Tutti Taychakhoonavudh

Tutti's also writing a travelogue about her trip, called Searching for Something. She also just got back and has a new RTW profile.

1. When do you leave?
   February 5, 2002

2. How long do you plan to be away?
   6-12 Months

3. How old are you?
   25

4. Nationality
   Thailand

5. Where do you live now?
   San Francisco, CA, USA

6. Occupation
   user interface designer

7. Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
   It's my career

8. Have you traveled around the world before?
   No

9. What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
   Morocco, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia

10. Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
    Always did small 2-4 week trips but it's too frustrating; need a long extended period of time to try to see a large number of places that I want to visit.

11. What is your biggest fear about this trip?
    Visa issues preventing me from getting into places.

12. Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
    Supportive – everyone thinks it's great, my job will be held for me; parents are concerned, but that's it.

13. How much planning and preparing have you done?
    Control Freak

14. What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
    Backpack, camera, journal

15. How do you think your round-the-world trip will change your life? How do you think it will affect and change you as a person?
    Don't think it'll change me too much – maybe it'll teach me to be less of a control freak, to just go with the flow instead of having everything planned out. It'll be interesting to see if I can move around every couple of days without feeling too hassled and stressed out.

16. If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    It's about time I did this.

17. Why do you think people should go on round-the-world trips? Why not just take a regular old one- or two-week vacation instead?
    Expand horizons. It's better to be able to spend extended time in a place instead of a "let's do Europe in 10 days" kind of trip.

18. What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
    That it'll be relaxing? That it's easy? I dunno.

19. Why do you like to travel?
    To see different things (mostly historical and beautiful landscapes) and meet various interesting people (both in the culture I'm visiting and also other travellers).

20. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    I'll let you know when I get back. :-)

Follow Tutti's RTW trip with her travelogue, Searching for Something.