What has been your travel experience up to now? Have you done a lot of business travel (which gets you used to a certain level of hotels, service, etc)? Have you driven around in a foreign country (not counting Canada)? How patient are you in coping with surprises in the course of a trip? Are you planning in the back of your mind to get another job after you get back? I think you have the right idea in going somewhere and establishing a base of operations for touring. As you've posted in the Asia section, have you been anywhere in that part of the world yet? Maybe starting in Australia and New Zealand would be a terrific start, then move on to more exotic and foreign corners. This is fun to think about as I'm retiring at the end of May. We like trips of 2-3 weeks duration, but heading to the other side of the world -- I think I could easily stretch that to 6 week. Not sure I would want to be gone for six months, but that's just me.

Way to go, thirdworld! DH and I are closing in on retirement, and travel will, we hope, be a big part of that. We have a list of places we MUST see before we get too old and decrepit to travel, and we're working on it already.

For us, the big dream will be a trip to Australia and New Zealand -- it's a long way, so we want to have time to stay and really explore, not just move from hotel to hotel.

From us, I think 6 months at a clip would be too long -- our longest trip so far was 3 1/2 weeks, and I was starting to think about home at the end (a sure sign of early homesickness for me). I would be inclined to plan for a 6 to 8 week trip to one continent, to cut down on all the packing/repacking/schlepping. The older I get, the less I am inclined to drag lots of luggage around and deal with it.

You might find some good advice on the Australia forum -- the Ozzies I meet are great travelers, and very enterprising at getting value for their travel $$!

You can also find advice and very helpful folks at FlyerTalk.com <http://www.flyertalk.com/>, another community of very dedicated travelers. They have forums for trip reports and specific destinations, as well as airlines and RTW travel.

All the best for your plans. Let us know what you decide to do, and post from the road when you travel -- happy trails! :;

I am not retired as I'm in my late 40s, but I have been traveling around the world alone, annually, since I was 17 and I agree with rkkwan about not rushing and taking more trips per year. I take 1-3 overseas trips per year which is great fun because you can go home and rest up and then get excited about planning the next trip. Being on the road for months at a time can be very exhausting and at some point you just want to go home and sleep in your own bed.Plus being female, it was a little bit harder being out for so long since I would always have to think about safety...as to which hotels/neighborhoods to stay out of etc... For two decades, I used to spend summers in Denmark, annually,...living in a place I would rent for 10-11 weeks at a time... which was fine. I would use it as my base...where I'd leave my bike,luggage,etc... and then travel around Europe from that base whenever I was in the mood to hop on a train and go.I had a Eurail pass in those days. If I were you, I would travel by regions and then get a serviced apartment in one region for say...8-10 weeks and then check the specials at the travel agents in whatever city you are based in and whatever specials they have that interest you...jump on it... and take mini trips...leaving most of your luggage at your rented home/apartment etc...Go on www.moveandstay.com for a list of apartments around the world. Lucky,retired you!Happy Travels!

Planning for RTWs is a big part of the fun they offer. We're in the early stages of one - on the <b>one</b>world Alliance's &quot;One World Explorer&quot; product that is priced according to where you start/end and how many continents you touch, with up to 20 flights in total. Other plans are based (also on where you start/end the loop) on total mileage covered.

An important consideration for RTWs (and our reason for using the OWE product) is that if you spring for a business-class or first-class RTW, and are savvy about your choice of frequent flyer programs and routings, you can earn so many miles in the &quot;paid&quot; RTW that a lot of future travel (domestic or foreign) can be banked in the process. In our case (my wife still finds this hard to believe) we'll earn so many miles this year that we can do another RTW &quot;on the house&quot; when we're done. On a cost-per-mile basis (in business, so no suffering entailed) it's an amazing bargain.

The flip side is that there are rules, regulations, restrictions, and complexity enough for a lifetime in the process, so get ready to become a RTW wonk if you want to optimise the benefits.

Generally RTWs are most expensive if purchased in North America, but there are some exceptions. For example, if you want to spend time in the South Pacific and Asia (as you said), the &quot;Escapade&quot; RTW offered by Air New Zealand, Singapore AL, and Virgin Atlantic might be the ticket - details under &quot;promotions&quot; at singaporeair.com. Their pricing from the US is quite good; in general the SkyTeam, Star Alliance and <b>one</b>world RTW products are sufficiently cheaper if purchased abroad to justify flying to the &quot;origin&quot; city on your own. In our case we went last week to Istanbul (from Seattle) to start our trip; we saved twice the cost of the SEA-IST trip by ticketing there.

All RTWs are good for a year, require that you cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans once only, keep going in a generally easterly or westerly direction, and end in the country where you started. Changes are easy and either free or reasonably priced.

Do a dream itinerary and post it on one or more of the &quot;global alliance&quot; boards at flyertalk.com and you will get instant and accurate advice. Once you've got your itin set, then move on to questions of house swapping, long-term rentals, logistics for long-term absences from home, all that.

I am a broken record on this, and so for the umpteenth time I will resurrect the memory of a (sadly) defunct eatery here in Seattle called the Pacific Dessert Company. Their slogan was &quot;Eat dessert first. Life is uncertain.&quot;

And so it is. Around the world? Adventures? Far away places with strange sounding food? If not now, when?

I forgot to add...contact...Air Brokers Int'l at...150 Post Street...Suite 620...San Francisco,Ca... 94108 Tel.1.800.883-3273. They are the around-the-world specialist that have been around FOREVER...since the 80s. A travel book author,whom I know,closed up her private law firm and decided to do an around-the-world trip and went through Air Brokers. She wasn't an author before the trip, but wrote the book from the experiences of the trip. She left for nearly two YEARS. Rented out part of her house and left.She was either in her 30s or 40s at the time. She used Air Brokers. I have called them in the past years, but have never booked with them. However, they were great over the phone.I got their newsletter for years.The author/lawyer got a great price for her tickets.Out here,on the west coast, they are kind of a legend.I would imagine their website would just be airbrokers.com. I've never used a website for them...have only called them. Happy Travels!

Picking up on uhoh_busted's theme: when my wife and I had raised the family (well, up to a point) and could finally contemplate a decent overseas trip we decided to dip our toes in the water by visiting a similar-but-different country (we're Australians, BTW). We chose the USA and spent a great 7 weeks getting around by plane, train and automobile. Later we sampled Vietnam and China and we're looking at an extended trip to France and Italy when my wife retires. That plan is based on long-term apartment rental in either or possibly both countries, and there's a wealth of choices there.

You may well find that the converse (starting with Australia and New Zealand) will be an excellent way of getting used to dealing with international travel while visiting countries that present few problems for an American first-time traveller. Yes, we drive on the LH side, but after our experience in the US I can't see that as a major challenge. Australia and NZ are culturally similar but physically are very different. And Australia, which is about the size of the &quot;lower 48&quot;, exhibits great physical diversity, from tropical reefs to snowfields.

Having said all that, these days travel to most parts of the world is pretty well organised, and English-speaking travellers are of course disgustingly spoilt, so don't be put off any particular region. However, like some other posters I have reservations about the &quot;big bang&quot; RTW approach. Horses for courses, though.