Journey Across the Globe

      The idea behind my trip around the globe will be to see as much of Asia and Eastern Europe as possible for as cheap as possible. My plane travel to and from India will be covered. Trains are suprisingly cheap in the rest of the world (compaired to AmTrak, where it can cost $150 to go to New York from Washington DC). As long as I stay mostly in 3rd-world countries, hotels ought to be cheap as well.

      As far as surviving in all these countries, I have done quite a bit of traveling before and by the time this trip ends I should be able to understand at least a little of around 10 different languages. I also intend to keep an informal journal and post it on this page when I return.

      The list of places I intend to visit is continually changing. Here's a preliminary list, in alphabetic order:

REVISED

Click for &REALLY large view, 366Kb.
The route. Click to view at 1200x768 [366Kb]. (Map courtesy the CIA World Factbook.)
      I'll be starting in Bangalore India, where I'll be working. From there I'll go on to Nepal to see Kathmandu and Mount Everest. Then I'll fly to Thailand to see Bangkok and take trains through Cambodia into Vietnam to see Ho Chi Min City. Then I'll take a boat North into China to visit Hong Kong, where I'll wait for a few weeks for a visa and work permit for Chengdu. When I've finished working there I'll head North-West into Mongolia and see the capital, Ulan Bator. Into Russia from there, through Irkutsk then on the Trans Siberian Express through Kazakhstan to Moscow. From there I'll head North to avoid Belarus. I'll see Saint Petersburg, then head South through Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Then I'll see Warsaw, the capital of Poland. From there I'll visit a few of my friends in Schwerin in East Germany and several others scattered throughout the country. Then South to Berlin and east into the Czech Republic to finally see Prague. Then West back into Germany to see Munich, Neu Schwanstein, and the Alps. Then, East into Vienna, Austria, and further East into Hungary to see Budapest. Then I get to go into Romania and see Transylvania (I'm sure it won't hold a candle to... Pennsylvania, dun dun DUH!!!) and the Carpathian Mountains. Then I'll head South through Bulgaria to Turkey where I'll Istanbul. From there I'll go to Greece to see Athens where I'll try to catch a boat across the Mediterranean to Alexandria, Egypt. Then I'll trek across the desert to Giza, Cairo, and maybe Suez. From there I will be flying back to India for about a month to finish off my work at PicoPeta and from there, Home, and a life of normalcy.

      So, I've got my camera out, my flash charged, and I'm working on my Turkish and Mandarin, so I'm ready for an adventure. Check back here in 2002 for a detailed Journal of all the crazy occurances that took place on the trip.

Visa Info

Here is the visa info for every country, currently in order of intended travel, obtained from the US State Department. Of the 30 countries I originally intended to travel through, 12 required pre-obtained visas. According to these prices, I could have expected to spend up to $613 each on Visas and entry permits. (Or I could have gotten a week-long pass to Disney World!)

A list of foreign consulates on American soil is also at the State Department Website.