Rymo
Active Member
- Location
- East London
Hello,
I have not posted/commented about much on this forum before, but have always found it very useful whenever I did.
My girlfriend and I are finally leaving London and heading in the direction of Australia on our Surly's this July!
Having read through many older posts (on this site) regarding cycling across Asia, visa issues etc. I must say it has been very handy in helping us prepare for our trip.
I just thought I would post this a month before departure so as to see if anyone throws back some information I may have missed that will help potentially smoothen something out on our ride.
It was on here I noticed a few months back that Iran's visa stipulations had changed for UK passport holders, thankfully I'm half Irish so immediately applied for an Irish passport and my partner is Finnish!
So if anyone would like to offer any travel advice that they have either read about very recently (trustworthy source obviously) or ideally experienced themselves within the last couple of months I would like to here from you.
Our route is as follows but subject to change at a moments notice;
Hook of Holland to Istanbul (not really looking for much info here as I have cycled across Europe before over a summer.
Istanbul to Tbilisi, Georgia: Leaving Istanbul around the end of October. I appreciate it will be getting chilly at night/with elevation and only getting colder and snowier the further east we head into Nov/Dec.
Tbilisi to Tehran and then down the middle of Iran to Bandar Abbas: Plan on reaching Iranian border by late December and then more than likely going to extend my 30 day visa whilst in Iran to a few weeks more, no rush.
So early February in southern coastal Iran. Take a ferry to Dubai, spend a week in a hotel that my partners family will sponsor (hopefully), then either dhow to Mumbai (6+ days I read...) or fly it in 3 hours..cross that bridge when we come to it though.
Then northern India (potentially take a train straight up north of Mumbai to shave off a month of Indian cycling, yet not really gaining further eastwards), Nepal, Bangladesh and hopefully cross into Burma (fingers crossed the border situation is agreeable in 12 months time) around May time, I realise it will be blisteringly hot from about March onwards but once the rains arrive May/June in Burma/Thailand maybe it'll get a tad more managable...
After that I can work it out, basically head south through the remaining countries until Indo, but these are not my areas of concern having travelled them previously.
Taking a 3 person macpac tent, trangia, 1x 26 inch LHT with F&R racks, 1x 26 inch LHT with just rear and most of the other essentials one takes. No GPS, just a wired speedo (sick of wireless), and some nice maps (not purchased yet) along with a mini language book for certain larger countries.
Feel free to ask any questions regarding our trip as I have obviously kept it very brief here!
Any handy information you may have would be great to hear.
Cheers in advance!
Ryan
I have not posted/commented about much on this forum before, but have always found it very useful whenever I did.
My girlfriend and I are finally leaving London and heading in the direction of Australia on our Surly's this July!
Having read through many older posts (on this site) regarding cycling across Asia, visa issues etc. I must say it has been very handy in helping us prepare for our trip.
I just thought I would post this a month before departure so as to see if anyone throws back some information I may have missed that will help potentially smoothen something out on our ride.
It was on here I noticed a few months back that Iran's visa stipulations had changed for UK passport holders, thankfully I'm half Irish so immediately applied for an Irish passport and my partner is Finnish!
So if anyone would like to offer any travel advice that they have either read about very recently (trustworthy source obviously) or ideally experienced themselves within the last couple of months I would like to here from you.
Our route is as follows but subject to change at a moments notice;
Hook of Holland to Istanbul (not really looking for much info here as I have cycled across Europe before over a summer.
Istanbul to Tbilisi, Georgia: Leaving Istanbul around the end of October. I appreciate it will be getting chilly at night/with elevation and only getting colder and snowier the further east we head into Nov/Dec.
Tbilisi to Tehran and then down the middle of Iran to Bandar Abbas: Plan on reaching Iranian border by late December and then more than likely going to extend my 30 day visa whilst in Iran to a few weeks more, no rush.
So early February in southern coastal Iran. Take a ferry to Dubai, spend a week in a hotel that my partners family will sponsor (hopefully), then either dhow to Mumbai (6+ days I read...) or fly it in 3 hours..cross that bridge when we come to it though.
Then northern India (potentially take a train straight up north of Mumbai to shave off a month of Indian cycling, yet not really gaining further eastwards), Nepal, Bangladesh and hopefully cross into Burma (fingers crossed the border situation is agreeable in 12 months time) around May time, I realise it will be blisteringly hot from about March onwards but once the rains arrive May/June in Burma/Thailand maybe it'll get a tad more managable...
After that I can work it out, basically head south through the remaining countries until Indo, but these are not my areas of concern having travelled them previously.
Taking a 3 person macpac tent, trangia, 1x 26 inch LHT with F&R racks, 1x 26 inch LHT with just rear and most of the other essentials one takes. No GPS, just a wired speedo (sick of wireless), and some nice maps (not purchased yet) along with a mini language book for certain larger countries.
Feel free to ask any questions regarding our trip as I have obviously kept it very brief here!
Any handy information you may have would be great to hear.
Cheers in advance!
Ryan
