Getting Ready to Circle the Globe

With less than two weeks left before we take off again searching for inspiration for our next book, the emphasis is currently on making sure we have all our i’s dotted and t’s crossed.

Like our last adventure that resulted in “Bucket Lists and Walking Sticks,” this journey has also grown into something much larger than originally planned. What was meant to be an excursion through the Panama Canal to compare it to the Suez we did back in 2017, has now exploded into an around the world odyssey.

Seeing the Terracotta Warriors, traversing Mongolia and Siberia on the Trans-Mongolian Express, visiting Auschwitz and marvelling at the views from the Glacier Express in Switzerland are just a few examples of what has been ‘added’ to this upcoming expedition.

In hindsight, this new venture has been a lot more difficult (and challenging) to plan than our previous one hence the need to dot i’s and cross t’s.

Four expensive and time-consuming Visas have been obtained or are in the process of being obtained – China, Russia, Mongolia and Belarus along with an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Organisation – kind of an official visa waiver) for the USA.

Twenty- one train journeys have been researched and tickets earmarked and/or bought. Multiple immunisations such as flu, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria, HEP A and B have been injected into our bodies and multiple SIM cards organised.

Twenty-four places of stay have been thought about or booked (so far), including a night in a Ger camp in minus 14-degree temperatures in the Gobi Desert. One ferry journey across the Adriatic has been reserved and old passports renewed.

Loading up money cards with foreign currency has been left until the last minute in the vain hope that the Australian dollar will perform a miraculous recovery. Positive plans are underway to obtain West Ham tickets for Darryl.

Finally, thermal under-ware has been procured, black-tie ware found (thanks Vinnies), suitcases tested (or in my case enlarged) and the kids warned to keep the house clean.

We take off on the 27th October and would love you to follow us – please keep an eye on Darma Travels, or better still – sign up and not miss a beat on how we manage this journey.

It would also be appreciated if you could like and share this blog.