RTW Itinerary – The “Plan”

As we get closer to departure day, I get asked often where the trip begins and what’s our route. With a huge smile on my face, I immediately answer Iceland! Then I go into a long monologue about the next few destinations and how most of trip is staying open!

In case you are interested here’s the “plan” so far.

It all begins in Iceland! [Insert giant grin here] The land of Ice and Fire…

I’m very excited about this part of the trip. We are only spending a week here and most likely won’t be sleeping much but it’ll be worth it. The photo opportunities will just be out of this world and I’m already thinking of a million different things I can write about. When we initially started planning this adventure, Iceland was taken off the list as it was too expensive but thanks to Wow airline, it made it back on the list and we are thrilled about that!

After our crazy week in Iceland, we’ll be off to the UK.

England

London – 4 Days

I get to turn 40 in London! How exciting is that! I’ve put in a special request to Bruce to take me to Tiffany’s. I’m sure that’ll happen. Whether we walk out of there with anything, that’s a different story 😉

Oxford – 1 Day

Just to show Kasm his future school 😉

Fowey, Cornwall – 7 days

We are really looking forward to this part of the trip. Our Airbnb place is a converted barn in a cute little Cornish village and only minutes walk to the beach. It’ll be nice to chill and enjoy the countryside.

Chester – 3 days

For some reason, it ended up to be cheaper to rent a hotel than Airbnb. We are staying just minutes from the Chester Racecourse. Perhaps we’ll catch a race?

York – 2 days

Initially these two days were supposed to be spent in the lake district but our reservation was cancelled due to the rental property being sold. It worked out well as Bruce really wanted to go to York and we get to stay at an Airbnb above an English Pub. I’m sure there won’t be too many complaints from Bruce 😉

Scotland

Edinburgh – 4 days

We opted to stay outside the city center, about 20 minutes or so by bus. Our apartment is close to the beach so it’ll be relaxing after a day of exploring the city.

Forres – 7 Days

We head north to Forres which is about 40 km from Inverness. We haven’t quite figured out this part of the trip yet. We’d love to explore the highlands but not so sure about renting a car for the duration of the stay. One option could be that we take a train to Forres and just do a one or two day car rental for some highland exploring.

I must admit, Scotland was a challenge to organize as its just so expensive! Every time I thought I found an affordable accommodation, I had to remember to double the price. I’m glad we managed to work it out as we both REALLY wanted to see Scotland.

Denmark & Sweden

We are flying to Copenhagen after our Scottish adventures. I have to say RyanAir is fabulous! Wish we had discount airlines in Canada! Bruce’s friend Rick Smith has graciously offered to host us in Malmo. We’ll be spending a week there with a little mini trip thrown in for LegoLand. Kasm will love that!

And here’s the rest of what’s booked so far.

Hungary

Budapest – 9 days

Our friends Linda & Derek visited Budapest few years ago and I remember how much I loved the photographs she had taken (she is an amazing photographer). It’ll be nice to see Budapest for ourselves.

Croatia

Zagreb – 3 days

Look up pictures of Croatia online and you’ll instantly fall in love and want to get on a plane! We are doing just that! Thanks to my cutest Croatian friend, Iva, who helped us plan this part of the trip.

Split – 2 days

Stari Grad – 11 days

This is a tiny island just off the coast of Split. We thought it would be a good idea to just a rent a place and chill out for a little while and recharge before the rest of our European leg of the journey. The plan is to take an overnight ferry from here to Ancona, Italy where we will be renting a car to meander towards Bordeaux, France.

Slovenia

Ljubljana – 3 days

We are actually going here after Zagreb as transport-wise it made more sense. From here we then head to Split , Croatia.

So that’s about the only planning we’ll do before we take off on June 15th. We wanted to make sure most of the summer was done as it’s high season and may have been difficult to do last minute reservations!

You might ask what’s next… The rest is somewhat unknown. We have a rough idea where we want to go but don’t want to commit to any static timeframe. What if we love a place? Then we’ll stay longer. The unknown can sound a bit unsettling but what’s the worse that can happen? We might end up sleeping at a bus station 😮 just kidding! I’m sure it won’t come to that. Even if it does, we’ll have great stories to share for the rest of our lives.

All that said we still have a rough idea. We have to be done with Europe by end of October. Mainly because we have only 90 days according the Schengen treaty. But before our 90 days are up, we will be visiting Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

India is next on the list. Not sure what to expect. We hear that it’s love or hate relationship with India. Linda’s photos are making me hopeful that it will be Love!

South East Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South & Central Americas are on the list but at this point we have no idea when or if we’ll even make it to some of these destinations. But follow us and we’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date on our plans as they evolve. Who knows maybe we’ll see you somewhere along the way!