Two months to go

It is hard to get to grips with the fact that there are only two months before we set off. There is so much to do if we are going to let the house. The past two months have been a continuous drip-feed of clearing out junk, painting, repairing, fixing, etc.
We now have Moscow to Hanoi booked and this means we can get some visas. Some of these countries have only a 3 month window for visas so you cant apply too early. China requires evidence of onward travel and of hotel reservations.
It will take about a month to get the Russia, Mongolia and China visas using an agency. After that we can sort out Belarus, Viet Nam and Australia. It is all quite complex.

So much to do ...

Yesterday I handed in my resignation - from the 26th September. This gives me about a week before we leave for Moscow. After so long planning there is now a lot to do in the few months before we go. Letting the house for 6 months requires a lot of work, making sure everything is up top scratch and then packing our personal belongings for storage.

Meg plans to stop work around 12th September so that will give her a little more time.
Today I decided we need a chart of what has to be done, when it should be started and when it should be completed. Having created a list it doesn't look quite so bad.

A slight change of itinerary means that we will now hire a care one-way from Penang to Singapore. This is quite cheap as there is no one-way surcharge so you can deduct the train fares from the price.

The plan...

This is the first phase of an adventure. From previous experience the planning is as good as any of the other phases.

In October 2008 we start a six month journey that will take us around the world, cost us little more that it would have cost us to stay at home and reduced our carbon footprint.

The first part of our journey will take us

• from the UK to Moscow by train
• Moscow to Beijing onthe trans-siberial railway
• Beijing to Hanoi by Chinese Railways
• Hanoi to Vientiane (by plane :175kg of CO2 each)
• Vientiane -Bangkok - Penang - Singapore by train
• by plane to Perth, W.A (430kg of CO2 each)

The idea is that staying in a warm country, mainly camping and visiting friends, is carbon friendly compared with the 4 tonnes of CO2 that we produce heating our home in an English winter.

Plans for the return journey involve a 22 day voyage on a cargo ship to Mexico and then trains across the USA, finally returning to the UK on the Queen Mary (or possibly a cargo ship if we can find one)