A wise approach would be to research and correlate the dozens of significant variables of expedition planning, while understanding that there is no perfect solution and that as soon as you begin, everything will change. You prepare for the worst and expect the best. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll try to do everything perfectly, become overwhelmed, sick with stress, procrastinate until the last moment, and begin the journey feeling frazzled and unprepared. Fortunately, I discovered the best plans were often fortune, whims, the advice of locals, the toss of a coin, and following the weather hither thither.
As for the incidental daunting details—vaccinations, passports, visas, planes, trains, automobiles, boats and donkey carts—you’ll figure all that stuff out as you go. It is impossible to plan for a four-year journey in advance because the world is a constantly changing place. You’ll learn to adapt if you’re motivated, but I do recommend that you buy a map, make a bucket list, and read your guidebook before bush camping in a potential Croatian landmine field like I did!
Being a bit more serious, most of my planning involved where to go and how to avoid bad weather. I left my schedule rather open-ended to account for fate and chance. I also simply asked the locals for advice.
If you want to know more about how I mapped my journey, I recommend you read How do you define circumnavigating the world on a bicycle? It’s not as easy as you think. For one, the world is mostly water. And technically, you could ride around the world in minutes if you were to go to the North Pole.
Did you do any training?
It’s not a race; you can train slowly when you begin your journey. If you listen, your body will tell you when to rest and what to eat. If this counts as training, I did have: laser eye surgery and arthroscopic knee surgery; plus, physical therapy, chiropractics, and some weight training to strengthen my broken knee, but the best cure — luckily or fatefully — was riding a bike. But, mostly, I practiced a lot of denial as a form of mental preparation.
I offer a lot more practical advice on planning here:
And don’t miss the three most important factors when planning your travels, in order of importance:
