Finally, I see the total number of kilometres of the trip. I thought that they would be less than 40.000 but after reviewing some of them this is the final number. The kilometres are quite exact as I’ve been taking notes and numbers during the trip, now, I’ve estimated a short number of journeys have been estimated but less than 5%.

The post also has some curious statistics about places in which I’ve been sleeping

Here you have the first graphic with the kilometres per country:

Armenia and Kazajstan, I was telling you that I don’t consider them as visited in fact, appears as the ones with less kilometers.

Here in detail the kilometres per country:

With the number of kilometres per country, they countries are nearly organized by country size.

During the post, to make it easy, as I’ve done during the blog, each time I’ve moved I’ve called it generically “transport”.

In the 42.319 kilometres, I don’t count the transports in the city (metro, tram, taxi…) neither the daily hours I’ve spent walking. This total can be considered inter urban distance travelled. I’ve just counted the walking journeys that have been needed to move from a place to another, which have not been too much.

I love train station.

The most curios transports have been:

• The day that after crossing the border between Turkey and Georgia I hitchhiked with a nipo-suiss couple and a bus full of crazy Iranians got us. I enjoyed so much I did a video about it.
• Old red Mercedes taxi in Albania that as soon as we were in offered us a bottle of mineral water refilled with raki (strong homemade alcohol) that he had handy on the door, why?
• The most unpleasant journey was in China, going from Turpan to Lanzhou. The hotel played us not issuing the train tickets and we were all night sitting in the most uncomfortable sit ever built.
• The most memorable trip on boat that has been the one in the Koman Lake in Albania where I was not very sure where I was going, it was pouring rain and when I arrived to the other side of the lake I had to stay, as there was no ferry back. A huge feeling of being lost and a huge feeling of “I don’t mind”.
• One of the nicest journeys was the way to Mestia in the high Svanety north of Georgia. The journey was through an impressive canyon until the villages with watch towers started to pop up. I loved it even it was in one of the busiest minuses ever and after many hours.
• On the kayak, I’ve done 160 kilometres in five countries: Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey and Iran. From all I keep fantastic memories, maybe the most different was the one in Iran, a remote place. A kind of place I wanted to go when I was planning the trip three years ago but that I couldn’t really imagine how it would be.
• Awesome the hitchhike I did to get to the Chinese border in Kyrgyzstan where I got for the first time in my life into a trailer.

A graphic with the number of times I´ve taken each transport.

I would have liked travelling more by train but in many places they don’t exist or they are too slow.

In addition, a list with the numbers.

The most used types have been:

• Bus with 57 transports
• Shared taxi with 42, an interesting way of moving that doesn’t exist in what we call the civilized world. You go to a parking and a taxi is filled up with other people that share the same destination. It has nearly all the advantages of gong in a car and nearly none of the inconvenience. The price is a bit more than a bus, but takes shorter to arrive and it’s a LOT cheaper than bringing your own car. And you don’t have to drive! We should institute it.
• 35 minibuses have terrorized me, mainly in the Caucasus area. Is the transportation system I’ve liked the less. Filled up with people, you see nearly nothing through the windows. Also it’s dangerous for the extra weight and the speed they put on those vans reforested with seats. However, cheap and fast is.

And the last graphic with the kilometers per type of transport.

The bus wins but with not that many trains it get´s into second possition.

The three longest transports:

• 1480 kilometres in a bus crossing the Taklamakan desert. Here I added another two more hours to arrive to Turpan making it a 25 hours trip.
• 1378 kilometres with the rented car with Silvia and Aitor when they came to visit me and to paddle around there.
• 1191 kilometres of the last transport on train from Xian to Beijing

On the 3709 kilometres done in rented cars I haven’t have a fine. A policeman forbid me one in Jordan and my friend Aitor was forbidden one in Montenegro using the technique of asking, why? So, where do I pay? And then what I do? How do I go to the place to pay?

I haven’t taken metrics on the hours on the transports but now I’d like to have it. As estimation, I can set the average speed to something between 70 and 85 kilometres per hour having a total of 500 to 600 hours.

If you see one of this, you have to jump into it for a picture!

Cleaning the road to Theth in Albania after the winter.

We move now to the numbers related to accommodation. Here are the numbers I’ve found more interesting:

• 129 is the number of different places in which I’ve slept.
• 16 nights sleeping on trains or buses, some more comfortable than others. I’ve tried to avoid travelling by night as you don’t see how the landscape changes.
• 145 is the total number of places I’ve sleep in adding both. That’s why it’s not strange that when I arrived home and I saw my be, I didn’t even got flustered, it was simply another bed to sleep in. Two days later I realized that it was my bed and I was supposed to have missed it.
• 2.28 stay per place, going according with my intention of moving every two days to avoid packing and un-packing.
• 2.03 if we take into account the nights travelling.
• There are several places in which I’ve had to change accommodation during my stay. Tashkent was the worst as I had no reservation in advance (as I nearly never do) so I had to go to a 50 Euro hotel, then to a 35, then to a 20 and then to a 10 Euro as I wanted.
• I’ve shared room 83 times, the preferred option as it’s cheaper, however a room for yourself is a much enjoyed thing for the peace and the space.

Ushguli in the hight Svaneti. Incredibly arriving, incredibly seing it and incredible breathing it. That’s why it is UNESCO heritage.

To finish the post here is the list of the 41 UNESCO heritage places I’ve visited:

• Albania: Butrint, historical centre of Berat and Gjirokastra.
• Bosnia and Herzegobina: Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar.
• China: The Great Wall, Mogao Caves, Temple of Heaven and Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
• Croatia: Old City of Dubrovnik, Historic Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian, Plitvice Lakes National Park and Stari Grad Plain.
• France: Bordeaux Port de la Lune.
• Georgia: Upper Svaneti.
• Greece: The Acropolis, Meteora and the Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika.
• Iran: PersepolisE, Esfahan and Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex.
• Italy: Venice and its Lagoon, Pisa, Vatican City and Historic center Rome.
• Syria: Ancient City of Damascus, Site of Palmyra, Ancient City of Bosra, Ancient City of Aleppo and Qal’at Salah El-Din.
• Turkey: Historic Areas of Istanbul.
• Uzbekistan: Itchan Kala, Historic Centre of Bukhara and Samarkand.
• Montenegro: Natural and Culturo-Historic Region of Kotor and Durmitor National Park.
• Jordan: Petra.
• Turkmenistan: Ancient Merv and Kunya-Urgench.
• Spain if we want to count it and to make some marketing of my hometown: Burgos Cathedral.

As soon as I have some time, I’ll prepare some data about the web to tell you. A novel has around 100.000 words. How many have I written? How many pictures? How many minutes of video produced?

I’ve been surprised by some of the numbers, but until next week I don’t tell you.

Soon back
Fernando