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Trip Planning: Creative Route Planning

There is so much to see on this amazing planet.

Everyday I struggle with the realisation that I will simply not be able to see and experience everything in the world. I love reading about places and experiences that other people have had and noting down their ideas for the day I get my go. I love photography, short creative youtube clips, nature magazines, nature documentaries and documentaries about people. I love having inspiration and thinking often.

I would like to be able to see and experience everything because I believe that I will become a more worldly and well rounded individual that can pass on my knowledge for others to experience. Everything from the judgements and decisions that I make in life to the lessons that I learn, will be considered within a world context. I’d like to be able to take my experiences around the globe into my professional workspace to make the most considered planning decisions and create the best planning opportunities.

Enough with the small talk, how will you determine your route and the places that you’ll stay?

Kat and I have thought up a creative way to plan our trip…

This is what the floor of one of the rooms in Kat's house looks like... maps, notes, laptop...

Step 1:
We have printed black and white outlines of the countries we are thinking about travelling to.

Step 2:
We are reading as much information as we can about the countries of interest. We are using travel websites, blogs, youtube clips, photographs, travel lists, books and travel guides to gather this knowledge.

Step 3:
From our researched information, we are plotting a number on a map for each point of interest so that we can be spatially aware of the places we’d like to see. An explanation for the number will be written down. We will be trying to do a few countries at a time, spending a few solid hours on each.

Step 4:
Once our maps are complete with numbers and dot points, we will have to prioritise the places that we would like to see. This will eliminate countries and areas that we will have to miss due to time constrictions.

Step 5:
The maps should also give us a visual display of where the most places we’d like to see are located. Linking these areas will indicate a suitable route for our trip.

Step 6:
Lock a series of countries into our proposed route. We will set approximate dates for certain cities along the way. During our actual trip we will be somewhat flexible with our route so that we can spend more or less time here and there depending on who we meet and what we see!

Step 7:
We would like to digitise this information by scanning and using the documents as PDFs on our iPads.

Important:
Many of our friends are well travelled and hail from a variety of different countries, SO: we would also like to invite you all as friends of Alleykat, to share with us any recommendations, information or stories you have. Because although we are consulting many travel blogs (including, of course, bike touring blogs) suggestions with a personal touch are insurmountably valuable and would be much appreciated!

We will report back here each time we make some progress!
Alleykat