1 Week

Next Tuesday, one week from tonight, I will be leaving Greensburg until this fall. Which means that I have a lot to still get done and very, very limited time to do so! Uh-oh!

My To-Do List is as follows:

Trip-Specific:

- Gather and print out all relevant paperwork, including copies of important documents to have backups

- Create official itinerary and email, for those who need to know the specifics

- Transfer my savings into my bank accounts, so that I have access to my "backup funds" as I'm traveling

- Continue searching for possible Couchsurfing hosts along my Russian travels (note: I do have reservations already booked in each place however only one required payment in advance)

- order prints of some family & home photos to bring with me to share

- Pack!!!

- Finalize my pre-trip budget and ledger

- Add personal item coverage for my laptop, camera, lenses, and any other relevant items via insurance

Misc Other:

- Compile and transfer treasurer materials for my fraternity Alumni Association (Meeting on Sat)

- Complete my remaining work shifts (Sadly, I still need the extra money from this week)

- Finish sorting/clearing out my old clothes, determine if any can be bought at Plato's closet and donate the rest

- Sell my car (after getting the now-due exception done to ensure it's value)

- Dentist appointments to complete

- return/drop off costumes and materials with fellow costumer

Blog-Related:

- Finalize a new name & buy URL & hosting package

- Order business cards with the website info and contact info (a tip read from a fellow traveler!)

I've been toying on moving this blog to its own website for a while now, but think it's worthwhile in the end. I can also start adding adds and earning some revenue with my own hosted site (albeit small at first!)

I placed my last Amazon order last night, which should be here by the end of the week. Other than a few small things I can buy at the store, I believe I have all that I need and can start actually laying out what I want to take - and then determining what I actually have room for and need in my small backpack!

I still have not heard word regarding my visas and the current progress... is no word good word?!?! My departure date and the day I need my passport and visas was noted on the application so I trust that I will have them in time. What I do not know is whether the planned processing schedule and fee amount will stay as it was - or if they will charge extra for rushing anything to ensure completion by my departure date. Crossing fingers it arrives by the end of this week rather than on Monday!

Till the next post, a bientôt!

3 weeks and I leave...Yikes!

Hi y'all,

Realized that in the chaos and everything over the last few weeks, I haven't updated on here. Whoops! So let's try and do a quick recap...


1. Moving
I am fully moved home. THAT was a hurdle in itself, and still rather a mess. On April 22, my dad, brother, and I moved all of the heavy large furniture home. We set up my new "room" - After that, it was my hurdle to continue packing everything else up. While working on that, I had to downsize and sorted things into piles of "sell," "keep," and "give/donate." Again, easier said than done!

In the end though, last wed we got everything moved out with help of may mom and dad. Thursday I spend cleaning the place with intent and agreement to turn it back over to landlords - except they never showed! When I called them, I was first chastised for "not informing them" that the previously agreed upon day was actually my last day?!? Then, they were unable to come over to check things over. I'm awaiting the final word and last check, as there should not be any hassles - but certainly didn't go over as I had tried to plan for.

I still have things to go through and downsize, such as clothing, along with a rather larger pile of things still being sold and or given away. Thankfully, it's clearing out rather quick - except for those dreaded clothes!


2. Work
I informed work of my last day. Hoping they can keep me on the roster as part-time/casual to make it easier when I'm back - but that's up to them still.


3. Tickets, tickets, tickets...
I have all of my Russian train tickets booked and paid for. Well, the train exiting Russia into Mongolia is paid for but I have not received the ticket confirmation. Because it's an international train, it cannot be booked easily online so I had to go through a travel agency.


4. Hotsels
I have a place to stay booked in each city until I arrive at Stepperiders. I want to still see about finding people to Couchsurf with, but if I can't find anyone (or loose track of time!) then I still have someone to stay.


5. Visa
My visa applications are mailed and that agency should be in the process of obtaining them for me. I was an idiot and first realized that I forgot to include my photos - and then was reminded that I had forgotten to include my passport itself! Thankfully, my dad was able to help and get that in the mail for me. Things are much closer to my departure date than I'd prefer - and there's a good chance that even with the overnight mail back to me, my passport might not arrive till the day before I leave!


6. Equipment
Oh, this one has taken much of my time over the last week or so - and still being resolved. I think I've already noted, but in case I haven't, the two hurdles I have on my trip are being without power at Stepperiders (despite taking photos for them) and the high altitude of Tibet in regards to my laptop and a hard drive. In addition to the struggle of feeling like I am bring even more electronics rather than trying to get off the grid, I'm trying to avoid not spending an arm and a leg on things. Amid a flurry of extra camera batteries, extra memory cards, power bank, solid state hard drives, and solar panel chargers... I think I have whittled it down to what I need though and will be writing a separate post next week.

On a similar note for equipment, I have decided on which backpack I am getting - and while REI did not have the color in store that I wanted, it's much smaller than even I expected! It'll be interesting how to get everything packed inside! I have to order it off amazon now, but should be here in a few days.



Things are quickly coming to a head as departure day approaches. Plenty to still get done, but thankfully, a LOT is already accomplished. At this point, other than packing my backpack, I'm comfortable heading off to Russia. It's the later half of the trip, into China & Tibet, that I need to spend some time on to prepare a bit better.

Enter from stage left, Plot Twist ?!

For those of you who caught the Facebook post about a week or two ago, (almost a month ago! - oops!) there has been an unexpected change of plans - a.k.a. the plot twist! Which has since, as of last week, changed again - but still a plot twist...

I'm no longer going on the entire trek by myself, and it shall now be deemed a "Brothers Trek!" (OK, I only just made that name up - it might change...)

Anyways, while driving down to take my former baby grand piano to it's now current home with my dad and my brother two Saturdays ago, I was talking about my upcoming trek. After mentioning wanting to visit and hike the "world's most dangerous hike" in China, my brother mentioned that he wanted to do that as well (after my dad looked it up on his phone and noted noted that first I, then both of us were crazy!) Before long, the conversation turned into utter seriousness and discussing the realistic possibility of Matt accompanying me on the entire trek!

Up to this point, no one except a friend, who was contemplating seeing part of Russia with me, and my grandmother, who had mentioned a desire about seeing the Giant Pandas in China along with a river cruise, had shown interest in accompanying me on the trip. So it was rather a surprise to have someone joining me at this point! Going on the Iceland trip with Vic back in February was different from all of my other previous travels, but not in a horrible way. It was nice to be able to share the experience with someone and to have someone able to take pictures of me without a dreaded selfie stick, though I had to adjust to having to share and make plans together. So the concept of my brother joining me had similar appeal, but also some concerns.

It also added some potential issues as we were just talking while driving:

1. My brother does not have a passport! (Despite me telling him for years...)
2. I'm planning to volunteer for 6-7 weeks in Mongolia with a small family business - while they take on a couple volunteers each week, would they still have room? AND would Matt be interested in volunteering with them for the extended period?
3. He has never traveled outside of the country before, will he have issues?
4. He had some personal things to determine whether or not he could truly go that had to wait till Monday to figure out.

After talking more about what all it would entail, it became clear that not only was he interested but serious too. Having recently been released from a work contract, he's getting unemployment until finding a new job - of which he hasn't found yet. He moved home about a month before I did to save money and find a new job, so those expenses were gone. And he was now single, unfortunately. It actually places him in a great spot to travel where as I am quitting my job, have saved up some with the ability to bridge the remainder cost of my travels.

Over the last week and a half, I changed my direction slightly and buckled down to get a solid estimate on the costs expected for the entire trip - Matt had to know if he could actually afford it. We also spoke with Stepperiders in Mongolia and, while he would probably only be a regular volunteer, they did have room for him to join for those 6-7 weeks. In the meantime, Matt looked into his personal concerns and realized that there might be some issues but most shouldn't be a problem if he took off for almost 6 months.

Aside from the cost factor, which my dad has noted that he is concerned even on my end let alone my brother's finances, the only major factor is getting Matt his passport, along with everything else I still have yet to plan and book. Unfortunately, the company I plan to use for both the Russia and China visa is not able to help with the passport in the manner we would like. They would have to process his passport application first and ship it back before continuing on with his visas because the passport needs signed, and I need his passport number for the Russian Invitation letter needed to apply for the visa. After looking into other options, the end result is we are expediting his passport through the mail and not using a service. We are actually far enough out that its not possible for him to have the rush expedited service (though it still puts our timeline very snuggly to departure day!)

Early last week, we had the fun of applying for his passport. After getting multiple passport photos for each of us, we went to apply for his passport in person at the courthouse. We went there because they permitted walk-ins, except when we got there we discovered that they were not able to overnight the application like we had wanted! In addition, they questioned Matt's passport photos due to words on his shirt and having his sunglasses hanging from his shirt - despite Rite Aid not saying anything when they took the pics! Thankfully, they advised us that Latrobe Post Office allows walk-ins as well. So after a quick stop back at Rite Aid where they retook and reprinted his pics, we headed off to Latrobe. Once there, it actually was quite a breeze since we had everything already done and lined up! Matt ended up deciding to not overnight the application to Harrisburg, which honestly might have only saved us a day due to the upcoming weekend. The goal now is be able to get all of the visa paperwork completed to be ready to turn around after we get Matt's passport, and overnight the applications for the visas so those don't get delayed or need rushed either. It'll be close, as in we might get our passports back just before we leave in June - but if needed, I do believe that they will expedite (and charge for it, of course) to get them back before our departure date.

Russian & Mongolia Itinerary

Since I had to detail my time in Russia for the visa application, as well as I need to start booking trains and making plans,  I have most of the itinerary for my month in Russia and following nigh two months in Mongolia already laid out. Here's all the details!

Russia

June 6: Overnight MegaBus ride from Pittsburg to New York City.

June 7: Morning in NYC, with evening flight departing from New York City.

June 8: Happy Birthday & I Land in Russia! (I land first in Moscow, then have a short layover before a shorter flight to St Petersburg. By dinner time I'll hope to be setting and enjoying my birthday in Russia.)

June 9-13: St Petersburg, Russia

Overnight train from St. Petersburg to Moscow
June 14-17: Moscow, Russia
 Overnight train  to Kazan
June 18-19: Kazan, Russia
Overnight train to Perm
June 20-22: Perm, Moscow
Day train to Yekaterinburg, Russia
June 22-24: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Train from Yekaterinburg to Krasnoyarsk
June 26-28: Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Overnight train to Irkutsk
June 29-30: Irkutsk, Russia
June 30-July 2: Weekend trip out to Olkholn Island on Lake Baikal
July 2-3: Irkutsk, again
Day train to Ulan Ude
July 3-5: Ulan Ude, Russia

July 5: Overnight train from Russia into Mongolia

Mongolia
July 6-8: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
July 8 - Aug ??: I'll be based at Stepperider's main camp - or out on one of the various treks they will be sending me on. [NOTE: Will possibly be "offgrid" and unable to answer quickly]
Aug ??- Aug 31: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: This will depend on how the treks fall, but I will be returning to the capital for a few days before I leave Mongolia.

Aug 31: Overnight train from Mongolia into China

China
Sept 1: Beijing, China:

The rest of China & Tibet's itinerary is still being worked out, due to a couple of factors. Once that is resolved, I'll be updating - though it might not be until while I'm already traveling.