Preparation

A journey of a thousand miles, must begin with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
 

Where to go?
This would appear to be the most important question concerning travelling. Although, actually, exactly where you go is not so important as what you make of being where you are. Choosing where you want to go depends on many things. Most importantly, how much time you have? Do you want to explore a country in detail, in which case somewhere small would be better. Or do you want visit the main attractions of a country, in which case size doesn't matter, but travel time and costs do. In preparing for my trip, I bought myself an atlas and mapped out a route including all countries I thought would be interesting. This ended up including just about everywhere! So I had to make trade-offs on price and what I then perceived as being difficult countries to travel in. I ended up doing th standard round-the-world trip, starting in California, going to Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and South-East Asia. Firstly this was the cheapest type of ticket, since it is so common. Secondly this way I started in countries where I knew the culture and worked myself round to countries I would find more taxing. For me this was important as I had never gone 'backpacking' before.

Who to go with?
Choosing who to travel with can be quite a difficult thing. Probably the easiest thing is to go alone... Seriously though, even your best friend could turn to be a complete stranger when have spend every minute with him or her on your travel. Many people say the chances of somebody making a good travel partner have nothing to do woth how well you know them. I met two german girls in New Zealand who were travelling together, after finishing school. They got along brilliantly, despite the fact that at school they hardly spoke to each other. If you travel with a partner, the important thing is for both to understand that you don't have to stick together everywhere you go. Split up sometimes and arrange to meet somewhere later on, if you have different interests. But don't force the other to see tings they aren't interested in. I traveled alone, mainly because most of my friends either didn't have the money, time or weren't that interested intravelling. Travelling alone has one main advantage, you are completely felxible and you tend to experienced other cultures better alone. Actually thats two advantages.....

Health Matters.
It really does. I am not going to go into a detailed discussion on health matters, as there are far better sources on the internet and elsewhere than me. Make sure check up on what jabs are needed for where you are going and consult your doctor about any major problems or quersies you may have. A good place to start on the internet is the CDC (Center for Diseas Control). Also check out my links section. Remember: good health is the absolutely most important thing whilst travelling. I can think of better places to spend my holidays than some dodgy hospital, that might do you more harm than good.