Overview

Our 'Around-The-World-with-Sterlin' trip is broken up into 6 major legs.

We started the adventure with a short vacation in Northern Europe while our car was being shipped to Australia. In Australia we first drove around Tasmania and then from the East Coast (Sydney) to the West Coast (Perth). The heart of the trip was always an extended tour of South-East Asia where we hoped and succeeded in experiencing different lands, cultures and people.

After South-East Asia we continued overland through China into Mongolia and then Russia, towards Europe via Central Asia. The idea was to finish in Caroline's home town Eeklo in Belgium.

More details and maps of completed legs are available in the sections per 'Leg' below.

Itinerary

To make things easier, our itinerary divided into 6 legs. The following tables provide a high level summary for each of these legs. More details for each leg can be found below.


Leg Arrive Depart Duration Distance
Leg 1 - Europe April 30th July 2nd 3 Months, 3 Days n/a
Leg 2 - Australia and New Zealand July 11th October 23rd 4 Months, 12 Days 15,745
Leg 3 - South East Asia October 23rd April 17th 5 Months, 25 Days 15,306
Leg 4 - East and Central Asia April 17th July 14th 2 Months, 29 Days 16,185
Leg 5 - Europe Revisited July 14th November 9th 3 Months, 24 Days 11,513
Leg 6 - Homeward Bound November 10th November 29th 20 Days n/a
Summary for Trip April 2013 November 2014 19 Months, 5 Days 58,749

Leg 1 - Europe and the White Sea

May 2013 - June 2013

Leg 1 was a great start to the trip. Caroline started in London and then sailed to Hamburg, through the Kiel Canal to Flensburg, Aalborg, Skagen and Oslo. At Oslo a short flight took her to Stockholm and Uppsala to visit a dear friend.  Stephen joined Caroline in the extreme north of Norway where we both boarded our "expedition" ship and headed off to the White Sea. We continued to head north to Novaya Zemlya and we even made it to Franz Josef Land before turning back south to mainland Russia and finishing off where we started, in Norway. After 3 weeks at sea we continued on to visit friends and family in the Netherlands, Belgium and England.





Leg 1 - Europe Arrive Depart Duration Distance (kms)
UKApril 30thMay 4th4 Daysn/a
GermanyMay 5thMay 15th10 Daysn/a
SwedenMay 16thMay 21st5 Daysn/a
BelgiumMay 21stMay 30th9 Daysn/a
NorwayMay 30thJune 3rd4 Daysn/a
RussiaJune 4thJune 15th11 Daysn/a
NorwayJune 17thJune 18th1 Dayn/a
NetherlandsJune 18thJune 20th2 Daysn/a
BelgiumJune 20thJune 27th7 Daysn/a
UKJune 27thJuly 2nd5 Daysn/a
Summary for Leg 13 Months, 3 Daysn/a

Leg 2 - Australia

July 8 - October 23, 2013

We left San Francisco (again, after a 6-day stopover between Europe and Australia) for Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, where we landed on July 8th. For the rest of July we drove around exploring Australia's island state.
Logistical issues with the shipping of Sterlin to Sydney (ie.: a delay of 6 weeks due to the incompetence of the US-based shipping company) created a gap in our itinerary. New Zealand was the obvious choice to go and chill for the duration. Although not on the original itinerary we spent a delightful intermezzo there (July 31st - September 1).

Sterlin finally arrived in Sydney on August 30th; we flew there on September 1st for what would be 7.5 weeks touring around. We visited new places and re-visited some we had been long ago. As good as seeing all the sites big was staying and/or catching up with friends. And making new friends.

15,500km/10,000miles later, on October 23rd, we left Fremantle, Perth for Bali, Indonesia.



Leg 2 - Australia and New Zealand Arrive Depart Duration Distance (kms)
TasmaniaJuly 9thJuly 31st22 Days3,009
New ZealandJuly 31stSeptember 1st31 Daysn/a
AustraliaSeptember 1stOctober 23rd52 Days12,736
Summary for Leg 24 Months, 14 Days15,745

Leg 3: South-East Asia.

October 2013 - April 2014

- Indonesia: Although just for a while it looked like we were going to get Sterlin into the country, it all became a paper (and possibly bribe) quagmire, so Sterlin got shipped around to KL. We 'flash'-packed around the country. Pity we didn't have the car as our freedom of movement and time spent in this country was limited.

- Malaysia: Re-united with Sterlin and free to drive wherever. We started in KL headed south to Singapore and then north along the west coast before returning to KL and then north again up the west coat to Thailand. We hit the start of the east coast wet season and therefore spent most of our time not there.

- Singapore: Sterlin got left across the border in Johor Bahru for our 4 day foray into Singapore. The logistics and costs to get him in outweighed the short duration. And we really didn't need our car here.

- Thailand: We spent 2 months in this wonderful country. So much to see and so much variety in the landscape. We pretty much explored everything we could and were pretty much on the move most of the time. We avoided Bangkok due to protests which could turn violent.

- Myanmar/Burma: A short one week trip to Myanmar/Burma to get a taste of this largely undiscovered country. Myanmar/Burma does not presently allow individual private vehicles on their roads, so we 'flash'-packed around via plane and trains.

- Cambodia: We continued our overland journey with Sterlin through Cambodia, taking a bit of a convoluted route to take in the sites. We started with 8 days of temples and then relaxed in the luxury of Phnom Penh before heading North to Laos.

- Laos: We spent one month cruising through Laos, visiting caves and marveling at the stunning limestone karsts.



More details on an interactive map are available here.

Leg 3 - South East Asia Arrive Depart Duration Distance (kms)
IndonesiaOctober 23rdNovember 13th21 Daysn/a
MalaysiaNovember 13thDecember 16th33 Days2,909
ThailandDecember 16thFebruary12th58 Days7,246
Myanmar / BurmaFebruary12thFebruary 25th13 Daysn/a
Thailand (Transit)February 25thMarch 1st4 Days430
CambodiaMarch 1stMarch 22nd21 Days2,521
LaosMarch 22ndApril 17th26 Days2,200
Summary for Leg 35 Months, 25 Days15,306

Leg 4: East and Central Asia

April - July 2014

On April 17 we joined Kuipwagen (Marijke and Coen) and Ivor (Kim and Vaughan) in the Northern Laos border town of Boten, to cross into China as a convoy. Twenty nine days later we reached Erenhot, China and crossed into Mongolia.

We spent a month in Mongolia enjoying the landscape and diversity of the county. We exited on the Western border to Russia. We then headed North-West and then South-West through Russia towards Kazakhstan.

We had a marvelous time traveling through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and back into Kazakhstan en route to the Caspian Sea (www.7lows.com).


Leg 4 - East and Central Asia Arrive Depart Duration Distance (kms)
ChinaApril 17thMay 15th29 Days5,419
MongoliaMay 15thJune 13th32 Days3,614
RussiaJune 13thJune 17th4 Days1,160
Kazakhstan (Take 1)June 17thJune 21st5 Days1,485
KyrgyzstanJune 21stJuly 2nd9 Days1,551
UzbekistanJuly 2ndJuly 12th10 Days2,145
Kazakhstan (Take 2)July 12thJuly 14th2 Days811
Summary for Leg 4  2 Months, 29 Days16,185

Leg 5: Europe (Take 2)

August - October 2014.

Back in Europe we made our way to Belgium via Russia, Finland, the Baltic States, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.

 On August 16 we arrived in Eeklo, the end-goal of the 'overland' part of our trip. 
August 20 we flew to Japan where we embarked on a 'side-trip' to the Sea of Okhotsk.

 On September 21 we arrived back in Belgium. We spent a week or so there before setting out on a quick trip through France and Switzerland, after which we flew to Hong Kong.


Leg 5 - Europe (Take 2) Arrive Depart Duration Distance (kms)
Russia and Caspian SeaJuly 14thJuly 25th11 Days2,663
FinlandJuly 25thJuly 28th3 Days190
EstoniaJuly 28thJuly 31st2 Days281
LativaJuly 31stAugust 2nd2 Days242
LithuaniaAugust 2ndAugust 4th2 Days475
PolandAugust 4thAugust 9th5 Days1,034
GermanyAugust 9thAugust 14th5 Days683
The NetherlandsAugust 14thAugust 16th2 Days330
BelgiumAugust 16thAugust 23rd7 Days594
- JapanAugust 23rdAugust 26th3 Daysn/a
- Sea of Okhotsk ExpeditionAugust 26thSeptember 20th26 Daysn/a
Belgium and European CitiesSeptember 21stNovember 9th49 Days5,021
Summary for Leg 5  3 Months 24 Days11,513

Leg 6: South China Sea.

On November 9th we said goodbye to Europe (at least for this trip) and flew to Hong Kong where we boarded M/V The World.
This part of our trip will saw us in Hong Kong for 5 days, a 2 day stop in Hainan Island, China, and last but not least: 12 days sailing the coast of Vietnam.
On November 29th we will headed back home to San Francisco from Ho Chi Minh / Saigon.

We landed at SFO on November 30th and that was officially the end of our fantastic 18 month adventure.


Leg 6 - Homeward Bound Arrive Depart Duration Distance (kms)
Hong Kong & Hainan IslandNovember 10thNovember 17th8 Daysn/a
VietnamNovember 18thNovember 29th12 Daysn/a
USANovember 29th   
Summary for Leg 6  20 Daysn/a


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