But how much will it cost?

This is a thing to consider.  I found a good post about fellow travelers and how much their trips cost.  Their per-person rates go from about $50 to $75 per day.  Sounds like a lot, but it's only $18-27k for a year.  ... which is less than I spend here in the States.

I think I can do it for the lower end of that range.  I plan to travel mostly overland, and Asia (besides Japan) tends to be cheaper than Europe, Africa, Australia, and North America.  (not sure about South America, I think it's comparable.)  I've budgeted $20k.  Course, I'll keep you updated once I actually start spending money.

Check it out shut up

I've got a map! It's over there on the right. (if you're RSSing this, it's here) . It's a hell of a mess. I'll clean it up later; I'm tired.

The point is: some of you have asked where I want to go. Here are some of the places. Some of them are a pipe dream, some of them are very easy, and conveniently they're all in a straight line.

I get a buzz just hearing some of these places' names.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a ... blog.

If you say "I'm going to go travel for a year", most people would probably say something along the lines of "wow!" ... except other travel bloggers, in which case they say "only a year?" Yep. Only a year.

The "why" is mostly curiosity, the "how" is: save up some money and then travel. When? In a year, for a year. Who: just me (although you're quite welcome to join me for any part you'd like). The "what" and "where", though, are the most interesting.

I've started a map of some places I maybe want to go. It makes a nice diagonal line across the globe, Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe. It's all very preliminary though, so I'm looking for recommendations. This kind of ties in with the "what" too, as "sightseeing for a year" wouldn't be productive, fun, or satisfying. A few plans I've been kicking around:

- spend a month in each of nine cities. In each one, set out a programming (Android?) project goal for myself.
- same thing, 2 months in each of four cities.
- plan a series of cool things I'd really like to do, or places to go; traveling alone will take a lot of this time.
- do some research along the way. This fits in well with grad school plans.
- really don't worry about it.