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'Round The World Travel Feel like conquering the world? Give us the run down, your game plan, the strategy...

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Old 06-19-2006, 12:06 PM   #1
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Hello everyone this is my first posting and I'm looking forward to reading any follow ups.

As as now I'm living in Osaka, Japan teaching English and I'm going to end my one year stint in Sept. I'm orginally from the U.S. (Wisconsin) so I figured I would make it one full circle of the globe by traveling from SE Asia through Russia and into Western Europe and the flying from Europe back to the States. I'm going solo and this is going to be my first major backpacking trip. Am I in over my head? I don't think so but perhaps I'm naive.

I've done plenty of research and my must hits are the temples at Ankor, Vietnam, Southwest china, Beijing, Mongolia, Trans-Siberian railway and Italy. Time is unlimited but my cash isn't. I figure I could have $5000 American for the trip. I'm thinking that I'll arrange the Trans-Siberia/Mongolia leg of the journey through www.monkeyshrine.com. From Moscow I'll travel directly into Europe to make use of a 15 day railpass. Then I'll probably fly out of London to New York on a dirt cheap oneway Air India ticket ($180). Any advice/reccommendations. As a quick note I have no objections to long train rides as my favorite part of travel is the medatative feeling of staring blankly at passing scenery.
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Old 06-19-2006, 01:01 PM   #2
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As you know, living in Japan, travel is stinking expensive from there. If you can possibly get to Korea, you may have better luck finding cheaper fares throughout Asia and into Mongolia.

I have friends who did roughly the opposite of your route, from England through Europe, the Trans-Siberian with a fairly lengthy stay in Mongolia, then down through Malaysia and over to Indonesia. They did break up the Trans-Siberian with a couple of brief stays in a few different places along the way (having experienced a 36 hour ride on a Soviet train, I can honestly say that my limit at any one go is about 37 hours...) Sometimes it's nice to sleep in a real bed and use a real toilet. Something to think about...

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Old 06-19-2006, 01:28 PM   #3
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Sounds amazing. Welcome to the boards!
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Old 06-20-2006, 07:56 AM   #4
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Sounds like a great plan! And welcome to the Boards...!

There are a few low cost carriers in Asia...basically, I would just surf around, click on the e-mail savers or specials each carrier's site has listed to get an idea of the prices, and watch them for a couple of weeks. Once you're think you have an idea how low they'll go, snag one you find whose dates work. With the great distances in Asia, you may have to kind of backtrack once or twice on flights (for example, flying from Bangkok to Hong Kong, then HK to Moscow). But hey, if it saves you money, it's worth it.

And no, I don't believe you're in "over your head." If you've got the independence and self confidence to teach English in Japan, you'll be fine out on the road.

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