The Hunt for Something

ALBANY, N.Y. - I am going to the East, in a way few Americans do.

The plane means that Asia is accessed either by way of the North Pole or over the Pacific Ocean. The Orient is no longer reached by passing through the fringes of Occidental territory, instead the colonization of the New World means that the descends of immigrants return to the Old World by heading West. That's strange.

I wanted to change that. I ran the numbers, primarily by checking Seat 61, a great site for rail around the world. When I found a cheap ticket to Poland on LOT Polish Airways, it was set. I would be off to Europe. I have the time because China is on a strange semester system thanks to the Chinese New Year. Classes do not start until three weeks into the lunar calendar, which this year is well into March. With the holiday retail season at Eastern Mountain Sports long over, this gave me the whole of February to get to China.

I won't have oceans of time, about five weeks point to point. And although I've made no reservations, there will be some constraints on my time. I've heard plenty about how beautiful Mongolia is, so I want to be sure and spend some time there. Direct trains out of Moscow leave only a couple times a week, since I have no ticket, I'll need to time my arrival in the Russian capital carefully.

With so much distance to cover, there won't be a ton of time to stop in each destination. The amount of travel is huge: I will fly across five time zones but then have to cross another seven on land. If I went point to point, it would take nearly nine days to reach Beijing from Warsaw. That's without getting off at any station for more than a hot dog.

And I do want to stop. I want see how Europe turns Asia, how the West becomes East, to relocate borders lost on frequent flyers. Please join me.