I live in Vancouver and have driven to both Inuvik and Yellowknife in recent years. The road to Inuvik is called the Dempster Hwy and it is a very rough gravel road. We have seen cyclists on that road and always felt very sorry for them. I know you are flying from Yellowknife to Inuvik so the Dempster does not apply to you, BUT the new road to Tuk is an extension of the Dempster and is also gravel over permafrost so I expect you will encounter the same conditions we saw cyclists enduring. I hope this does not sound like I am discouraging you - don't intend to. I love exploring. In fact I am the only person I know (other than my husband) who has driven the Dempster, the Dalton (Fairbanks AK to Deadhorse AK) and the TransLabrador Hwy (1800 km of gravel) between Labrador and Quebec.

So I LOVE the road less taken. However, it is a challenging area. You will enjoy it the most if you plan for the following:

1) The road will be very rough with more potholes than flat patches. In the rain it becomes slicker than an ice rink because of the chemicals they put on the road to keep the dust down. I assume cyclists make the similar choices regarding tires, traction, blowouts etc that road tripper like we do. Yes they try to keep the dust down but there is still a lot of dust when a vehicles screams past so you will need something to pull over your nose and mouth at times.

2) The summer weather can be truly lovely or horrible. The area is well known for heavy rain storms in summer. Highway bridges get washed out and there can be long delays before reopening. We almost gave up on the Dempster when a bridge washed out but they had a replacement up in 4 days.

3) On the road, the bugs are HORRIBLE. You will have little choice but to hide in your tent most afternoons and evenings. Get the really strong bug "shit" as they call it from an outdoors store in the north. We were traveling in a van and had a small outdoor screen tent that just popped up. It was big enough for a small table and two chairs. This is where we lived when not in the van.

4) This is also grizzly bear country and you will be a huge attractant with all your wonderful smells. Learn all about grizzly avoidance and practice it. Scares the hell out of me frankly as sometimes in the morning we'd find grizzly tracks all around the van. They never tried to get in - assuming those attempts would have wakened us, but a friend had a grizzly repeatedly attempting to work his/her claws under her window and door frames. She fired up and left the area.

5) It is a VERY long way between towns and the availability of water and supplies.

These rough roads mentioned (Dempster, Dalton and TransLabrador) seem to attract hardcore cyclists as a route to check off on their cycling bona fides. I would check for cycling blogs from clubs in North America. There would be a lot of good advice in them, I'd think as people do these routes every year. For the amount of effort and money involved I'd probably choose the Dalton in Alaska as having more spectacular scenary but it's up to you. .

I have spent almost 3 months in Thailand and 8 month all around South East Asia, so I recommend to spent at least half a year in South East Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia are really friendly to family travelers. Russia, Baltic countries and Middle Asia are also very good to spent from 4 to 6 month. Half a year good for South America, like Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Caribean cost (Central America) and Mexica. And you can decide where you should spent rest of your 2 year traveling: Australia, New Zealand and Oceania or Africa. Both directions are quite expensive, so it depend on your budget, sure.

I'm going to keep an eye on this thread - I've just seen a really cheap one way flight into Cabo and have to decide if I should take it and try Baja as my starting point or keep an eye out for a cheapie into Cancun and spend a bit of time in Merida and Campeche etc (I spent a while in Holbox, and visited Playa Del Carmen and Tolum (wasnt a fan of those 2).

I'd like to have a few weeks based in beach towns (I know Merida doesnt tick that box, but it's a place I'd have liked to have visited last time) before heading off and traveling around the country for around 3 months. I'm gonna be traveling solo, on a pretty tight budget. My Spanish is terrible but I've managed two eight months trips in Latin America so far without being stranded or massively ripped off, so it's serviceable! So for me it's a choice of Baja and then maybe a flight to Mexico City and onwards from there, or The Yucatan and on to Chiapas etc.

It's not a good idea to travel South America on a tight schedule. You need to keep a safety margin for the unexpected - bus delays, bad weather, or high altitude that might slow you down.
You don't need to stay overnight in Copacabana if you are in a hurry. You'll have a couple of hours between the busses and can take a walk around to see a few streets. That should do. It's a small place.

Well "the best value for money!" excludes New Zealand or Australia. Those are places you travel if money is not one of your worries.

The suggestions above for Central America, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia are all good ones. Indonesia is probably the most exotic country on the list.

I'd add South America. In 2 months you could do Peru and Bolivia, or you could do Colombia and Ecuador. Either trip you could spend a lot of time in the Andes mountains and visit the Amazon river basin jungle.

I know it can be old style and not allowed by some posters but it could be a good idea to read a guidebook. LP South America on a shoestring is a good start.

Michel

You don't read any Spanish in spite of traveling to Central America for how many years?

Israel 2 weeks, Turkey 2 weeks;

There is a policy practiced in many muslim countries in the Middle East of denying entry to travelers who have Isreali stamps in their passport. Not sure if that's the case in Turkey. You'd want to check before you allow Israel to stamp your passport.

In general your budget looks adequate, and some countries will be much cheaper than others. So you'll need to take advantage of cheap lodgings when you can find them, in order to save money for the costlier places. Your Central/South America plan looks a bit odd. Even with 8+ months it's really difficult to fit 16 countries into that time, when some countries need a month to properly take in. Peru and Guatemala deserve more than 1-2 weeks in particular.

Which would be better for a solo traveller (not easier but a better experience!)

Asia would provide the richer cultural experience. On balance Central/South America is better for adventure travel and amazing landscape views. Since you included the Galapagos islands and Brazil, I think the Asia trip would be a bit cheaper than what you propose in South America.