Let's start at the very beginning - wherever that is.

Excuse me, do you know the way to... to... wait where are we going? Good question and one we thought we'd answered.

However, circumstances intervened - Adrian found himself without work for a few months, our anniversary trip required an expensive detour, pre-trip expenses are adding up - and our savings haven't accumulated as fast as we hoped. But we're not too far away. In fact we're only a couple of months behind. But all these hiccups made us realize that we should probably over save - justincase (justincase of natural disaster, justincase of a tough returning job market, justincase we need to pay ransom to our kidnappers, etc) .

Unfortunately, this means redoing our itinerary. Now understand, I'm a closeted control freak (okay, maybe not so closeted), so I need the security blanket of a planned route. But I know that these itineraries are never set in stone. And thankfully, when we've had to deviate from past travel plans, Adrian has stepped in to take care of stuff while I sit rocking in a corner clutching my itinerary.

So here I sit, once again looking at a map of the world and wondering where to go. And there are so many options it's a little dizzying. In fact I just starting typing out a list of options and when I got to number 11, I deleted the list for fear of losing the few readers I have. So this post is far less informative than I hoped it would be.

I posted to Lonely Planet's Thorntree looking for advice, and only got one response, from Donna, my virtual travel friend. (thanks Donna! lots of great tips and I halfheartedly blame you for introducing options 6-11 ). But I'm realizing that Adrian and I are the ones that have to make the decision.

Our requirements are complicated.
The only must do things on our trip are South America (Adrian) and Africa (Liz). So these our priorities.
I've been learning Spanish and would hate to lose it before we can use it.
We want to fly on as many StarAlliance carriers as possible to capitalize on Aeroplan points.
We don't want to spend more than $1000 on any airfare leg.
Our savings will probably cover 500 days (at $100/per day)

And this is where we've ended up (mentally): either Central American to South America to Africa to ?, OR South America to Africa to ?, OR Africa to South America to Asia to ?. Each have their pros and cons and each time we think one is in the lead, something makes us change our mind.

Feel free to add your two cents. Literally (if you visit any of the google links on the righthand side). And figuratively (by adding a comment).

Oh and slightly good news. Adrian's contract has been extended for another 4 weeks so we have a bit more cash to look forward to. And I finally got a retroactive raise (only 6 months late).

So where are we now?

location: confused in Toronto
ETD: March 15, 2009
savings: $30,998 (but hoping for a big jump in the next month)