A year is long enough to see how the world fits together and short enough that a job, a flat and a family will wait. The planning is mostly sequencing: put each region in its best season, keep the long flights few, and build the year around slowness rather than coverage. Our One-Year World Trip route is the worked example; this guide explains how it was built so you can build your own.
Direction and seasons
Start with the two or three experiences that need a specific window (a Himalayan trek in October, Patagonia in February, Japan's blossom in late March, the Serengeti migration from June to September) and lay the rest around them. Our destination pages carry WMO monthly normals and the month pages rank places by month; the Route Builder scores season fit for your travel months. Westbound from Europe or eastbound from the Americas both work; what matters is that the hemispheres alternate with the seasons.
Regions, not countries
Six to ten weeks per region is the pace that feels like living rather than touring: the Americas (Mexico to Patagonia), southern and eastern Africa, Iberia and the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Himalaya, Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea, Australasia. Pick five or six. Overland within regions, fly between them; eight to ten long flights a year is normal.
Money
Our route costing puts a year at roughly $17,000 (dorms and street food, cheap countries weighted), $32,000 (mid-range, treks and safaris included) and $65,000 (comfortable), excluding the long-haul flights, which add $3,000 to $6,000. The blended daily figure hides a spread of five to one between Nepal and Japan; weighting the year toward cheap regions is the biggest lever. Hold six months of home obligations funded separately if you are keeping a lease or mortgage. See the one-year budget guide.
Visas
Most of the route is visa-free or visa-on-arrival for Western passports; the exceptions that need advance applications are Vietnam's e-visa, Australia's ETA, Tanzania's e-visa, India if included, and Brazil for US, Canadian and Australian citizens since 2025. The Visa & Work Finder lists each with its official source. Build in the Schengen 90-in-180 limit for Europe.
Insurance and health
A twelve-month policy with medical evacuation, trekking to your maximum altitude, and electronics cover; check the single-trip length limit, which annual policies often cap at 30 to 90 days. Yellow fever certificate for parts of Africa and South America, malaria prophylaxis for Tanzania, routine boosters, and a travel-medicine consultation two months before departure. See insurance and healthcare abroad.
The life at home
Mail forwarding to a trusted person or service, two bank cards from different banks plus a fee-free travel card, a home SIM kept alive for two-factor codes (or codes moved to an app), tax residency rules for absences over six months, a power of attorney for emergencies, subscriptions cancelled, the car sold or stored, the flat let or given up. The administrative month before departure is as much work as the first month of travel.
The two weeks of nothing
Schedule them. Every long trip has a slump around month four; a fortnight in one apartment with a kitchen and no plans is what gets people through to month twelve. The plan should list 50 weeks of movement at most.
Coming back
Plan the landing month before you leave: money, a bed, a start on work. The coming home guide covers the reverse culture shock nobody warns about.
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