This is the last week before I depart. For the purposes of processing visas, I have planned entry and exit dates and tickets for up until Hanoi, early next year. For everything else apart from Europe and Russia, everything else will be planned en-route.

This week the jobs include getting a doctor’s appointment and getting the Vietnamese visa processed. The visa can take 1 day to be processed if necessary, but can also be completed when you’re in China. The doctor’s appointment is non-essential and the other tasks include things like buying medial supplies and learning Cyrillic. I’ve already over-slept and missed the first (unscheduled) slot for doctor’s and visa appointments, but hopefully this week should be fairly straightforward! If all goes to plan, the next major update should be from Berlin.

Having got my last set of vaccinations done today, I thought I’d put a complete list of them up. So far I have had:

1. Hepatitis A
2. Typhoid
3. Diphtheria/Tetanus/Polio
4. Hepatitis B
5. Rabies
6. Japanese Encephalitis.

Over the next few days I will be investigating:

1. anti-Malarials
2. whether I need MMR.

The total number of injections so far is 11.

After spending the last few days doing nothing but plan and organise train tickets, ferry bookings and visas, it looks like it’s finally coming together. I’ve just bought European train tickets, Russian train tickets and have confirmation of the ferry booking between Vladivostok and Donghae. One thing that they don’t tell you is that even though it’s a Korean ferry, the booking office also operates on Korea Standard Time, meaning that they don’t actually open until 0100 BST. This means that the last few nights have been late ones! Hopefully I’ll get a better night’s sleep tonight.

During this planning process, I’ve attempted to organise things in a slightly un-organised way. I now know how you should do it, but the rough approach has been as follows:

1. plan route
2. sketch-out visa requirements
3. realise that passport will not leave enough time before expiry and re-apply
4. wait for new passport to arrive
5. attempt to organise Russian and Chinese visas. Realise that the Russian visa requires exact entry and exit dates and complete the application form using a ‘best guess’
6. plan route through Russia, getting entry and exit dates
7. attempt to organise Russian visa. Re-apply using the correct dates (and complete process)
8. attempt to organise Chinese visa. Realise that travel insurance is required, along with accommodation confirmation
9. research and buy travel insurance
10. research and book travel accommodation
11. attempt to organise a Chinese visa (and complete process)
12. confirm route through Russia.

If you have the time, the correct process to follow is definitely in the ‘Advice’ section of this blog.