skyclaw441
02-26-2009, 01:22 AM
OK, I am known for giving crazy travel advice. Now comes the time that I need yours. As I've said previously, I'm making what I call the "Amazing Adventure", though I'm sure that there are more crazy ones (like traveling the only land path in the Arctic from Canada into Russia, not that I'm even sure if my friend's claim of a land path even exists). Anyway, it is this. I plan to study for college in Japan. Now, I'd pondered my options of transportation. Now, I found a plane ticket from Vancouver, Canada to Tokyo for $500 on Air Canada. I then thought "I hate long flights, how do I drug/knock myself out for eight hours, so if I die, I at least won't know it. Now, I thought that one long flight would be boring, so I came up with a crazy, hair-brained plane of travel that would let me see extensive sights. So, I came up with a plan to drive from my home, through Canada, through Alaska, and I'd then take a ferry across into Russia, and I'd then take a road down to Sakhlin, then take a ferry to Japan. Well, it turns out that there are no roads crossing Alaska, much less remote Far Eastern Russia. And, I wasn't insane enough to put my life into insane risks walking out on the tundra for thousands of miles. So, after looking at Wikipedia, countless airline websites and schedules, and at maps galore, I finally have plotted out most of my route, until I get to Southeastern Russia. Here's what I have thus far:
Car from:
XXXXXXXXX, Iowa, US - Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, Canada (Day 1)
Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, Cananda - Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada (Day 2)
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada - Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada (Day 3)
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada - Fairbanks, Alaska, US (Day 4)
Fairbanks, Alaska, US - Manley Hot Springs, Alaska, US (Day 5)
All in all, that's 3,400 miles. I'll probably stay with Couchsurfers, or I'll take a tent and pitch outside of town where I can. Needless to say, I'll need to sleep in the car in Manley Hot Springs. I'll have to leave my car there. -_-. Using speeds found in my Algebra book, the speed of a paddling kayak is 90 yd/min. It's 75 miles down the Tanana River from Manley Hot Springs to where it meets up with the Yukon river in Tanana. I calculated the time to reach there just over 24 hours, so I'm assuming I'm doing a good amount of paddling.
Boat (Kayak) from:
Manley Hot Springs, Alaska, US - Tanana, Alaska, US (Day 6-7)
Tanana, Alaska, US - Galena, Alaska, US (Day 8-15)
Here's where the charter flights start. I have to make sure that I hit the charter flight across the Bering to the day, as there's no consistent schedule for the charter from Nome to Anadyr.
Charter Plane From:
Galena, Alaska, US - Nome, Alaska, US (Day 16)
Nome, Alaska, US - Anadyr, Chukotka, Russia (Day 17)
Anadyr, Chukotka, Russia - Pevek, Chukotka, Russia (Day 18)
Markovo, Chukotka, Russia - Magadan, Magadan, Russia (Day ??)
Magadan, Magadan, Russia - Yakutsk, Sakha, Russia (Day ??)
Yakutsk, Sakha, Russia - Khabarovsk, Khabarovsk, Russia (Day ??)
Now, charters are fucking expensive, good thing I'm saving. Now, I'm stuck in Khabarovsk, and I need to get to Sakhalin Island. There are no major roads from what I see on Google Maps, nor railroads that will lead me to a shore city for a ferry to get my across. There are no roads except for on the South on the Island. And, there is no fucking way I'm walking a couple hundred miles through the mountains of Khabarovsky Krai. And, there is a rule that I cannot make a major jet flight while on this trip. So there is nothing that will fly me into Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. So, can anyone help me out with this? And any information on how to get into Hokkaido would be very helpful as well, because then I'm home free and get just hitchhike my way to Toyko from Northern Hokkaido (Wakkanai is where I'd assume to be landing near if I'm going to be leaving from the south of the island on a boat.)
Car from:
XXXXXXXXX, Iowa, US - Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, Canada (Day 1)
Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, Cananda - Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada (Day 2)
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada - Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada (Day 3)
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada - Fairbanks, Alaska, US (Day 4)
Fairbanks, Alaska, US - Manley Hot Springs, Alaska, US (Day 5)
All in all, that's 3,400 miles. I'll probably stay with Couchsurfers, or I'll take a tent and pitch outside of town where I can. Needless to say, I'll need to sleep in the car in Manley Hot Springs. I'll have to leave my car there. -_-. Using speeds found in my Algebra book, the speed of a paddling kayak is 90 yd/min. It's 75 miles down the Tanana River from Manley Hot Springs to where it meets up with the Yukon river in Tanana. I calculated the time to reach there just over 24 hours, so I'm assuming I'm doing a good amount of paddling.
Boat (Kayak) from:
Manley Hot Springs, Alaska, US - Tanana, Alaska, US (Day 6-7)
Tanana, Alaska, US - Galena, Alaska, US (Day 8-15)
Here's where the charter flights start. I have to make sure that I hit the charter flight across the Bering to the day, as there's no consistent schedule for the charter from Nome to Anadyr.
Charter Plane From:
Galena, Alaska, US - Nome, Alaska, US (Day 16)
Nome, Alaska, US - Anadyr, Chukotka, Russia (Day 17)
Anadyr, Chukotka, Russia - Pevek, Chukotka, Russia (Day 18)
Markovo, Chukotka, Russia - Magadan, Magadan, Russia (Day ??)
Magadan, Magadan, Russia - Yakutsk, Sakha, Russia (Day ??)
Yakutsk, Sakha, Russia - Khabarovsk, Khabarovsk, Russia (Day ??)
Now, charters are fucking expensive, good thing I'm saving. Now, I'm stuck in Khabarovsk, and I need to get to Sakhalin Island. There are no major roads from what I see on Google Maps, nor railroads that will lead me to a shore city for a ferry to get my across. There are no roads except for on the South on the Island. And, there is no fucking way I'm walking a couple hundred miles through the mountains of Khabarovsky Krai. And, there is a rule that I cannot make a major jet flight while on this trip. So there is nothing that will fly me into Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. So, can anyone help me out with this? And any information on how to get into Hokkaido would be very helpful as well, because then I'm home free and get just hitchhike my way to Toyko from Northern Hokkaido (Wakkanai is where I'd assume to be landing near if I'm going to be leaving from the south of the island on a boat.)