It started so simple… with an idea to cover a manageable part of South America. But of course there is more to a planning process than just the idea. Especially when you’ve spent your entire professional career working in merchandising.

So here is an insight into my approach, in 3 not-always-totally-logical steps:

I like writing things down, so that was step number 1. Each country got a bit of paper and I scribbled down random notes, facts and cities I could think of for each one. More countries got added (hello Central America! I loved you last time I visited so why not go again?). And up on the wall, in what seemed like the most logical geographical order, it went. Brazil to Mexico.

That looked awesome for a short while, until timing came to mind. Flying into Rio in the summer of 2014? A certain sporting event would wreak havoc with my budget! So upside down it went.

Then it was time for step 2 – the spreadsheet! I do love a good planning spreadsheet. But wait, how was I going to get back from South America? Via Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia of course! I trust my sense of logic, even if no one else does. So all the countries, newly added and those on the wall, got listed, currency conversion charts were created and budget summaries by country set up.

Filling in that spreadsheet was the hardest and longest (but hopefully most important?) part of the planning. Guidebooks, google searches, hostelworld, skyscanner, expedia, all-the-cool-things-my-brother-has-done, random travel blogs all played a role here. My approach (as with most things) was to research everything, think of everything, to the point where there was no more capacity for anything in my head. I’m fairly certain I had days when I forgot to eat dinner. I definitely forgot to reply to a bunch of texts. As I filled in the sheet, the information got edited and anything superfluous discarded. But that still left enough on the itinerary for the first draft to come through way over budget. So the last month in South America got re-planned and Thailand, Laos and Cambodia got dropped and suddenly it was looking financially a little more realistic.

Step 3 was the post-its. I love post-its more than I love spreadsheets! You can colour-code anything with post-its. So my guidebooks went from being nice and pristine to looking like an insane colourblind person had had a go at labeling something up. Which is, in reality, a very accurate description of what happened.

Along the way, a one-way ticket to Mexico City was bought, Machu Picchu booked and a few other essentials confirmed and that’s now where I’m at, 6 weeks out from departure. I don’t feel 100% well-prepared but I’m not sure that’s really possible in this case. And while I feel a lot more comfortable when I have done as much background research as possible, I think this may just be one of those instances where, at a certain point, I have to say screw my comfort zone, it’s probably doing me no favours…

Today I’m listening to: Arctic Monkeys – ‘All My Own Stunts’