Countless hours have gone into the preparations for this trip. If you decide to do something similar, we hope we save you some of our false starts, wasted time and stress.
www.dfat.gov.au is a good start for information about embassies, visas and of course the travel warnings that tell you not to go anywhere anytime for any reason because something might happen
www.projectvisa.com is invaluable for that as well
www.weltrekordreise.ch is truly inspirational - seeing what Emil and Liliana have done makes us look like giant wimps.
www.horizonsunlimited.com is one of those gems of a collection of information and inspiration that gets the juices flowing
www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree is like bumping into everyone who is travelling all at once and being able to pick their collective brains for your own convenience
www.dreamtrip.se shows what you can do if you really set your mind to it - and they run a bi-lingual website into the bargain. And they are the only travellers I have found who worked out a way of getting a private foreign registered car into Vietnam, which I was told was impossible. But look at what it took to get just that little bit of the trip organised….. we do not have that much time
www.destoop.com are to be admired because after the trip was over they were on such good terms with each other they made babies instead of saying “…and I don’t want to hear your voice again for the next 20 years…”
www.drivearoundtheworld.wordpress.com is Sandy and Danny who have just set off with two young kids for a year. Now how weird is this… Jon’s sister Susan works in Melbourne with Sandy…. how small is this world we live in? Jon met up with Sandy and Danny just before they left and we compared notes. They have lots more music loaded into their ipod than we do…..
www.users.bigpond.net.au/AdrianScott/ shows how you can set yourself a goal, no matter how wild, and then just get out there and DO it. Adrian learned to ride his motorbike ON HIS TRIP with almost catastrophic results.
www.aussiesoverland.com.au was instrumental in getting Jon to commit to this adventure. Read how Brian and Shirley wandered around two up on a BMW long before Ewan MacGregor and Charlie whatsisname took support cars and film crews where no one had ever been before, except their advance party.
www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/HeatherB2P is for all those other grandmothers from FernTree Gully who want to cycle from Beijing to Istanbul. Heather sets the rest of us to shame. How cushy will we be sitting on our backsides on sheepskins in bucket seats in turbo-diesel comfort…..
Trailblazers Guide ‘The Silk Roads - A Route & Planning Guide’ by Paul Wilson is by far the best book we have found for this part of the world.
Odyssey Books & Guides ‘The Silk Road - Xi’an to Kashgar’ by Judy Bonavia is terrific and essential for insights and history.
Lonely Planet offer the only comprehensive set of guide books that cover every place we want to go. Nothing is left out, regularly updated and they have not given us a dud lead ever in our planning so far.