Our itinerary planning started out pretty much like this: A laminated world map on our bedroom wall, a dry-erase pen, a stack of travel magazines, and a big dream. When you start trying to plan out a year of travel, you quickly realize that the world is really, really big. There’s simply not enough time to see it all, but we tried our best to fit in all the destinations we’ve been dreaming of that are changing quickly or that we may not be as keen to visit later in life. Budget was also a factor, of course.

We’d initially planned to book all of our major flights before we left but at the advice of some seasoned travellers, decided against it. Instead we opted for the freedom to stay longer in places we love, or peace out early from places we don’t.

Here’s our itinerary:

September

• Seoul, Korea

October

• Mike: Seoul, Korea
• Heather: Bali, Indonesia

November

• Seoul, Korea

December

• Japan (Okinawa, Sapporo, Niseko, Kyoto)
• Taiwan (Taipei)

January

• Vietnam

February

• Hoi An, Vietnam
• Chiang Mai, Thailand

March

• Melbourne, Australia
• New Zealand Road trip

April

• Mexico (Puerto Escondido, Mexico City)
• New York, NY

May

• Portugal (Ericeira, Porto, Portimão, Lisbon)
• Croatia (sailing Split to Dubrovnik)

June

• Croatia
• Spain
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Slovenia

July/August

• London, UK
• Cross-Canada Road trip (Halifax to Vancouver)