bus from Istanbul to T'bilisi 60US 3 days
T'bilisi to Georgia/Azerbaijan border share taxi 5US
border to Baku 10US
Ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi 45-60US 48hrs
train turkmenbashi to Tashkent 20US 24hrs
bus from Tashkent to Uzbek/Kyrgyz border
bus from border to Bishkek
so this is the basic layout of my journey ahead of me. i gather it will take a total of perhaps 15-20 days to get from istanbul to bishkek including border layups and travel from within the countries i'm passing through. i have no rush and i would even consider taking an entire month to get to kyrgyzstan. the journey is 2200 miles in a bird's eye view so realistically it is much longer. the prices are very cheap but i must take into consideration visa costs and being ripped off a handful of times. one must also consider there are no ATMs for the better part of this trip so budget and personal security are imperative. i will stay in kyrgyzstan until i get my fill. i'm not sure how long that will be but i would be happy to disappear into nature for quite a bit of time before coming back to the states.
here is a crude map of the path i have set before me:
so once again.. these plans are basic yet they will manifest with time. the internet is a highly unreliable source for travel in this particular region so i find that other travelers tend to be much more useful.
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan back to istanbul +/- 500US
and ticket from istanbul back to Detroit +/- another 500US
this and my previous mentions of budgeting will be easy to take care of with the 1600US travel bonus i get at the end of my contract plus any money i will inevitably save in the next lot of time. travel travel travel... i have my work cut out for me and over the next few months these plans will be much more developed. for now i will focus on my swims of this next month.
2 comments:
Hi there, seems like you have a nice planning but pls bear in mind that it wont be as easy as it may seem initially, with crossing all borders and visas (especially if u have US passport), I believe most challenging will be Uzbek - Kyrgyz border but before that you have also Baku – Turkmenbashi trip which is also not fun at all. I did travel this route, not like you plan “in one go” but in different years, different part of it. Ask if you will need any tips. best, MS
i could use perhaps a million tips, MS.. these plans are tentative as i'm not even leaving for another 7 months or so. i live in istanbul and come across many travelers who i find to be a much better source of information than wikitravel and shit like that. is there somehow i can get a hold of you? or somehow you'll even know that i wrote this? :)
Post a Comment