It’s been too long since we’ve posted regularly, and hopefully that’s about to change. Part of the silence has been due to the fervent planning and plotting that’s been going on for the past month or two since our contract ended. Two posts back, we published a map of “proposed routing.” Since then, tickets have been acquired, initial reservations made, lists composed and research continued.

Using American Airlines miles, we put together a skeleton of major destinations we want to hit. Redeeming 100,000 miles, using American and it’s partners, you can fly up to 16 segments (almost impossible) covering up to a limit of 20,000 flown miles. The Round-the-World Fares have some tricky rules, so our tickets are actually classified as a oneworld multi-carrier Award, Distance Zone 6. We’ve set dates, but they are all changeable without penalty as long as there are award seats available. FlyerTalk has some great discussions on award travel and frequent flyer programs. We plan to travel mostly by land/rail/ferry between these tickets, but we’ll probably need to buy a flight here and there. A map and some details are available on the Maps and Routes tab. The flights are as follows: Los Angeles-Tokyo; Tokyo-Seoul; Shanghai-Hong Kong; Hong Kong-Bangkok; Bangkok-Delhi; Dehli-London; London-Boston. Not bad for free! We’re still figuring the best way between Korea and China, but a ferry is a strong possibility right now. Bangkok will be our hub for our projected 4 months in Southeast Asia, but we’re aiming for lots of train travel.

We had been planning for Japan to be our first stop since last year, but when the earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11, followed by the nuclear crisis at Fukushima, we wondered how to proceed. We thought of how the tragedy would be affecting those all over Japan, and how visiting as tourists might not be appropriate. We also worried about continuing aftershocks and reports on radiation. Educating ourselves as much as possible, we decided to continue with our plans, though our visit will focus on areas to the south and west. If nothing else, in addition to our donations through the normal channels, hopefully the tourist dollars will help in some small way, and our presence will show support. We’ve already got reunion dinners and parties booked up in Tokyo and Yokohama for the week we arrive. Incredibly, it’s been almost 25 years since I first arrived in Japan as a high school exchange student, and 11 since I was last in Japan! For Donny, it will be a first trip.

We’ve launched a Facebook page for the blog, so our friends who are most active there will have a link. We’ll be able to do quick updates there more often than whole blog posts, so feel free to follow there too.