When I tell people about this trip, a lot of them ask me what my plan is.  Where am I going exactly?  What will I see?  Where will I stay?  It’s funny to say that I’m traveling for two years and then say that I really have no plan at all.  But it’s true.  I have a process.  And in a way, the process is the plan.

First of all, I prepared what I would take very very long in advance.  With no real itinerary, it’s important to be ready for anything.  It’s far more important to only carry small bags and pack light though.  I’ve got to drag this stuff around for two years.  So now that I’ve got my bags fully packed, it’s incredible to me the amount of work that went into getting two bags filled that are small enough to travel as carry on for a domestic flight but have everything I’ll need for two years.  If you’re interested in exactly what I’m bringing, I will post a follow up article on that soon.

Being prepared with equipment is my first step.  My next step is reading ahead and knowing some key places I want to visit.  I’ve watched documentaries, read books on India and Indian history, and browsed through the thousand page Lonely Planet India guide.  I got my ticket and planned my entry point to the country:  New Delhi.  I also took care of the essential administrative stuff: 10 year visa, travel insurance, etc., etc.  Then I planned the basic cities and sights for my first month or so.  I’m going to sped a few days in Delhi, then go north to Kashmir.  Jammu will be first, then Srinigar, locations around Srinigar, then onward to Ladakh.  After Ladakh, I may do a long trek and end up in Shimla, or else I may do some short treks in the area and travel by bus to Shimla.  If all of this means nothing to you, you’re starting to see the problem.  Planning a trip like this can become overwhelming very quickly.  Inevitably, it never ends up like I expect anyway, plans change in the middle, things I wanted to do are out of season or not nearly as cool as I expected.  This is why I travel for such a long time.

I learned in Africa that when traveling for a year, a lot of the things that people stress about in short trips don’t really matter.  I don’t need to book hotels until I’m there or about to arrive.  I can afford to spend some time checking out the lodging available or I can ask people headed the opposite direction in the town before it.  I have the time.  I don’t have a strict schedule so I can take whichever bus looks cleaner at whatever time is easiest.  I don’t need to line up a flight with a taxi with a jeep, etc.  I think people get very disappointed when they travel with a big plan and the plan doesn’t work out.  I also think that’s almost guaranteed to happen in the third world, especially if you’re on a $40 a day budget like I am.  My programmer friends will recognize it as agile trip planning.  I make a rough plan a month in advance and try to stay as agile as possible because requirements change constantly when halfway across the world.  I can do as much planning as I want, but I won’t actually know what it’s like until I’m there.

People also ask me about safety. This is definitely one of the tricks to budget, agile traveling, especially alone.  I like traveling alone, so I can do whatever I want, when I want to.  But a companion can definitely help.  Also, If you’re planning in advance, you can probably decently trust the hotel/tour group with a nice website and a phone number you can dial from the States.  You’re probably also paying way too much, but you’re getting what you pay for. When traveling cheaper and more spontaneously, I’m subject to more scams and danger, just because I’m negotiating discounts right there and don’t necessarily have the ability to verify everything.  I think this comes down to experience and time mostly.  I feel like I have become pretty good at identifying fishy situations.  I’ve got the time to walk away when it doesn’t feel right and look at more options or do more research.  I’m also naturally pretty paranoid, so I guess it works for me.

To sum up how I travel, I make an overall plan of the order in which I want to visit various regions or countries.  Then I make a loose plan of cities and sights for the next month.  I keep this up about a month in advance using my guidebook.  For the immediate next week, I use my guidebook, the internet and word of mouth with other travelers to keep refining my plan.  Anything I’m unsure about, I leave open until I arrive and firm up based on how it looks and feels when I’m in front of it.  If necessary, I delay things to make sure I get exactly what I want safely.  This is how I choose hotels, transportation, activities and even destinations.  It’s worked well for me so far, so hopefully it will continue to work in the future!

Addendum: I drafted this article a few days ago and I can say that the Indian train service does not seem very amenable to this type of travel.  They get booked far in advance and have a waiting list system.  I’ll post an article on it once I have some experience but it looks like I may need to book trains in advance and since trains seem to be the best way to travel in India, that may force me to change my process a little.