Here we answer some of those 'keep me awake at night' questions that will help you through the planning stage and also prepare you for any teething problems once you have started your trip.
1. I've just got three months. Is that too short to travel around the world?
Well, since the actual flight time to circumnavigate the planet is about 40 hours, no it's not, but it is too short to try to see much of it. As long as you don't attempt to visit too many destinations, you're fine. In fact, you'll likely have a far more enriching trip than someone who travels for twice as long but tries to see four times as much.
2. Is taking time off going to ruin my career?
It might delay that promotion, but there's a better chance it will improve your career prospects, and make it easier to land a new job. That gap in your CV isn't going to make you look like a dropout stoner unless you walk into your first post-trip interview with the same nose piercing and tattered shirt you only washed twice while crossing India. Most prospective employers will find your journey an interesting topic of conversation (one you should be prepared to talk about); it's likely to be either something that they've done or a dream they wished they had fulfilled. Make sure you've worked out a few life-lessons from your trip and how they might apply to the job at hand. Or consider looking for jobs that might fit well with your travel experience (such as wine sales if you worked on the grape harvest in France one season, or tended a bar). If you're particularly concerned, you might see if you can plan a work-related education trip ? such as learning a language, taking a photography course, or attending cooking school.
3. I want to make my journey alone, but I'm worried about several things..about feeling alone, about foreign diseases, about getting injured overseas, about getting everything stolen.
There are hundreds of thousands of travellers out there right now making solo journeys and most of them had just as many concerns as you do. Loneliness can be a problem, particularly at the beginning of a trip, but you'll find your stride and start meeting other travellers before long.
The Rough Guide First-Time Around the World has more tips on coping with travelling alone and the culture shock of your new surrounds. For injuries and diseases and other survival issues, it's not a bad idea to pack a little emergency manual, such as The Rough Guide to Travel Survival which runs through what to do if everything gets stolen, how to get rescued or you're lost in the wilderness, and how to treat the most common medical emergencies.
