I tend to go a little overboard when I start to research just about anything. This trip was not an exception. I have probably checked out over 75 books from the San Francisco Public Library and visited over 100 different travel related websites. As of right now, if I could only have five of them, they would be:

• Travel Independent . Info – This has to be the most valuable website to any traveler… I think I’ve actually read every single page on the site.
• Vagabonding by Rolf Potts – This book might be my favorite book of all time, I’m considering buying a PDF version for the trip.
• Lonely Planet PDFs by the chapter – Buy only the chapters you want without  the weight of a book.
• East and Southern Africa: The Backpacker’s Manual – Despite that it was published in 2001, this book is a must have for anyone planning to travel through the region.
• The Man in Seat 61 – The MOST comprehensive source of train, ship and bus schedules for the entire world.

Runners-up:

• Thorn Tree and BootsnAll Forums – Two fantastic travel forums. Anytime I had a question, my first stop was always to search these two sites.
• Wikitravel.org – a free, open-source travel guide for the entire world. Also checkout Oxygen Guide, which is a downloadable version of the Wikitravel.org content that you can take with you.

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