How do you pack for that?

If organizing the logistics for the trip was fun, figuring out what to pack was tough! I've gotten very good at packing light on vacations thanks to Brian's 'Never check a bag' rule (thanks Brian). But this trip poses a big packing challenge.  We need clothes for multiple climates, grunge wear for the 7-day-no-shower Siberian train and fancy-pants evening-wear for the cruise.  And it all has to fit in one bag since we're literally schlepping it around the world.     

There is no shortage of example "essentials only" packing lists out there on the Internet. I got to the point where reading yet another list was boggling my mind a bit.  So I went back to the basics and tried to follow a simple strategy: pick neutral colors for the bottom and upper warm layers and then use pops of colors (all in the same family) for the different shirts and blouses.  Hopefully that will give me lots of options to mix and match without getting too bored with my limited pieces.  I've got three months of not being able to open the closet to wear whatever I feel like that day!

The next question is what bag to take. I was leaning towards the average carry-on suitcase with wheels.  Brian (wishing he had been able to tramp around Europe in his 20's) thought backpacks were the way to go.   So we did a 'test pack'.  We jammed our pile of stuff into the carry-on suitcase and then into the backpack.  Brian was right, as usual.  I was forced to admit the backpack was lighter and more mobile - definitely a plus when we're running to catch the next train. Plus Brian will now be able to say he backpacked through Europe.

I still had one issue with the backpack.  I didn't like the idea of having to dig to the bottom of the bag every time I wanted something.  The solution was to get a bunch of mesh packing cubes that will fit stacked on top of each other inside the bag.  The backpacks, all stuffed, weigh in at a reasonable 20 pounds and will hopefully be maneuverable through the crowded public transportation, cobblestone streets and hotel stairs.

We are able to fit about a weeks worth of "essential" clothes in the backpacks.  So we will get to do some laundry in the hotel sinks along the way.  I found these cool little travel laundry detergent sheets that turn into soap with water.  Hopefully, they do the trick or our clothes will just have to smell like shampoo.  We're also hoping to find a laundramat or a hotel with facilities somewhere about half way to do a full-load refresh.  

So that's how we did 77 days worth of stuff in one bag. I'm even leaving my blow dryer at home just so I have some extra room for souvenirs!

"He who would travel happily must travel light."  - Anntoine de Saint Exupery 

Lovin the Logistics

Yah...  we might be a little geeky about planning and organizing.  But it sure has been fun figuring out all the logistics for our around the world trip.  Here's how we put it all together.  Hooray for the Internet!

Leg 1:  Loveland to Seattle via rental car (3 days).  This leg was easy.  A one-way rental car through Hertz and a couple of hotels along the way and we're good to go.  Add a night of mooching at a friends place near Seattle (thanks Diane!) and plans for this leg are complete.   

Leg 2:  Seattle to Vancouver via ferries (5 days).  There were several different ways to get from Seattle to where the trans-pacific cruise leaves in Vancouver.   We could go by train, rental car or bus but we thought the more iconic way was to do a little Pacific NW island hopping via ferries.  Some easy internet booking got us ferries to and hotels in Victoria and Vancouver.  

Leg 3:  Vancouver to Shanghai via repositioning cruise (15 days).  This was the key segment of the trip as we found only one cruise per year that crossed the Pacific.  So all the dates of the trip revolved around the dates for this cruise.  There may have been a way to get across by renting a cabin on a cargo ship but we have a certain accommodation which we've become accustomed :).  The cheapest cabin on the cruise will do just fine.  

Leg 4:  Shanghai to Beijing via train (7 days).  Trip Advisor reviews and Expedia searches handled accommodations in China.   A few emails to an agent in China took care of booking the train to Beijing.  We also found a great internet site called Viator (http://www.viator.com/) to arrange most of our excursions through the whole trip and especially in China.  We'll let you know how those turn out.  

Leg 5:  Beijing to Moscow via Trans-Siberian train (7 days).  (http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm#.VdD2pz2COrV)  The easiest way we found to get across Asia is the Trans-Siberian train.  It's pretty much a 7-day non-stop train ride across the Russian wilderness.  There is only one train per week departing out of Beijing so that determined how long we got to stay in China.  These tickets were purchased via the Internet through a Chinese travel agent.  I hope our tickets are there waiting for us when we get to Beijing or we will have to scramble for another option!

Leg 6:  Moscow to Warsaw via train (5 days).  Our Eurail passes aren't valid in Russia so we needed to book an overnight train from Moscow to Warsaw through a Russian travel agency.  Hopefully those tickets are waiting for us in Moscow as well!  Add a couple of hotel nights in both cities to complete the planning for this leg.  

Leg 7:  Warsaw to Rome via Eurail (22 days).  For the main Europe leg, we had to choose between city-to-city train segments or renting a car.  Ultimately we decided that since neither of us got to backpack across Europe in our 20's, we'd like to have that train hopping experience in our retirement. We had friends that really enjoyed Prague and Budapest in their trip last year so we planned our travel down through eastern Europe rather than through the western countries.  Again, we're trusting Trip Advisor, Expedia and Viator reviews to lead us to good hotels and tour ideas.  

Leg 8:  Rome to Florida via repositioning cruise (15 days).  There were a lot of options here since there are many ships that move from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean in fall.  We picked one that left out of Rome and departed around the time our Europe leg was finishing.  It was a bonus that the cruise also includes some interesting port stops.  

Leg 9:  Florida to Loveland via car rental (2 days).  We booked another one way car rental home with just one hotel stop in Tennessee.  Power drive!  We know we'll be itching to get back home!

Hotels:  For hotels, we mainly relied on Trip Advisor, online pictures and reviews.  We were looking for small, non-chain, authentic-ish hotels in walking distance to tourist areas but still bookable through Expedia.  Pretty sure most of them have a receptionist that speaks English.  Hopefully the hotels also have reliable WiFi so we are able to update the blog and connect since we're not getting international phone packages.

Visas:  There are three countries that require entry visa's prior to arrival, China, Russia and Belarus (as far as we know!)  We found out thanks to the state department website.  It's kind of scary to ship your passport off with a large check but so far they have come back okay.  Hopefully the border patrols will approve too!

Currency:  As best as we could determine, we need 8 different types of currency to complete the trip.  Canadian Dollar, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, Russian Ruble, Poland Zloty, Euro's, Czech Koruna and Hungary Forint.  Wells Fargo's web site made it easy to order a stack of each these to get us started and all delivered directly to our door.  We'll hit ATM's in each country if we need more.  

Language:  We printed off a couple of simple phrase sheets and installed the Google translate app.  Hopefully with these and a lot of pointing, gestures and smiles we can stumble our way through our interactions with the locals.  

Budget:  So what's the price tag for all this?   Obviously that depnds on what type of stuff you book.  We mostly did mid-range hotels, better-class train seats, economy car rentals and the cheapest cruise cabins.  Add in prices for visas, organized tours/excursions and spending cash and our total cost will probably end up in the $20k-$25k range.  Not too bad for a crazy big trip like this - but definitely something that we'll only do once in our lifetime.  

"All you've got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over."  -  Tony Wheeler

The Plan

So, we're taking a trip around the world!  We've been pondering about it for about a year now and it is still hard to believe we're actually gonna do this.  So how did we come up with this idea of 'Around the world - no planes'?     

Last spring our nephew, Grant, was signing up for frequent flier accounts for his upcoming corporate travel and he sent us a link about a guy who traveled around the world using his frequent flyer points.  We thought that was a great idea, but we have traveled enough for work over the years to learn to avoid airports if at all possible.  However, it sparked a crazy idea in Brian's head (he has these a lot, I've learned to embrace them..you never know when it's gonna be a good one!). He wondered if a person could travel around the world only by land and sea...no planes.  You know, actually travel and experience places you wouldn't normally go, not just seeing the airports and big cities?

But how would we travel acrosss the oceans? Would we have to book a passage on a cargo ship as a deck hand or find a gig as a yacht cook? Then we discovered about repositioning cruises.  Every year, in the spring and fall, cruise lines reposition their ships from one destination to another, depending on where the best cruise weather will be.  Most are 14 days long and you get to encounter a few out-of-the-ordinary destinations mixed in with long stretches at sea.  So, this was our starting point - it looks like it was possible.  The next question was, "Are we going to do it?" 

Yes.  Well at least we're going to try.  We're retired, traveling is what we enjoy doing with our life (when we can pull ourselves away from awesome Colorado).  While we are still young enough to WANT to do it...let's do it!

So now the deep dive into the planning phase....  First, where do we go and how long do we stay in each city/country?  Our timeline was already somewhat determined by the ocean-crossing cruises scheduled on both ends of our trip.  Then it was a matter of figuring out how to get from where the Pacific cruise finished in Shanghai to where the Atlantic cruise started in Rome. Plug in a Trans-siberian train trip between Beijing and Moscow and the major legs were set.  Connect the remaining dots and we've got our plan.

Here's our plan in map form, we leave Sept 5th...
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zcjqrXhYNcV4.kSg6E2FYmNuE