[Ryan]

I'm seriously considering taking half of 2018 and traveling.

I'll have been at my current job for three years—and this is hardly a company that's going to get better over the next year. Either I'll just quit or, if the company actually turns around, I should be able to arrange an unpaid leave. I'd hit the road in June.

I thought about spending six months going overland from London to Singapore and back again (inspired by Paul Theroux' Ghost Train to the Eastern Star). Out via Turkey and Central Asia, back across Mongolia and Russia via the Trans-Siberian. I've since decided against it. Realistically, I'd be on the move every couple days. Instead, I'm thinking about a more leisurely plan, a mix of hitting-the-road and slow travel:

- A month and a half traversing Central Asia and the ancient Silk Road. Fly to Hong Kong and make my way overland to Kashgar, cross the Torugart Pass into Kyrgzstan through the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan.
- A few weeks in Israel
- Do nothing for a couple weeks on a yet-to-be-determined Greek island
- Up the Balkans by train into Austria for a mountain break. Maybe head down the Brenner Pass for few days in northern Italy
- Granada or Seville for a month and enroll in a Spanish language school
- Fly to Japan and spend a month in Tokyo

That should get me home just in time for Christmas, then after the new year I'd find a new job, maybe move on from Boulder. All that adds up to 21 weeks, so I'd another five or so to sprinkle around or even add in elsewhere.

I've done some long-ish trips in the past. The summer after I graduated from college I spent two months in Southeast Asia. Six months, however, would be new for me. My thinking is that with enough breaks and month-long stays I won't get travel fatigue.

Longer stops are also cheaper. Fortunately I should have more than enough savings to afford a jaunt like this, budgeting an average of $3000/month. I've got mountains of frequent flyer miles so any long-haul flights will be free.

So.

Any tips on those parts of the world? Places I should add, avoid, skip? Anyone done a trip like this before?

Most importantly, anywhere else in world I should consider spending a month?

[Dr. Bobsky]

I would recommend focusing on a small section of a part of the world. This does several things: travel fatigue will be minimized because your movement schedule will be adaptable to what you want to see/do, you are more likely to encounter and re-encounter the same people (ie make friends in old school parlance), you will have a better sense of costs and upsides/downsides to doing things, and you will have a better experience really getting to know an area. Since you've expressed interest in Spanish -- why not spend the six months in and about Spain/Portugal/France? These countries have 90 day visa-less travel, which gives you enough cover to reasonably accomplish this. There is a lot to see in all of the countries, but your focus could be Spain.

Basically, it looks like your schedule is still too full -- your few weeks in israel would have you moving constantly, for instance... so take it easy and slow down. [your budget is also probably too low given the challenges of finding appropriate accommodation -- that's $100/day; a train ride could easily kill 20-30 of that, food slightly less, costs for touristic activities about the same, so you are down to $40/day or less for finding a place to sleep. That would be hard in even the cheapest countries I have traveled to, and I had the benefit of having someone along to split costs...

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Dr. Bobsky I would recommend focusing on a small section of a part of the world. This does several things: travel fatigue will be minimized because your movement schedule will be adaptable to what you want to see/do, you are more likely to encounter and re-encounter the same people (ie make friends in old school parlance), you will have a better sense of costs and upsides/downsides to doing things, and you will have a better experience really getting to know an area. Since you've expressed interest in Spanish -- why not spend the six months in and about Spain/Portugal/France? These countries have 90 day visa-less travel, which gives you enough cover to reasonably accomplish this. There is a lot to see in all of the countries, but your focus could be Spain. Basically, it looks like your schedule is still too full -- your few weeks in israel would have you moving constantly, for instance... so take it easy and slow down. [your budget is also probably too low given the challenges of finding appropriate accommodation -- that's $100/day; a train ride could easily kill 20-30 of that, food slightly less, costs for touristic activities about the same, so you are down to $40/day or less for finding a place to sleep. That would be hard in even the cheapest countries I have traveled to, and I had the benefit of having someone along to split costs...

I can double the budget if I need to. I'm not too concerned about cost as long as it's under $50k for the entire six months. I may have been projecting my experience from Southeast Asia onto this, where $40/day was plenty. My thought was that in Spain and Tokyo I'd be able to rent an apartment for a month which would help keep costs under control.

Maybe 90 days in Spain/France (I already speak French—spent a semester studying at the University of Strasbourg in college) and then something like 30 days on a beach somewhere, 30 days in Tokyo and 30 days TBD. A month in Paris, a month in Seville or Granada, a month in Barcelona (or San Sebastian? Bilbao? Madrid?). I'd have to leave Schengen at that point anyways so fly to Tokyo for a month, spend a month on a beach in Thailand and then maybe a month traversing the Silk Road.

[chinesebear]

Before you head into Western China, make sure you are up on all of the newest regulations and laws. They are no joke.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by chinesebear Before you head into Western China, make sure you are up on all of the newest regulations and laws. They are no joke.

Yeah, I've been looking into that. I already have a 10-year Chinese visa, so that part's taken care of at least. The biggest risk, especially in Xinjiang, is that China sometimes clamps down on access by foreigners at a moment's notice if there's any level of unrest.

[chinesebear]

Originally Posted by Ryan Yeah, I've been looking into that. I already have a 10-year Chinese visa, so that part's taken care of at least. The biggest risk, especially in Xinjiang, is that China sometimes clamps down on access by foreigners at a moment's notice if there's any level of unrest.

Not only that - when there is unrest, all internet and cell phone service is shut down. Completely. So, travel would be restricted, communication would be eliminated, etc. That hasn't happened in a few years, but that is a much higher risk than having to change your route because something is off-limits to foreigners.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by chinesebear Not only that - when there is unrest, all internet and cell phone service is shut down. Completely. So, travel would be restricted, communication would be eliminated, etc. That hasn't happened in a few years, but that is a much higher risk than having to change your route because something is off-limits to foreigners.

Right. If anything like that happened I'd just skip western China. If I found out before departing for China I'd just skip over Xinjiang and fly from Xian the 'stans. If I was already in China I'd try to reroute to non-sensitive parts of the country (Guangxi and Yunnan?) or just hop to Thailand and kill some time down there before flying up to Almaty or Tashkent.

Of course, not exactly sure what would happen if there was an incident while I was in Xinjiang. So that's a question I should answer.

I have a number of friends who've lived in China for many years, though all in coastal cities. I've started picking their brains a bit.