How to start planning?

[IcecreamTacos]

Hi everyone,

While this may be my first post here, it's not the first time that I'm looking into planning for a trip to the 'Stans (and possibly beyond). Last times I played with the thought I looked points of interest up and wrote them down. I didn't think much of it at that time, but now that I properly want to plan a trip I have gotten stuck. How do people plan these big trips? The rough plan of what I want to do is to ride a motorcycle from here to Vladivostok through the 'Stans, then ship it to SE Asia, ride for a while, ship to South America and ride up north. Yes, I know it's a multiyear trip and yes, I know that you can't plan everything in detail but how do people even start? I have to have a rough layout for the first 6 months right, and while I know which countries need a visa, how do people connect all these loose parts to one big travel itinerary/packing list.

As you can read, I need you guys help. Not necessarily where I want to go, but help so I can start properly planning my trip.

Thanks for reading!

[Jealgu]

https://caravanistan.com/planning/

The above lists all points.

But the very basics is deciding where you want to go, make an overview of visa requirements and borders open to foreigners (and the requirements of taken a vehicle with you) and create a budget to see if your plans workout within your budget.

Yes, this is quit a bit of work. But is is also half the fun.

[steven]

Hi Icecreamtacos,

Your questions on how to make an itinerary are addressed here: https://caravanistan.com/itinerary/

There are also some model routes included that hit all the traditional highlights.

Beyond that, I recommend books and documentaries and lots of googling to find things that align with your specific interests that you won't find in the guidebooks.

[IcecreamTacos]

Hi Icecreamtacos,

Your questions on how to make an itinerary are addressed here: https://caravanistan.com/itinerary/

There are also some model routes included that hit all the traditional highlights.

Beyond that, I recommend books and documentaries and lots of googling to find things that align with your specific interests that you won't find in the guidebooks.

Thanks for the link, I'll give it a look. Somehow I didn't find that page on the website when I started browsing through it. It's a good start!

https://caravanistan.com/planning/

The above lists all points.

But the very basics is deciding where you want to go, make an overview of visa requirements and borders open to foreigners (and the requirements of taken a vehicle with you) and create a budget to see if your plans workout within your budget.

Yes, this is quit a bit of work. But is is also half the fun.

Thanks for your reply and advice, I'll start with the visa and borders. I agree that planning is half the fun, it's so cool to learn the names of new places, find out what they are (from the internet of course) and then plan a trip to them!

[Guy]

Hi,

For more micro planning wherever in the world I will look at tour company intineries as they often list driving times. As a very straight forward example, you can get a day by day break down of riding the Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, distances, times, stop over places etc Then you can start planning the rest of Vietnam around your visa days left which will give a clearer idea of your border exiting location.

[Nikopol]

One thing you should keep is spare Cat phone with sat connection. You will be traversong areas with no cell signal where roads are....not exactly on level of German autobahn. If you are travelling alone, it may be only way to reach emergency services.