Quick answer to "what's next?"

I always love asking "what's next?" because the question by its very nature can never be completely answered, and realizing this forces me to both appreciate "what's now", and "what else" (meaning planning for contingencies, making alternate plans, etc.

As of now, assuming we arrive in Singapore by late October / early November, we would pause there a while to consider what opportunities there may be in financial markets in the eastern hemisphere at the time. I half-jokingly summarize "If the S&P 500 is closer to to 500, we keep traveling, if it is above 1,000 then we stop and get to work", but of course there are many other factors, not least because I've always prided myself at being prepared for and able to thrive in "bad" markets.

If we do choose to continue traveling, the current thinking is to spend November hopping the Indonesian islands by ferry and either passing by Phillipines / PNG, or continuing straight on to Australia, preferably whichever way could get us to Darwin, Australia by sea. I haven't done any reasonable calculation about how long a road trip around Australia would take, but it would be the first "non-emerging market" destination on the itinerary as well as the planned end of the part where we could get around mostly by train and boat. Then from either Melbourne, Adelaide, or Perth, we could fly to Cape Town, South Africa, and start a "Cape Town to Cairo" route overland. From Egypt, we might then look for a way to cross the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia, up through Kuwait and Iran and into Armenia and Azerbaijan, then across the Caspian Sea by boat from Baku to Turkmenbashi to meet all the "-stans" of Central Asia, which sometime between June and September 2010 would have us arrive in Kazakhstan, from where we will probably either fly or pass through Urumqi on our way to wherever our next home may be.

Of course, I would say it that by the time we get to Singapore this November, it is quite likely a good stopping point to settle down and trade some financial instruments from one place for a while :-D ...