This is what I’m planning at the moment:

St. Petersburg [2 days]
Moscow [3 days]
Perm [2 days]
Tomsk [2 days]
Irkutsk (Lake Baikal) [3 days]
Khabarovsk [1 day]
Vladivostok [N/A].

It’s taken a while to get to this point and this list is currently with the travel agents at Real Russia, who should be putting together an itinerary. Once I know when I’m going to be in Vladivostok, I know when I can book the ferry to Donghae. Once I know when I’m going to be in Donghae, I can book the ferry to Tianjin. Once I’ve got the ticket for Tianjin, I can apply for a Chinese visa. It’s all very complicated!

Other activities over the last few days have involved getting injections (5), generally mooching around my flat and speaking to travel agents. Deciding on the route for Russia is the first step.