TL;DR summary: Japan for 2 months, then flying to Singapore, heading north (gradually) to Beijing via Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China, doing a bike trip in the Himalayas, then Trans-Siberian/etc trains to Amsterdam.  Flying home from there in August, hoping to make it to Burning Man.

Stuff in bold is booked & confirmed (in other words it would be expensive / inconvenient to change it.)  Other dates are guesses or whims & subject to change.  I just want to have a rough idea of where we’re going to be and when… if we’re significantly behind this plan, we need to either skip stuff now or skip stuff later in the trip, so that’s good to know.

Singapore -> Beijing

  • In Saigon last time I edited this page (Apr 13)
  • Vietnam:
    • Saigon until April 13
    • Night train to Da Nang, bus to Hoi An, stay 2-4 nights
    • Bus or bus + train to Hue, stay until April 18
    • Night train to Hanoi, stay 2 nights (until April 21)
    • Train + boat to Cat Ba (in Halong Bay), stay until April 25
    • April 26: boat + train + train to Sapa
    • Stay in Sapa… Robin wants to do some hilltribe trekking, Jody wants to climb Mount Fancipants, so we may do our own thing.
    • Bus to Yunnan, China
  • Arrive in China ~Apr 30
  • North to Beijing, see other parts of China (and probably HK) along the way.  Be in Beijing by May 17, buy a decent but not amazing mountain bike and train for the ride.
  • I realise this is only enough to get a taste of China.  Such is life :)

Lhasa -> Kathmandu

  • Train from Beijing to Lhasa – arrive May 27
  • Bike Lhasa -> Kathmandu (3 weeks): May 29 – June 17
  • Visit Kathmandu
  • Fly Kathmandu -> Guilin June 20
  • Train Guilin -> Beijing, arrive June 22, or maybe spend another week seeing other parts of China on the way.

Trans-Mongolian / Trans-Siberian

  • Clare and Dad arrive in Beijing late June.  Hopefully.  Well, as of now, Clare seems like a “no” and Dad like a “maybe.”
  • Train from Beijing to Moscow via Mongolia, arrive late July
  • Side trip to St-Petersburg
  • Train Moscow -> Amsterdam (3 days)

Montréal onwards

  • Fly AMS-YUL early August (probably Aug 7th)
  • Buy car, road trip to Burning Man, travel around Canada & USA
  • Hopefully: 10 year university (Sci 00) reunion September 25th in Kingston
  • Hopefully: Robin’s brother’s wedding: Canadian Thanksgiving weekend in Ohio