Planes, Trains, and Wagons East

So I’m sitting here in the dark listening to Paul Curreri’s I Can Hear the Future Calling. I’m in the dark because my overhead light has gone out and I have no idea how to ask my landlady for a new bulb. Hopefully I’ll get that figured out tomorrow when I go into work. I’m listening to that particular song for a few reasons. First, I love and miss Paul Curreri. Second, when I was looking through iTunes I decided that the title fit well with what I wanted to tell you all.

I got my visa for entry into Kazakhstan today. A week ago I got my Chinese visa. That’s two of the three visas I need to have beforehand to legally enter the countries through which my train will travel on the way to Paris. The third, Russia, I couldn’t get today because today is a Korea holiday. It celebrates, I found out from my wonderful coffee shop friends Jenny and Jennifer, a private in the Korean army, a woman, who fought admirably against the Japanese invasion a long time ago. Thanks, Ms. Whoever-you-are, for prolonging my visa quest. Fortunately, I can get it in Kazakhstan if I run out of time here in Korea.

Here’s how the journey maps out so far:

Ferry from Seoul to Beijing
Beijing – Xian – Dunhuang – Urumqi – Almaty, Kazakhstan – 4 day train to Kiev – Krakow – Budapest – Prague – Amsterdam – Paris (meeting my dad) – Venice (meeting my mom) – Naples/Sorrento – Rome – ?

If you can think of any other interesting stops along that route, let me know.

The past few days I’ve been more nervous than excited. I’ve never done anything like this before. Two months is a long time to travel alone. It would be so great to just come home and start a settled life. But then I got my visa. Just seeing that piece of paper in my passport, knowing I can visit a place I know nothing about, got me all excited again. I can do this, and I’m going to.

Anyway, if you’re still keeping up with my blog you’ve been extremely patient. I know pictures are the real reason you tune in, so I shall indulge you.