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.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Travel
...the romance and sense of adventure is undeniable...
So says Time Out's Great Train Journeys of the World about 5000 mile journey on the trans-siberian railway. This is a journey I took this year. We left home by bus, then first class train to London, where we had a champagne (not very ethical I'm sure!) in the longest champagne bar in the world. We boarded Eurostar that lunchtime, and arrived in Brussels in the afternoon. A short train ride later and we were in Cologne for dinner and the rest of the evening.
Later on day 1 we boarded our first sleeper, bound for Warsaw
Day 2 we arrived in Warsaw, and had lunch and some chill out time there, before boarding our second sleeper train to Moscow, through Belarus. So, 48 hours of travelling time and 1924 miles later and we were in Moscow for 3 days.
Then we started the third day of travel. Yaroslavsky station in Moscow saw the start of, arguably, the greatest train journey in the world (and said to be the longest, except we went trans-mongolian, which is slightly shorter. At 21.35 Moscow time we boarded Train number 4 bound for Beijing.
The train travelled through western Russia and into Siberia, and then into the steppe land of Mongolia. You go to bed one night and wake up the next to the rolling green hills, desolate except for the occasional ger
Then gradually the scenery shifts as you enter and traverse the Gobi Desert
We were even lucky enough to see wild camels. I had pretty much given up hope, and then there they were!
The sunsets on the Mongolian plains
Later that same night we arrive in China to a fanfare! Literally. The bogies then need to be changed, which is a lengthy process. We then have a quick shop in the station shop, which is possibly the most exciting thing I had ever done in my life before that moment. Words cannot describe how excited I was to be in China. Then I somehow managed to sleep, and woke up to China proper. People in conical straw hats line the edges of the railing, digging and planting and tending to things
Later that same day we arrived in Beijing station. So 6 days and 4735 miles later and we are at our destination of Beijing (this so far makes 8 days of travelling and 6659 miles totally)
After 3 days in Beijing the journey begins again with an overnight train to Shanghai
10 hours and 914 miles later and we are in Shanghai (total so far 8.5 days and 7573 miles)
The next day we left China on a ferry found bound for Kobe, Japan
So, 2 days and 1093 miles later and we were in the land of the rising sun. So far we have spent 10.5 days travelling and 8666 miles have been traversed. What an adventure!
From Kobe we travelled to Kyoto, and then after a couple of days in Kyoto we travelled by Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo
On the last day we took a private railway line up to the lakes of Fuji. Unfortunately Fuji was surrounded in low lying cloud that day, so despite climbing some metres upwards, on foot, not cable car, we could really only see the foothills of Fuji, and the space in the sky where the summit would be
It's hard to be precise, but I think we travelled about 1636 miles within Japan on trains
So about 10.5 total days of travelling time, plus odd couples of hours here and there, and just over 10000 miles travelled, by train, bus, underground train, boat, ferry, monorail, coach, minibus, rickshaw and pink swan shaped peddle boat! And that gets you half way round the world!
Unfortunately we didn't have time to make the same journey home again, so we had to fly. But I am committed to eradicating flying from here on in!
Of course this does still have a carbon impact, but it is lower than by flying, and happening at ground level, and is not compounded by some of the additional gases in aviation pollution.
So says Time Out's Great Train Journeys of the World about 5000 mile journey on the trans-siberian railway. This is a journey I took this year. We left home by bus, then first class train to London, where we had a champagne (not very ethical I'm sure!) in the longest champagne bar in the world. We boarded Eurostar that lunchtime, and arrived in Brussels in the afternoon. A short train ride later and we were in Cologne for dinner and the rest of the evening.
Later on day 1 we boarded our first sleeper, bound for Warsaw
Day 2 we arrived in Warsaw, and had lunch and some chill out time there, before boarding our second sleeper train to Moscow, through Belarus. So, 48 hours of travelling time and 1924 miles later and we were in Moscow for 3 days.
Then we started the third day of travel. Yaroslavsky station in Moscow saw the start of, arguably, the greatest train journey in the world (and said to be the longest, except we went trans-mongolian, which is slightly shorter. At 21.35 Moscow time we boarded Train number 4 bound for Beijing.
The train travelled through western Russia and into Siberia, and then into the steppe land of Mongolia. You go to bed one night and wake up the next to the rolling green hills, desolate except for the occasional ger
Then gradually the scenery shifts as you enter and traverse the Gobi Desert
We were even lucky enough to see wild camels. I had pretty much given up hope, and then there they were!
The sunsets on the Mongolian plains
Later that same night we arrive in China to a fanfare! Literally. The bogies then need to be changed, which is a lengthy process. We then have a quick shop in the station shop, which is possibly the most exciting thing I had ever done in my life before that moment. Words cannot describe how excited I was to be in China. Then I somehow managed to sleep, and woke up to China proper. People in conical straw hats line the edges of the railing, digging and planting and tending to things
Later that same day we arrived in Beijing station. So 6 days and 4735 miles later and we are at our destination of Beijing (this so far makes 8 days of travelling and 6659 miles totally)
After 3 days in Beijing the journey begins again with an overnight train to Shanghai
10 hours and 914 miles later and we are in Shanghai (total so far 8.5 days and 7573 miles)
The next day we left China on a ferry found bound for Kobe, Japan
So, 2 days and 1093 miles later and we were in the land of the rising sun. So far we have spent 10.5 days travelling and 8666 miles have been traversed. What an adventure!
From Kobe we travelled to Kyoto, and then after a couple of days in Kyoto we travelled by Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo
On the last day we took a private railway line up to the lakes of Fuji. Unfortunately Fuji was surrounded in low lying cloud that day, so despite climbing some metres upwards, on foot, not cable car, we could really only see the foothills of Fuji, and the space in the sky where the summit would be
It's hard to be precise, but I think we travelled about 1636 miles within Japan on trains
So about 10.5 total days of travelling time, plus odd couples of hours here and there, and just over 10000 miles travelled, by train, bus, underground train, boat, ferry, monorail, coach, minibus, rickshaw and pink swan shaped peddle boat! And that gets you half way round the world!
Unfortunately we didn't have time to make the same journey home again, so we had to fly. But I am committed to eradicating flying from here on in!
Of course this does still have a carbon impact, but it is lower than by flying, and happening at ground level, and is not compounded by some of the additional gases in aviation pollution.
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