August 2, 2002 - Leave Virginia Head north to Philadelphia to be with my parents Head to NYC to see my friend Julie Head to Boston just because I've always wanted to see it Travel west through Canada going to Montreal and Ottowa Re-enter the US through Wisconsin Stop in Greenbay and other WI areas to visit my relatives Head west through Montana and visit Yellowstone Arrive in Nevada August 26th for the Burningman festival Burningman ends September 2nd Spend all of September driving around the California coastline About October, start heading east on Historic route 66 Make a stop in Colorado to see relatives and friends Continue on Route 66 only as far as St Louis Head south to Nashville, Memphis, then New Orleans Head back west though Texas along the coastline Cross the border to Mexico about December 1st Spend December in Mexico, spending time at the sites of Mayan ruins Be in Cancun for New Years 2003 From there, head south through Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica Arrive in Panama and ship the car out from the Port of Colon to Venezuela (This by-passes the dangerous area of Colombia) Follow the coastline through Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guyana Enter Brazil and cross over the Amazon Continue along the coastline arriving in Rio de Janeiro in Feburary for Carnival Drive back up the coast to Recife (still in Brazil) Ship the car to Dakar in Senegal on the west coast of Africa Drive up the western coast of Africa through Mauritania Then cross the Western Sahara in to Morroco From Morroco, take the ferry to Spain Travel around Spain, ending up in Ibiza (an island off of Spain) in June Spend the summer driving up the French and Italian rivieras. Take the boat from Italy to Greece to arrive in the Greek Islands in August From there, head north through Western Europe Through Albania, Yugoslavia, Budapest, Austria, Checkoslovakia, Germany Be in Germany in September/October for Oktoberfest Then to Belgium and France Take the chunnel to England Meet up with friends in London for New Years 2004 Tour around England and Ireland Backtrack through France (and Paris) and Belgium, Holland (Amsterdam) Then head north through Germany to Denmark and to Sweeden Then come back down through Germany, Poland, and Ukraine From here, the plans are uncertain. Russia is difficult to drive through, and China doesn't honor international drivers licences. The only other route would be through the middle east, and I'm going to stay clear of that area considering the current crisis there. Kazakhistan is actually surprisingly safe, despite its proximity to (and similar sound to) Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, I'd still need to go through Russia and China to get to the other side of Asia. So I will likely ditch the car at that point (indicated as a question mark on the map), fly to and explore Egypt or India or Eastern China, and then fly to Japan, and subsequently on to Australia and New Zealand. This whole part of the trip is yet unplanned. It will happen as I go. I don't know how much will remain the same after "August 2, 2002 - Leave Virginia" anyway.