13 Month Plan - (Take that C.A.P.P's "5 Year Plans")

Over the past few months I've had a number of people ask the question "So where are you going again?". In order to make things easier, I've created this post to shed some light on my plans...all 13 months of them.

Since I concocted this crazy idea to see the world back in November 2007 and wrote my first post, I'm happy to say that my plans are still relatively the same, only more concrete and sweeter. All in all, I'm gone from July 28, 2008 - August 28, 2009. As I write this, I'm heading out in 5 days, and I'm filled with excitement. I hope you'll take the time now and again to go through my photos and posts to cheer me through the journey. I've broken down the post to the 3 major areas in which I'm traveling: Asia, South America & Europe. Enjoy.

Southeast Asia & Japan 

July 28 - December 22

Singapore & NUS

The first leg of the journey is based in Singapore and I'll be attending the National University of Singapore (NUS) and living in Prince George's Park Residence. I've banked up a lot of my "Non-Commerce Electives" so I'm taking some great courses (Singaporean Theatre, Japanese History, etc.) along with International Marketing (with a focus on Asia of course). I'm registered in 3 out of my 4 classes, and registering in the last one upon arrival, but if all goes well, my classes will be on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday - giving me a 4 day weekend every weekend to travel and enjoy Southeast Asia. While I'm based in Singapore, I plan to be doing a lot of traveling throughout Southeast Asia whenever the opportunities present themselves. I've included some traveling concepts that I intend on doing, but I'll see what things are like when I get there and adjust my plans to have the best experience.

Koh Tao: On the recommendation of my friend Colin, I'm going to spend a few days off the coast of Thailand in Koh Tao getting my PADI Scuba Certification at the Buddha View Resort. I'm going to do my best to convince a few other students to come with me to get the certification and enjoy a full moon party in Thailand.

Cambodia/Laos Adventure: NUS conveniently has a "Recess Break" in September so I'm going to book end an additional week off school and trek 18 days through Cambodia & Laos. I don't have a set agenda yet, but between everyone I know who's been to SE Asia and everyone who'll be in Singapore, I'm sure I'll find more than enough to fill my time.

Malaysia: I'm going to spend some time in Malaysia. Most likely putting my PADI certification to use, and hitting the shops in Kuala Lampur. 

Vietnam: I've been talking with UBC to help them with their International Highschool Recruitment, and after a meeting with them today, there's a good chance that I'll be making some presentations in Vietnam in November. I'm most likely going to head up a few days early, or stick around a couple days after to take advantage of the free flight up there.

Japan: After I've wrapped up the term in Singapore, I'm heading out on December 8th to Japan. I'm really excited for this leg of the journey as I'll be spending most of my time with my brother, Shinpei. Shinpei stayed with our family from when I was 2 years old to 12 and I haven't seen him in many years so it's like seeing my long lost brother again. After the flight from Singapore to Narita, I'll be flying to Nagoya and I'll stay there for a couple days with Shinpei and his wife, Yuriko touring around. Next, we head out on our big Japanese Road Trip Adventure. We head west to Kyoto (the old Imperial City), we'll then head NorthEast to Mt. Fuji, and then make our way north to Gunma (near Nagano), to stay with Yuriko's family. Gunma has some great mountains so we plan to spend a day on the slopes. Afterwards we'll head to Tokyo and spend the remaining days there (including a visit to Tokyo Disney...sweet!).

After Japan I'll be home from the 22nd - 28th of December to do laundry, hug family, sing carols and head off on the second leg of the journey.

South America

January 28 - April 22

The next part of the journey I'll be "Living it up down old South America way" (Arrested Development anyone?) with Steve Gares. I was originally planning to do the trip alone, but after talking with Steve about it a couple times early on in the summer it became clear how sweet it would be if we went together...so here we are. We're spending 4 months and covering some pretty big ground. In order to prepare for the trek, Steve and I are both trying to learn Spanish using Rosetta Stone. If you don't know South America all that well, I've posted a small video that gives you a better idea of the path we're going to take. You can also take a peek at our Google Spreadsheet, where we're organizing most of our planning.

Argentina & Chile: Steve and I fly into Buenos Aires right before New Years Eve. We're going to be meeting up with Phil & Jeremy Hancyk, which can only mean our first couple nights in South America will be debaucherous. After New Years, we're heading West to Mendoza where Phil has invited us to stay with his aunt for a couple of days. After enjoying all the wine Mendoza has to offer, we'll be heading to Santiago, Chile to see the boys off at the airport. We'll then be making our way down the coast to Isla de Chiloe and then trekking back east to Bariloche, Argentina, which has been described as having a "Banff-like" feel to it. We'll then make our way to the East Coast beaches of Argentina and bunker down in Buenos Aires for a couple weeks. When in Buenos Aires, we hope to take in the sights, sounds, tastes of Argentina. We'll go to some great museums, clubs, futbal matches, eat plenty of steak, drink lots of wine, try to tango etc. Our last stop in Argentina is making our way to Igazu Falls, which boarder with our next destination - Brazil!

Brazil: After mastering Spanish for 4 months, we're going to spend the better part of a month in Brazil where our Spanish is about as useful as my Dad's french. We're going to make our way to the coast as quick as possible and visit Paraty along the way. We'll have about two weeks along the Brazilian Coast to soak in the sun, get Steve his PADI Certification, learn some basic Portuguese and make our way to Rio de Janeiro for the biggest part on the planet - CARNIVAL. After all the festivities, we'll make our way back up the coast and fly to Bogota, Columbia.

Columbia: Steve and I plan to spend a few days in the capital before making our way north to the Caribbean Sea to a place called Cartagena & Santa Marta. There's some great hiking to do in the area, and depending our timing, we might make a trek out of Santa Marta to the "Lost City". We'll be doing some diving just off the coast of Cartagena, along with enjoying the history architecture and wildlife.

Ecuador: We'll then fly down to Ecuador to party on the equator and make a trip into the amazon and maybe do some piranha fishing. Ecuador is renowned for its abundance of wildlife and wild flowers, so I'm sure we'll have more than enough to see/do.

Peru: We've got quite a bit on the dock for Peru. We'll bus in to the capital city of Lima and kick it there for a while before making our way down to Cuzco. From Cuzco, we're booking a slot to climb the Inca Trail to visit Machu Picchu. After the 4 day hike, we'll make our way down to enjoy Lake Titicaca (I can hear my 7 year old self laughing), and then crossing the board to Bolivia. After Bolivia we'll be making our way back through Peru to Lima for our flight back to Vancouver. On the way, we'll pay a visit to the Nazca Lines which should be great!

Bolivia: We won't have much time in Bolivia, but we'll do the best with what we have. We're going to go see the Salt 

Flats which Steve and I are both pretty pumped for. Prior to the salt flats, we'll be visiting La Paz where I'm planning to bike down the Most Dangerous Road (don't tell my parents...). After our Bolivia tour, we're making our way to Lima to fly out of there on the 22nd of April.

London & Europe

May - August

The final third of the journey finds me based in London. I haven't done a crazy amount of research into what I'll be doing there, but the general plan is to be working at a Marketing/Communication firm in London and living with my sister, her boyfriend Ray, and Candice (good times with all of them for sure). As I get closer, I'll start coming up with places to go and see and most likely making my travel plans based on which destination has the cheapest ticket.

For those of you who like to post responses/comments - I have a question I'd like you to answer:

If you could go to any of the places I'm going to, where would it be and why?

Some thoughts:

There are some parts about going on this long journey that are bittersweet. Bitter being leaving my family and friends for so long, and leaving an amazing/fulfilling relationship that has made that last 9 months amazing will be really tough!!! But when I put everything in perspective, the sweet far out ways the bitter, and it's only a matter of time before I'm home (probably planning the next trip).

I am mentally and emotionally ready for this trip and I couldn't be more thankful to have the next 13 months as a part of my life's story. If I don't see you before I go, you have my love. If you're coming on Saturday - we're getting trashed, and I'll see you there.

Living, Loving and Learning,

- Conor