This is not finished yet, but I've been working on and off on a web app to help you plot out trips on Google maps. Here is some of my trip plotted out:
http://www.plotmytrip.com/map/index/2
Disclaimer: don't expect anything on that website to work :) Source code available here.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Yet More Planning
I admit that it has been a while since my last blog post. I could offer up excuses, Christmas, family visits, burning out, general laziness, but I won't and will instead leave this update.
I finally have my tickets booked for getting to India. I'll be leaving the US on Jan 17th and flying into Mumbai (thank you Kayak travel alerts.) I finish work on the 16th, a wee bit tight, but I need the cash. My plan is to go north from Mumbai to Jodpur and then to Jaisalmer to do camel trekking in the desert. I have done very little planning, other than checking out that there are actually trains and camels in those places.
I also booked my ticket to arrive into Buenos Aires on Feb 12th. A crazy 20 hour trip because the airlines gouge you on one way flight costs. Round trip is $770 on a non-stop flight, one way is $560 on a 20 hour flight. I think Sean has a 24 hour flight from San Francisco though, so I don't feel so bad.
I did a huge burst of planning at one point and completely burned out. I booked the permits for hiking the Inca trail to Machu Pichu and then I couldn't look at another guide book for a few weeks. Luckily at around that time Sean became more free and he has taken up the reins. He even spreadsheeted out the places we are going to with useful columns such as 'Malaria Risk.' :) This is useful not only to me, but also to Clive, because it looks like Clive will be coming along too. Although, as always, Clive is very much a man of mystery, and I will only fully believe it when I see him in Buenos Aires. And only then if he can prove he is not a hired body double. He must be semi-serious though, because he got all the vaccinations and has been proceeding along a physical, mental and fiscal preparation dubbed 'infinite intensity.'
I am set with the freighter to Africa. I wired them off my Euro deposit and the friendly Frau Golger emailed me to let me know that it was done. I'm pretty excited about this part of the trip and sometimes I'm dumbfounded when someone asks me why the hell I would want to travel on a freighter. It is not really all that cheap, slightly less than a plane ticket in this case, it takes far longer, it could be uncomfortable, and it could be very boring. I tend to give them a blank stare, I can't understand why, even given all of these things, you *wouldn't* want to do it. I think it is because I am fascinated by the ships, how do they operate day to day, what do the crew do, what are the engines like, how are they laid out etc. etc. All things that I plan on finding out, but I'll let you know sometime in mid April whether it was worth it :)
For the second half of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt) my Dad and I have booked with an Oasis truck tour. This means we are going to ditch our car in Kenya and go with the truck tour for the rest of the way. I sent off emails to a group of people that have gone with Oasis before and they all had great things to say about it. That part of the trip is by far the riskiest and these guys are well experienced with traveling in those areas.
More in another post about how my packing is going. I got some great gear for Christmas, but trying to pack for climates that range from the jungle to freezing cold at high altitudes, is, well, difficult.
I finally have my tickets booked for getting to India. I'll be leaving the US on Jan 17th and flying into Mumbai (thank you Kayak travel alerts.) I finish work on the 16th, a wee bit tight, but I need the cash. My plan is to go north from Mumbai to Jodpur and then to Jaisalmer to do camel trekking in the desert. I have done very little planning, other than checking out that there are actually trains and camels in those places.
I also booked my ticket to arrive into Buenos Aires on Feb 12th. A crazy 20 hour trip because the airlines gouge you on one way flight costs. Round trip is $770 on a non-stop flight, one way is $560 on a 20 hour flight. I think Sean has a 24 hour flight from San Francisco though, so I don't feel so bad.
I did a huge burst of planning at one point and completely burned out. I booked the permits for hiking the Inca trail to Machu Pichu and then I couldn't look at another guide book for a few weeks. Luckily at around that time Sean became more free and he has taken up the reins. He even spreadsheeted out the places we are going to with useful columns such as 'Malaria Risk.' :) This is useful not only to me, but also to Clive, because it looks like Clive will be coming along too. Although, as always, Clive is very much a man of mystery, and I will only fully believe it when I see him in Buenos Aires. And only then if he can prove he is not a hired body double. He must be semi-serious though, because he got all the vaccinations and has been proceeding along a physical, mental and fiscal preparation dubbed 'infinite intensity.'
I am set with the freighter to Africa. I wired them off my Euro deposit and the friendly Frau Golger emailed me to let me know that it was done. I'm pretty excited about this part of the trip and sometimes I'm dumbfounded when someone asks me why the hell I would want to travel on a freighter. It is not really all that cheap, slightly less than a plane ticket in this case, it takes far longer, it could be uncomfortable, and it could be very boring. I tend to give them a blank stare, I can't understand why, even given all of these things, you *wouldn't* want to do it. I think it is because I am fascinated by the ships, how do they operate day to day, what do the crew do, what are the engines like, how are they laid out etc. etc. All things that I plan on finding out, but I'll let you know sometime in mid April whether it was worth it :)
For the second half of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt) my Dad and I have booked with an Oasis truck tour. This means we are going to ditch our car in Kenya and go with the truck tour for the rest of the way. I sent off emails to a group of people that have gone with Oasis before and they all had great things to say about it. That part of the trip is by far the riskiest and these guys are well experienced with traveling in those areas.
More in another post about how my packing is going. I got some great gear for Christmas, but trying to pack for climates that range from the jungle to freezing cold at high altitudes, is, well, difficult.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Things I have learned
Traveling around the world is less expensive than you might think. Up to the top of Africa my budget so far is ~10k. I'll break this out in a separate post.
My geography knowledge is expanding exponentially. Djibouti probably has the best name of any country anywhere
Several countries, especially in Africa, require *two* blank pages facing each other in your passport. Wonderful. This meant I had to apply for a new larger Irish passport, which is expensive, takes four weeks, and the application needed to be witnessed by a: member of the clergy, police officer, bank manager, doctor, elected official, lawyer or an accountant. A throwback to times when those professions actually had respect :)
There is an entire subculture of people that exist only to travel. They see a trip for less than a year as a jaunt. I've been reading many blogs of people that travel for years at a time and do it incredibly cheaply.
My geography knowledge is expanding exponentially. Djibouti probably has the best name of any country anywhere
Several countries, especially in Africa, require *two* blank pages facing each other in your passport. Wonderful. This meant I had to apply for a new larger Irish passport, which is expensive, takes four weeks, and the application needed to be witnessed by a: member of the clergy, police officer, bank manager, doctor, elected official, lawyer or an accountant. A throwback to times when those professions actually had respect :)
There is an entire subculture of people that exist only to travel. They see a trip for less than a year as a jaunt. I've been reading many blogs of people that travel for years at a time and do it incredibly cheaply.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Good news everyone.
Good news everyone. Sean is coming to South America with me! For the whole 2 months. This is awesome. I'm really psyched about traveling with Sean. He is a laid back guy, a good friend, and more importantly he speaks some Spanish :) In bad news the first thing that he mentioned was this fish. I sort of wish he hadn't told me about it.
The trip planning is coming together piece by piece:
- Sean has been looking into flights from Rio to Manaus and I've been looking into hiking groups for Machu Piccu. We're arriving near the end of the rainy season, so it could be pretty wet, but it also means that we don't need to get our hiking permits for the Inca trail too early (and we may be able to mud slide down the other side.) They only allow 500 people per day to hike the trail, including guides and porters. In high season you need to get the permits 3 months in advance.
- My contract with the freighter company arrived on Saturday, lots of documentation to fill out. Mostly disclaimers to do with health, insurance and pirates. I have to send of the Euro deposit by the end of the week. They sent an amusing German brochure that exclaims the wonders of freighter travel - "catch up on all those books you wanted to read", "explore the engine room", and my favorite, "watch the ocean." :)
- I talked with my Dad over the weekend and we started laying out the Africa segment. He's doing a lot of the research for this section of the trip and we discussed the Western and Eastern routes that we could take from Cape Town to Nairobi. From Nairobi to Cairo (Etheopia -> Sudan -> Egypt) we are thinking that we will join up with a truck group, we're just not comfortable that we can do that leg of the trip ourselves. He's been watching the "Long Way Down" with Ewan McGregor and is a little worried that they started planing 6 months in advance. We may be slightly behind.
I haven't thought too much about India yet, even though it is the start of the trip. I will only be there for a few weeks, and I don't see it as requiring too much planning. I'll fly into Mumbai, make my way down the coast to Kerala and then back up again to meet Deva when she arrives in.
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