Published April 30th, 2007
in Visas and Pre-Trip Planning.
It’s starting to sink in now, I’m actually going travelling. Firstly, I’ve seen the credit card statement containing the £325 payment for the Trans-Siberian railway. Secondly, I’ve seen the state my current accounts overdraft is in after HSBC failed to cancel umpteen direct debits and now gleefully charge me £25 per transaction for their error. So angry about that, you wouldn’t quite recognise me. Still, guess that’s what 16 years loyal banking gets you. Grrr.
Right, rant over - back to travelling. Not a lot to report, I’ve attempted to book some accommodation in Ulaanbaatar with the imaginatively named ‘UB Guesthouse’. I looked at a few, but my instincts insisted upon these. I’ve dropped them an email in broken English and await their reply. Continue reading ‘Bankers. Alien to me’
Published April 24th, 2007
in Pre-Trip Planning.
“Strrrrrrrike one!”. I’ve made my first significant step on The Trail. I’ve booked the Trans-Mongolian train route from Moscow to Beijing via Ulaanbaatar. Some people may confuse this with the Trans-Siberian when in fact the Trans-Siberian is made of 3 routes - Moscow-Mongolia-Beijing (the Trans-Mongolian), Moscow-Manchuria-Beijing (the Trans-Manchurian) and Moscow-Vladivostok (the Trans-Siberian). Continue reading ‘All hail the King…’
Published April 20th, 2007
in Pre-Trip Planning.
I spoke too soon. I thought it was a bit weird that i was actually sticking to a plan. The day started with a grand plan to fly into Tokyo and negotiate my way to Beijing via Ulaanbaatar with, what i imagined to be a combination of steam powered airplanes. But the day ended with me deciding to fly to Moscow and jump on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Beijing, via UB. It only takes 6 days from Moscow to UB, and lets face it Moscow and Tokyo are pretty similar, right? Sake, vodka. Mafia, yakuza. tOkyO, mOscOw. Ok, so the last one was scraping the barrel somewhat but still, both are steeped in adventure. Continue reading ‘My train of thought changed…’
Published April 19th, 2007
in Pre-Trip Planning.
24 hours or so later and I’m amazed to still be thinking along the same lines as yesterday i.e. fly into Tokyo for a week, then onto UB then down to Beijing. Against my better judgment i called twinkle-twinkle-little STA Travel yesterday, but just as i was getting somewhere the fire alarm bellowed leading to the operator screaming “we’ve gotta go, I’m really sorry Ant I’ll call you back. Ruuuuun for your lives!”. Beeeep. Needless to say, he didn’t call me back. Fate?
So, with a burnt patience i called them again tonight. I was eventually greeted by quirky Miller (after he’d finished texting) and his quirkier speech impediment. In all honesty, he was the most helpful person i have ever encountered at STA and I’ve called and visited them a lot in previous years. I went to their Cambridge branch the other week and asked a guy if he could tell me where i shouldn’t visit for safety reasons “Afghanistan and Iraq are pretty bad at the moment” he replied. I’d love to tell you he was being sarcastic, i might even laugh along with you. Continue reading ‘WOW! Miller’
Published April 18th, 2007
in Pre-Trip Planning.
I’m slowly putting into perspective how confusing planning a trip of this magnitude is, I’m just concentrating on the first month and the rest can fall into place. I want to leave July 1st and want to be in Ulaanbaatar (UB), Mongolia from 11-13th July for the Naadam Festival to take advantage of the all the manly stuff they get up to in nappies.
“Ok. Fine” i hear you say. Fly into Tokyo, skulk around Japan for a week then fly out to Mongolia and enjoy the festivities before leaping on the Trans-Mongolian (part of the Trans-Siberian) railway and hit the heady heights of South East Asia. Just like that? Actually. You know what. As i write this, it’s all becoming clear. It isn’t actually that hard is it! Continue reading ‘Ulaanbaatar or bust’
Published April 17th, 2007
in Pre-Trip Planning.
Ok, so i won’t use this first post as an official launch as i haven’t actually told anyone about the site yet! BUT, i guess i should get utilising it for it’s initial purpose. That’s the thing with being relatively new to building websites/blogs, you get so carried away with the process that you forget why you started it in the first place.
So, let me bring you up to speed with where I’m at in a couple of sentences. I’m Ant, a 24 year old wannabe-nomad from the not-so-tropical island of Great Britain, namely England. As i write this I’m enjoying the sunshine of my first week off, as a redundant print buyer. In fact i just came back from a whizz around on my bike to the river that i love so much, the Nene, where i befriended boaters and soaked up the English springtime in all it’s glory. Continue reading ‘Life begins, at 24.’
