Over the next seven months I'll use this site to capture some details of our grand adventure travelling to, and around, the Subcontinent.
Scroll down or click to access the map showing our original travel plan, and the actual places we visited, or visit the pages for each of the countries and cities we visited, or the summary of each month of travel, starting with September.
So what was the idea behind this crazy adventure?
Overland to India! A 5,000 mile journey through some of the worlds most exotic and evocative places, following the path of the ancient Silk Road...
No planes! We wanted to embrace the journey, taking our time, enjoying the trip, and exploring the diverse means of overland travel available to us.
Explore the subcontinent! 4 months to explore some parts of that massive country, to share the culture and lives of a vibrant and exciting people.
Open the sidebar on this map (Icon at top left) to select the planned vs actual destinations views.
War...
Money...
Political unrest...
Covid border closures...
The price of a baguette in Paris....
These are just some of the many things that forced a degree of lateral thinking in our grand plan. So some compromise was needed.
Cheapest flight we could find to Eastern Europe
Keep an eye on the borders of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan - currently closed.
Go as far as we can overland, but prepare to hop on a plane to finish the trip
The target was Delhi before Diwali!
Cheap Airmiles flight back in time for my Sister's wedding in May :-)
We got more time in Eastern Europe - Yay!
AND we still got > 4 months in India!!
Following the recent actions of the Azerbaijani government, including (but not most significantly) the decision to leave land borders closed, we have sadly decided that we cannot visit Azerbaijan. As the only sensible route to Uzbekistan involved travel through AZ, we have also, disppointingly, had to cut this from the trip as well.
We will arrange a trip to Uzbekistan sometime in the future, and probably earlier in the year before the weather is as chilly. For the meantime we are extending our stay in Georgia to a full 4 weeks, which should give us plenty of time to explore this fabulous little country.
We are also able to get to India a little earlier, and crucially in time for the England Australia World Cup ODI, being played in the largest stadium in the world in Ahmedabad. Tickets have been purchased :-)