In planning our trip we intended to allow for some degree of flexibility. However, it was unavoidable to book certain essentials of transport and accommodation in advance to avoid too much disruption of our programme. The itinerary hereafter is what we have prepared before departure and there is no guarantee that the programme will not be altered during our trip. Johanna Gerber from GLOBETROTTER travel service in Fribourg has been a devoted and efficient advisor in preparing our trip and she will assist us in making arrangements while we are en route. In particular our plans for Asia are to be seen as tentative for the time being. We shall finalize more details during our stay in New Zealand .

1. ICELAND (9. – 21.7.04) (map)
Our visit to Iceland represents a kind of a curtain raiser for our great trip around the world. In fact, our One World ticket does not give us the possibility to include Iceland in our travel schedule on the one hand and we are limited to one year on the other hand, which we would exceed if Iceland were included in our ticket.
Iceland has been on our wish list for a long time and we are looking forward with great expectation to this visit. We have rented a house in the area of Reykjavik which will be our base throughout our stay. From there we intend to undertake excursions in the area.

2. CANADA (23. 7. – 10.8.) (map)
Via London and Chicago we shall fly to Calgary where we shall take possession of our first camper, a socalled RV (Recreation Vehicle) on 24.7. Our roundtrip to Vancouver will last 12 days. A ferry boat will take us on 6.8. northward to Skagway . Arrival on 9.8. and continuation on the following day by train to Whitehorse where we pick up a second RV and make our way to Alaska .

3. ALASKA (11.8. – 30.8.) (map)
We intend to make a roundtrip in Alaska and visit some of the National Parks. Via Fairbanks we shall travel to Anchorage and return to Whitehorse in Canada from where we shall fly to San Francisco on 31.8.04.

4. USA (31.8. – 30.9.) (map)
After staying a few days in San Franciso we undertake another round trip by RV. We intend to visit some of the famous Californian national parks, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas before arriving in Los Angeles . Visits to Anaheim (Disney World) and San Diego are also on our programme. Departure from Los Angeles to Cancun in Mexico .

5. MEXICO (30.9. – 15.10.) (map)
We are interested in exploring the Yukatan area and to see some of the historical remains of the Maya culture. We shall do this by rental car. But we also intend to spend some leisure days at the beach. On 15.10. flight from Yukatan to San José .

6. COSTA RICA (15.10. – 27.10.) (map)
Again we shall hire a car and visit the country in order to see some of its natural treasures, i.e. volcanoes and the rainforest. Time permitting we shall also spend a couple of days at the coast. From San José we shall move on to Quito , the capital of Ecuador .

7. ECUADOR (27.10. – 9.11.) (map)
By car we shall tour the northern highlands before descending for 4 days to the Amazon basin where we shall stay in a Lodge. Returned to Quito we shall fly to the Galapagos Islands for a four days cruise. After this we shall depart from Guayaquil direction Buenos Aires .

8. ARGENTINA (11. – 23.11.) (map)
We expect to visit some of the many beautiful spots of the country and to spend some days on one of the famous haciendas before continuing our trip to Santiago de Chile on 23.11.

9. CHILE (23.11. – 5.12.) (map)
Without stopping in Santiago we shall continue our trip to Punta Arenas . By car, bus and boat we shall explore the southernmost point of the continent and also cross over to Argentina on one occasion. On 3.12. we return to Santiago and after a stay of two days we fly out to the Easter Islands .

10. EASTER ISLAND (5. – 8.12.) (map)
We shall visit the Easter Island for 4 days and try to understand the amazing history of this remote place that calls itself the "navel of the world". From here it will be a six hours flight to Tahiti/Papeete, our next destination.

11. TAHITI (8. - 18.12.) (map)
We arrive in Papeete and spend one night there before taking the boat to the nearby Island Moorea. There we have rented a bungalow and hope to get to know the local people and also to enjoy some swimming. On 19.12. we fly out from Papeete to Auckland and arrive their on 20.12..

12. NEW ZEALAND (20.12.04 – 11.2.05) (map)
To start with we shall spend two weeks in Pauanui, which is located on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula where we have rented a house at the beach. We shall be staying there for Christmas and New Year . We shall hire a care for this period and then take possession of another RV to travel the North Island of New Zealand for another two weeks before taking the ferry to the South Island . We shall give ourselves 4 weeks to discover the beauties of this beautiful part of the world before we fly out from Christchurch to Melbourne on 11.2.05.

13. AUSTRALIA (11.2. – 7.4.05) (map)
Our visit of Australia will begin in Melbourne where we hire a RV to travel to Adelaide . On 24.2. we shall fly from Adelaide to Perth and explore this part of Australia until 10.3. when we go to Ayers Rock by plane. By Jeep we shall make our way to Alice Springs and leave from there on 14.3. by plane direction Cairns . We shall hire a car and travel the East coast down to Sydney from where we shall depart on 7.4. to fly to Bangkok .

14. THAILAND (7.4. – 5.5.05) (map)
The idea is to stay a few days in Bangkok and then take the train to Chang Mai. With a hired car we intend to travel the Northern region and then make our way back to Bangkok through the East of the country.

15. VIETNAM (5.5. – 26.5.05) (map)
We have planned to spend one week in the region of Saigon, one week in the centre (Hué/Danang) and one week in the area of Hanoi . Travel will be by air/train and hired car with driver. Around the 19.5., we shall leave by plane to Beijing via Hong Kong .

16. CHINA (26.5. – 20.6.) (map)
We are planning to see Beijing , the Great wall, Xian and the terracotta armee, followed by a boat trip on the Yangtze, then Shanghai , Guilin and to end up in Hong Kong from where we shall leave to New Dehli 20.6.

17. INDIA (20.6. – 18.7.05) (map)
It is the intention to travel the area of Rajasthan, starting out from New Delhi . Travel options are car with driver or train. We should end up in Udaipur after two weeks and fly from there to Bombay for a two weeks beach holiday in Goa . After that, we shall fly back to London from Bombay.

18. LONDON (20.7.05)
Back in London, our starting point, and depending on our mood, we may take a few days rest to reflect on what we experienced over the last twelve months, before joining Moniqu's family in Holland to celebrate our return.