BootsnAll Travel Community

Edit: I'm strongly considering stopping the trip at Somalia, and also possibly adding Cambodia and Thailand.

Hi there, I'm new on the forums and am looking for advice on a trip I'm planning. I'll also be posting threads specific to each country (in the appropriate forums) but I wanted to do a general trip thread here for some basic stuff.

I will be starting in Japan, having spent 3-6 months there doing research for and writing my thesis. I'll take a ferry to South Korea and then a ferry to China and from there take the Trans-Mongolian express to Moscow, then Poland, through either Belarus or Latvia and Lithuania, ferry over to Sweden, then fly to Barcelona, ferry over to Ibiza then ferry back and fly to Rome, and fly to Greece, then travel over land to Turkey, Iran, ferry over to the UAE and go to Oman, back through the UAE, Iran, and Turkey to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel (more on this in a bit), Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, ferry to Madagascar, then South Africa, and fly home either from there or from Nambia, Botswana, or Zimbabwe, depending on the relative flight costs.

I will have just finished my Masters degree in history, and thus will largely be interested in historical sites, however I am also planning on going into federal law enforcement (hopefully ATF, but if not then NSA, DHS, FBI, or something similar), and thus am also interested in the cultures. The only real unresoved issue is how to get into both Lebanon and Israel, so if anyone has information on this that would help. I've been to Israel before, so if neccesary I can skip that (yes, I will have a new passport).

I am an experienced solo traveler, so we can skip the basics, and I've been (or, in the case of Japan, will have been) to all of these general areas, and through my studies I am also familiar with the cultures. I (will be) a 25 year old male American, though I usually identify myself as Australian when dealing with locals, for obvious reasons. I stay at hostels, travel and eat cheap, and have no problems with local transport (busses, trains, etc). Anyone with specific local information would be appreciated, including but not limited to local foods/drinks to try/avoid. I also enjoy electronic clubs/raves so any information on that would be appreciated. I don't do any drugs, but I do enjoy a good drink, so local alcohol to try/avoid is also helpful.

The main thing I'd like help with is in planning where to go/avoid. I tend to stay off the beaten track, and have no interest in "tourism" or large cities per se; just the aforementioned historical and cultural sites. For instance, in Greece I much preferred Delphi and the rarely visited Lacedaemonia (Sparta) to Athens. Following is the initial stage of my rough outline for the trip. Please keep in mind that this is just the beginning stage of my planning, and is solely based upon my research and professors' recommendations (also I have only gotten as far as Syria in planning). The earlier stages are better planned out in terms of how long I plan on staying places. As I much prefer free-form traveling, I am planning on roughly 25% of the trip to be left open, so add about 1/4 of what you see in terms of both on-the-fly decisions and spillover days in case of problems with travel. If you think I should skip something, or add something, please let me know but also explain why. I hope I can benefit from your combined knowledge.

S. Korea (5 days)
arrive Busan (1)
Gyeongju/Kyongju (1)
Seoul (1)
Leave Incheon (1)
Spare (1)

China (15)
Beijing (3)
Xi'An (2)
Shanghai (2)
Chengdu (1)
Nanjing (1)
Lhasa (1)
Guilin (1)
Xining (1)
Spare (3)
Datong (Trans Railway)

Mongolia (3)
Ulaanbataar (2)
Karakorum (1)

Russia
Irkutsk [Lake Baikal]
Novosibirsk
Omsk
Tyumen
Yekaterinburg
Kazan
Nizhni Novgorod
Vladimir
Moscow
St. Petersburg

Poland
?
?
ferry to

Sweden
Stockholm

Spain
Barcelona (sagrada familia)
Ibiza
Barcelona

Italy
Rome
Tuscany

Greece
Athens
Corinth
Thebes
Thermopylae
Mikonos
Delos
Thessaloniki [mt olympus]
Family

Turkey
Edirne -- not marked
Ankara
Istanbul
Avanos (cappadocia)
Urgup
Izmir
Didim
Pamukkale
Ephesus
Çanakkale (Troy)
Bergama (Pergamum)
Iğdır
Bafra
Trabzon

Iran
Yazd -- not marked
Ardabil
Tehran
Qom
Mashhad
Nishapur
?Bam? -- not marked
Bandar Lengeh (ferry to Dubai)

UAE
Dubai

Iran 2
Bandar Lengeh
Shiraz (and Persepolis)
Bushehr
Esfahan (and Passargadae)
Hamadan
Kermanshah
Shush

Turkey 2
Van
Mardin

Syria
Homs
Aleppo
Hama (Apamea)
Tadmor (Palmyra)
Damascus
Bosra

Israel
Golan Heights - Gilgal Refaim

Again, please inform me about areas to avoid (ie, the southeastern most provence in Iran), though I'm not squeamish about these things either. The only thing of value I will have with me is my PSP with a GPS unit and camera attachment; other than that, I will only have clothes and a notebook (and a credit card, but I know how to hide such things) -- obviously, I'll carry a minimum of cash with me.

I expect the trip to be about 15 weeks in length, but this will vary depending on when I finish up in Japan (so as little as 12 weeks, and as much as 20), as I have to be back in the States to defend my thesis in time to get my degree in fall of 09. I expect to leave for Japan in early December and finish in May; I have to be back by the end of October at the latest, so as you can see that gives me just short of 11 months total. In terms of budget, I estimate an average of 750-1000$ a month; I realize that this sounds quite low, but based upon my last 2.5 month trip, which cost about 2000$, I think it is reasonable. Just in case, I will have roughly 6,000$ available, which would cover almost 2x the high end of my estimated expenses. I'm quite good at managing expenses, and I literally stepped out of Cairo with 4 (Egyptian) pounds, Israel with 6 Shekels, and Europe with 2 Euros. Again, as a rough estimate, I plan about 2.5 weeks in China, 2.5 weeks in Russia, 5 weeks in the middle east (including Egypt), 1 week in Spain/Ibiza, 1 week for Poland, Sweden, and Rome, and that leaves about 3 weeks for Africa (short, I know, but there isn't all that much there that interests me; I also may end up flying out of Ethiopia/Somalia if I can't find enough interesting things beyond there).