(In 2024, I planned an executed a round-the-world adventure, spanning all six occupied continents in about a month. This is Chapter 1 in a blow-by-blow retelling of how it all came together, and how it all went.)

"So, where are you going on your next big trip?"

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"Everywhere."

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"What do you mean, 'everywhere'?"

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"I mean I'm going around the world. Circumnavigating."

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"How the hell are you going to do that?????"

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This is how a lot of the travel conversations I had went as soon as I returned from my eclipse viewing (barely) trip to Texas in April of 2024.

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To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure at that point how I was going to do it. I just knew I wanted to do it. In November, when whether was fairly mild everywhere, and when I could get three holidays (Veteran's Day and two Thanksgiving Days) that would help me take a little off of the leave time I'd be taking. I also decided that I wanted to spend a few days on each of the world's occupied continents (Antartica can wait) and do it all in about a month.​​

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I began by looking at some of the airline groups RTW booking sites. Both ​OneWorld (American, British Airways, etc.) and Star Alliance (United, Turkish Airlines, etc.) offer a one-stop shop to plan and book round-the-world adventures, but both are outrageously expensive. As I tried out a few routes, I began to doubt whether I should do it at all.

But then I began experimenting with booking individual legs of the trip on Google Flights, and found out that I could do the whole thing at half to one-third the price that the major airline groups offered.

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So one-by-one, bit by bit, I started booking. Salento, Colombia covered South America. Then Sydney, Bangkok, South Africa and Germany. I made sure to do Europe last so the Christmas markets would be open.

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Then, I discovered that a few airlines run deals on extending layovers. Copa Airlines will let you stay in Panama a few days without increasing your total airfare. Even better, Qatar Airlines will book you a room at a hotel in Doha for a ridiculously cheap price. So both got added to the itinerary.

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Eventually, I had all my flights booked, and I started working on accommodations. Hostels, hotels, whatever made the most sense at a decent price.

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Honestly, it's a lot to keep track of. So, I turned to the Dark Lord of Organization. The Spreadsheet.

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I hate spreadsheets. Really, I do. Some of the people at work love them, and I'm always like "Can't this be done in a Word document?" But I embraced it for this. Dates, cities, flight numbers, airlines, times, hostels, hotels, reservation numbers, blah blah blah blah blah. It was pretty much all booked by the time summer rolled around.

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But the downside to booking so early is that airlines like to 'adjust' their schedules between the summer and the fall. Most of the time it's a mild adjustment. A few minutes here, an hour there. None of it was a big deal, until my old nemesis American Airlines just up and decided that they weren't going to fly into Pereira. At all. This was a major domino falling, as my flights onward to Panama and beyond originated from Pereira.

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For a brief time, I considered keeping the booking (which had now been changed to Raleigh-Miami-Bogota-Medellin), hopping off at Bogota and booking a separate flight to Pereira. But in the end, I decided to play it safe and cancel that booking and use credit card points to use Delta and LATAM to go Raleigh-Miami-Bogota-Pereira. That meant instead of arriving in Pereira at 4 p.m., I'd be getting there at 10 p.m., and visions of roaming Colombian gangs on the roadways filled my head. I checked with my hostel in Salento to make sure they could get me an airport transfer that late and that reception would be open when I arrived. Satisfied that I would be OK, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing everything was set.

Then came the deep dive. The exploration of things to do in each location, the looking up of travel advisories by both the British and American State Departments. Was Colombia really a level 3 'reconsider travel'? Would events in the Middle East mess up a stop in Qatar? Then came a couple of airline meltdowns over the summer, making me wonder which airport I'd be trapped at for days or weeks. Lots and lots of questioning my sanity for even trying this.

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But, it was all booked. So for better or worse, I was in.​​​​​​​​

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On November 7, I left my home in Manteo, NC for the three-hour drive to Raleigh. I worked out of the 'mother ship' that day, making sure I was covered for my absence, then over to my friend Kate's house in Garner. She graciously allowed me to leave my car at her place, saving me a couple hundred bucks in airport parking. I took her out to dinner at Carmen's Cuban Cafe near the airport, and then she dropped me off at my hotel.

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And that was it. All the planning was done. The trip, for all intents and purposes, was underway.