A Planner by Nature

Ben reveals why planning a round the World trip is giving him such a buzz

For those that know me well, it will be no surprise just how excited I am getting merely at the prospect of planning this trip, let alone going on it.

I am by nature a planner and take organisation to a whole new level. Some may say I'm obsessive, and, in their defence, I would agree. It has never been diagnosed but I would be confident in saying I display tendencies of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, more commonly referred to as OCD...

In my eyes everything warrants having a list and most things have a place on a spreadsheet. It saddens me to say I could tell you what I ate for lunch or how far I walked on any given week over the past two years. Likewise, I could say what I have spent to date this year on food and provide a fairly accurate prediction on what my bank balance will be twelve months from now.

So when presented with the task of preparing to go travelling my mind goes into overdrive. I start thinking that there is literally a World of possibilities out there and I have the best part of a year to research and build myself a tailor made trip of a lifetime.

There is literally a World of possibilities out there

My Starting Point

So where do I start? Well thanks to a unspent gift voucher still left from Christmas I ordered Lonely Planet's 'The Big Trip'. 

It has taken me under two weeks to read and got out of it just what I wanted - a clear idea of all the considerations I need to be making in the planning of this trip along with a heap full of ideas, suggestions and resources.

To complement this I have spent the last three weeks doing a lot of reading online. From looking at various volunteer programs to the varying cost of accommodation I have really started to get my imagination working. The other outcome of all this reading - apart from a long list of unorganised hyperlinks - is a definite sense that this round the world trip is achievable.

A few weeks ago this trip was a concept. Today it feels more like a certainty

Last Autumn I bought myself a giant wall map to encourage me to think about whether I wanted to go and travel and today I finally got it back up on the wall after moving at the start of December 2010.

My Wall Map

Guided and informed by the reading I have undertaken over the last few weeks I have developed the first of what will be many versions of my "Departure Plan."

As a planner by nature I instinctively want to list all the things I am to need to do in preparation for such a monumental journey

With this list I have once more taken control of chaos and now begins the journey of turning this list into actions that will, some twelve months from now, have me leaving these fair shores for the trip of a lifetime. Or at least that's the plan.