adventures

As regular readers will know I like to take my holidays without the use of an aeroplane. This is a somewhat recent occurrence. In December 2007 I flew to Amsterdam for a friend's 30th birthday having never properly considered the impact of flying (I know, late to the party). It was while we were there that another friend, who had also flown, said they were surprised that I had chosen to travel by plane. Apart from getting to france by ferry or chunnel I hadn't even considered the possibility you could get on holiday by anything other than a plane (d'oh! I would like to add thought that despite this I have not flown many times as a consenting adult). I was mortified to discover that we could have travelled to amsterdam by ferry or train for less money and only slightly more time than a plane.

Since them I have taken 2 holidays by ferry/chunnel and car to france, one holiday by train to russia, mongolia and china, and then on by ferry to japan, and one this year to brussels and amsterdam by train. This year I will be travelling to the south of france by train.

I am now starting to daydream about future holidays. I may have a baby by next summer so who knows how far in the future I am dreaming! My most desired holiday destination at present would be somewhere in southern africa, botswana probably. I have found a fantastic overland tour of south africa, botswana and zambi, starting and ending in johannesburg. I would love to do this, but how to get to Jo'burg? Freight ship appears to be the answer, but as the journey takes 30 days I am not likely to be having this particular holiday anytime soon.

I started to read more about travelling as a fare-paying passenger on a cargo ship. It sounds most adventurous! So, the next trip I have planned is in South America... Freight ship to mexico via new orleans and the bahamas! Once in South America I would like to see mexico, peru and chile (and visit my friend in Bolivia). But as the freight ship alone takes 22 days again, I don't think I'll be doing that for some time.

So maybe north africa then? Morocco is on a serious list of a holiday that I hopefully really will do in the near future. You can get to morocco via train and ferry with a day in Madrid along the way, in only 48 hours.

However I have just found this great Egypt to Istanbul journey that I think I would like to take. You can get to egypt by eurostar to paris, and then train to venice, then ferry to cairo, arriving in cairo on day 3 (you can make the journey overland which sounds very exciting, but does involve a 19 hour bus ride and takes a total of 19 days and sounds like it has the potential to go a bit wrong!). Then I would spend 22 days travelling from egypt through syria and jordan to turkey. i would then like a couple of days and nights in istanbul, before taking the train home. Train home would take in Bucharest, Budapest and Vienna. I like the sound of this for my next "big" trip, whenever that may be.

I hope I never have to step foot on a plane again, overland travel is so much more fun. I just wish I had endless amounts of time.