Planning: Countdown to the Expedition Start

Time is flying and the start of the expedition is now just 6-7 months away with a tentative accommodation booking already done for mid-August 2023 in Istanbul.
EDIT: this date has now been changed to 28 September 2023 due to circumstances surrounding high season in the region.=> sadly yet again delayed till early 2024 due to circumstances

Yes, the good old butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling before an expedition is back and waking up remembering to yet another thing I need to check is now not an uncommon occurrence. The planning mindset is now locked in and it's getting down into the nitty gritty of planning although this will also  be a constant thing along the route.

So priority has now been to firm a route down as far as possible for Turkey and then Georgia. Some sections will thus get their finer planning along the way as the expedition advances, taking into account any changes and weather on potential routes and/or requirements for visas etc.

There's also the online work I do that I have to keep in mind as that will pretty much be financing me along the way...at least for the start I will be hugely reliant on this.

The other very important matter is deciding on a cause that I would like to support and receive support for through this expedition. I have quite a few ideas but of course I'm open to suggestions as well if anyone has any.

Given the 90-day visa limit Turkey, I've had to find a more direct way from Istanbul to the Georgian border without sacrificing the Silk Road theme of the expedition. Thus, the plan is to start walking from the Sultan Ahmet park in Istanbul to the shore of the Bosphorous and take a ferry across to Üsküdar from where I'll follow the eastern shoreline of the Bosphorous north to the Black Sea. To read more about the Turkey section, go to Turkey Pre-Expedition Info

From there, I'll be walking along the Black Sea coastline to Georgia and taking in a variety of places along the Northern Anatolian Routes that made out part of the Silk Road.

Looking south down the Bosphorous towards Istanbul

This section of the route is around 1,450 km (906 miles) to the border of Georgia at Sarpa.

Other aspects of the planning are that I'll be going to South Africa early in 2023 to get all my documents, accounts etc sorted from where I'll likely head to Georgia for a couple of months to learn and practice the local languages and some Russian. This will of course be a time to recce some parts of the route in the Caucasus as well and try and meet with (virtual and/or face to face) some potential supporters of the expedition.

All very exciting!!

PS: I will be upping the content sharing on social media now too, so keep an eye out for that and please drop me/us a line - love to hear from everybody.