Researching a RTW trip

My favorite part (sez Sonia)! And there's a wealth of information out there to use when researching. The web is clearly a key research tool, and a few of our favorite web sites are listed in the links section. Sonia makes some attempt at organizing useful sites she's found in her research via del.icio.us.

But there are tons of other places to look for information and inspiration, including:

• Books - guidebooks, yes, but also travelogues and other forms of travel writing. Rita Golden Gelman's "Tales of a Female Nomad" has some fabulous stories, particularly about her time in Indonesia.
• NPR - after hearing the author of "Finding George Orwell in Burma" on "All Things Considered" one afternoon, Sonia was sufficiently inspired to read the book and include Burma in our travel plans.
• Travel Channel and the Food Network - Anthony Bourdain. Mark & Olly's Adventures with the Mek. Mario Batali. Even frickin' Rachel Ray, who is far too perky for our tastes, has some good destination info in her shows.
• Local restaurants - a great way to get up the curve on cuisine, local restaurants can be handy places to get travel tips and practice language skills.
• Top Lists like World Heritage Sites, 1001 Things To Do Before You Die, and other "Best Of" lists. Take with a grain or two of salt, but it's another way to scope out must-see places and get ideas.

The general approach for a trip like this is to read up on each country and start making our own "Save it from a burning building" lists of things we'd really like to see. This is meant to be a general guide to figure out how much time we think we should spend in each place, along with notes on any date-specific stuff. (For example, we're planning our India travels to coincide with the Khajuraho Festival of Dances, which takes place at the end of February every year.) From there, everything is subject to revision, based on what we feel like once we're there, recommendations from other travelers, and unpredictable weather conditions.