 We're really desperate for help getting across the world (basically). |
AfricaAntarcticaAsiaCentral America CaribbeanEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaOceaniaSouth AmericaOceans and SeasWe're really desperate for help getting across the world (basically).Topic Type: Help | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| My girlfriend and I are trying to find a non-air travel route between Thailand and Greece this winter. We have very little money and are interested in any ideas, no matter how desperate or crazy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ras Nikolaos I Nicholas John Nakis Post Count: 18 Msg: #1 1088 days ago, December 11th 2006 | My girlfriend and I are trying to find a non-air travel route between Thailand and Greece this winter. We have very little money and are interested in any ideas, no matter how desperate or crazy. | We're living in Thailand now, but she is from Kenya and I'm from the U.S.A. With our visas expiring in January--and being utterly exhausted by Thailand--we'll be needing to leave the country. My parents are planning a belated anniversary celebration on the island of Crete in Greece for early March. We want to be there to meet them. The problem is, we don't want to miss all the fun by travelling in the air--and we can't actually afford to fly. So, we're stuck for feasible ideas that will get us across Asia, the Middle East, and into Europe. Your past experiences will be invaluable to us. So will the unsubstantiated rumors you've heard and the email addresses of your craziest and least reliable contacts. Any suggestion will be considered, especially ones that show an opportunity to pickup pay checks. We're flying by the seat of our pants, I know, but we prefer that to flying on a plane and missing all the fun. Thanks for your help! - Nic  Poz Jeff Post Count: 43 Msg: #2 1087 days ago, December 12th 2006 | How about this? | You could do a northern route... Thailand--Cambodia--Laos--Vietnam--China--Mongolia--Russia--Georgia--Turkey--Greece I believe that all of the borders are currently crossable (but not positive). The countries themselves are all interesting; and you'd see an amazing diversity of culture. You would definitely need a serious amount of time in order to not feel like you're rushing through each region. You could take the Trans-Mongolian Express to shorten your travel time, but you'd be missing some fascinating countryside. Have fun! poz  VictorT VictorT Post Count: 25 Msg: #3 1084 days ago, December 14th 2006 | Hmmm, that's a hard one. I don't know how much money you have but it's gonna be really hard to do Thailand-Greece overland with less money than what it would cost flying, I'd say impossible. But it would be a great adventure for sure. | There's not too many ways to go overland from SE Asia to Europe. And something you need to make sure is that your girlfriend can get visas for the country mentioned below. Kenyan passport is not the best to travel unfortunately and she might find that she can't follow you in because of visa regulations. First, the boat option is pretty much out. Cargo ship is expansive and hard to find and cruise ship is even worse. Unless you have contacts, it's not gonna happen. Maybe you can post something on TT Ocean forum asking if anyone sailing around the world could pick you up or something but I wouldn't count on it. Crossing Burma into India is impossible. If you want to go the Indian route overland you need to go through Tibet and Nepal and I'm sure the 300$ permit to get into Tibet is too much. You could try to sneak in Tibet without paying the permit, few people have done it without problem from Golmud although it's not without risk. There's also very cheap flights from Calcutta to Bangkok if you're willing to forget the all overland part. If somehow you manage to make it to India, then it's fairly straightforward fast overland route (India--->Pakistan--->Iran--->Turkey--->Grece). It might be hard to obtain Iran visa as american, would be easier if you have greek citizenship I think. Calcutta-->Greece can be done overland in 10-12 days if in a real rush. There are 2 other routes that are a bit easier, although I don't know how they are in winter. They're close to what Poz recommended although Russia Georgia crossing is not open to foreigner (if you're REALLY adventurous, there's a thread on TT about people who managed to cross it by going through the unrecognized republic of South Abkazhia but I suggest you learn russian if you want to try that). 1) SEA -> China -> Kazakhstan (ferry to) -> Azerbaijan -> Georgia -> Turkey -> Greece Visas shouldn't be a problem here. Only problem is I don't know if the ferry from Kazakstan to Azerbaijan runs in winter, and that Kazakhstan is fairly expansive (too many oil expats) 2) SEA -> China -> Mongolia* -> Russia -> Bulgaria (there's a direct train Moscow Sofia) -> Greece *Mongolia can be avoided if you take the trans-manchurian line of the transsiberian if you don't want to get their visa. Again visa shouldn't be a problem here, although I would arrange the russian visa in advance as Beijing embassy will not give them to you if you're not chinese (your name give a little hint that you're not). This is probably the easiest, cheapest and most sensible option. Good luck with that adventure mate. Hope my post helped and keep us updated on what you decide to do.  ConMel Irish Traveller Post Count: 96 Msg: #4 1080 days ago, December 18th 2006 | I think China - Pakistan - Iran - Turkey - Greece is the best option for you. The Karakorum highway will be open from mid-May onwards to give you access to northern Pakistan, from where you can travel onto Europe with no problems. | See my blog for reports from Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. ConMel Irish Traveller Post Count: 96 Msg: #5 1080 days ago, December 18th 2006 | Oh, just saw you want to do this by March, well that rules out the Karakorum highway.....also, it'll be tough for you to save money on this trip......but anyway, trans-Mongolian looks like the best bet. |  swancadeau Mark Reds Post Count: 41 Msg: #6 1079 days ago, December 20th 2006 | Guys, you have to enlarge your horizons! Do as they did it for centuries. SAIL!!!! | It should not be too difficult to find a sailboat from Singapore to Europe across the indian ocean, and looking for crew. Things used to be a little dodgy around Aden, but thanks to the Iraqi war the yanks keep the way clean enough. Still many boats are happy to have a couple of free hands. You can expect to visit some interesting place on the way: the Andamans, India, Maldives and Red Sea. In case you need some help organizing it, you can contact me at info@ArmstronGlobal.com. For crew-finding oppurtunities the best bet is www.crewseekers.co.uk. Believe me, sailing is THE way to travel Cheers and Fair winds!!! M Ras Nikolaos I Nicholas John Nakis Post Count: 18 Msg: #7 1078 days ago, December 20th 2006 | Mark- | This tip comes at a funny time for us. We've been looking into sailing (and using crewseekers.co.uk, actually) for a while now, but haven't been able to get anything with any certainty. She is still with her job until the 31st, and my Thai visa expires on the 5th of January, so we're tight for time, also. Long story short, we decided today to bag the sailing to India idea and just purchased some really cheap plane tickets ($160 US) from Bangkok to Calcutta. We bought them and we fly on the 4th. Then we're crawling across India. Maybe we'll try to sail to Europe from Mumbai... Anyway, if you have any sailing contacts there we'd love to meet them. And bring on the India pointers! andythenamebender andy turner Post Count: 1 Msg: #8 1003 days ago, March 6th 2007 | Hi Mad Greek, | I don't know if this is any help but I travelled a lot in the eighties and nineties and I learned a skill "wire bending" while I was in Greece. I still do it, but don't travel any more, but I created a product that teaches you how to learn this skill and travel around with simple tools and wire and make money on markets etc while you travel. <snip> Cheers, Andy. [Edited: 12:46 - Mell - Removed URL] Number of Users: 6 | Number of Posts: 8 | ||||||||||||||||
