Spanner in the works

I've done a lot of swaying in recent days and weeks between different travel options that will seriously determine the nature of my trip. In my last post I was dead set on going overland for as far as possible. However after reading the apparant lack of over-water links between Asia and Australia and the hassles in countries that require proof of departure, I decided a RTW ticket was the way to go.

This would mean sacrificing the overland portion of my trip from London to Moscow, but this was the most easy part of the journey to give up, as it can be relatively easily undertaken on a future journey. I spent part of last weekend in RTW travel agents. Trailfinders suggested the Oneworld Explorer ticket, which allows four flights in each continent, while STA recommended a cheaper and more basic RTW ticket.

My initial reaction was to go with the Explorer ticket, as the number of flights appealed, and I began conjuring up hops across Australia and South America. There were also some binds, such as having to travel through a single hub for some continents. Nevertheless I was ethusiastic to look into this option.

Look into I did, and the devil in the detail revealed, thanks to Lonely Planet forums, that it is required to fly between all continents. This would make the Trans-Siberian a no go. That I wasn't able to accept. Moscow to Vladivostok and at the heart of the itinerary, and there is will remain. Instead, I'll have to find an alternative RTW ticket. There's the STA option, however I might give Trailfinders a call, explain to them the error of the ways, and see what else they can offer.

I'm making progress, but it's gradual at present. I think once my RTW is decided upon I'll have to act quickly to plan preferable flight dates (which is a major task in itself) and to ensure that there some flights still available for the New Zealand to South America hop, which apparently gets booked up horrendously early. There's still a lot to do.

Part 4: A route emerges

I last posted on the plans for my trip back in August. Since then I've been putting a lot of time considering the options available and finally a favoured route is beginning to emerge. My plan now is to ignore the advice of the chap at Trailfinders in purchasing a Round the World flight ticket. At the end of the day I want this to be a overland adventure.

Starting most likely in London I'll make my way by Eurostar to Brussels, and then onward to Moscow, stopping along the way, perhaps in Poland and Belarus. From Moscow I'll take the Trans-Siberian Express to Vladivostok, stopping along the way at cities of interest such as Ekertinberg, Irkutsk and others. From Vladivostok on the Pacific coast I'll take the ferry to Japan and travel around that country before taking the ferry to Korea, and from Korea to China. Within China I'd like to take in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, the Li River and Hong Kong, and quite possible a number of other places too. From Hong Kong I'll take the train into Vietnam, down the length of Vietnam, through Cambodia, taking in the sights, and into Thailand. From here down through Malaysia to Singapore.

This is about as far as I've got. The next step is to reach Australia. The easy option would be to fly from Singapore, but I need to discover if there's some sort of option by ship or ferry.

It's a major portion of the trip roughly planned out. Australia and New Zealand I'm less concerned about, as I suspect it's much more like home, and everything's in English. There's just the arrival and departure that needs to be arranged. From there it'll be onwards to South America, which still needs to be worked out, and onwards to home, perhaps stopping off at family in the US on the way.