Monthly Archives: February 2006

To Understand the scale of the Earth

Originally posted 02/17/06 on Blogger

I haven’t posted here in a very long time. Many things have changed but one thing has not, my desire to travel around the world by surface transportation (Cargo ship, train, camel, truck, etc…)

To that end i thought I would document my research and general plans on the off chance that someone else is doing the same thing and happens to search and find these pages.

To begin, the goal is to circumnavigate the planet by surface transportation. No flights.

Everything else until i buy my tickets is speculative.

The Plan:

I will be quitting my job, selling most of my crap, and packing the rest for storage at my parents home in Iowa.

The journey will begin in Portland, Oregon. From there i will drive to Sioux City, Iowa and drop off the car, the stuff worth keeping (or selling later), my Last Will and Testament, and a power of Attorney to be put in my parent’s names.

From there I will travel to the East coast of the U.S. possibly stopping to visit friends on the way stopping finally in Philidelphia.

In Philidelphia I will board a Cargo ship bound for Europe. From there I will use a 90 day Eurail pass to bounce around 18 countries in Europe and as many Eastern European countries as I can reach from those 18.

From there I will either go to Russia and board the Trans-Siberian railroad to Bejing or choose some Silk Road route to China.

Everything past that point is foggy…

Current Budgeting list is showing about $6000-$8000US for transportation, meaning i’m going to need a lot more than that to survive…

  1. Drive from PDX to SUX = at 23mpg x 2.60 per gallon = $338.00 (not accounting for a trailor) + $100 lodging + $100 food
  2. Unknown cost from SUX to PHL = $???
  3. Freighter from PHL to Antwerp = $2000 ($1469 transport + $313 insurance and tax + $incidentals)
  4. 90 day Eurail pass = $1700
  5. Trans-Siberian Rail pass = $????
  6. Ship travel to LA = $???
  7. Train to PDX = $???

Current Resources are:

Practical Nomad by Edward Hasbrouck

Europe by Eurail by LaVerne Ferguson-Kosinski

Freighter Resources:

GoNomad’s Freighter Travel Mini-Guide:

Freighter World Cruises:
All for now, I’ll be back later to correct myself I’m sure…

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Filed under Adventure, Round The World, Travel