The Big Adventure

 

Stupid google maps, can't get directions from Cambridge to Beijing. What's the point of it, then?

 

Well, Google might not be able to tell you how to get there, but I can. Trains. Oh, all right, there is technically one ferry involved, from Stockholm to Turku, but after that, it's trains all the way to Beijing. Haven't decided how we're getting to places after that, but right now, from the comfort of home, it seems a shame to go all that way and then hop on a plane.

So, on Saturday we shall walk to Cambridge railway station (I love that bit), get on a train which will take us to London, get on another train which will take us to Brussels, then to Cologne, then an overnight train to Copenhagen, then a quick hop (in a train) to Stockholm, then an overnight ferry to Turku. A brief train journey takes us to Helsinki, where we shall spend our first night in a hotel, before heading over to St Petersburg. By train. Three days there, then another overnighter to Moscow. Three more days there (unless it's four - I forget), and then the Big One - a straight six day train journey from Moscow to Beijing. Originally, there were going to be stops along the way, but my health and hospital treatments mean we are limited to six weeks, so there's a lot to cram in!

So after three weeks of travelling we shall arrive in Beijing, where we have a week of sightseeing. Then we go to the Panda Conservation Thingy Place in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, where we have volunteered to muck out pandas for a week... then onwards to Shanghai for a quick look at the Expo, and finishing in Hong Kong, from where we shall fly back to the UK.

Phew. I feel tired just writing it all down.

So, yes, our Great Adventure - Overland to Beijing, and Beyond. Hence the test - I wanted to see if I was going to be able to keep y'all updated (and you never know, send out emergency messages too when we get arrested for wearing disrespectful socks in Mao Tse Tung's tomb, or something).