and ask for some input to help us make this journey as meaningful and memorable as possible.

Eric and Mariah’s RTW Trip Itinerary:

June 8 – Depart San Jose, CA
June 8 to June 13 – Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY
June 14 to June 17 – Iceland
June 18 to July 15 – Norway, Sweden and Finland
July 16 to August 5 – Trans Siberian Railroad through Russia (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Irkutsk and Lake Baikal), Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) and into China (Beijing)
August 6 to August 29 – Tour of China through Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Emei Shan, Yangzi River, Yangshuo and Hong Kong
August 30 to October 26 – Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam
October 27 to December 5 – Micronesia, travel to the island groups of Palau and Yap
December 6 to December 16 – New Zealand (North Island)
Dec 17 to January 11 – Cook Islands (Rarotonga and Aitutaki) **WEDDING** J
Jan 12 to February 8 – Fiji
February 9 to February 20 – Samoa
February 21 to March 3 – Tonga
March 4 to March 30 – New Zealand (North and South Islands)
March 31 to June 1 – Argentina and Chile

Here’s the part where we’d like your input…

As part of our trip, we are starting a global research project called "Global Voices." We both agree that our travels will be more meaningful if we can seek a deeper purpose and share our learning with others.

As we move toward a global society, it's becoming more important for people around the world to understand each other. Most people’s daily interactions tend to be with people who have somewhat similar backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to themselves. So we are curious what people around the world from other countries, with different backgrounds and experiences are thinking, feeling, dreaming...are they optimistic about the future? Do they imagine a world with greater collaboration and shared understanding? What are they afraid of? What are they hopeful about?

With the Global Voices project, we plan to interview people around the world that we come in contact with – from tour guides, to street vendors, other travelers, to the person sitting next to us on the train – to learn about their hopes, dreams, fears, and predictions about the future. When we return, there are a variety of ways we are thinking that we could share our findings – by writing a book, creating a website that could also become a forum for other travelers to contribute to the research, through podcasts, etc.

We would like to develop a list of 10-20 really solid questions we could ask depending on who we're speaking with and the context of the conversation. We have some ideas of what would be meaningful and interesting, but we also want to know what our friends, family, mentors and colleagues think would be valuable to learn.

If you feel inspired, here are a few questions we’d like you to comment on…

1. What are the top 5 questions you would want to ask people around the world?

2. What kinds of people would you be most interested to hear from (e.g., age, gender, social class, job type, single/married, etc.)?

3. How could we share our findings when we return in a way that would be meaningful, interesting and impactful?

4. Is there anyone in the countries we will be traveling to that you think would be interested in meeting with us on our trip? If so, could you please e-introduce us, or let us know the best way to contact them to get in touch?

5. Are there any lessons/learnings you would offer from your own travels that might be helpful for us to know as we begin this adventure?

6. Any other thoughts, suggestions, advice??

We look forward to getting your responses! We will be continuing to update this travel blog on a regular basis and will share with you stories about the people we meet, the places we go and our own thoughts and meanderings as we progress on this trip. We hope you will stay in touch – we'd love to hear from you along the way!

Bon Voyage,
Eric and Mariah