6 month trip advice appreciated

**Steveandphilstrip** · #1 2nd December 2008

Hi There,

My boyfriend and his brother in law are planning a six month trip starting 1st September 2009. We are in the early stages of planning but the rough itinary is: (the dates are estimated departure dates from each country)
France 4th Sep
Switzerland 6th Sep
Austria 10th Sep
Hungary 14th Sep
Romania 18th Sep
Bulgeria 22nd Sep
Turkey 27th Sep
Iran 11th Oct
Dubai 21st Oct
India 25th Oct - 4th Nov
Nepal 7th Nov
China 1st Dec
Vietnam 5th Dec
Laos
Thailand 15th Dec
Malaysia 20th Dec
USA 9th Feb

Return home to UK 10th Feb 2010

I'd really love to hear from anyone who has visited any of these countries or done a similar itinary. Any advice or tips gratefully received.

xx

**Billy Bunter** · #2 2nd December 2008

Hi and welcome, most of the info you require is all here, just needs rooting out with a bit of time given to it, and then more specific questions can be asked which you will get a lot of useful response to i am sure.

The one comment i would make though is your chosen route and some time frames, especially regarding China into Vietnam in 4/5days?? Since you are at the very begining of your research this is the best time to clarify what time frame and where is possible for the route.
Best of luck.

**Frank Warner** · #3 3rd December 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steveandphilstrip

I'd really love to hear from anyone who has visited any of these countries or done a similar itinary.

Ummm ... are they Flying?

France 2 days
Switzerland 4 days
Austria 4 days
Hungary 4 days
Romania 4 days
Bulgeria 5 days
Turkey 15 days

India 10 days
Nepal 26 days
China 5 days

ummmm does not look good to me. Figure days per distance travelled - add in 1 day off in 7 days total.

I'd suggest skipping China if taking a vehicle.. difficult and expensive permissions. You do need to do a lot (say a week!) more reading on this site.

Edit - Considered the weather ? Pakistan .. October .. the KKH may well be closed .. though on that time frame may be it is off the agenda anyway. Nepal in November ? Snow?

There is an old out of date LP guide book .. ummm 'Istanbull to Katmandu' ? - You may find that helpfull in planning your trip - weather .. sites to see that kind of thing.

**pecha72** · #4 3rd December 2008

China 1st Dec - Vietnam 5th Dec

Yeah, you must have a vehicle capable of flying then! Because coming overland from Nepal, in between those two, is a road distance of several thousand kilometres (maybe 4000, or even more?) plus the highest mountain range in the world, and the 4-5km high Tibetan plateau... and as we all know, December is winter in the northern hemisphere!

Even if you could do it weather-wise, which I doubt, you´ll still have to deal with the massive bureaucracy, to get your vehicle into China. Not impossible, but also not possible just by popping up at the border, and you´ll need to use a tour-operator inside China, arrange everything well in advance, etc. Search this site, there´s plenty of info about all these here.

Entering Vietnam with your own vehicle would be yet another challenge which, in case of motorbikes at least, is very unlikely to happen, cars or flying vehicles I dont know - but I´d first worry about that getting into China & crossing the Himalayas in midwinter-part.

A more realistic option to bypass Burma is shipping your vehicle from Nepal or India to Thailand or Malaysia.