Route

Choosing the route for a trip like this is no easy task. There are a lot of things to consider when deciding what countries and what parts of countries to ride through. What is the terrain like? Are there huge mountains or dry deserts? How easy is it to enter the country? Do I need to apply for a visa ahead of time or am I even allowed to enter the country? What languages do they speak? Do they speak English or Spanish? I would love to ride through some countries like Norway, Madagascar, Mongolia, and Canada, but they are just too far out of the way to make them part of the route.

Another thing I took into consideration was how official is the route? I am doing this ride for myself so it doesn't really matter that much, but I would like it to be as official as possible. The Guinness Book of Records lists the rules for an official round the world bike ride as: 

"the journey should be continuous and in one direction (East to West or West to East), that the minimum distance ridden should be 18,000 miles, and that the total distance travelled by the bicycle and rider should exceed an Equator's length, i.e. 24,900 miles (40,100 km)."

This is a rough estimate of the planned route I have to ride around the world.

With these rules in mind I have marked this map with a hypothetical route that I plan to follow loosely for the ride. 

The distance I have planned out would be around 26,000 miles of riding which is over the required 24,900 miles for an official round the world ride. The distances per continent would be as follows:

North/Central America: 5,000 miles

South America: 5,000 miles

Africa/Europe: 5,200 miles

Asia: 9,000 miles

Australia: 1,800 miles

This planned route would take me through 52 different countries and six of the seven continents, only leaving out Antarctica.