Singapore: Without Flying!!!

The countdown has begun in more ways than one: my weight; the clock until my wife and I depart for our epic expedition to reach Singapore without flying...

I guess one countdown has spurred on the other really...I want to be comfortable travelling around Asia and not be melting in the heat as well as not be restricted in any way by our fitness when it comes to activity opportunities.

We are desperately saving for the trip and have an achievable budget that we feel we can reach by January 2015 that allows us to have an amazing time and still have a little to come back to allowing funds for while finding a new job again and rent etc. I'm pretty lucky in my current job that I have made a lot of contacts who I know I could call on when I get back and providing there is budget would be happy to take me on.

The route is pretty unbelievable and I flit between how long we think we can realistically last on our funds vs. if I can swindle getting a sabbatical at work (unfortunately unpaid but oh well) so it varies from day-to-day ranging from 6 months to 1 year.

Rules:
No flying with the exception of enclosed loops...if we fly out of a city we must return to that city by plane before continuing with our journey. This is to get around things like Thailand and Myanmar land border regulations and to allow us to stay in Thailand for longer than two weeks (the limit when entering via a land border)

What we do know is the basic route:
Leg 1:
London to Beijing via the Trans Mongolian Railway
----> London ----> Paris ----> Lithuania (pit stop visiting friends) ----> St Petersburg ----> Moscow ----> Mongolia ----> Beijing

Leg 2:
Massive tour of China!!!

Leg 3:
Vietnam ----> Cambodia ----> Loas ----> Thailand ----> Malaysia ----> Singapore

Leg 4:
Some extras pending time and funds like Indonesia and Fiji. My wife would love to go to Korea and Japan...

Wow that sounds like an amazing trip. I would not have the patience to sit down and organise that. I would totally cheat by flying

I'm lucky that my wife loves organising that kind of stuff so I am just going to sit back and let her get on with it.

I know it's 18 months away but we have decided to buy each other our rucksacks we need for this year's Christmas presents!! I am going to fill all the pockets with other presents :-D I found the one she wants and bought it yesterday!!!

That's a great idea. Yous will need them anyway and it all ads up

Does anyone have any suggestions on things we should take with us? We will mostly be sticking to the well trodden route and if we do anything like hiking we will put our things in storage and take a smaller bag for the journey but I have never been to Asia before or travelling for a long period of time and expect some of the places we go to be a tad remote. On our list so far:

Insect repellant
Travel first aid kit
Travel sewing kit (to buy patches from the countries we visit and sew them on our backpacks)
Torch
Sunglasses
Waterproof mac of some kind
Nic wants disposable pillow cases as she had a bad experience with her last visit to China and the bugs in the hostels
Travel towel (fast drying, thin and bagable)

I'm not sure if we are planning on going somepace we would need a sleeping bag for...

wow! sounds amazing! Hope you have a good time.

Our plans have changed a little to now include: Philippines, East Timor and Indonesia

Insect repellant - DEET 50% would be a good choice. I have personally used a 99% (90%??) version from Nomads, but it would also depends on how much space and luggage allowance you have.

Travel first aid kit - oral rehydration and water purification tablets would be a must. I would also have iodine in there as it can double up as water purification as well as antiseptic for cuts and grazes.

Travel sewing kit (to buy patches from the countries we visit and sew them on our backpacks) - throw some duct tape and cable ties in there too. I would also have some upholstery thread in there that is strong enough for fixing up the backpack. A cigarette lighter, great for stopping most synthetic fabric from fraying at any rips or tears.

Torch - CREE led torches are amazingly bright, they are marginally larger than MagLights but are so much brighter and less drainingon the batteries.

Sunglasses - and spare pairs.

Waterproof mac of some kind

Nic wants disposable pillow cases as she had a bad experience with her last visit to China and the bugs in the hostels - perhaps rather than getting disposable ones, dig out some old ones from home, impregnate them with permethrin; and take a bottle of it with you so that you can "top up"on the bug-proofness on the trip. Permethrin is the chemical that is on mosquito nets but it also works as a barrier against other bugs.

Travel towel (fast drying, thin and bagable) - and a washing line, suction hook for sticking that to smooth surfaces so that the towels do dry when you have to repack them.

Probably worth bringing an old spare mobile phone handset together with a charger and a travelplug? Pay as you go sim cards on 3 have a credit that don't expire, just make sure it is operational and has roaming function in the event that you did need a spare.

I would take clothes that I would be happy to disgard as the trip progresses and new kit is bought. Similarly with shoes and flip flops.

High factor sun block. Some come in stick form so take up less room.


Have a wonderful trip - it looks like a once in a lifetime event and absolutely monumental!!

Date set: June 6th!!!! Eeek!!!

your trip sounds amazing! Hope you have a fantastic time and June is just around the corner

Wow your trip sounds amazing and not that long away either!

Well this is it!! We depart tomorrow from St Pancras for the Eurostar!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!