Kevin's Life and Travel Blog

Ever since growing up in Buenos Aires and riding it’s subte (subway), I have been fascinated with trains. I love taking a train and see how people live their lives in other regions of the world, going from large cities to rural areas, carving it’s way between mountains and over rivers.

I think of the Trans-Siberian Railway as the ultimate train ride. At 9,259 km (5,753 miles), it is the longest railway in the world going from Moscow to Vladivostok. Although I might be more inclined to do the Trans-Mongolian Line, which branches off at the Russian city of Ulan-Ule (about 2/3 of the way from Moscow to Vladivostok), and goes through Mongolia before arriving at Beijing, China.

Trans Mongolian Railway. Photo courtesy of Josh Gerritsen.

Whatever route or direction is taken, there are 2 ways to do this journey. One is to just hop on the train and stay on the it until the final destination, which takes about a week. Another way is to get off the train and stay a few days at some of the cities along the way. Both ways has its appeals.

A week-long uninterrupted train ride would be great at getting to really know some of the people on it. I would assume that after so many days together, you would become pretty good friends with a good number of them. Also the idea of doing the whole route without stopping appears to be more “epic” than one that has been broken down into pieces.

On the other hand, it would be a shame to travel through so many miles without stopping at a single site or city along the way. What good is it have visited Mongolia when it was only from the inside of a train car? With no time constraint, I think I’m more inclined to make many stops along the way. Maybe when I get older I’ll get another chance to relive the journey uninterrupted and all in one seating.

Interesting Trans-Siberian Railway Links

Moscow-Vladivostok: virtual journey on Google Maps – View the entire journey from a passenger seat through YouTube videos, while tracking your current location on Google Maps.
Seat61.com – Lots of practical information and pictures.
Josh Gerritsen’s Trans Siberian Railway Trip – Great account of the trip with amazing photographs.

Travel Philosophy

On my first trip to Europe in 2002, I did a fair amount of research beforehand mainly because it was my first time traveling solo, first time backpacking, and first time going to the region. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be easy or hard, so I wanted there to be as few unknowns as possible. I ended up realizing that backpacking travel is not hard.

On a overland trip through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina in 2005, my backpack was stolen halfway through the trip and I was forced to improvise the rest of the way by winging it with only a very small, newly-acquired, half-full backpack. It was very liberating. I enjoyed figuring out things along the way, and just relaxing and not worrying too much. The lesson learned was that things will usually work out in the end with a little bit of instincts and common sense (too bad I didn’t have the instinct or common sense to avoid having my backpack stolen in the first place).

Isla del Sol, Bolivia

For my upcoming Round The World (RTW) trip, which I’m hoping will last 3 or more years, the goal is to travel slow and not be on any kind of schedule. Building on past journeys, I now have enough trust in my traveling know-how to not worry too much in advance about the logistics for each destination. I would like to travel by land wherever is safe and feasible.

Destinations

Most of the pre-trip planning will mostly be just figuring out which places I want to visit. Inspiration can come from a photograph, a movie, or an online blog post or article. Over the years I have made a mental list of places I wanted to visit in my lifetime, and the idea of an RTW trip come up as a way to kill all the birds with one shot. I definitely don’t want this trip to be about ticking off a long check list of destinations. There are some must-see places, and some with lower priorities, but I will have to remind myself to stay very flexible and enjoy the journey more than the destinations.

For my first destination, I’m leaning toward either New Zealand or Mexico. New Zealand because I plan to do a lot of hiking there, and since I don’t want to be carrying all the hiking gear during the entire trip, I think it’s best to just get most of the hiking done at the beginning and then mail the equipment home. From there I can move on to Australia and South East Asia. The other choice is Mexico because one of my “must-do” items is traveling from the United States to the south of Argentina by land (or vice versa), going through most of Latin America. Mexico is only about 130 miles (210 km) south of where I live.

What To Pack

Unlike a wilderness backpacking trip, this one will mostly involve city traveling, so I’m not too concerned about trying to get the perfect packing list. If I forget to bring something, or if an item doesn’t work out, I can buy or replace as I go. I think a backpack in the neighborhood of 40 liters should be enough.

I’m also leaning towards bringing along a netbook computer. With wi-fi connections available in a lot of hostels, it will make writing this blog and communicating with people much easier. On the other hand, I don’t look forward to worrying all the time about it getting stolen. If it becomes a pain in the ass during the trip, I can always sell it.

Getting Things In Order Before Departure

There’s of course a number of logistical tasks that needs to be completed before departure, which I listed in this to-do list. Why bring the Taiwanese passport along with the American passport? It is easier and sometimes cheaper to get into certain countries like Argentina, where American citizens need to pay a $131 entry visa fee.