The Preparation

Although, we were really excited that we were on our way to fulfill our dream but there were several things  that we needed to do to prepare ourselves for the trip. Many questions and doubts needed to be answer, for example:

1. Which country should we fly to first?
2. How are we going to travel between the countries?
3. Which route should we take?
4. Which events, fairs or exhibition do we want to catch?
5. How should we manage our money?
6. Which insurance should we get?
7. What is our budget?
8. Visa Requirements

Aside from these, we had to make sure that things at home are taken care of, for example bills.

To get us started:

We have been visiting various travel forums, like lonely planet, bootsnall and eurotrip for informations and advices.  Gathered lots of ideas and help planning for the trip.  We also invested on 2 guide books; Rick steve's Best of Europe  and Let's Go Western Europe. 

Why did we choose the 2 guidebooks:

• Rick steve's guide was really good although it was not meant for backpackers. Loads of useful informations as well as recommendations on sites to visit, walking tours and hotels to stay. It was our travel bible for the trip, we depended alot on it. Most importantly the places recommend are not too touristy.
• We needed a budget traveler guidebook to recommend us budget accommodations as well as cheap eats and some additional write up on places that we wanted to go but not cover by Rick Steve. It was also cheaper than Lonely Planet.

Tips:

1. Along the trip, we realize that most backpacker rely on Lonely Planet's Europe on a shoe string. Its not that it is not good but most travelers seems to follow closely to the guidebook hence most of the recommended place seems to be a little crowded. We sometimes use it as guide for places to avoid.
2. Guide books in Singapore are generally cheaper, even more so if you get it in borders during their sale at 20% off.
3. This is not a new tip but in order to reduce your load you can tear off the pages of the countries that you have completed.

The Plunge

After months of procrastination we finally took up the courage and submitted our resignation letters in May 2007. Our bosses were shocked, colleagues were asking why we left. Most of them couldn't understand why on earth are we doing something like that. Guess it is the Asians' mentality, most people just can't accept the idea of having a career break.

So what were the main reasons that really motivated us on going on such a long trip?

1. Burn out from work
2. Love to travel which was a very obvious reason
3. A challenge on one self being out of the comfort zone
4. Travel companies were expensive and offers rigid itinerary 
5. That if i don't do it now, i might never get to do it once i start having more commitments like loans and family
6. Age was catching up on us. You get perks when you travel below a certain age. Eg. free admission,discount fares and accommodations
7. Getting  to learn and understand the different culture in the world
8. To see all the great wonders of the world
9. To explore at our own pace
10. To experience it as a traveller

There you go, it was a piece of cake to come up with reasons to do it !