
OR MY BIG BRAND NEW ADVENTURE!
I changed from South America to making the Trans Siberian Express journey and around Asia! Choo choo! And yikes very cold!

The Xmas miracle fell in my lap. I saw an ad for the Trans Siberian Express completely by accident and, as they say, the rest was history. The hysterical planning of a complex trip had begun and I was ecstatic. The challenge and logistics huge. It would be a mother to cobble together but so worth it. I would be able to leave in late January 2019. This gave me time to organise visas and the train tickets through a specialist agent allowing for the Russian holiday times. Thank you so much Scotts Visas, and Robert Lourens, who was a star to put it together for me so quickly over the Xmas period.
And a BIG thank you to my lovely Yuriy and Real Russia who organised the complex Trans Siberian Railway trip. I was breaking it up into three parts, Moscow to Irkutsk, Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar and finally Ulaanbaatar to Beijing and a coordinated cab from Irkutsk to Lake Baikal. Phew, he was a genius and I could have never done it without him. Cheers Yuriy! More on Real Russia later.
I would get over there whilst relatively tourist-free for the duration so be able to truly enjoy the places I was visiting. ( A little “yeah right” here too. I ended up arriving in Beijing neatly in time for the extended Chinese new year) I also had never organised a really cold foray. I wanted to go somewhere so bitterly cold that in the winter your nose hair froze. I wanted to buy a new expensive wardrobe for that weather and I wanted to try proper Russian borsch!!! I needed this new challenge!

Flexibility is everything when you’re planning journeys and booking stuff on the hoof and alone. You have to let go of things that don’t work out. No problem! Water off ducks back. Excuse the birdy reference!

The hysterical planning of a complex trip had begun and I was ecstatic. The challenge and logistics were huge. It would be a mother to cobble together but so worth it. I wanted to be able to leave in late January 2019. This gave me time to organise visas and the train tickets through a specialist agent -Scotts Travels- allowing for the Russian holiday times. I would get over there whilst relatively tourist-free for the duration so be able to truly enjoy the places I was visiting. ( A little yeah right here too. I ended up arriving in Beijing neatly in time for the extended Chinese new year) I also had never organised a really cold foray. It would involve very imaginative packing even for me! My usual tiny cabin suitcase and petite rucksack would still be used so I would have to wear the bulky heavy stuff.
THE WINTER PALACE OF THE HERMITAGE FIRST STOP!
So I would fly to St Petersburg first (on the Liberation of Leningrad Day, 75th anniversary, as it transpired) stay there for a few days to visit the magnificent Hermitage and the palaces, drop into Faberge and generally look at gorgeous things darling! Next, I would take the train to Moscow (I organised that when I got there) stay a couple of days for Red Square etc (I was winging this bit, I didn’t organise anything till my last night in St Petersburg). Then, of course, I would go to board the Trans Siberian Express.

Then I would be on the train for over three days until I arrived in Irkutz, from there I had organised a taxi to take me to Lake Baikal for two days return to Irkutz for a night then back on the train to Mongolia. four days there then my last part of the train journey to Beijing! Phew!

After that, I was winging it. I wanted to go to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China before flying to Xian to see the Terracotta Army. Then I would see where else I wanted to go in China (you’ll see how I changed my plans on that leg later) before hitting Vietnam and vaguely making my way back to Bangkok and flying back to London!

The way I figured it was, once I had finished with the train I would travel slowly down China, discarding my furry leggings and thick socks flinging them over my shoulders as I eventually got to warmer climes. Going down from north to south Vietnam would be a huge difference in temperature. At that point I would have to carry my coat as I went along and sweat it out flying in my faux leather culottes and boots. Sweaty but do-able. I would work out the rest later. I would wing it after that part of the journey in my usual fashion!

BELOW ARE SOME OF THE SHOTS ON THIS NEW TRIP! FROM NIPPY TO HOT AND WET!!!!













I’ve drastically changed trips a few times, the most notable being when I was planning to go to Scotland and I ended up going to Thailand. The Scottish Tourist board had moved from Trafalgar Square without telling anyone, so when I walked down from Soho I was frustrated. Any old bird knows this is NOT on. There was however the Thai Tourist board upstairs so I went in and the girl was very helpful so I trotted of and an hour later I had my ticket booked for Chiang Mai! These changes are good for a solo traveller they keep you flexible and not freaked by a change in plans however dramatic.

This would mean I could see my pals for an au revoir and then plan and exercise and clothes shop for the time up to my departure A couple of art gallery private views could be squeezed in along with visits to the British Museum. Perfick.

This would push my solo trip experience to the limit!
OVER AND OUT! Rebecca
ART WORK WEBSITES:
www.rtpots.com www.art-with-attitude.co.uk
I really like your approach to changing your plan because the tourist office had moved …. elements of surprise, change and rebellion! I’d have done just the same but then, maybe not but reading that you did, I would!
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Goodo! Keep reading as theres all sorts of things going to change!!!!
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It’s amazing (and brave) that you vacation alone, let alone to such exotic places.
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That’s why I am literally going more mad than I was before and that’s tricky. Got my eye on Gobekli Tepi now Turkey is opening up again!
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AHHHHHHH! The real cradle of civilization. I’m in awe of that place.
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Was a bit close to the Syrian border but it’s open again woooohooooo, there’s loads of amazing sites in Turkey where nobody goes as they are so remote and there’s a slight danger of kidnapping……
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Being kidnapped would ruin my vacation for sure! I became aware of Gobekli Tepe and Klaus Schmidt via reading Graham Hancock.
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Convoluted should I know Mr Hancock?
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He is into alternative history. The book relating to Gobekli Tepe is “Magicians of the Gods”. Basically, he and Randall Carlson believe that a civilization prior to our existed and were destroyed in an extinction level event at the end of the last ice age.
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They are going back even further now on a site in Syria. Saw a documentary the other day now saying that it’s highly probable that human beings have suffered many extinction events and could go back much further in history and we just wouldn’t know as evidence has been destroyed. It was brilliant and weirdly obvious.
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Hancock believes that the sphinx at giza is an equinoctial marker, whose head was originally a lion’s head. He theorizes that it was carved during the last age of Leo, which puts it at around 10,500 BC. Zawi Hawass, the former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs in Egypt, dismissed that claim, saying why aren’t there any other contemporaneous megalithic sites to prove it? Gobekli Tepe was the proof that he needed. I’m looking forward to seeing what Syria has to show.
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You can see the human head is not the right size for the base. One might say a bit of a pinhead totally out of proportion. Ego of a Pharaoh would like the idea of that makeover
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Exactly. Someone once wrote that it’s like if someone named Kilroy spray painted his name on the Coliseum and we then attributed Kilroy as the builder.
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I love Hawass but he doesn’t have an eye for stuff like that
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I also think that there’s a bit of nationalist protectionism there. I’m not sure that he’s on board with someone other than Egyptians building that necropolis.
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Yes but also he is a very stubborn man who doesn’t like to a new idea unless it’s his the old scoundrel 😂
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haha! I think that you are right. He’s a buzzard!
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And there’s a plethora of sphinxes that followed which makes them all a bit foolish
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The pharaohs must have had huge egos. I’ve never woken up and insisted that my likeness be carved on Plymouth Rock. 😀
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I think you have.
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I’m quite sure that I’m not engraved anywhere. 😀
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You just forgot
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haha! Sketched, yes, carved? No.
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Must try and find out if they were on it
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Here’s a link that you may like:
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Looking at that tomorrow my eyes are falling out.x
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