40 countries and 120 cities: how to travel around the world

In September 2014, Igor set off on a round-the-world trip to visit about 100 countries in search of original business ideas and to create a global entrepreneurial network. Four months later, Elena Petrosyuk joined Igor.

Where did it all start and how did it feel to venture on a circumnavigation?

Lena was preparing for probably two days. She had always wanted to travel, but was just looking for a reason to do it. Instead of a reason, she found me with my plan, which I had previously spent six months putting together. She told me the plan was interesting, though she probably mentally pitied the idiot who plotted the route of her round-the-world trip with a ruler in Google maps. In two days, Lena completely redid the itinerary, quit her job, and a month later got herself tickets to catch up with me in Iran.

If you want something really badly, like a new LEGO toy when you're 10 years old, everything else doesn't matter. Whether it's two days or six months, the main thing is desire. And if you don't want it badly enough, you probably don't need it at all.

Route planning

We usually planned our trip 2-3 months in advance. We tried to schedule every day of the itinerary. Such a detailed plan helped us buy cheap airline tickets, negotiate discounts on accommodation and plan the route not by map, but by interesting events, cheap flights, etc.

Travel budget

Prices quoted in the text are 2014 prices

The ideal travel budget is to spend $100 per day per person. With this money you can afford almost anything. In two years, we spent about $70,000 for two people. That's about $50 per person per day. For that money, you can live in (almost) the best hotels in the world several times a month, fly to a new country every month, buy yourself new gear, and pay for any force majeure.

Realistically, you can also travel for $30 a day. You'll have to save a little, but overall you'll always have enough for a hotel room. Some people travel for $15 a day as well. That's a huge backpack, tent, couchsurfing, and boiled pasta dinner. Not the most enjoyable way to travel, but it usually has the most romance and extreme adventure.

Traveler's Backpack

The main thing is not to forget your passport and credit card. Everything else can be bought. I also always have my laptop, cell phone and pen with me. The pen helps to fill out a bunch of "waste paper" at the entrance to each new country. I need a belt bag that holds a few hundred dollars "just in case". Anything beyond that, I wouldn't recommend taking. Medicines are sold everywhere, documents can be stored electronically, and things... I think so - why do you need a lot of things, it's traveling, not a "fashion vic".

How to effectively explore a country?

On average we stayed for 3 weeks. If it is a capital city, you can even stay for a month. It is more profitable to live in capital cities, more convenient to work, and on weekends you can take bus tickets and go in search of adventure. This is one of the best ways to explore the country in a quality way.

Top worst and best places

We spent a whole 4 months in India, and after remembering some of the Indian cities, my eyes get dark in my eyes. Also, I would never want to go to North Korea again. All because of the constant feeling of depression, domestic violence and degradation of human dignity.

We have special feelings for hospitable Iran, mega-comfortable Japan, sensual Cuba, explosive and happy Brazil, and the most beautiful country on the planet, Bolivia.

Most of the tourist spots didn't impress us much. The Taj Mahal has more people than the Kyiv subway during rush hour; Machu Picchu looks like a soccer stadium; Nazca drawings from the ground look like they were drawn with sticks by locals just yesterday.

The best travel is where you don't expect it at all. Fighting off wild dogs with a GoPro stick at 5:00 am at the entrance to the Taj Mahal? Getting lost on the Inca road of Machu Picchu and seeing other cities of ancient civilization without a single living soul around? And in Nazca, you can take a jeep and race down the sandy slopes on a sandboard with the locals.

About working while traveling

We had many ideas: creating a media portal, blogging and even writing a book. But most of what we did in the first year - did not materialize successfully. By the end of the trip, we were engaged in only one project on a permanent basis - consulting startups we met during the trip. We helped young projects get investments, create a market entry strategy, and do many other interesting things. We started doing it by accident, but then we didn't even have time for other projects anymore. I don't trust people who do 4-5 things at the same time, unless their name is Ilon Musk.

Traveling with our small business was easy enough. We never had a day off, and we didn't sit in front of the TV in the evenings, we worked 40-50 hours a week, even though every day we were scheduled to move to a new location. Several initiatives have made life a lot easier for us:

• We learned to work everywhere - in a train vestibule, in a check-in line, in an Indian rickshaw, in the middle of a winter forest, and even while climbing Mount Everest.
• We have automated all of our processes. We are automation nerds in general: cloud technologies, to-do sheets, project management platforms, templates, databases, manuals for each project and detailed explanations of the processes sometimes reduce the work time by 5-10 times.

How not to stop marveling?

Traveling, like any other activity, eventually turns into a routine. It is very easy to burn out at some point and stop enjoying new places and people - then it is important to change the environment, city, and country.

On the journey itself, the main thing is not to be nervous. If in the middle of the Bolivian desert, soldiers pull you out of the bus and demand a $30 bribe, you should not get angry, resentful, or blame your fate, but rather give them the money with a big smile and go on with your life. It's a journey, man. You signed up for it yourself.

The key is to ask yourself every day: "What do I want to do in a year?" And after you've given yourself the answer, ask again, "Do I need a whole year to do it? How can I do it tomorrow?"

You can learn more about the guys' journeys on Facebook of Igor Shaversky and Lena Petrosyuk.