“The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Elliot
Originally this blog had a different title. In adopting Mr. T's traveling style - no planes. Or as he so eloquently put it 'I ain't gettin in no plane fool!'. I though I'd give him some credit in the title. Another brief idea was to take a Mr T figure with me and take numerous hilarious photos....couldn't find one though. So anyway, I changed the title. It's still not particularly good, but it's snappier than the original.
I should point out that my travel choice in this trip isn't a lifestyle change, I'm not joining the likes of Dennis Bergkamp (the non-flying Dutchman), Aretha Franklin, and Billy Bob Thornton who refuse to travel on planes. But for this trip at least, I thought it would be a bit of an adventure to avoid flying. I'll also avoid drinking milk, because I've learned from Mr T's mistakes.
If I'm travelling 9,259 km (5,753 miles) on a train across the worlds largest country then it seems a bit silly to fly the 1066 km (662 miles) between Tokyo and Vladivostok, or the 2538 km (1577 miles) between Moscow and Manchester. So instead I'll use a combination of trains and ferries to cover that distance. In fact, it'll be further than that, as I won't have the luxury of travelling in a straight line.
I've been eying the Trans-Siberian Express for a long time. About 10-12 years in fact. An interest in Russia and Communism (stemming from my History degrees) meant it was almost natural to want to visit the country, and what better way to see it than by train.
I have a Russian visa in hand, a ferry booked from Japan to Russia, and am finalising tickets for the Russian leg of the journey.
If all goes to plan, I'll set off on the journey at the end of July and arrive in the UK around the end of September. There's still a lot of planning to do, but I hope I'll be able to record my plans, the journey, and my experiences on this blog.
