Taking a long trip – 2 years driving around Europe – requires a great deal of daily planning and routine. My average day is 16-18 hours long. I almost never take a day off and do nothing. It can be very exhausting, but that is the way I can see and do as much as I do in the limited time I have. At 66 years of age, I may not be able to continue this for much longer, feel a certain amount of personal pressure, and am basically in a “hurry” to see and do as much as I can.
My present goal is to be the #1 traveler of all time in Canada. Secondly, I want to lead the world in the Series portion of Nomad Mania. As I write this in May 2019, I am about 150 on the Masterlist, but #14 on the Series list. But I am also more active than almost anyone as I am traveling continuously for a long time. I am sure I see more of each country than 99.9% of travelers. I try not to have to return to any country I have seen.
1. Schengen Visa Rules. Non-Europeans are only allowed to be in the 28-country Schengen Visa countries for 90 days at a time, then must be out of the zone for 90 days before returning. This rule has determined my general itinerary for Europe. My 90-days outside the zone have been spent in a. United Kingdom and Ireland b. Balkans (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia) c. Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Moldavia and Belarus) and d. Middle East (Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq (Kurdestan) and hopefully Syria).
2. Nomad Mania. Most active world travelers use this travel web site to track, suggest and record their travels. Prior to 2018, it was called Best Traveled but then over 37,000 “places” and “things to do” were added and the name was changed appropriately to Nomad Mania. I am the ultimate Nomad maniac. I used to use travel guide books like Lonely Planet or Rough Guide to guide my travels, but now almost exclusively use Nomad Mania.
The website has two parts: a. Masterlist: Composed of 1281 regions in the world (think 50 states in the USA, 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada) and b. Series of over 37,000 “places”: World Heritage Sites, Tentative WHS, Sights, Museums, Borders, Castles, Palaces and Forts, Religious Temples, Villages and Small Towns, Cities organized by continent, Wonders of Nature and many more.
3. For each region, I copy the Nomad Mania web page for the geographical region. As it is listed by series, I reorganize and format the region by city and small town. I then use Google Maps to transcribe this list by bookmarking every region with all the sights. For places not found offline, I then go online and bookmark those. Google Maps has 3 types of bookmarks: Favourites, Want to go and Starred places and I differentiate the sights using the different bookmarks. I use Favourites for places I have a definite address: Want to go includes places I am uncertain of; Starred places are for cities, towns, villages, national parks and general areas with no specific address.
4. The day before, I will go through each area and plan my route, trying to see as many bookmarked sites as I can in the most efficient way. I put them in order in Word on my computer.
5. If I have time and data access on my phone, I like to do some research on each sight and add that. Download free Lonely Planets and other guidebooks from the web site www.gen.lib.rus.ec to use for research and to write the eventual post.
6. I bring my computer with me and write as much as possible about each site as I see them.
7. At the end of the day, I construct the post using all the information I have obtained that day and use Google search and guidebooks for research. When I have wifi access, I post the region on my web site, including the dates of the visit. I like to also add photographs at this time. I then go to Nomad Mania and tick off all the places I have seen. It is important to keep this up on a daily basis and not fall behind. In this way, my web site is usually up to date within the last 2-3 days.
TRAVEL PLANS.
2019
May – July 2019: Eastern Europe – Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Poland.
July – October 2019: Central Europe – North/Central Germany, Eastern France, Switzerland, Southern Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, , Hungary.
October, 2019 – January, 2020: Drive from Hungary and Romania via Bulgaria to Turkish Thrace, trying to see as many sites I missed on my first time through.
Middle East – North and Central Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran Oct 12-24 tour, Turkmenistan Oct 24-29 tour, Kurdistan Iraq, Southern Turkey, Syria?, Cyprus.
Greece – Dodecanese Islands (Rhodes, Kos, Patmos), North Aegean Islands (Lemnos, Lesbos, Samos, Chios). Mount Athos, Pelogos Islands, Cyclades (Santorini, Mikonos).
Ferry from Greece to Italy. Find long-term parking for my camper van.
January 2020: Return to home in Canada
2020
January – March, 2020: Organize trip through Mid West USA to see all the states I have not been to plus Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in Canada. Finish writing “Hiking and Climbing the West Kootenay”, start organization 2021 trip through West Africa.
Mid March – July, 2020: Mid West USA, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia. Backpack Ayuttuk National Park on Baffin Island (10 days). Drive towards home in British Columbia via Great Lake States to finish seeing all 50 US states. Kayak Picture Rocks on Lake Superior.
August, 2020. West Kootenay, British Columbia – Kootenay Mountaineering Club Hiking Camp (1st week August), kayak Slocan Lake (4 days), Silverspray, Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park (4 days), Backpack Valhalla Provincial Park (7-9 days).
September – December, 2020: Home. Organize West Africa trip.
Possible trip to south Utah for my 37th trip there.
December, 2020: On way to West Africa: Isle of Mann, Channel Islands (Guernsey, Jersey), Azores, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Algeria, Libya? Pick up van wherever I stored it. Drive through Italy (Milan) and Eastern Spain to Gibraltar.
2021
January – April, 2021: West Africa – Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, north Benin?, North Togo?, Niger? Chad?, Central African Republic?, , , Cape Verde, south Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, return to Spain.
April – May, 2021: Portugal and Spain (places I missed on previous trips)
June to September, 2021: Home, West Kootenay of British Columbia.
October – December: East Africa – Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djbouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Uganda,
2022
January – May, 2022: East Africa/Indian Ocean – Mauritius, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, Botswana, South Africa. Store van or ship to Australia.
2023
Australia
South Pacific – Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Micronesia, Kiribati
2024
Round the World Trip to finish seeing all 193 UN Countries.
El Salvador
Caribbean Islands (crew sailboat?): Bermuda, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago,
South America: Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, Brazil (entire north, very south), Paraguay, Argentina (Salto area)
Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria
Asia: Pakistan, India (Kashmir, Ladakh, NE seven states), Bangladesh (that should be country #193!)