How to travel around the world and prepare the trip of a lifetime

Traveling around the world was hands down the best decision we ever made! Ever since that memorable day back in 2012 when we decided over a bottle of wine to travel around the world, our lives have been completely transformed.

All in all, we traveled for 19 months from China to South America, passing through Southeast Asia. We met dozens of incredible people, discovered places that will stay etched in our memories forever, learned about different cultures and languages... At first, we traveled at breakneck speed, then we slowed down to simply take our time—time to chat, time to meet people, the kind of time we often lack in our everyday lives.

We eventually returned to Switzerland and found good jobs in Zurich. It was the end of a beautiful, enchanted chapter. Except, here's the thing—we'd gotten a taste for travel, for the freedom and infinite flexibility that comes with a round-the-world adventure. Eighteen months later, what had to happen, happened! We quit our jobs again to reopen that chapter for good this time. We took our work with us in our backpacks and traded our lovely Swiss apartment for a lifestyle that suits us better: that of digital nomads. After 3 years of nomadic living, we're back in Switzerland! In 2023, we opened a coliving space in Val d'Hérens that welcomes remote workers wanting to live and work in an exceptional setting!

Since 2012, we've written and shared many articles with you about round-the-world trip and long-term trips. On this page, we've tried to organize everything to help you navigate through all these years of blogging. We hope you'll find lots of useful tips and information, as well as the inspiration that might help you leap into your own round-the-world adventure.

Trust us, you won't regret it!

Our ebook and book for traveling around the world

First things first, we'd like to introduce you to two resources we've created and poured our hearts and a lot of energy into. We hope they'll inspire you and help you embark on your round-the-world adventure.

Our free ebook for trip planning

We started writing this e-book while preparing for our own round-the-world trip. At the time, we spent countless hours reading different blogs and forums to gather information and plan our journey. Honestly, we would have loved to have a document that simply explained, step by step, everything you need to do to take a round-the-world trip. So we decided to write it ourselves! A few months later, it was ready. And since then, over 15,000 travelers have downloaded it! We hope it will help many more future round-the-world travelers like you ;).

You can read it online on our site or download it as a PDF. Either way, the content is pretty much the same :).

In 2020 and 2024, we decided to give it a major refresh, and the PDF was completely updated with a new design and tons of new information.

To read it online, just click the button below. Otherwise, download the PDF version by clicking here.

Here is a preview of the PDF:

Read the first chapter

Download the PDF

Our book "Destination Tour du Monde" (French and German only)

Even though we'd always dreamed of writing and publishing a book (well, especially Fabienne), we never thought that dream would actually come true! And yet... It just took a bit of luck, meeting the right person (Hadi, the founder of Helvetiq publishing house), and a lot of elbow grease to make this project happen.

In April 2017, Destination Tour du Monde was born! We poured our hearts and souls into this book, and it's for anyone who dreams of travel and adventure (or their families who need reassurance ;)). You'll obviously find plenty of information to prepare your trip, but also reflections on the questions you ask yourself before leaving, tips for when you're on the road, lots of anecdotes, interviews with other travelers around the world, etc. The whole thing is beautifully illustrated by our friend, the talented Florian from Helvetiq.

We simply tried to create the book we wish we'd had before our round-the-world trip, and we hope it inspires you. It's a great complement to the e-book. You can simply buy it directly from our publisher's website, in over 500 bookstores in Switzerland and France, or on Amazon.

Why traveling around the world

There are probably as many reasons to go on a round-the-world trip as there are round-the-world travelers ;). Besides, if you're reading these lines, you might already have your own reasons. But if we had to choose a few, we'd tell you:

• To have time, the time we so often lack in our daily lives. Time to admire a sunset, time to make new connections, time to go hiking for several days, time to do nothing...

• To meet people from all over the world and learn more about their culture and way of life.

• For the freedom an RTW trip provides: no more constraints, you do what you want when you want, throughout this unique journey.
• To have new experiences and step a bit outside your comfort zone.
• etc.

In chapter 1 of our e-book, in addition to the reasons that drive people to take a round-the-world trip, we've dissected the countless excuses that might stop you from leaping, along with solutions to overcome them. Tomorrow will never be the right time ;).

Here's another bonus to give you that final push—our video that traces our 10 years of travel in 10 minutes (the entire first part traces our round-the-world trip).

And if that's still not enough, take 50 minutes of your time to watch the magnificent documentary "Generation Round-the-World" by our friends Les Coflocs. After that, you'll have only one desire: to leave for the adventure of your life ;).

How to travel around the world in 10 steps

First step on the checklist: set a departure date! We promise this is the hardest part of the preparation ;). On our end, we absolutely loved preparing for this trip. We spent our time reading travel blogs, sharing our destination wishes and things we wanted to do over a bottle of wine... It was a very exciting period when we breathed, dreamed, and ate travel!

Sure, some preparation steps are a bit less fun—we're thinking particularly of vaccinations, health insurance, banking fees... But don't panic, we're here to help! All the main points are described below and explored in depth in the different chapters of the e-book. Otherwise, we've compiled everything in this planning guide (downloadable as a PDF). #Enjoy!

Budget for a round-the-world trip

This is probably THE question you're asking yourself:

How much does a round-the-world trip actually cost?

Unfortunately, there's no single answer. The budget for such a trip depends on many factors like your travel style, the destinations you want to visit, activities, accommodations, plane tickets, visas, and more!

In fact, you need to distinguish three budgets: the one before leaving (equipment, insurance...), the one during the trip (visas, transportation, lodging, food...), and the one for your return! After reading all this, you'll have a much more precise idea of how much your trip of a lifetime will cost.

And no, you don't need to be a millionaire to travel around the world ;). As a bonus, we'll give you all the tips to save money so you can travel!

The budget for an RTW trip

For more specific information about traveling in particular countries, check out this page. You'll find all our travel budget articles for most of the countries we've visited.

Around the world trip itinerary

Creating the itinerary of your backpacking trip around the world is an awesome part of the preparation, in our opinion! We remember that period with so much nostalgia: those evenings spent adding pins to the world map, dreaming, debating, and making compromises to sketch out our travel project...

However, you need to take into account some constraints: climate, seasons, budget, visas, safety... To get organized and have all the cards in hand, we've prepared a comprehensive guide to plan your RTW itinerary (bonus: our personal method!).

How to plan your itinerary

To give you an idea, here's our travel itinerary, traced using the super planner from our buddy Nico!

Round-the-world plane ticket

There's a good chance you'll use planes at some point during your RTW trip. And plane tickets are a subject that somewhat divides world travelers. There are indeed two ways to do it:
 

• Either you buy a round-the-world ticket;
• Or you buy your plane tickets as you go during the trip.

 
Obviously, each method has its advantages and disadvantages. That would be too easy otherwise ;)! To help you decide, we've dedicated an entire chapter to this issue in our e-book on preparing for a round-the-world trip.

Read the chapter on RTW tickets

Vaccinations for traveling around the world

Attention to those who fear needles—this section is for you! Yes, depending on the countries you plan to visit during your round-the-world trip, you'll likely need to get vaccinated. What vaccinations are required? How much does it cost to get vaccinated? You'll find all the answers to these questions in the dedicated article.

Vaccines for an RTW trip

To go further, we've created a guide on health while traveling that covers everything from a complete first aid kit with essential medications to periods and contraception, including health appointments to schedule before departure.

Travel insurance for traveling around the world

We know the subject of travel insurance is super boring and that you probably don't want to think about it while you're thinking about the adventure of your life. However, in our opinion, it's simply reckless to take a round-the-world trip without being minimally insured. We're especially thinking of medical expenses, repatriation, and liability coverage.

Since the subject is quite complicated, we've prepared several resources that should help you understand everything about different coverages for a round-the-world trip and especially to choose the right travel insurance.

1. We first invite you to read the guide to understand everything about RTW trip insurance.
2. Then, to find the insurance coverage that suits you, we've created a comparison of the best travel insurance for your round-the-world trip. With this, you'll easily find the insurance you need.
3. Are you Swiss? The topic of travel insurance is then more complicated than for the French. Does LAMAL ring a bell ;)? So we created an article on travel insurance specifically for the Swiss.
4. Finally, do you think you're sufficiently insured with your bank card? We detail the coverage of Visa and Mastercard cards—you might change your mind after reading this ;).

Banking fees while traveling

You'd rather spend your money traveling than giving it to your bank, we totally agree! However, the problem is that many large banks really indulge themselves with withdrawal fees abroad...

You're looking for a mobile bank; we recommend reading our article on the online bank N26, an excellent solution for round-the-world travelers and long-term travelers. No exchange rate markup abroad, free withdrawals with the You option... In short, we completely approve!

If you're Swiss, the situation is a bit different because the vast majority of online banks aren't open to Swiss clients (but whyyyyyy????). So we've prepared a comparison of the best Swiss banks for going on an RTW trip. Pretty cool, right?

Equipment for traveling around the world

After several years of traveling, we now need barely 1-2 hours to pack our backpacks. However, I can promise you that when we were preparing our round-the-world trip between 2012 and 2013, we had no idea what we were going to put in the bags or what might be useful on the road. And that's completely normal since we'd never traveled that long with a backpack before!

Choosing your equipment for a round-the-world trip is a delicate exercise. On one hand, you want to have gear for all seasons and all situations, but on the other hand, you're limited by the weight you can carry on your back. And light weight often means more expensive equipment...

To sort it all out, we've dedicated an entire chapter of our e-book to the essential equipment for a round-the-world trip. We've detailed everything we took on the trip and why (which backpack to choose, how many clothes to bring, necessary equipment, what about electronics) while adding remarks after returning from the trip. Bonus: print the PDF list so you don't forget anything!

Read the chapter about the gear for an RTW trip

What camera for a trip around the world

When you take a round-the-world trip, you want to immortalize each discovery by taking photos. Whether to keep memories of the trip, decorate your apartment when you return, or make your loved ones drool during the adventure or after your return, the question of choosing a good travel camera often comes up before departure.

Contrary to what you'll read on the internet, there's no single best travel camera! The ideal camera for your round-the-world trip will largely depend on your expectations.

 
Is your priority to have a small, light, and discreet camera, or do you want more to take portraits, beautiful night photos, or even video? Depending on your desires, the ideal camera will be different.
Which camera to take in your backpack
Since photography is a subject that particularly interests Ben and we receive many questions about it, we've written a comprehensive guide! You'll find all the important criteria to know, as well as a comparison of the best travel cameras for a round-the-world trip.
In short, if you're going on a long-term trip, you'll likely find yourself choosing between 3 types of cameras:

• You don't really care about photo quality and want the smallest and lightest option? Then I simply recommend traveling with a good smartphone.
• You're looking for a camera to take fairly good quality photos, but without overthinking the settings and without compromising on weight and discretion? In that case, the expert compact range is made for you. To help you choose among the many models, check out the comparison of the best expert compact cameras.
• Finally, if you're interested in photography (or video) and you're looking for more control to take beautiful photos in more difficult conditions (sunset, night...), we then recommend buying a mirrorless camera for its excellent weight/quality ratio. And here too, we invite you to look at our comparison table of the best mirrorless cameras to make the right choice :).

To succeed with your next travel shots, find all our tips for taking beautiful travel photos.

Useful mobile apps for traveling around the world

Here, I'm only going to talk about essential apps, the ones you'll use a lot during your round-the-world trip.

• Maps.me: This app has become essential for backpackers and honestly, it would have saved us some mishaps if it had existed at the time of our round-the-world trip! Yes, we're old... Maps.me is, in our opinion, the best offline map app, and yes, it works even without an internet connection! Based on Open Street Map, the maps are very comprehensive. You can plot routes, use it in navigation mode for the car, add points of interest, use it for hiking, etc. Plus, you'll find lots of information added by travelers: restaurants, hotels, points of interest... It's the absolute best!
• Google Translate: If you travel in countries like China, where nobody speaks a word of English, a translation app that also works offline proves extremely practical in certain situations.
• Xe currency: This is the reference app for currency conversions, so you don't get scammed by the first tuk-tuk driver you meet!
• Booking: For booking your next accommodations or a last-minute hotel, all in one click, Booking is perfect.

Checklist and summary planning for an RTW Trip

In the end, you realize you need to think about lots of things before leaving on a round-the-world trip. For some people, this can be overwhelming or even discouraging. But don't panic, with a bit of organization and thinking about the right things at the right time, we guarantee it's not as complicated as that :). The best thing is to make a little planning of things to do before departure, starting about 1 year before the planned date. For this, we've created the ideal planning for round-the-world trip preparations. By following the steps in this checklist, you're certain not to forget anything and leave with peace of mind! Everything's there: administrative tasks (international driver's license, passport), vaccinations, visas, health, work, etc. Advice: download the PDF and print it to have it in front of you.

Print the planning

Organization during the round-the-world trip

That's it! The great adventure has begun and you're finally traveling around the world #yeaahhhh! But as you'll see, backpacking around the world isn't all rest ;). You'll need to find accommodations during your trip, get around, feed yourself, do your laundry, get your visas along the way, find activities and places to visit, etc. Life's so hard!

So, to make your life easier, we've decided to list below all the tools/sites/services we find useful. In any case, they really helped us during all our travels, whether round-the-world and after. Let's admit it, the goal of such a trip isn't to spend all your time organizing and researching information! Your objective is simply to make the most of this unique experience :).

Finding accommodation while traveling

Accommodation is probably THE big worry for people who've never traveled long-term before, and we totally understand why! I mean, when you're used to booking your accommodations in advance for 2 weeks of vacation, for example, it can seem weird to leave for a year without booking anything! By the way, if it can reassure you, we were also afraid of sleeping a few nights under bridges or in the street before leaving on our round-the-world trip. And guess what? It never happened to us ;).

In this section, we detail the different ways to find lodging while traveling.

Hotels, guesthouses, hostels

The most classic way to stay while traveling around the world is simply to pay for your accommodation, and that's what we did most often. Hotels, guesthouses, youth hostels, entire apartments, rooms in private homes... The choice is vast! In some countries, especially in Southeast Asia, we didn't even bother booking in advance... Indeed, we could negotiate the price on-site and visit the rooms before deciding. In short, it's totally unimaginable in Europe! In other countries, especially in China and South America, we tended to book in advance using the following services and apps:

• Hostelworld: This is the site we used most during our trip because you'll find many fairly inexpensive youth hostels, which corresponds well to our way of traveling. This site is very simple to use and the numerous user reviews help make a selection.
• Booking: No introduction needed ;)!
• Vrbo ou AirBnb: Here, you sleep at private individuals' homes. You then have a room or the entire accommodation just for you. We use it more and more when we want to rent an entire apartment to settle down a bit more and to work. Downside: prices have become insane in recent years, it's not really worth it budget-wise anymore...

Couchsurfing or how to sleep at locals' homes for free

Couchsurfing is a website that connects travelers looking for accommodation with locals who agree to host them for free, in a room or on their couch. The idea is to share a moment with the hosts over a meal, meet new people, chat about everything and nothing. So don't do couchsurfing if you don't want to socialize at least a little ;).

In any case, it was a big novelty for us! To test the concept as hosts and get some comments, we started by welcoming travelers to our apartment when we lived in Vienna. Then, we surfed a few couches in China, Ecuador, and even Finland, and we always had very good experiences. It's really a great way to meet new people, exchange ideas, learn more about a place by talking with someone who lives there. In short, we really recommend trying it!

And for those traveling by bike, there's also the Warmshowers site that works like couchsurfing but for cyclists.

Home exchange

We've never done home exchanges, but we know several travelers who've tested the concept. The best-known site for this is HomeExchange. It's a very good way when you're a homeowner to discover a new place at low cost with all the comfort of a home. For example, we interviewed our friends Audrey and Fabien for our book Destination Tour du Monde, who tested the concept a lot during their long-term trip and they absolutely loved it.

Another concept is doing house-sitting abroad! You look after someone's apartment or house while they're away. Sometimes you'll even have furry friends to cuddle.

Working in exchange for lodging and food

During the trip, we once translated a website for a lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon in exchange for lodging for a week. Since the price of a night at this lodge was clearly not within our means at the time, it was win-win! Even though this happened spontaneously, there are also several websites to help you find these kinds of arrangements:

• Wwoofing: THE website to find work offers on farms in exchange for lodging and food.
• Helpx: This site is more general-purpose (and unfortunately a bit old-fashioned); you'll find classified ads for unpaid work offers in exchange for lodging and food.
• Worldpackers: The concept is the same as Helpx, the site is more modern and you'll be part of a very large community.
• Workaway: Find a farm, family, or even an NGO to embark on the adventure in exchange for lodging and often meals.

Sleeping on night buses

During our round-the-world trip, we became pros at sleeping on buses! If we had a big journey to make between two places, we almost always chose the night bus option, which saved a night's hotel stay. Let's be clear, these are rarely the best nights of sleep, especially in Asia, where buses are sometimes pretty crappy. However, we also had very good experiences with some companies in South America that practically have beds in their buses :).

Sleeping in airports

Often, with cheap flights or special round-the-world tickets, you'll have to take very early morning planes or transit for 14 hours in an airport. When we find ourselves in this kind of situation, we don't hesitate for a second to sleep in the airport! In the end, we saved a night in the crappy hotel next door ;).

I think in 7 years of travel, we must have slept about fifteen times in different airports around the world, so much so that over time, we've discovered quite a few tricks to sleep more comfortably. For all our advice and to do the same, check out the practical guide to sleeping in an airport.

Sleeping in a tent

We slept very little in campgrounds during our round-the-world trip: only on Easter Island and in a few places in South America. On the other hand, we did quite a bit of bivouacking when we went hiking for several days.

These itinerant adventures remain among our best travel memories and we encourage you to embark on this kind of adventure during your round-the-world trip! If you're not completely convinced or don't know where to start, read our guide to preparing an independent trek. For more inspiration, here are some examples of treks/adventures during our RTW trip:

• 8-day trek from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu
• The O and W loops of Torres del Paine
• Trek in Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park
• Trek in Pucón in Huerquehue National Park

 

Means of transportation while traveling

There are many ways to get around between two places during a round-the-world trip. I think we can say we've tested a good portion of means of transport! Here's a non-exhaustive list to give you ideas ;).

• plane: There's a good chance you'll take a plane at some point while you're traveling around the world, either thanks to your RTW ticket or by buying tickets as you go.
• buses: We're certain you'll take a ton of buses during your backpacking trip around the world! Whether day buses, night buses, short or long journeys, these public transports will quickly become a habit during your adventure. I think our longest bus journey was over 24 hours in Argentina. To buy tickets, we recommend booking in advance, especially for popular routes, on the sites 12go and Bookaway.
• trains: Here too, we had some really great experiences! We especially remember our super train journeys in China, almost always lively ;). You can buy your train tickets online, on the sites 12go, Bookaway, or on-site at stations.

• boat: We'll admit we're not experts: Fabienne gets seasick. So she always finds a good excuse to avoid them! But we still took boats in Indonesia, Sydney, Finland...
• hitchhiking: We're not hitchhiking travel specialists either, but we did it several times in South America. Each time, they were great encounters! Once, we got picked up by a wine deliveryman in Argentina who took us with him on his rounds... Hic!

• Two-wheelers (scooter/motorcycle): Ah, this is THE main means of transportation in Southeast Asia! It's simple, there are scooter and motorcycle rental shops on every street corner and we rented them in many places to do loops over a few days:
  • in Thailand: the epic Mae Hong Son loop;
  • in Laos: the Boloven loop and the Thakhek loop;
  • a journey on Lombok Island in Indonesia;
  • exploring northern Bali with Mount Batur.

• bike: Even if we're not big bike travelers (at least, for now!), we sometimes rented them for several days. We remember visiting the white temple in Chiang Rai on a tandem, 6 days by bike on Taiwan's east coast, or visiting the Atacama desert.
• car: We once rented a car in South America to do the north and south loops around Salta. And before we had the van, we often rented one while traveling, like in Menorca. Sometimes we even slept in the car, like in the Lofoten Islands. And each time, we used the Rentalcars comparison tool to find the cheapest option.

Food on a round-the-world trip

It's probably the thing you'll do most often during your round-the-world trip and that will be a source of pleasure and sometimes suffering: eating!

So, we'd read lots of advice about cleanliness, water, precautions to take to avoid getting sick... Once on the road, we kind of forgot everything and ate what we had available. Honestly, we tried to be open-minded to taste as many things as possible without letting ourselves be discouraged by our cultural habits. The only thing we paid attention to was always eating in places where there were people (if possible). If there are people, it means there's food turnover, a good sign for food freshness.

After that, you can probably guess, we still got sick once or twice... It's part of the trip! Even with lots of precautions, I doubt you can avoid traveler's diarrhea during your entire RTW trip ;).

Visas for traveling around the world

Getting visas during a long trip sometimes leads to some funny adventures! Overall, we advise you not to worry too much about it. In most cases, you can calmly get them along the way, very often upon arrival in the country. Here are some points you'll need to think about when applying for a visa:

• You'll obviously need a valid passport to apply for a visa. By the way, depending on your nationality, you'll already have access to quite a few countries without needing a visa; it's called an exemption. In short, we often forget this privilege!
• For most countries, you can get your visas along the way at the border, upon arriving in the territory. But for some countries like China or Russia, it's mandatory to get your visa before arriving in the country. Once your itinerary is established, we advise you to research visas that might pose problems during your trip. For the American, go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, and for the British, to the government's website.
• Corruption is common currency at border crossings in Asia, especially at borders between Laos and Cambodia, as well as between Thailand and Cambodia. It's not uncommon for them to try to make you pay 2 dollars for a fake medical visit or 5 dollars more than the official price for the visa... In these cases, we simply advise you to stay zen and not let these darn customs officers push you around too much. And if you want to read epic stories of these border crossings, check out our article on crossing the border to arrive in Siem Reap.
• Visa prices vary depending on how long you want to stay in the country. Sometimes you can choose and sometimes you can't! The rate also differs according to your nationality. In each Novo-monde country file, you'll find a section where we detail the different parameters for paying for your visa.

Managing money and currency while traveling

We explained a bit earlier how to avoid banking fees on a round-the-world trip by choosing the right bank before leaving. But how do you manage your money while traveling? Here are some tips:

• If possible, leave with a Visa and a Mastercard and don't keep them in the same place. For the Swiss, this is easily possible with Postfinance. Don't forget to change your 6-digit codes to 4-digit codes to avoid any problems with certain ATMs. For the others, you can easily get a Visa with your bank in addition to your N26 Mastercard.
• We also used our PayPal account a lot to pay online without always having to enter our banking information.
• When making online payments on a wifi you don't know, use a VPN to secure your connection!
• We always had a certain amount of money in dollars (2x100 dollars) hidden in different places in our belongings in case of trouble. For example, in the money belt, in Fabienne's bra, in the bag, etc.
• In quite a few countries, local banks charge a commission on each withdrawal. It's then better to withdraw a large amount of money at once rather than small amounts very often.
• Avoid changing liquid money in small exchange shops! Indeed, they make money with exchange rates advantageous to them... Only withdraw in local currency directly from ATMs.

Safety while traveling around the world

Knock on wood, but nothing has happened to us during our travels, no thefts, assaults, or other unpleasant things of that sort (except for the time when someone made a hole in the bottom of Fabienne's backpack on a bus in Quito, nothing serious and nothing was stolen ;)).

Yet, we have to admit we had some concerns before taking an RTW trip, especially certain South American destinations that have a bad reputation...

But we quickly realized that by paying a bit of attention and applying certain rules, we could greatly reduce the risks of problems while traveling. We've compiled all the advice that will help you avoid unpleasantness in the article on safety in South America and the one dedicated to travel-related risks.

Internet while traveling

The internet has become widely democratized, and very few countries don't have internet access. In Burma or Bolivia, it's admittedly slow, but you can still surf. Wherever you go, I think it's important to secure your internet connection while traveling for several reasons:

• During your RTW trip, you'll sometimes have to make online payments on somewhat dubious wifi networks (airports, cafes...). In these cases, you'll be glad to be able to secure your connection to prevent someone malicious from intercepting your login credentials and passwords.
• You might travel to countries like China (or to a lesser extent, Vietnam and Turkey), where the internet is heavily censored. For example, in China, it's impossible to directly access Instagram or Google without a VPN.
• You might sometimes want to access content that's only accessible from your home country (videos, TV channels...).

To address these situations, the solution is to have a VPN. But how does it work? We explain everything in the article dedicated to VPNs while traveling. Among all the VPNs on the market, I recommend Express VPN. We still use it today and it's one of the few VPNs that still works in China, for example.

Hiking on a round-the-world trip

You've probably noticed, we've become hiking addicts :). Whether it's a day hike or a multi-day trek with our tent, we love it! And guess when we caught the bug? During our round-the-world trip, of course! ;)

To be honest, hiking almost imposes itself as obvious during a long-term trip. You necessarily walk a lot when you visit new places every day. So why not take it to the next level by attempting a trek or a multi-day hike? Don't think it's that difficult, you don't need to be an extreme adventurer ;). Plus, hiking is perfect for discovering a place slowly, in complete freedom, and very often away from the crowds. When you travel around the world, you have plenty of time to embark on this kind of adventure. In short, it would be silly not to try :)

But we're aware that launching yourself for the first time on a multi-day hike with all your stuff on your back is a bit scary. So we've prepared a trek preparation guide where you'll find all our advice. For details on what's in our backpacks, take a look at the gear we brought on our trek across Switzerland on foot.

And if it's bivouacking that scares you, we've also written a super comprehensive guide on everything you need to know to go bivouacking: equipment, respecting nature, tips, etc.

Learning a new language on an RTW trip

After traveling 9 months in China and Southeast Asia, we got fed up with not being able to talk with the locals. It's true that we only spoke English with people who wanted to try to sell us stuff, but still... Once we arrived on the South American continent, we decided to take the time to learn a bit of Spanish to have more contact with the local population. This decision was certainly one of the best of our backpacking trip around the world and it changed a lot of things for the rest of our adventures.

There are 2 ways to learn a language during a long trip:

1. Use a web service (site, app...) like Mosalingua. You learn at your own pace during the trip, on your computer or smartphone.
2. Stop somewhere to take language classes for a few weeks. On our end, we rented an apartment in Quito for 2 months to take Spanish classes for 8 weeks. Thanks to this decision, we rested a bit and had a nice little routine. Plus, we learned solid Spanish basics very quickly that were very useful for the rest of the trip. Honestly, we highly recommend it!

You'll see that from the moment you speak a little bit of the language of the country you're traveling in, the experience will be completely different!

Working while traveling around the world

Working during your round-the-world trip is an excellent way to finance or extend your journey! For example, many backpackers take advantage of the fact that you can earn quite a bit of money in Australia to fill up the bank account between Southeast Asia and South America. With digitalization, there's a growing list of jobs that offer the possibility of traveling while working a bit. Check out our article on jobs that allow you to travel!

Doing laundry while traveling

We left on our round-the-world trip full of good intentions with our multi-purpose soap that washed both our bodies and our clothes. Verdict: we used the soap alright, but only once on clothes! The thing is, there are so many cleaning services or washing machines available in guesthouses as well as laundromats, that we only did laundry by hand once! You might have more courage than us, we chose the 100% lazy option ;).

Returning from an RTW trip

You've probably already heard or read on the internet:

Leaving on a round-the-world trip is easy, but it's the return that hurts!

And yet, the return wasn't that difficult for us. It's all a question of mindset in our opinion. If you manage to keep that positive dynamic you had while traveling and come back with lots of new projects and goals, we're certain that the return from your round-the-world trip will be worth it.