Istambul here we are

And we made ıt to Istambul. Where Asıa meets Europe, east meets west, dıscoteques on the left bank, no dıscoteques on the rıght bank....and mosques everywhere! 3000 apparently! Over and out

...y Camila se lleva la guitarra...and Camila will take her guitar along

.....va ser muy divertido...should be fun!

....and we´re into the last week

leaving on Sunday, now it´s countdown for real...

Couchsurfing the route /Couchsurfing la ruta!

We´ve been looking at couchsurfing some of the route - great way to meet locals, and also keep things in budget...
Number of couchsurfers for the route:

China: 16913 couches....
Turkey: 14610 couches - there should be plenty to choose from
Iran: 1972 couches! not that surprising - they do say it´s one of most hospitable country on the route
Uzbekistan: 155 couches
Kyrgyzstan: 89 couches --- there´s a local Kyrgyz lady who is also half Guatemalan - we´re going to try and stay with her...
Tajikistan: 48 couches
Turkmenistan: 9 couches! (mostly expats!)

(If you´re a member of the couchsurfing community, I am looking for references - need to make myself look decent!)

Over and out...2 weeks exacly and counting down fast (too fast, there´s a lot to sort out still!)

17 days to go..

Just printed the World Cup Schedule to take on the trip...noticed North Korea is in it...should be interesting!

cuenta regresiva...

Y vamos tachando con cruces los días que pasan, las listas se van reduciendo, los visados: algunos ya cocinados y otros, aún dentro del horno!...
Step by step.
Emocionados por lo que se viene, aunque disfrutando de la última etapa en Barcelona.
Traslado del piso, reuniones con amigos, las prontísimas despedidas y como no, cada día de trabajo es acercarse a la partida.
19,18,17,16,15,14....

6 weeks to go!!!

6 weeks and counting down...and preparations in full swing...

Good news is we have 2 Visa´s sorted out (Tajikistan and Krygzstan), bad news is we still have 5 to get done...

The route on paper (it is unlikely to turn out that way in reality) is from Istanbul, we will follow the coastline south, then head eastwards (with a possible detour into Syria), then through Capadocia and Anatolia to Iran (with a possible side trip to Armenia)...a couple of weeks in Iran, and then north east to meet the Stans crossing Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Krygystan...and into China through Kashgar...if time permits, the plan is to get to Hong Kong and from there to South East Asia...for our flight back home..

So far, the biggest challenge is working out how to cross Turkmenistan..you either get a tourist visa, but then you need to book an official tour (minimum 1000 euros) or get transit visa (but then you need to get in and out in 3 days), and we will only be able to sort out this visa on the ground in Iran...we´ll see!