So okay, you figured out your essentials. Now you're ready to create a general idea of your route. How to do this depends on your own way of working. You can use the routes that other people did, focus on the weather in certain countries or on how long you want to be in one country, visit certain things, ... .
I started with the weather. For cycling it's important to know the weather conditions before you go on your trip. This way you're sure to have the correct equipment with you, don't get stuck because mountain passes are closed due to snow or other roads are closed off because of monsoon rains. First I made a table with a row for each country (or area) and a column for each month of the year. I looked online for climate information (www.klimaatinfo.nl ended up to be my winner, but it is in Dutch. Another good website is www.worldreviewer.com/world-weather) and gave every month a green, orange or red color. To make it easier for myself I added the maximum and minimum temperature together and divided it by 2. This way I came up with a number that could be higher then 20°C (green), under 5°C (red) or in between (orange). I also added the rainfalls. A tiny drop meant between 101mm-200mm and a big drop meant over 200mm. I did this for every country that I might have to cycle. You can skip this if you are blessed with a good memory, but I like my table because I can have a quick overview at all times. Then I tried to put together a route. To be able to do this I need to know how much kilometers I'll have to cycle in that country, to know how long it will take me. So I went to Google maps and used the route planner. I entered a possible starting point and an ending point. I made some adjustments in between until it looked like a feasible cycling route. I noted down the kilometers, divided them by my daily cycling distance and added an appropriate number of resting days. this gives me a rough idea of the time I'll spend in a certain country. Beware: you cannot do this when you cross a border with China: Google indicates that there are no streets. You can however make a road up to the border, one inside China and another from another area, outside China. Remember to note down any detours you made, so you can find this 'global first route' again. I have to be in Japan in July and August 2017 and I can't start before July 2016. This meant that Mongolia was going to be difficult, since I only had green in July and August, so I had to start my trip there. However, once I started planning further I noticed it would not be possible to continue due to coming into red zones... . So I decided to leave Mongolia out for the moment. Someone offered the suggestion of taking the train to Astana (Kazakhstan) and start cycling from there. To keep up with my weather preferences I had to shorten my initial route in the '-stan countries', but in the end I had my global route. Well done, you now have a good idea of your trip! The next step is a bit less fun: testing to see if your global route is possible and narrowing the route down (when preferred and possible).
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So you're thinking about going on a big trip? But how to do it... . I'll let you know about my preparations and maybe it will give you a starting point for planning your own trip.
First of all: figure out the essentials of your trip. How long, where, what weather, ... . The more detailed you do this the more clear your journey will become. It will help with expectations and give you a good idea about the effect of the trip on yourself. For me it ended up like this: - one year cycling in Asia, on my own with a map and compass (no gps) - starting July 2016, ending in August/September 2017 - selfsupporting with tent and cooking gear - don't mind wildcamping, but also love a real bed from time to time - cooking will be primitive meals and tea - don't mind company along the way, but not too long - don't mind taking trains or boats - do not want to take a plane and try to avoid buses - cycling 60-80km a day, with one or two resting days a week - don't mind going to desolate terrain, nor busy city roads - love cycling near the sea and have mixed feelings about mountains (love them, but at the same time they scare me!) - good weather = above 20°C and bad weather is below 5°C - don't mind rain, as long as it isn't constant and there are ways to avoid rain while cycling (eating, tent or shelter) - Must see countries are Japan, China, South-East-Asia, Mongolia and the so-called "-stan countries" - must avoid: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran - communication with home through blog and facebook, once a week (unless I give notice about the impossibility of this) - taking camera and the time to take pictures - money: I have saved enough to be able to do this on a budget. I will have to watch out to spend as little as possible, to make sure I don't end up coming home without any money. Everything I don't spend will make it easier for me (and my boyfriend) when I come home and don't have a job yet. - miss boyfriend terribly! Okay, so that's that. Now you're ready for part 2: planning a global route! Hi you all,
Once again I have to announce a big change in plans, due to certain circumstances. Circumstances that almost managed to make me not go at all. You're probably wondering what circumstances could manage that? My boyfriend and I decided (due to other circumstances) to take a next step in our relationship and buy a house. This made my boyfriend decide to no longer accompagny me during the trip in Asia. Of course this made me really sad as I'd really wanted to do this together, especially now I finally had convinced him to join me! The positive side of this story however is that I'll be able to make this a cycling journey once again! So, in short this means that I'll be travelling through Asia for about a year on my own, with my bicycle. How the route will be and other things will still have to be determined, but I'm working on it. One thing is certain: i'll avoid India, due to all the dangers of being a (foreign) female on her own there and all the other dangers people can face there. During the coming week I'll make the necessary adjustments to my website (again) so it will once again be about a trip on my own with my bicycle. For now this is all I can tell you, but as soon as I know more I'll let you know! Hello!
In this first post I'll tell you a bit more about the origin of this trip. I got bitten by the travelling virus when I went to Japan in 2011. When I came back the virus kept on growing until I decided in 2012 that I would be going on a world trip with my bicycle, for a duration of 6 years. I started planning my route and was looking up on visa requirements when 2013 came around and I got hit with a Cupid's arrow. My new love made me very happy, but it did come at a price. My world tour would no longer be possible or I would've lost my boyfriend (let's be honest: who would wait for 6 years and who would leave for that long?!). I wasn't able to completely throw away my world tour though, because the travelling virus still had a big grip on me. I decided to make some huge changes to the trip and hope that I could coax my boyfriend into joining me by keeping his wishes and interests in mind. We will still leave in 2016, probably in september. This date remains unchanged, because I'm still studying and can't leave earlier. The summer holidays (July and August) are the busiest time of the year at work so I'd like to stay at work until after that time. My boyfriend is also a fan of Japan, so it became clear very early on that this would need to be included. The biggest change would be the time. From going away for six years I went to going away for one year. Considering the fact that we wanted to go to Japan the decision was made to travel to Asia and stay there. Asia is a big continent with lots of cultures, not too far away from Europe and very cheap. My new trip was growing! We both really wanted to do the Trans Siberian Express so I decided to make this the starting and ending point of our trip. I searched for countries and sights we really wanted to see and connected them. I adjusted our route so we would avoid cold and wet weather as much as possible and thus the route as it stands now came around. It's still not sure if my boyfriend will join me on this trip, he said it's a 50/50 chance. There are some variables at play that I have no control over, but I do have control about the things we'll do on our trip and that's the way I'm going to try to convince him to join me! If you have suggestions, ideas, ... about Asia you can always let me know! For those interested in making our trip just a little bit more fun and difficult: look at the section "challenges" where you can give us a challenge to complete! Just for fun, for a chocolate or for money, whatever you'd like! :) See you next time! ps: don't forget to subscribe if you want to get an e-mail when I post a new blogpost! |
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July 2016
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