There are trips, and then there is THIS!!
See you soon
Round The World 2012
Starting from London in mid-January, we will land in busy Bangkok. After staying few days to get our first 'hit' of Asia (and delicious Thai food), we will move towards the east and enter Cambodia. We will visit amazing Angkor Wat temples and few other highlights before entering mighty Vietnam. From the capital Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) the idea is to get our own transport (see Top Gear Vietnam) and travel from the south to the north of the country, aiming for the stunning Ha Long bay! From Hanoi, we will head towards Laos seeking the jungle beauties and the Mekong river. They say, 'tubing' on the river is a must! We will leave Laos and re enter Thailand this time from the north, Chiang Mai. On an over night train we will head back to Bangkok and our way towards the south city of Phuket and few other beautiful small islands. We will enter Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur before jumping onto a ferry to the primitive Indonesian Sumatra. Our next flight is from the neighbouring city-state of Singapore.
We will land in Cairns, north east coast of Australia, off the coast to the Great Barrier reef. A dive is a must there! A three week journey, mostly on the coast, and through the capital of Sydney, will end up in the Greek populated city of Melbourne. Flight from there and off to Christchurch, at the south island of New Zealand. I've been told renting a campervan and drive along the country's both major islands is the way to do it. We want to visit some glaciers and national parks while moving towards the north island. Our next flight is from Auckland and over the Pacific ocean to another world, Latin America.
We will land in Santiago de Chile. After acclimatising to the new environments, we will move south and aim for the wild and some national parks. We expect the weather as we will be moving south will be getting less and less welcoming. We will explore the southern Andes cordillera and enter Argentina and the town of Bariloche, the entry point of Patagonia region. A number of glaciers and national parks at the southern parts of Andes will be tiping points to this trip. We will travel to the southest place on earth, the town of Ushuaia, at the tip of the Land of Fire. There is only way north from there and the city of Buenos Aires. From there we will look for the amazing Iguazu falls before shortly exploring Uruguay and Paraguay. We will try to reach Salar de Uyuni in south Bolivia, an out of this world spot we missed in our previous trip. Brazil is the next and last country. We may need to take an internal flight if we want to see more of this enormous country. Our trip will end in the city of Rio de Janeiro where we take the flight and back to Europe.
Flights confirmed and carbon offseted. New passport at hand as well as australian visa. Psychologically, I'm still trying to realise where and what I will be going through the next few months. I am now looking for iNGOs to try and get involved in some projects along the way. It's a big thing for me. But still this trip is not my ultimate target, my ultimate dream. It is the means of becoming aware about our world, to see with my own eyes, the means of becoming a better man by finding and realising there more cultures and beliefs other than those we live in.
I'd rather get you motivated than envying or jealous. I hope this can motivate those who can do it and most importantly those who think they can't!!
Everything is possible!
See you soon
Nektarios~
p.s Have you been, done that? Do you have good insider's info for any of the places mentioned above? Any tips? Do's and dont's? Please come in touch!