Trip planning

I don't know if I've mentioned it before on the blog, but I have been
intending for some time now (it's been kind of definite in my mind for
months, and perhaps longer than that) to take another extended holiday.
The basic plan is to go away when my current contract ends (Friday
October 11th) and be back in the UK looking for work by April. I have
been advised that that's probably about the best time to look, and it
also fits in with the tax year and my desire to take these extended
holidays during the UK winter. (Frankly, I might have taken this trip
six months if not for the desire to use the time to avoid winter.
Anyway, there were lots of issues around and I am not going to pretend I
can remember exactly how I felt at the various points, so let's just
leave that be.)

I intend to be back in the UK for Christmas; I do want to spend it with
my family even if it might be a little odd this year with my new niece
existing ;-), and in some ways having this natural split into two
sub-trips is nice, although of course it does reduce flexibility in some
sense. For better or worse the two trips are also therefore less scary,
as I will be back in familiar friendly surroundings at Christmas instead
of being "out there" in the big scary world for five or six months
straight. ;-)

I have to be absolutely honest and say it is very tempting to just spend
all the time in Latin America. There are loads of places - hell, loads
of *countries*, never mind just places - I haven't been there yet and
lots of others it would be cool to revisit. However, while I try not to
take too seriously the occasional "it's a big planet, you should see
something else, you might really like that" whinge/advice/criticism from
friends, I think there is *some* truth in it. So my plan is to spend the
approximately two months before Christmas "somewhere else" and the
approximately three months after Christmas in Latin America. I'm sure
some people would regard this as giving way too much weight to Latin
America, but it's my holiday and I have my own interests and I think
this is reasonable.

I have also flirted with visiting North America, but apart from this not
being an absolutely ideal time of year for it, I somehow feel that if
I'm branching out I might as well try a different landmass altogether.
It would be kind of cool to do some kind of coast to coast thing,
possibly across Canada as well as/instead of the US, and then maybe run
down into Mexico (though I have no idea how safe some of the northern
bits of Mexico are) and perhaps even across Mexico down into Central
America. But what with the time of year not being ideal for North
America anyway, worries about safety trying to cross Mexico north to
south by land (quite possibly this is OK, but I don't know), my desire
to see something a little bit more "exotic" if I'm not going to Latin
America exclusively and the fact that having the Christmas break in the
holiday naturally prevents the "continuity" that would otherwise exist
in an all-American-continent trip (you'd have to cross at least the
Darien Gap by air, but you could potentially go overland almost all the
way from the east coast of the US/Canada down to southern
Chile/Argentina), I'm not going for it this time. Quite possibly in the
future, in one form or another.

I have been extremely lazy/too busy thinking about other things to
really sit down and think heavily about my itinerary until this week,
and really it's only tonight (it's Friday 30th August 23:50 as I write
this) that I've actually done some serious thinking about it and kind of
"committed" to this way of using each of the sub-trips.

Anyway, I did have some vague thoughts of:
- Georgia (somewhat out of the blue, but based on a whim while reading
Laurens Van Der Post's "Journey Into Russia" a month or so ago)
- India
- Australia
- Thailand/Vietnam

Having sat down with Google Maps and the flight pricing tool at
http://matrix.itasoftware.com, I came up with a loose itinerary using
the algorithm:
- pick the nearest place on the list further east
- assign 2-3 weeks there
- turn back when you get to the halfway point of the available time
- fudge the results to try to avoid over long flights and to actually
visit places where you might otherwise have a long stopover
- iterate

(I tried another flight website to start with, which I shan't name just
in case, which completely screwed up the flight times. I didn't twig
until it offered me a direct flight from Singapore to London in under
five hours. I had to start again with the itasoftware site, although
most of the flights I'd picked out using the first website were actually
OKish, even if I'd thought some of them were shorter than they were.)

This has yielded the following approximate itinerary:

Two weeks in Georgia, starting mid October. September would be better
for the climate, but October looks OK. December would definitely be
worse, so it makes sense to do this on the outward leg. (I was otherwise
tempted to get an overnight flight in the Friday I finish work all the
way to Mumbai and do Georgia on the way back, but I'm not sure that is
such a great idea /anyway/ and the climate argument conveniently kills
it completely. Probably better to fly on the Saturday and not be
stressed about somehow getting stuck in the office late on my last day,
unlikely as that is.) I have just bought the Kindle edition of Lonely
Planet's Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan guide having had a flick through
the "look inside" on amazon.co.uk. I haven't studied it beyond that yet,
but I think I will easily be able to occupy myself in the country for
two weeks; there is a suggested two week itinerary of some kind for a
start. I don't think I'm going to see everything, but I will see enough
to know if I want to go back. The region is close enough to the UK that
it would be doable for a week or two's holiday while I'm working. The
F&CO and US State Department advice for Georgia is only slightly
disturbing, and I have blogged before (I think) about how I think I have
to mentally scale back the scariness factor I perceive from this kind of
advice.

(Incidentally, I have been thinking and I should definitely make more of
an effort to take 4, 5 or 6 weeks holiday a year while I am working.
Apart from avoiding "burn out" - puke, but I know what I mean and I
can't be bothered to think of a better phrase - it allows me to spend
more time travelling than I otherwise would, and cuts down on my
earnings at the marginal tax rate. The only possible incentive to be
sparing on time off during a contract is the possibility of wangling
something like my 2x3 week trips in winter 2011/12 if I "save up" my
virtual holiday allowance, but I think I'd probably be better off and
more likely to succeed in taking one 3 week and one or two shorter trips
every year; three weeks off is a bit of a stretch, but not much
especially if it's only once a year. But that is really a consideration
for much further in the future, i.e. April at the earliest. Back to the
itinerary...)

I somewhat arbitrarily picked Mumbai as the Indian destination just to
give me something concrete to work with in this initial plan. I need to
look into India and will probably buy some kinds of guide book for that
tomorrow or Sunday. For now I am arbitrarily allotting three weeks to
India and assuming I fly into and out of Mumbai; there would probably be
some internal flights in this three week period, of course.

The best flight I could find (trying to balance price, flight duration,
no insane stopovers, not departing at 5am or arriving at midnight - if
possible I prefer to travel from the airport to the hotel in daylight,
if that's not possible at least during the evening instead of the wee
hours) from Tbilisi (capital of Georgia) to Mumbai on this initial look
had a seven hour stopover in Istanbul. While I might drop it if it
doesn't fit "nicely" into the flights as the plan comes together, this
makes me think it would be a good opportunity to spend something like
3-5 days in Istanbul en route. This is really a city break, I wouldn't
make any attempt to see anything a significant distance from Istanbul.

Anyway, I then somewhat arbitrarily picked Thailand as the next
destination. As with India I have allotted three weeks and am
provisionally assuming I will fly into and out of Bangkok. I need to get
a guide book or two and read up, obviously I would not just spend three
weeks in Bangkok and depending on what there is to see and perhaps also
how the guide books "group" countries, I might end up using some of this
time for (say) Cambodia or Vietnam. I believe Andy did a three week trip
taking all three countries in; while I think that might be a little too
hurried for my taste and I'd be quite happy to spend three weeks in
Thailand, I will see how it goes with more research.

Looking at the map, it almost seems at this point that there's loads of
tempting possibilities in the vicinity of Thailand (the Philippines,
Australia, Hong Kong, just as some of the more obvious ones) but I'm
kind of running out of time. You could argue this means I should use the
time after Christmas to come back, but Latin America is also very
tempting, and I'm not going to. :-)

I am trying to avoid any ultra-long flights (e.g. flying "direct" from
London to Australia with only a brief stopover somewhere to stretch my
legs for an hour or two) but if I can take a 10h-ish flight overnight
when I'll probably sleep at least a bit of the time I am considering
that OK. I could return to London direct from (say) Bangkok, but it
would be a long flight and I think it's better to break it up a little bit.

Just because it's so close and because it seems like a good candidate
for a "city break", I am thinking from Bangkok I will go on to Singapore
for 3-5 nights before turning back towards home. I looked at direct
flights from there and some other places in the area to London and since
quite a few of them involve a change in the Gulf with quite a nice split
of the flight time (7h-ish for each flight), I am thinking of another
"city break" in somewhere like Dubai for 3-5 nights to break the journey
back.

I think this gets me back into London around 17-20th December, which
just might give me a chance to catch up with some friends before I go up
to Skegness for Christmas, although the weekend falls a touch
inconveniently with regard to Christmas and the fact I tend to see some
of my friends during the week only. It's also possible most/all of them
will be away or occupied, so I don't want to come back a few days
earlier than necessary and then be hanging around in London on my own
when I could have been abroad. I could obviously go up to Skegness
earlier (I don't really want to go up and come back down for a day or
two and then come back again, but I suppose I could) but I will see my
family over the gap between Christmas and the New Year as usual. Also I
will probably spend at least a few days, quite possibly a few weeks
(doubtless broken up by trips down to London to see friends and/or
interview), in Skegness with them in April when I return and need to
start looking for work again. Until I try to come up with a more
"definitive" itinerary I am not getting too worked up about the precise
timing of my return to London before Christmas; I might hope to be
booking some flights in the next week or so, but until then I have
plenty of research to do. Once I have a more definite idea I might even
ask one or two friends if they expect to be around just before Christmas
or not, so I know if it's worth coming back a day or two earlier.

Edinburgh, Saturday/Sunday

540 Sunday. Having a cup of tea after night out with Hugh and Valerie at Espionage. Really good night. Not really drunk either. Life in the old dog yet... Having tea on terrace, daylight, "seagulls wheeling in those far distant skies"

1649 Sunday. On train home. Solo seat in first class, socket for phone charger, should be some free tea/coffee/food. Pretty good weekend.

Didn't write much as not alone much so will waffle a bit now.

Friday we had tickets for Rich Hall's Hoedown, so that was my first show. 11pm. Pretty good.

Saturday we had tickets for Ed Byrne at something like 9:30pm and Will Seaward's Socialist Fairytales at 11pm ish. The latter was in some convoluted way a connection of Hugh and Valerie's. Ed Byre was good, not side achingly funny but entertaining. Will Seaward was a bit weird, the rest of the guys really seemed to dislike it. I thought it was a bit odd but entertaining in a low key whimsical way.

We didn't see any other shows, though Hugh, Ronan and Ben went to a show this afternoon - I didn't have time to go with them due to my train.

Met up with Ben & Javaria shortly after arriving Friday. We got keys to flat - very nice, and we had single beds afterall (though I shared a room with Ben & Hugh). We wandered around and had a pizza, then went to the Last Drop on Grassmarket to meet up with Ronan and then the others as they arrived.

We went on to Rich Hall then afterwards a few of us stayed out; Ronan & his gf Fiona, me, Valerie and Hugh. R&F left after one drinks, we (not really me) sort of got chatting to this group of people who told us about Late & Live and some disco with every number one hit since 195x. We couldn't get into either of them so the three of us went home.

I was surprisingly not mega late up Saturday morning. We had a very slow breakfast at the flat, Ronan & Fiona came over and we went to a bar in Broughton Street (probably just called Basement Bar) for a few drinks and a bit more food. We sort of accidentally split up on a few occasions during the afternoon; I stayed at Basement Bar with Valerie as she had nearly a full pint, we then joined the others at Queens Arms where we fissioned again. I ended up with Hugh, Ben, Dave & Ronan at the Beehive on Grassmarket before we went over to Ed Byrne to meet the others. Due to being in that group not the other one, I didn't get to meet Jim's sister who was around briefly.

We got some food at a street van between Ed Byrne & Will Seaward. After Will Seaward we tried to get tickets to Late & Live but had left it too late. We went down to Library in the basement of the same building where it was (no sound) on TV. There was some dissatisfaction there and I think a lot of people wanted to go home. Valerie and Hugh went into Espionage, I joined them, the others had been umming and ahing about staying out and didn't come in. As it turned out they went and had a couple of drinks at some Latin American bar they found further on.

Espionage has like four or five floors, going down from street level. Top level was karaoke, which was a bit heaving. We went down one level. Felt a bit rough and I think we were all too sober. After a bit we went down one level to vaguely arabic themed level but couldn't get seats so went down one more level to Pravda. Not really Russian themed except the odd poster and sign, although maybe the James Bond themed ads on the TVs behind bar were part of that theme. We stayed there, didn't make it down to the remaining level below.

Music not my favourite but acceptable pop-dancey kind of tunes, I can't describe well but not because it's obscure. Not so different from music in some of the clubs in Playa del Carmen. Didn't really get that drunk but was good fun really. We left at 5 when it was closing.

Went to bed after initial entry but took 10-20 mins to fall asleep. Woke up 930ish with full bladder but on emptying it felt better. We had to check out by 11 so we all stayed in bed til Javaria came in to warn us at 1030. Leapt out of bed and had shower etc. Hadn't been that drunk night before so didn't feel too bad.

We had a sort of scrappy breakfast with remains of food then went to Treacle on Broughton Street for food and coffees and stuff til 1ish. We then wandered around a bit, I ended up wandering around with Ben as we fissioned. Saw very good Spanish-style guitarist somewhere round Lawnmarket (prob wrong street).

As I say, not a bad weekend at all. Especially now I've seen "what it's like" and that the atmosphere is really not as bad as I might have expected, I could imagine coming on my own for maybe 4-5 nights next year. I could see a lot of shows so I'd be occupied, I am not sure if I would be able to scrape aquaintance with anyone but you never know; I think as long as I came without relying on that it would be OK. Would also be good to come again with a group but that would I think be a bit more 'party' and less 'seeing odd shows'.

It's odd, given it wasn't a major point and that I was pretty sober but something Ed Byrne said during his show struck a bit of a chord, doubtless on the Harry Browne note. He said something about you only have time for 20 or so friends and there are seven million people on the planet, so you really don't need to waste your time with arseholes. I am trying to stop worrying about getting older and "where my life is going" (puke) and stuff and just actually get on with it.

Oh, I didn't really  get that drunk at all and it wasn't too hard not to. "Worst" was the session in Last Drop on first day, but the whole weekend I stuck to weakish beers (lots of Deuchars at only 3.8%) where possible. I probably had five or six at the Last Drop but that was over a number of hours, plus I naturally slowed down latter on, and I ate something there plus the pizza I'd had earlier.

I have probably bust my 21 unit allowance this week but taking the abstemious last week or two into account I'm probably not over that on average a week. That may not be ideal, but it will have to do.

Edinburgh, Friday

0851 On train (leaves 0900). Not exactly late but didn't spend any time hanging around KGX, so perhaps cutting it a bit fine. Had some food this morning at home, got up about 0740 and left maybe 0815.

Got aisle seat as booked, seat next to me is free but reserved Peterborough-Edinburgh so no doubt there is a 200kg monster waiting to join me soon.

In quiet coach - I think I booked this on purpose. We will see.

Inevitable travel doubts lurking at back of my mind, but sod it. What's the worst that can happen? I have my tickets, I have my phone, I have money.

Oh, I went to bed maybe 0030 but I don't think I got to sleep until 0130-0200ish. Not a problem, anything which increases chances of sleeping better tonight or maybe on train hardly a bad thing.

0914 Ah, the Quiet Coach. Where better for two 50ish German women to have a natter across the aisle in the row in front of me? I have my noise cancelling headphones on but not playing any music through them yet, so I can still hear. Not that big a deal but mildly annoying.

0949 Peterborough. Seatmate is nice slim granny, score. Arse killing me for no obvious reason.

0238 Not a bad night/day. Bed.

Edinburgh packing

Just taking the daypack up to Edinburgh for the weekend (two nights
away); partly as a matter of convenience in case I end up wandering
around tomorrow afternoon without being able to dump my bag at the flat,
partly because I'm not sure I need the full-sized travel pack, partly as
an experiment.

Bedroom scales make daypack out at 5.5kg. This includes:
- a largish (half litre?) bottle of water
- two cards to post
- Rohan trousers (I doubt I will wear them, but I want a spare pair just
in case and they're lighter and less bulky than the alternatives, either
chinos or a pair of jeans)
- polo shirt
- T-shirt (both short-sleeved)
- reversible fleece/jacket (I am not wearing this, at least not yet)
- noise-cancelling headphones and four batteries
- toiletries
- first aid kit
- five satsumas (or are they tangerines? Mysterious!)
- four cereal bars (food for train)
- two sets underwear
- pair of boxers (for sleeping)
- phone charger and cable
- camera

It is a little tight on space, primarily I feel due to the fleece/jacket
squashed in at the top.

I am wearing combat trousers, with some items stuffed in the pockets,
although very little in the leg pockets - basically some medical cream
and a pair of clip-on sunglasses. Other stuff in the "normal" pockets is
what I'd normally have in there if I'm not wearing a jacket - i.e.
hanky, keys, pedometer, whistle, mobile phone, wallet, Oyster card.
Pockets feel a little bulky but this is "normalish" when I am not
wearing a jacket and have to stuff the wallet and phone in there. I
guess the new slimline wallet helps at least a bit.

Things I don't have:
- any kind of book, electronic or otherwise (using my phone)
- netbook and charger
- most of the contents of my "tube cube", e.g. travel clothes line,
mains adaptors, mouse, AA battery charger, camera battery charger
- mosquito net, sleep sack (obviously not, mentioning these just as I do
normally have them in my bigger bag)
- viscose towel
- duck tape
- check the packing list for full details, but those are the bigger and
more obvious items

Actually, thinking about it, I am going to stuff the sleep sack in the
daypack and take that. I doubt I'll use it but it just might be handy or
politically expedient if I end up sharing a bed with someone. (I could
half imagine other people turning up with full-on sleeping bags;
probably not, but you never know.) It's not really heavy or bulky.

I think this should be adequate for a weekend away, let's see. I can
always buy crap up there if I need to.

This raises the tempting possibility of getting by with this volume of
luggage on a longer trip, but I think that would be pushing it a bit - I
am very tight on space, and things like the netbook and a few extra tops
and the viscose towel and (probably) the mosquito net are hardly insane
luxuries. (Maybe the netbook is debatable for some, but for me if I'm
away for months, I think it's well worth the kilo-odd it weighs.)
Obviously I could get a slightly bigger bag than the daypack and use
that, but still. Probably better if anything to focus on slightly
lightening up/de-bulking the contents of my travel pack in light of this
experience rather than switching it out for a smaller bag. Anyway, let's
see how this weekend goes before even thinking about it.