Look Over My Shoulder — Stage 3

Building a Skeleton Itinerary

This is Part 3 of a series of articles walking you through my travel planning process — from barely an idea to reservations and actual travel. I recommend reading the articles in order beginning with the Introduction here.

In this post, I will talk about how I begin building my draft itinerary.

All images by the author.

As usual, I have found myself starting with one specific place to visit (Georgia), and before I know it, I have added more and more destinations. This happened in a big way in my 2017–19 odyssey — I started with a plan to walk the Camino de Santiago and then go back to the USA. Then I kept adding countries until I my trip lasted almost two years.

Here we go again.

Summary of the Plan Based on my Goals

So, my main goal is to get to Georgia. Add to that:

1. Reduce my air travel as much as possible.
2. Travel overland (mostly by train).
3. Embark as soon as possible. This probably means a winter trip (low season).
4. Stop along the way for a few days or longer to connect with people and see special places.
5. Travel with a limited budget.