"Let’s be honest: there’s nothing glamorous about a spreadsheet." Said a designer.

Flights and Our Family's Golden Rule

Booking flights was a massive puzzle. We looked at Round-the-World tickets, but quickly realized that booking individual flights gave us far more freedom and better prices. Our nights were filled with browser tabs open to Google Flights and Skyscanner.

Through this process, we created our family's golden rule of travel: No endless flights. For the sake of everyone's sanity, we did everything we could to minimize brutal layovers and exhausting red-eye flights with our two little ones. This rule became a guiding principle that shaped our entire route.

A Home on the Road (With One Critical Feature)

Our accommodation strategy was a hybrid model designed for balance. For deep immersion, we relied on Airbnb, seeking not just lodging but access to domestic infrastructure. Our single most critical search filter was for a washer and dryer. In the field, the ability to maintain gear—in this case, clothes—is paramount. Clean laundry is a reset button for morale, a small but essential luxury. To punctuate these periods of self-sufficiency, we strategically booked hotels in key locations—a resort in French Polynesia, a well-appointed hotel in Tokyo. These were scheduled "shore leave" moments, designed to recharge our energy for the next leg of the journey.

Slowly, cell by cell, the spreadsheet filled. Each confirmed booking was a waypoint locked in, turning the blueprint from a document of possibilities into a concrete operational plan.