The Trip by the Numbers

It is hard to summarize a year's worth of amazing experiences into one "favorite place" or "most important thing I learned" or "best story." For my last post, I hope this list provides a bit of flavor for the depth and breadth of my travels:

- Total countries: 30 (8 I had visited previously, 22 were new to me)
- Flights: 39
- Missed flights: 1
- Times I checked my bag for a flight: All but once
- Times my bag got lost: 0
- Free flights using frequent flier miles: 8 (including 6 with my round-the-world ticket)
- Overnight trips: 20 (10 by train, 6 by bus, and 4 by ferry)
- Nights spent in airports: 1
- Bus breakdowns: 2
- Boat breakdowns: 2
- CDs burned with pictures: 20 (18 CD-ROMs plus 2 DVD-ROMs)
- Number of pictures: 4,250
- Unreadable CDs: 2
- Total pictures lost due to data issues: 10 (backups come in handy)
- Blog posts: 49
- Yahoo! group members: 43
- Friends and family I met up with while traveling: 10
- Friends I made on the trip who I met again in another place: 13
- Books read: At least 20
- Guidebooks used: 10 (7 were Lonely Planet)
- Places visited that are on the UNESCO World Heritage List: 52
- Places that Lonely Planet says are famous for being in a James Bond movie: 3
- Scuba dives: 39 (in 9 places)
- 4,000+ meter peaks climbed: 2
- African game parks visited: 6
- Hollywood movies seen in a theater: 6
- Weddings attended: 2
- Synagogues where I attended services: 7
- Packages mailed to the US: 36
- Packages lost: 0 (though an envelope from Cairo arrived with a hole in the corner and a missing Swiss Army knife)
- Visits to a police station: 4
- Visits to a US embassy: 2
- Visits to a health clinic/ER: 2 (both accompanying fellow travelers)
- Times I had food poisoning: 2
- Times I was seasick: 2
- ATM withdrawals: 159
- Problems with ATM machines: 1
- Foreign currencies: 26
- Credit card transactions: 52
- Cash advances on my credit card: Once by accident

Itinerary Wrap-up

Below are details on the thirty countries I visited in the thirteen months between September 2005 and October 2006.

1 China: September 13-October 14, 2005
Beijing, Simatai (Great Wall), Xian, Yichang-Badong-Wushan-Fengjie-Chongqing (Three Gorges), Guilin-Yangshuo, Hong Kong, Shanghai/Hangzhou, Beijing
2 Malaysia: October 14-November 11
Peninsular Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Penang/Georgetown, Taman Negara), Malaysian Borneo (Kota Kinabalu, Mount Kinabalu, Semporna)
3 Philippines: November 11-19 (Manila, Boracay, Taal Volcano)
4 Indonesia: November 20-29 and January 31-February 22
Bali (Ubud, Besakih/Gunung Agung, Amed/Tulamben, Kuta/Jimbaran), Bintan, Jakarta, Flores (Maumere, Moni)
5 Singapore: November 29-December 6 and January 30
6 Vietnam: December 6-22
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) aka Saigon, Mekong Delta, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa
7 Thailand: December 22-23 and January 3-7 and January 21-29 (Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Rai, Khao Lak, Koh Jum)
8 Cambodia: December 24-January 2, 2006 (Siem Reap/Angkor, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville)
9 Laos: January 8-20 (Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, Muang Ngoi Neua)
10 Kenya: February 28-March 13 and March 28-April 4
Nairobi, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Amboseli, Mombasa, Diani Beach, Lake Naivasha, Nanyuki
11 Tanzania: March 14-27
Arusha, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Moshi, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar
12 Egypt: February 25-27 and April 5-9 and June 7-20
Cairo, Alexandria, Aswan, Luxor, Safaga
13 Israel: April 10-23 and May 15-30 and June 5-6
Tel Aviv, Rosh Pina, Jerusalem, Haifa, Moshav Hazorim, Akko, Tzfat, Ein Gedi, Eilat
14 Turkey: April 24-May 14
Istanbul, Selçuk, Pamukkale, Fethiye, Kaş, Olimpos, Antalya, Konya, Uçhisar
15 Jordan: May 31-June 4 (Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba)
16 Holland: June 21-26 and August 4-5 (Amsterdam)
17 Spain: June 27 (Salamanca) and July 8-9 (Seville) and October 13-23 (Madrid, Barcelona)
18 Portugal: June 28-July 7 (Porto, Leiria, Lisbon, Sintra, Lagos)
19 Morocco: July 10-24 (Tetouan, Chauoen, Fes, Casablanca, El Jadida, Jebel Toubkal, Marrakech)
20 Belgium: July 25-27 (Brussels, Namur, Rochefort)
21 France: July 28-August 2 (Reims, Paris)
22 England: August 3 and August 14-19 (London, Ingleton)
23 Switzerland: August 6-13 (Montreux, Murren, Luzern, Zurich)
24 Greece: August 20-September 11
Athens, Crete (Hania, Rethymno, Iraklio), Santorini (Oia), Folegandros, Sifnos, Serifos, Syros, Mykonos, Pelion Peninsula/Horefto, Meteora/Kalabaka, Thessaloniki
25 Bulgaria: September 12-15 (Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Târnovo)
26 Romania: September 16-21 (Bucharest, Sinaia, Braşov, Sighişoara)
27 Hungary: September 22-23 (Budapest)
28 Slovakia: September 24-29 (Bratislava, Terchova, Levoča, Starý Smokovec)
29 Poland: September 30-October 9 (Zakopane, Kraków, Rzeszow, Zamość, Biecz)
30 Czech Republic: October 10-12 (Prague)

Budget Wrap-up

If I decide to write a book about my trip, I could give it the boring title "Around the World on $75 a Day." In the final calculus I spent roughly $30,000 over 400 days... a lot less than I anticipated.

I feel that I struck a good balance between saving money (e.g. my round-the-world airline ticket cost a mere $420 in taxes and fees thanks to frequent flier miles) and splurging on nice hotels (e.g. in Eilat and Bali), activities (e.g. scuba diving and safaris), and purchases (I bought enough gifts to ship thirty-six packages to the US).

The cheapest country was Laos ($20/day) as compared to super-pricey Switzerland at $193/day. The weakest currency was the Vietnamese Dong (I was rich with $1 = 16,000 VND) while England's Pound was the strongest (£1 = $1.88). I spent the most time -- one month each -- in Indonesia, Israel, and China.

Below is a country-by-country summary:

1 China $2,000 for 31 days ($65/day)
2 Malaysia $1,500 for 27 days ($55/day)
3 Philippines $450 for 9 days ($50/day)
4 Indonesia $2,635 for 33 days ($80/day)
5 Singapore $765 for 8 days ($95/day)
6 Vietnam $900 for 17 days ($53/day)
7 Cambodia $400 for 11 days ($36/day)
8 Laos $255 for 13 days ($20/day)
9 Thailand $750 for 15 days ($50/day)
10 Egypt $1,265 for 25 days ($51/day)
11 Israel $1,225 for 32 days ($38/day)
12 Turkey $1,435 for 22 days ($65/day)
13 Jordan $215 for 5 days ($43/day)
14 Kenya $1,480 for 22 days ($67/day)
15 Tanzania $1,300 for 15 days ($87/day)
16 Holland $486 for 9 days ($54/day)
17 Spain $1,052 for 13 days ($81/day)
18 Portugal $1,182 for 10 days ($118/day)
19 Morocco $523 for 14 days ($37/day)
20 Belgium $548 for 4 days ($136/day)
21 France $709 for 6 days ($118/day)
22 England $790 for 7 days ($113/day)
23 Switzerland $1,350 for 7 days ($193/day)
24 Greece $2,415 for 23 days ($105/day)
25 Bulgaria $130 for 4 days ($32/day)
26 Romania $295 for 6 days ($49/day)
27 Hungary $328 for 2 days ($164/day)
28 Slovakia $230 for 6 days ($39/day)
29 Poland $412 for 9 days ($46/day)
30 Czech Republic $375 for 3 days ($125/day)