The next bit of the grand plan

Where do we go now?
Originally uploaded by rtw2007.

We have spent the past few weeks trying to decide where our trip should take us next. Having been on the road for nearly eight months now, and having never really thought things through much past India (mainly because we weren’t sure how we would feel after this long on the road squished into a camper van), we thought that it was about time that we came up with a plan. Michael has decided to start teaching again at the start of the Easter 2008 term, so we still have just over four months left on the road.

We thought about shipping the van to Australia and New Zealand, but the cost is prohibitively expensive for such a short time and we would have been travelling in the middle of their baking hot summer (not ideal for our prospects of sleeping in a camper van in the Outback). So that will have to wait for another time.

We were also very tempted by driving back to the UK via Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. We both loved Pakistan on our way here and we have heard nothing but great feedback from people who have travelled through into Iran. Unfortunately, though, the security situation has deteriorated really quickly in Pakistan and looks set to get worse before it gets better. Although we might have gone back to some parts of the country without too much concern, things are particularly problematic in the west and we would have to go there (or through Afghanistan!) to get to Iran. We become more and more convinced that this isn’t the right option every time we see news of Pakistan: more suicide bombings, beheadings in the tribal areas, politicians under house arrest and huge protests. Maybe we are soft, but the bomb which went off down the road when we were in Islamabad was worrying enough, and that would be small fry in the current climate.

So, we have decided that next week we will ship the van though the Suez Canal in order to avoid Pakistan and Iran. The plan, if we can pull it off, is to put the van onto a container ship bound for Italy, where we will collect it and then take a boat to Greece and then drive into Turkey, via Gallipoli. From there, we can pick up the Pakistan – Iran – Turkey overland route (having missed out the dodgy bits and also the severe winter in western Iran and eastern Turkey, where many of the mountain roads become impassable) and drive back through Turkey, perhaps the Balkans and Europe. See the new updated route page on the website.

All of this has the added bonus that, whilst the van is being shipped from Chennai to Italy, we can pop back home for a couple of weeks (via a few nights of luxury in Dubai) for Christmas, New Year and to go to Matt and Barbara’s wedding. Which all works out quite nicely really…