Part 5: Plans and preparations
Everything has started coming together in the past few weeks, and preparations are coming on for departure in April. I've handed my notice at work, almost completely my course of jabs for all the various nasties that exist abroad and visa applications are in the pipeline.
The itinerary I've worked out is more or less what I'd outlined in part 4, in that it'll probably also finish in Singapore. It could go further, but I think the route will offer enough for one trip. One benefit of planning to travel almost entirely overland is that there are no fixed dates for leaving a particular place. I can adjust the timescale depending on how I find things when on the ground.
One limiting factor though are the visas required for entry to some countries, however even on this I've made good progress. Whereas I thought I would be limited to a 30 day tourist visa which in practice would make a tight schedule indeed, it turns out that for a little more money it's quite possible to obtain a longer business visa. This will fortunately now give me plenty of flexibility at both the entry and exit dates for Russia.
Other countries remain a little more problematic, most notably China. General consensus on travel forums is that with the exception of in Hong Kong, only 30 day tourist visas are being doled out by embassies. Although I don't know exactly how much time I'll be needing in China, I was hoping to take it slowly, and this may well mean needing longer. There's also the problem of obtaining a visa prior to departure, which has to be used within 90 days. This more or less rules out getting my Chinese visa in the UK. The remaining options are to obtain a 30 day visa in Japan and more than likely renew it in Hong Kong, or to fly from Japan to Hong Kong, get a long visa, and make something of a circular route around the sights of China. A problem with this second plan is that flights to Hong Kong seem to be universally expensive. I'm hoping to find something more affordable, possibly once I'm in Japan, otherwise I might be forced into taking the ferry with two visas.
Vietnam is the next country that needs a visa in advance, and it looks as if I'll also be picking up the Vietnamese visa in Hong Kong, as this will then allow a convenient overland route from China into Hong Kong. The alternative would be to take a flight into Thailand and arrange the visa there.
The itinerary I've worked out is more or less what I'd outlined in part 4, in that it'll probably also finish in Singapore. It could go further, but I think the route will offer enough for one trip. One benefit of planning to travel almost entirely overland is that there are no fixed dates for leaving a particular place. I can adjust the timescale depending on how I find things when on the ground.
One limiting factor though are the visas required for entry to some countries, however even on this I've made good progress. Whereas I thought I would be limited to a 30 day tourist visa which in practice would make a tight schedule indeed, it turns out that for a little more money it's quite possible to obtain a longer business visa. This will fortunately now give me plenty of flexibility at both the entry and exit dates for Russia.
Other countries remain a little more problematic, most notably China. General consensus on travel forums is that with the exception of in Hong Kong, only 30 day tourist visas are being doled out by embassies. Although I don't know exactly how much time I'll be needing in China, I was hoping to take it slowly, and this may well mean needing longer. There's also the problem of obtaining a visa prior to departure, which has to be used within 90 days. This more or less rules out getting my Chinese visa in the UK. The remaining options are to obtain a 30 day visa in Japan and more than likely renew it in Hong Kong, or to fly from Japan to Hong Kong, get a long visa, and make something of a circular route around the sights of China. A problem with this second plan is that flights to Hong Kong seem to be universally expensive. I'm hoping to find something more affordable, possibly once I'm in Japan, otherwise I might be forced into taking the ferry with two visas.
Vietnam is the next country that needs a visa in advance, and it looks as if I'll also be picking up the Vietnamese visa in Hong Kong, as this will then allow a convenient overland route from China into Hong Kong. The alternative would be to take a flight into Thailand and arrange the visa there.
posted by Daniel at 3:01 pm
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