Sold All My Stuff. Taking a 9,000km Train Journey Across Asia.

[DeletedUser394]

So this past week I decided to sell everything and take the ultimate adventure. Yesterday I sold the last of my items (a rather expensive and rather new bicycle).

Dropped out of school, quit my job (well I will no longer have the job the day I leave for the flight)

Now all I own is a laptop, half a dozen books (TMF being one of them), and some clothes.

I will be taking my worldly possessions and will be flying to Beijing where I will board the Trans-Siberian train and will take a 6 day trek across China, through Mongolia, and ending up in Russia. After spending a few days exploring Moscow I will hop another train to Minsk, Belarus. After that, who knows? I've got a one way ticket to Beijing, and no end destination in mind.

I've never ventured beyond North America.

This thread will serve as a photojournal of my journey.

Journey begins the first week of November.

Cheers

 

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[FastLearner]

Strictly adventure or will you be doing some business out there as well?

 

[DeletedUser394]

Working remotely probably depending on how long I'm gone for, but mostly adventure.

 

[FastLearner]

Working remotely probably depending on how long I'm gone for, but mostly adventure.

That's really inspiring. Hopefully you won't miss home too much and just be immersed in a whole different atmosphere. I think it's something that would inspire more growth and maturity in you especially when you see how other people besides Americans, live.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

That's really inspiring. Hopefully you won't miss home too much and just be immersed in a whole different atmosphere. I think it's something that would inspire more growth and maturity in you especially when you see how other people besides Americans, live.

I'm Canadian eh

 

[FastLearner]

I'm Canadian eh

Whoops, I mean Canadians. Tu-parles français?

 

[DeletedUser394]

Whoops, I mean Canadians. Tu-parles français?

Oui, bien sûr. I was born in Quebec.

 

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[FastLearner]

Ah, un Québécois! I would love to own a condo in Toronto.

 

[Apemania]

That sounds glorious, have similar plans myself after I get my Sword & sorcery ball rolling. Will be looking
forward to seeing any photo's that you take during your trip.

Cheers =)

 

[Daniel A]

Wow, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?

I felt a little bit of fear and loneliness after reading your post haha. This is something I spent A LOT of time thinking about and would like to do sometime in the future. You're going to go all alone? Do you know another language other than English?

I'm looking forward to the pictures man! This thread is going to inspire me...BIG time.

 

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[theag]

Didn't you just sign a lease for your own place?

 

[DeletedUser394]

Didn't you just sign a lease for your own place?

Yup but I was able to push it for a month or two. My roommates are asian, so they sort of got a kick out of this white guy travelling to the homeland hahaha.

 

[DeletedUser394]

Wow, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?

I felt a little bit of fear and loneliness after reading your post haha. This is something I spent A LOT of time thinking about and would like to do sometime in the future. You're going to go all alone? Do you know another language other than English?

I'm looking forward to the pictures man! This thread is going to inspire me...BIG time.

I'm 21.

Fluent in english and french, and basic spanish.. none of which will help much lol. For the train ride I've got some companions to ride with that have done it before (never met them yet though), we're going to meet in China. They're expats from the UK and the USA.

For the first 2 days in Beijing I'm on my own, and then once I get to Belarus I'm on my own.

This ain't no tourist train. It's the regular commuter taken by regular people. Going to be interesting.

 

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[Alex Rend]

If you think about coming to Paris, I'll be happy to welcome you here

P.S. - Tell me later about your impressions about Minsk, because I'm Belarussian myself and curious about your opinion on it

 

[Ikke]

If you ever come into the netherlands or or belgium, let me know. We could meet up if you'd want to.

Best of luck on your trip. Enjoy :coolgleamA:

 

[DeletedUser394]

I don't plan on entering Western europe on this go around, as I'll be in Dublin for Saint Patrick's day in March and will use London as my home base to venture further into Western Europe.

I plan to hit all of Scandinavia in the summer time

 

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[timmy]

Love to meet up on March 17 in Dublin .There are a few other Irish on here also so we might be able to organise a meetup.

 

[DeletedUser394]

Love to meet up on March 17 in Dublin .There are a few other Irish on here also so we might be able to organise a meetup.

Sounds good to me! A mini meetup would be awesome.

I'll actually be in Dublin for a few days.

 

[timmy]

That's grand will be following your progress.

 

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[Dmitri]

This is inspiring. How long do you think the entire trip will last? and how much do you think it will end up costing? This is something I was always dreaming of doing.

 

[DeletedUser394]

This is inspiring. How long do you think the entire trip will last? and how much do you think it will end up costing? This is something I was always dreaming of doing.

The goal is to keep it under 5k. Probably 3 weeks to a month total, hard to say. May call it quits once I get to Minsk, depends how I'm feeling.

Already spent about 2k (1.25k for the train/hostel accommodation, 750 for the flights to beijing) Going to spend another 500 just on stupid visas to get into the countries. Then I'll need a flight home eventually from somewhere haha.

That's not including Ireland/UK, Western Europe, and Scandinavia though.

 

[DeletedUser2]

balls so big they shine your shoes when you walk
Z

 

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[million$$$smile]

Very, very cool.
Anytime one can step out of the comfort zone of their 'motherland' and venture to places unknown, one is up for some awesome experiences AND opportunities.
In America we usually wait until we are financially set before taking on a life adventure like yours. The problem with that scenario is most of the time, life gets in the way for 30-40 years and the adventure is never realized.
Kudos on taking the jump. My greatest memories are traveling with no more than a pack on my back.

Can't wait to read of your experiences R'Kid...

 

[Vigilante]

Go get 'em, kid. And in the process, you just might discover... yourself.

I think you should make a blog (like a normal blog, not a thread here). Then, when you have updates you can post here the link to the blog in this thread.

You might find a much broader readership in your adventure than just us paper jockeys.

 

[Vick]

Ah, un Québécois! I would love to own a condo in Toronto.

Lol. Why's that?

 

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[FastLearner]

Lol. Why's that?

I just love big metropolitan cities. It's like being in Paris without leaving North America!

 

[Vick]

I just love big metropolitan cities. It's like being in Paris without leaving North America!

ya Toronto is ok. becomes the norm when you live in it for years. I could use some warmth.

 

[FastLearner]

ya Toronto is ok. becomes the norm when you live in it for years. I could use some warmth.

We could switch places since I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona lols It's hardly in the 70's unless it's mid-Autumn. I'm originally from California though.

 

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[splok]

Going to spend another 500 just on stupid visas to get into the countries. Then I'll need a flight home eventually from somewhere haha.

You may be way on the other side of this already, but I'll mention some caveats just in case, since I almost got screwed a time or two myself... Sometimes visas can take way longer to get than you'd think, and some countries won't give you a visa unless you've already booked a flight out of the country. Also, always be sure to have the address of a hotel in the country handy. I almost got kicked out of Japan of all places because I thought I was going to book my hotel on arrival (which would have sucked even more than normal since I was doing a visa run for another country).

 

[DeletedUser394]

Just got rejected by both my bank and a currency exchange company while trying to buy Mongolian and Belarusian. Woman didn't even know Belarus is a country she tried to tell me it's part of Russia.