My New Travel Plans: 27,000 Miles In 39 Days

My New Travel Plans: 27,000 Miles In 39 Days

2012-03-12 03:46:48-04

One minute I think I’m staying in Bucharest for a couple of months in order to finish some projects I’m working on and the next minute I have seven flight reservations made, two of which will take me over the Atlantic Ocean and another two that will take me almost all the way across the Pacific Ocean as well.

And the fun begins this coming Friday, when I will pack my bag and hop onto a bus that will take me to the border with Bulgaria.

I’ll then be on the move, constantly, for about six weeks in total, after which I shall end up back in Bucharest, where I’ll probably seek out the most comfortable bed in the city and sleep for a solid nine or ten days straight.

Here’s my travel plan for the next month and a half…

• Bucharest to Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria (5 hours by bus)

• 7 days in Veliko Tarnovo

• Overnight bus to Istanbul (8 hours)

• 5 days in Istanbul

• March 28 â Flight to NYC (11 hours)

• 5 days in NYC

• Bus to Boston (4 hours)

• 3 days in Boston

• Bus to NYC (4 hours)

• 2 days in NYC

• April 8 â Flight to Los Angeles, then to Fiji (25 hours total)

• 9 days in Fiji

• April 17 â Flight to Los Angeles, then to NYC (22 hours total)

• 3 days in NYC

• April 21 â Flight to Istanbul (10 hours)

• 1 day in Istanbul

• April 23 â Flight to Bucharest (1 hour)

So, that’s a total of around…

27,000+ miles of travel (43,450 kms)
54 hours of flights
21 hours of bus rides
16 hours worth of layovers

…all in just 39 days.

It’s tiring simply to look at those numbers but of course, I’m very much looking forward to the adventures that await, especially Fiji. It’s been 14 years since I’ve been to this South Pacific nation and this time around I’ll be traveling with Matt from ExpertVagabond.com, Ryan from PauseTheMoment.com and JD from EarthXplorer.com, on a press trip offered by Tourism Fiji.

As for press trips, this will be my second one (South Africa was my first) and I do want to say that I debated back and forth with myself for quite a while before deciding that it would be okay for me to accept such a trip every now and then.

The reality is, these days, blogging is a full-time job and combined with my other online projects, I’m currently working 40-50 hours per week on my laptop. And so I consider these press trips to be a bonus for my efforts, and they just so happen to provide me with an opportunity to experience and learn about certain countries without having to spend much money. It’s basically a perk that I’ve decided to accept on occasion after twelve years of working mighty hard to maintain this lifestyle and more recently, to maintain this blog.

And besides, just because these are sponsored trips, nothing that I write on this site will ever be influenced by any other person or organization. I’ll always talk honestly about my experiences, no matter where I am or how I got there. That’s a guarantee.

On another note, will anyone happen to be in Veliko Tarnovo (long shot I know!), Istanbul, NYC or Fiji over the next month or so? I’d love to meet any of you, whether it’s for beers, coffee, a jam session (with me on the air guitar), karaoke, the best falafel sandwich in town or anything else. Do let me know!