Art by Todd Berman

Follow the travel advice in the pages of any Lonely Planet book, and you'll have days filled with stunning architecture, charming landscapes, and museum after museum of iconic imagery. Yet, you'd be tracing the same thoroughly well-trod path of millions of others before you, and of millions more who have yet to buy their plane tickets.

Not quite wrong, but not entirely right either.

Since Todd and I are still working, still sleeping in our own bed, and still seeing familiar faces every day, it's difficult to think creatively about our upcoming trip and get ready to push ourselves away from the easy guidance in guidebooks. Before a year-long round-the-world trip, the mental preparations for departure are perhaps even more important than the physical ones. How are we getting mentally ready to go?

We took some dancing lessons from Jeff Greenwald, who learned his moves from God (or perhaps from Kurt Vonnegut, which some might argue is the same thing).

Our Friend Lisa Finklestein Celebrates Court Decision | Photo by SFgate.com

The California Supreme Court has taken a stand for equal rights and made same-sex marriage legal!

The Court ruled that Mayor Gavin Newsom was correct back on Valentine's Day 2004 when he decided that marriage is a constitutional right for all couples. Do you remember when loving partners swarmed San Francisco's city hall to take their vows? I found out about that first celebration in the pages of the Hindustan Times in Varanasi, India.

Art by Todd Berman

When you're planning an around the world trip, there is so much to do and learn. This isn't such a problem for a hyper-organized super-focused person like Lauren, but I just get overwhelmed by it all.

Being on the road for a full year requires all sorts of special knowledge and skills. Visas, airlines, backpacks, hi-tech travel underwear?! Where do you start?

My savior has been The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World by Edward Hasbrouck.

This isn't a travel guide; there's very little information about specific countries. This book is about how to travel. Hasbrouck uses his experience as a traveler and a travel agent to walk us through the process of planning a trip.