The whole point of taking a break is to have time to do longer, slower journeys.

So, rather than flying back to Malaysia, we're planning to do a large chunk of the journey over land and sea. We're currently in London (more on this later), and over the course of 10 weeks, we'll be heading towards Baku, where we'll take to the air again.



Our itinerary takes in France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Georgia, before doing a brief side-trip to Armenia, returning to Georgia, and ending in Azerbaijan.

I planned this route with the help of the inimitable Man in Seat Sixty-One and the always informative Caravanistan, but it's interesting to see how closely it adheres to that of traders centuries ago. (See here for a fascinating map of "the main trading arteries of the high middle ages, just after the decline of the Vikings, and before the rise of the Mongols [and] the Hansa, and well before the Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope".)



I know this is becoming a bit of a running theme, but London-to-Baku is a cut-down version of a much longer journey, which would have taken us right across Asia (I'd even worked out a scheme for getting us on the surface all the way back to Kuching).

The problem is that this would all have taken a really long time... And we need to get back to Sarawak to find somewhere to live... So London-to-Baku was the compromise. And as we don't have much experience with overland journeying, I suppose it's not a bad idea to start with a shortish itinerary. Hopefully we can do a bit more of the distance next year.

It's not wholly the best part of the year to be doing this trip. I think the destinations in Turkey will be busy, and by the time we get to the Caucasus, the local tourist season will also be under way.

But it's the time we've got available. And I'm never in favour of hanging around waiting for optimal conditions that might never happen along.


Broadly, the aim is to travel modestly, cheaply, and sustainably. No big tours or exorbitant entrance fees. No haring around. Lots of walking, lounging, and smelling the roses (or whatever).



We've planned carefully (it's very possible I over-plan...), but even so there are elements that we will have to work out as we go along, because my current information is rather sparse. Communication in some of these areas is going to be interesting. I'm hoping Russian will again be a useful backstop, but I wish I'd had time in the last few months to hoist on board a little more Turkish...



Concerns notwithstanding, I'm quite excited, because it's a reasonably purple undertaking.

I'll be posting our progress here at Purple Tern, and also putting links on our NilAligned.Net Facebook page.

Tomorrow... Paris!