Today is the day of packing and preparation and insanity. Below is a VERY rough outline of what my summer 2009 travel plans look like.
Last summer I traveled around quite a bit, galavanting from Greece & Turkey up to Estonia and back down through the very hospitable countries of Eastern and Central Europe. This year I'm doing something different in both approach and location. First, I'm staying in one place for essentially the entire 2 months that I'm gone, albeit with occasional side trips. Second, I'm not going to Europe.
Despite this, I've still received many warm wishes from my friends in the hope that I "have a good time in Europe" this summer, and while I certainly appreciate the sentiment, it will be my obligation this summer to dramatically increase the familiarity of my friends and family with the 5 million people inhabiting Kyrgyzstan, its metropolitan capital Bishkek, and the much larger states of Central Asia that surround it.
For the moment, I know about as many details of my travel plans as you do. Here is an itinerary which is sure to get filled out substantially, but should form a rock-solid skeleton of the summer, should you wish a clearer picture of the particular "lamb" upon which I am mounted.
Geography blogs will follow, but not until I've gotten a better lay of the land and can impart more than a totally cartographic explanation for exactly what and where Kyrgyzstan is.
For now, here's the travel agent summary:
5/25 NYC -> London (arrive 9:30 am 5/26)
5/26 London: w/ Duff & Larissa
5/27 London: w/ Duff & Larissa
5/28 London (6:55 am) -> Istanbul (5 hour layover) -> Bishkek (arrive 1:35 am, 5/29)
529 Bishkek: sleep, move-in, recover
5/30 Bishkek: first day of work at Radio Azattyk (RFE Bishkek)
Lots of time spent in Bishkek, possible side trips to Lake Issyk Kul, Almaty, Tashkent, etc.
Less likely trips to Tajikistan, China, etc.
7/27 Bishkek (3:20 am) -> Istanbul (2 hr layover)-> London (7 hr layover)-> NYC (arrive 8:00 pm). 27 hours in semi-continuous transit.
7/28 NYC: r-e-c-o-v-e-r
7/29 NYC-> Sharon, CT (visit Shelley)
7/31 Sharon -> NYC (release sublet, reclaim apartment)
8/?? NYC -> TX and/or OK
Off we go.
Weber (getting on the lamb)
1 comment:
tashkent is an interesting city.... It is a sister city of Seattle. When me and my brother were in elementry school we all made tiles for a park in Tashkent. Later when we visited Tashkent we found the park (home of the Seattle Cafe) and found our tiles and we all got to take pictures next to the ceramics we made. it was pretty cool, and I couldn't be more jealous of your upcoming adventure
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