Food Choice...

2009 06 - pre-departure

For the last 10 years, I've chosen to not eat any meat except fish.
It was a relaxed decision taken with no great expectation on myself to maintain that position for ever...
So I decided that I won't make my travel diet overly complicated and would eat meat whenever it seemed appropriate. I don't want to make my travel extra-stressful or risk my health for lack of finding appropriate non-meat options, though where there are such options I'll likely chose them over the meat option.

(Thanks Harriet Sawyer for the tastey lamb bolognaise she magicked from her fridge in my pre-departure London visit - my first knowing meaty dish for 10 years!)

Super-immune!

2009 06 - pre-departure

I hope...

I've been jabbed with :

Diptheria, Polio, Tetanus - 1 jab booster
Cholera - 2 oral vaccinations
Hepatitis A, Typhoid - 1 jab
Rabies - 3 jabs
Japanese Encephelitis - 3 jabs
Menengitis ACWY - 1 jab
And have a load of anti-malarials in anticipation of those areas that need them...

(I think that's it...)

Permission....

2009 06 - pre-departure

What a mission!
I currently have the following visas in my passport:

India - 1 year - multiple entry
Uzbekistan - 15 days - single entry
Kazakhstan - 30 days - double entry
China - 6 months - double entry
Russia - 30 days - double entry

On the road I'll also have to get visas for :
Nepal - can get in Lhasa or on the border
Cambodia - can get in Bangkok
Vietnam - can get in Bangkok
Laos - can get in Bangkok
China - for a second entry further away than 6 months (no 1 year visa allowed for me)

Thanks to the Uzbekistan embassy taking 2 weeks to do nothing - thanks for nothing! - I had to get the speedy & more expensive options on both Russia and China visas... The Uzbeks seem to run a 1 man operation - the most expressionless man I've ever met... though his eyebrows were extremely communicative! When I went to enquire as to what was taking so long (all other nations' visas take 5 days max) he printed it for me on the spot! It clearly pays to be there in person!

Surface Travel to Beijing

2009 06 - pre-departure

Initially I was thinking of the trans-Siberian but got distracted by the new 'Nomadistan' route offered by Vodkatrain

http://www.vodkatrain.com/journeys/trip.aspx?trip=JE

which took in some of the Northern branch of the ancient Silk Route - passing through Russia, Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan. This small group travel, supported rather than guided, seemed a good idea... until not enough people signed up! The maximum group size is 15 and the Nomadistan left once a month (some trans-Siberian options leave twice a week in peak season) & July was the only good departure time for me, so I signed up early.... But as the weeks passed and I didn't get any support documentation to facilitate visa application I discovered the minimum group size was 4 and I was the only one booked on for July! (apparently the min size was listed somewhere in the small print and I'd missed it). To cut a longer story shorter, I had to wait some more, then the July departure was cancelled and I considered my options before creating an almost identical solo travel itinerary through Sundowners Overland (Asian overland specialists and parent company of Vodkatrain) and as a solo itinerary it was a guaranteed departure! :)

I also managed to get myself a place on the Norwegian sail-training ship Sørlandet for the first leg of the Tall Ships Races, Baltic 2009, Sailing from Gdynia (Northern Poland) to St Petersburg and then to Tallinn. http://www.schoolship.no/

Which Way Round?

2009 06 - pre-departure

Research into my priority destinations, and the preferable times of year to be in each, presented two possible routes - clockwise or anti-clockwise.

In the end, the potential difficulties of crossing from Nepal into China (Tibet) - travellers' online posts indicate that it is much easier to leave than to enter China at this border - persuaded me to take an anti-clockwise route.

Below are my speculative thoughts on where I'll be at what time of year in the year ahead.

Feeling the Connection

2009 06 - pre-departure

Over the last few years, initially on my Dundee-Bristol journeys, I've really grown to appreciate travelling overland rather than flying.
I really feel like it gives you some sense of how the departure and arrival locations are connected. You absorb some of the flavour of the environment and people's interaction with it, even if that is only by looking out of a window of your transport. You also get a tangible sense of the distance covered.
When you fly you have very little sense of connection. You might as have teleported.
You are one place, then you are somewhere else.
Overland you travel through the intervening space and I think that's valuable and I like it.

At some point I realised I would have enough money to travel overland (thank you Granny & Grandad for your part in helping me reach that point) and so that is my ambition for the whole trip:
to avoid flying as a means of transport where possible.

The Rough Route

2009 06 - pre-departure



The red and blue routes are planned and the yellow and green routes speculative and deliberately wobbly...

You can click the image to view it bigger!

Where to go?

2009 06 - pre-departure

I first knew I wanted to go for a year of travel soon after graduating from uni, years ago, but I didn't have any idea of when to go. Work opportunities proved too good to pass up, including being part of setting up the animation company ink.digital.
Later I bought a flat and so had no money.
All that time I hadn't really done anything tangible towards my so-called travel, but I had done plenty of thinking..... Sometimes I think too much, but this time has definitely been useful. I've talked to friends and relatives about their travels and this has helped me focus, prioritise and get some realism to my approach to this year.
In particular there was one conversation with Diana Gornall (thank you!) which directly and indirectly led to me cutting a lot of possible destinations out - a good thing!
Originally my very vague (and perhaps naive) plan had included bits of all (or most) of the continents, but as Diana wisely pointed out : Australia is very 'Western' and modern and therefore very similar to what I'm used to.... the things that are truely different are OLD and will still be there whenever I might choose to visit in the future. It's also a relatively expensive destination and so my money wouldn't last as long. That initial location cutting exercise over time led to the following priority destinations list:

1. China & India
2. Japan & Korea
3. Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand

Thanks!

2009 06 - pre-departure

As with any sizeable endeavour, no one person is responsible for everything working out...
With films I prefer credits to be at the end, but as there's no defined end point to this adventure I'd like to thank a few of you now.

Thanks Mum & Dad for your support, particularly two weeks up to departure which were crazy - you helped me keep it together.

Thanks Ali for your super shopping skills :)

Thanks Rach & Jon for your shared knowledge & experience.

Thanks to the Grandparents.

Thanks to Bob and those at ink who helped make leaving as painless as possible.

Thanks to everyone who did things large and small that made this trip happen!

Finally, if you see any photos you think are quite good, then thanks to Garry, Kyla, Alan, Ruaraidh, Harriet, Vicki & Bob for their part in helping me buy the camera I wanted!

Welcome

2009 06 - pre-departure

Welcome to my travel blog! Thanks for visiting.