Japan and back... very slowly.

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About this blog

We are Ant and Helen.

We are setting off on an adventure from the UK to Japan and back without flying. Along the way, we will be living and working as travellers - backpacking, volunteering, even working for actual money if we get the chance. This blog links personal reflections and stories on the road written by Ant with some of Helen's photography.

Roots

Since 2005, Ant and Helen have been living in Bethnal Green in the heart of London's East End. We both hail from the West Midlands originally, although neither of us like to admit it too freely. After meeting at university in Liverpool, the decision was made to hit the Big Smoke and make our fortunes. The cheque must have got lost in the post.

A volunteer manager by profession with a Sociology & Social Policy degree under her belt, Helen has a love of photography and all things crafty. Helen has had photographic work exhibited in London and has recently completed a photography course at the OU. A seasoned traveller, Helen has lived in rural Swaziland, trekked in the Amazon jungle and accidentally ate bone marrow in Eastern Europe.

Ant loved university so much that he decided never to leave. A BA, MA and PhD later, he is now trying to make a career in academic geography and is working at the University of Glasgow as an Honorary Research Associate. The title sounds rather more grand than the reality, but it is his passion nonetheless. Ant is also a keen fixed gear cyclist and occasional boulderer.

Routes

This adventure is partly a (very) extended honeymoon and partly the outcome of several years of itchy feet.

To keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, we will be working and volunteering - on farms, gardens, schools; basically wherever our energy can be applied to good use and where we can be kept out of mischief. Where we end up exactly is down to chance, opportunity, and most likely the direction of the prevailing wind at the crossroads. However, a rough trans-continental route has begun to taken form:

UK - France - Italy - Slovenia - Croatia - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Serbia - Macedonia - Kosovo - Greece - Turkey - Iran - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan - Kyrgyzstan - China - Laos - Thailand - Malaysia - Cambodia - Vietnam - China (again!) - Japan - South Korea - Russia... and then back home, somehow.

Should be fun, might be dangerous, will definitely be tiring, exciting and confusing. We'll see how this pans out.

  • Raye-sur-Authie: Looking forward, looking back...
  • A slice of Pai
Trip Start Aug 08, 2011
1
77
Trip End Ongoing


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