Good news for travel buffs, Lonely Planet now has a program that features great travel blogs. This program has exploded in the travel community and you can now see select posts from ATC on related Lonely Planet destination pages. If you have not heard of Lonely Planet, it is a company well known to most travelers for their comprehensive guides that cover nearly 100% of the world (even Antarctica!).  For the international traveler there really is not another guide company that comes close to LP in terms of information at the country and major city level. We use LP guides when traveling abroad, and have quite a collection of their books, including some of their compilation books composed by travelers who have interesting stories to share.

Sunset

Now Abandon the Cube is part of this great endeavor to make travel information more accessible. On each Lonely Planet destination page you’ll find info on each country, including links to our blog, where applicable. There are not alot of people, for example, who have spent significant amounts of time in Turkmenistan, but we have. Thus, our blog adds new information and insight to the Lonely Planet reader. That’s how we help make Lonely Planet better.

If you found our site from Lonely Planet, welcome to ATC! Subscribe to the RSS feed for weekly blogs sent to your email, or you can follow us on facebook and twitter. Alternatively, check out the photo album, our guides, newsletters and info on the 2010 Mongol Rally.

A god? Yes!

Bear Gryllls’ show, Man vs. Wild (Born Survivor in the UK) – Man vs. Wild – Season 1 - is a rare TV hit. What I like most about this show, despite the fact that some of his stunts are staged, is that he demonstrates how to survive in life-threatening situations across all types of terrain. This week has been productive for me in that sense, I learned how to make rope out of roots, how to wrestle an alligator, how to make a water purifier out of natural elements, how to skin a sheep then use the skin as a boat, etc. He is like a real life Macgyver!

Having spent time outdoors and traveling in places where you are literally always in danger of being stranded from civilization, this show has been a real breath of fresh, information-filled air, and he reaffirmed some of my thoughts while on the road last year.

Anyone who spends any amount of time outdoors knows that what kind of travel gear and clothing you have is essential. I had to buy two *&#*!%$ cheap bags before I finally spent the money on a nice REI backpack that will withstand rough use, varied terrain and temperatures, and 70+ pounds of rip and tear 24 hours a day. Lesson learned: don’t skimp on essential equipment! In that vain, its easy to see how Bear carefully chooses his clothing and equipment before heading into the wild. He has all quick-dry clothing and a multiple temperature jacket of gore tex. I had no jacket on the last trip (big mistake) and what was worse, I had flimsy shoes I bought at a market in China before leaving. I did have a few other items, but was missing a great deal, including a water purifier, on this last adventure. Lesson learned again: don’t skimp on essential clothing! Before the next trip (Mongol Rally 2010) I’ll be buying expedition-level shoes that breathe and can stand rough wear and tear, a multi-season jacket and more quick-dry clothing. Ah, a girl’s wish list has no end!

Final thought: on the show Bear has a special knife he had built for himself which retails at $700+ dollars. While I think it is an essential element for life on the road, I’m not about to drop close to a grand on a knife! I’ll stick with my little Cold Steel Voyager, which was a gift from my Kuk Sol Wan coach in 2006. I have only sharpened it twice and it is in amazing condition, plus the 2″ blade means its legal to cross borders with. You could literally back a truck over it and it would be fine! Also, Bear goes out into the wild without a flashlight, I keep my Smith & Wesson LED Flashlight on me at all times (no joke, its in my purse). Paranoid- no. Prepared- hopefully.

Two years ago I packed up almost everything I owned and moved to China. One month ago I returned to America with three boxes of items purchased overseas and my clothes. So, how did I get rid of everything I owned to travel? — Its easier than you’d think.

Pack what you need for vacation - Once you have exactly what you need in your vacation suitcase consider this, do you really need anything else?

Pack your sentimental items - Don’t throw away items that have memories of importance for you. Pack these up and store them in a friend’s basement.

Realize it can all be replaced - Dishes, towels, furniture, clothes, books, all of these items can be replaced. Keep items that you really love, but everything is can be sold or given away. If you can get your belongings down to a small enough size it will be easier to find somewhere to store it for free.

Realize you can’t take anything with you at the end - Things are literally just things, and they decay and are forgotten. If they are chaining you down and keeping you from enjoy life, exploring the world and feeling free then they are not worth it.

If you think about these couple of things while addressing the question of whether or not you can get overseas to travel on a longer-term basis, perhaps it will make the decision to Abandon the Cube that much easier to make.

I-touch

Three months ago I borrowed an Apple i-Touch while traveling through Central Asia. I posted a review of the handy appliance on our blog along with a desperate plea for someone to sponsor me with an i-Touch of my own. That wish came true shortly thereafter, and I’ve learned a lot more about the electronic pocket pal as I travel. Here are some useful apps for a traveler as well as some top picks on travel games and other accessories.

Handy applications:

Unit Converter: Like my last review, I find the unit converter invaluable. From Celsius to Fahrenheit, from kilometers to miles and from every currency in the world to Euros and USD. Don’t travel without it.

Calculator: I use this whenever a language barrier prevents me from using words– which is often. I also use it when adding up ticket prices and other fees.

Days Until: I programed all the major holidays in the areas where we will be traveling. This way I can keep track of what big events will be going on and where along our route so we can plan to be there. We’re covering over 20 countries this year, so without this app we would miss a lot (not to mention birthdays back home and other events, like the not-so-universal ‘Thanksgiving’ holiday).

Weather: I have the weather in my i-Touch for every country we are passing through, all 20 of them. Its great to see that we just missed a huge storm in Tashkent while the weather back in Shanghai is humid and the weather in Greece ahead looks wonderful.

Clock: I have the time for each major country we will be passing through, so I”ll never be waiting at the train station too early or late, or changing my watch to the wrong time when crossing a border.

Flags Fun: Thanks to this fun little game, I feel confident I can recognize any flag in the world. It has already helped us find the Azerbaijan embassy, which was otherwise unmarked.

World Capitals: Like the flags game, these flashcards and quizzes helped me learn the capitals, countries and flags the world over. Its a bit more educational than fun, but for a traveler its imperative to learn.

Factbook: The factbook gives information on each country in the world, like an abbreviated Wikipedia. I read about the countries we are approaching before we arrive to learn basic info and to check on security threats.

Atlas: This helps me keep everything in perspective, and I use this when planning out onward route. I also have the Google Earth application, but it is only useful with wifi, which is limited when on the road.

Natural Cures & WebMD: Traveling means getting sick often, WebMD helps diagnose the problem while the Natural Cures app gives suggestions on how to fix the problem. Unfortunately, we’ve had to use these apps more than once on the trip already.

Yoga- Stretch: I’m a yoga fan, and the yoga- Stretch app is great for me because its a timed, instructed session that keeps me paced. I miss my yoga classes, so this is a nice traveling alternative, and weighs a lot less than the yoga cards I was carrying before I got the i-Touch.

iTranslate: For obvious reasons, we have this app installed in case of emergency. We also have paper phrase books, but when its imperative a word get across the iTranslate app works well.

Fun Games

CrackCode: This game is addictive, but I’m not sure why. You simply crack colored codes.

Labyrinth LE: A simple, old fashioned game where you get the ball through a maze by tilting the i-Touch. Addictive, but hard to play on a bumpy train!

Brick 3D: I have easily spent 10 hours on this app while on the road. You just bounce a ball around and smuch bricks, it’s awesome!

ICHC: Which any true fan will know stands for “I can has cheezeburger” one of the funniest image sites on the Internet. I spend twenty minutes a day laughing thanks to this app. Needs WiFi though, so it will be less useful once out of city limits.

Totally Awesome Facts: Fun to read while on the road. PS- did you know a frog has to blink whenever it swallows?

Sponsor me?

The Apple i-touch, like many other Apple inventions, is an amazing piece of hardware. I’m borrowing one for the next twenty days and have become an apple accessory convert in the five days I’ve had an i-touch on the road. Here is why it is the ideal travel accessory:

1. Lightweight and compact, yet versatile. For a traveler, the biggest constraints are weight and space. The Apple i-touch weighs less than a pound and fits in the palm of your hand. Meanwhile, it can access wireless when available, and has all of the major applications of a regular computer.

Unit converter. This makes traveling through multiple countries and handling several currencies much easier. Meanwhile, this helps when talking with people who do not know the conversions for metric to imperial measurements or Celsius and Fahrenheit.

Programmable world clock. With friends and family all over the world, this handy tool tells me what time it is in every major city where I have contacts. I’ll never wake up grandma at 2:00am again!

Notepad. For the travel blogger, the notepad on the i-touch helps me organize and retain quick thoughts for blog posts or other ideas. I also use it as a reminder for things. Reminder- do not drink local water.

Weather. This is useful in the morning when deciding what to wear for the day, its also just fun to watch in the desert as it escalates into the hundreds (Fahrenheit).

Games. For the by-ground traveler the game applications (downloadable) on the i-touch are an amazing way to pass time. I’m especially fond of ‘Brick 3D’ and the ‘Flags’ applications. I’ve learned every flag from every country in the world on this trip thanks to the later game, beware bar trivia, here I come!

Organization. The i-touch also had a calendar, for planning your next move or keeping track of when each visa expires. It can also store upcoming birthdays, holidays and other events so the far-wandering traveler isn’t missing little Timmy’s birthday back home or planning to visit a mosque on a Muslim holiday.

Music and Pictures. While these two drain the battery quickly, its nice to have music in the palm of your hand as well as pictures of family and friends to browse through when feeling homesick.

Calculator. Traveling through multiple countries means multiple languages. When buying things its essential to have a calculator if you are not fluent. The calculator on the i-touch is quick to launch and easy to use, on the down side if you flash hardware as nifty as this people will assume you have cash to burn.

Email. With its wireless capabilities, the i-touch can access your email as soon as it detects a connection. This is quicker and easier than logging into a computer or waiting, god forbid, for Vista to start just to see if you have any high-priority emails.

In all, this handy little gadget rates a 9.5 on my electronics scale, of which everything else ranks about a 6.0. The only down side is that the battery drains quickly, which is not great for a traveler who often has long stretches between outlets. However, the fact that it can charge from the laptop is a nice bonus.

I have decided to acquire an i-touch. If anyone at Apple is reading this and wants to sponsor me with an i-touch for blogging, I’d be happy to accept! I’d also like an apple laptop someday, but that’s another story all together.

Naturally, some of you are wondering how we can afford to be unemployed and yet pay for train tickets all over the continent. Here is how I afford my share of the travel expenses. Mike has saved for over a year to pay for his half while I saved less and am working from the road.

I have one writing contract, which I acquired in the summer of 2008, which pays around $500USD a month. I have a good working relationship for the company, and because of my tenure with them, and because I turn in assignments on time and with additional features, I am confident the relationship will continue indefinitely. However, I have a contract which stipulates a one month notice should they terminate, giving me one month to find another contract should this one expire.

I also do a bit of travel writing for an online travel and trip planning company. I work on an assignment basis which produces an average of $150USD an assignment (roughly every other month). More importantly, this is a link for me to build new contacts and a gateway to future contracts.

I have also been writing, on a by-article basis for an online magazine, which pays a confidential amount per article and is based in Thailand. My relationship with this company is great, and they love that some of their writers are also on-the-road travelers.

In addition to this, I am a frequent visitor to various online writer’s boards where companies pay by the article or by the word for content on various topics. Because of competition and constant undercutting, many writers do not get paid as well as I do. I work to cultivate working relationships with people at each company to ensure my stability with them, but also because a writer is more than the content they produce.

In addition to the above, between March – April of this year I earned a 100 hour TOFEL certificate which will enable me to teach in any country in the world for profit. Should we run into financial troubles or decide to settle in a place for a while, this will be an additional source of income.

Thus, while I am not making a fortune right now, I am breaking even and traveling the world, which is more than I could have asked for. I do have some University loans that cost me about $200 USD per month to maintain, but I put away savings expressly for this purpose beginning in early 2008 so that I would not have to worry about my loans until the summer of 2010.

Top Five Things I Wish We’d Brought

Almaty

• More carabineers. So far, carabineers and rope have been two of the most useful items in my pack. On the 48 hour train we needed the rope to secure the guitar to my travel pack, I locked it in place with two of the carabineers. I used a third carabineer to lock the food bag to my pack. All of the carabineers are also lockable, so everything is secure and safe. If we had another rope and a few more carabineers I would have used the rope on the top bunk to construct a mini table to preserve space and to set the laptop on. Laugh all you want, but when you are confined to a bed that is only one foot wide adding a tiny rope table to put your bag on would make you smile from ear to ear!
• Face-soap. One of the most irritating things about getting ready for bed on a moving train is that it is hard to get out soap and wash your face because there is no where to put the soap down without losing it via slippage or getting it filthy. I wish I had brought some of those individually wrapped, pre-moistened face washing cloths that you can toss afterwards.
• Video-recorder. While this is bulky and we are already traveling with an excess of electronics, it would be nice to capture the absolute silence of Lake Karakul, or the breathtaking majesty of the Tian Shan Mountains.
• Lens-cleaner. Dust storms, sand storms, rain, hail, smoke and smog have all induced my camera lens into looking like a streaky, splotchy mess. The same goes for my glasses and sunglasses, and for Mike’s laptop screen.
• Less stuff. Our bags are too heavy and there are items in our bags we don’t actually need. We’ll be leaving a large portion of our stuff in Turkmenistan once we arrive.
Top five most useful things we brought
• Pillow. I am so happy I brought my pillow. I store it, when moving, in a compression bag so that it takes up very little space. Its made me so much more comfortable.
• Head scarf. Every woman on the train who isn’t Chinese is wearing one. I put mine on and it feels amazing, it holds my hair out of my face and keeps it untangled. Its also nice because it has stopped some of the staring.
• Laptop. While it adds extra weight, it is a real luxury to have a laptop along to get work done and also keep blogging and journaling. I discovered that I write very slowly by hand.
• Compression bags. While it makes for more space (and hence more weight in the bag) its great to be able to break down one weeks of clothing into a bag the size of a shoe box.
• Vitamins. We packed at least 1/8th of our bags with vitamins and medicine and already I’m glad we have the vitamins as the only food on the train is unhealthy and oily.

We ventured to every travel gear store in Shanghai. For those seeking camping, climbing, trekking or other outdoor wear and gear we fully recommend Decathlon. This store has literally everything an outdoor enthusiast could want and expect to find in Shanghai. Since we’ve been to every outdoor store in the city we can safely say this is the cheapest, with the best quality goods, the widest selection (by far) and the friendliest staff. Other outdoor stores in Shanghai have been found lacking. They are usually one-room shops with overpriced fake North Face packs and a few flashlights. Check out Decathlon if you’re in town. We ended up spending around $100USD there and walked away with several quick-dry clothing sets, compression bags, quick-dry towels and other necessities for a backpacker on the road. We’re heading back this weekend to buy a two-man tent (400RMB) and two sleeping bags. With modern technology, these combined could fit into a small backpack and be assembled in less than 5 minutes.

Our packing list (for each person):

• 2 pairs quick-dry khakis
  

  Compresion bag

• 1 pair sweatpants/work-out clothes
• 4 shirts (all quick-dry, anti-wrinkle, one dressier)
• 1 pair shower shoes/ sandals
• 1 paid hiking shoes/boots
• 1 fleece
• 1 windbreaker
• 1 swimsuit
• Undergarments and hiking socks
• Small medical kit, including first aid and medicine for various on-road ailments
• Books and writing materials
• I-pods
• Laptop
• Plastic bags (for dirty clothes, separating wet things, etc)
• 1 two-man tent
• 2 sleeping bags

We packed everything in one large backpack using one compression bag each (black back shown above in left of image). The compression bags collapse everything to manageable size. In one small backpack we will carry the medicine and laptop in a heat controlled bag (as we’re going into the desert and don’t want a giant paper weight made out of the laptop if it gets too hot).  This way we’ll be able to travel with one small bag and one large backpacking ruscksack in case one of us gets injured or is sore from hiking, etc. We will add the sleeping bags and tent as well as the additional small bag and my camera and we’ll be off on our trip in less than a week!

In planning the trip from Shanghai to Ashgabat, I’m encountering some chatter online about difficulties previous travelers have faced trying to cross the Irkeshtam pass from China into Kyrgyzstan. I contacted a Central Asian expert to inquire about the safety of traveling in this region, as well as the probability of attempting a border crossing at Irkeshtam. I was told it would be a waste of time to attempt to get from Kashgar to Osh. However, there is some hope in arranging for a Chinese travel company to escort me to the border and then deliver me to a Bishkek travel company, which would then drop me off safely in the capital of Kyrgyzstan.  As for safety, there was no one who would recommend a woman travel alone, naturally.

I’m determined to travel from the Coast of China to the Caspian Sea. If there were some way to make it from Turkmenistan to the Mediterranean I could have gone from coast to coast without touching an airfield, truly a feat in this day and age, where travel is about arriving, not departing.Alas, there are a few countries between the Caspian and the Med that are not intelligent to visit at present. It is all in the planning stages, and perhaps there is a way, but I will be more than happy to have gone from Shanghai to Ashgabat.

I invited a travel partner recently, and am excite to hear if she can make the trip. This woman has traveled all over the world, and has a travel resume that would make even the most adventurous traveler blush in envy. I’ll let you know what she says. She speaks some Russian and a bit of Kyrgyz, which would be helpful on the trip, not to mention she has an intimate knowledge of the Stans. I’ll not ruin the surprise until I get confirmation.

All else is going well, investigating visa options, researching train schedules and studying maps. I’m also following the news from the countries we’ll travel through and alternate routes should anything go south mid-trip.

-Posted by Lauren.