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if you ever think that no one is still anxiously following and awaiting your newest thoughts or exploits, this is thread I most enjoy seeing bumped to the too of my subscribed threads page.

That was a fun watch, Tyrannic. The parts that resonated with me were when he talked about living with the sun as it rises and sets, and when he talked about how he thinks he will look back on his decisions later in his life, and how he'd rather have the experiences now than a million dollars in his bank account later. I see things somewhat similarly.

wiper - Thanks, always glad to hear that people are enjoying this thread. It also helps keep the page load times down.


I'm swamped with stuff to get done before I leave London for Moscow on Monday, so the updates are going to get slow again, but here's another while I still have awesome high speed internet access:


After a few days in Villefranche-su-Mer, the owners had a few friends show up from the US for a brief visit. It was another older couple. They took the berth I had been using, and I moved to a smaller one while they were there. This couple were members of the same yacht club as the owners, and were liveaboards, though they live on a powerboat rather than a sailboat. They were looking forward to doing some sailing in the French Riviera, so after a day or two to acclimate to the vessel, we raised sails and headed northeast up along the coast:





In this photo, the headstay is being used, and the stay behind it is not. That folded up ladder looking thing with the wheels is a passerelle, which you unfold and attach one end to the boat and set the other end on a dock to make it easier to get on and off of the boat. The anchor you see is a 120lb Bruce. Note the small white rope tied around the chain, which is a safety snubber to act as a failsafe in case someone accidentally releases the anchor.

The owners decided to go to Monaco, which was not too far from where we were at VsM. It was a brief sail up the coast until we got to Monaco proper:





Monaco is mostly known for being a super tiny little country, and for the casinos in Monte Carlo. That photo shows probably 25-30% of the entire country, right there. You can walk across the country in a few hours if you want to.

Something I found interesting in Monaco that I haven't noticed elsewhere is that there are signs pointing to the nearest defibrillator all over the place:





I must have seen at least 20 of these signs. I guess that's a good thing.

Also fun is the license plates, as they have so few characters. I was already used to this from living in the USVI, but it's still fun to see 4 digit plates:





Yes, we ate at Planet Sushi. No, it wasn't particularly good. They had foie gras sushi, which I'd never seen before. I don't eat foie gras, so I can't tell you anything about it.

We walked around Monte Carlo for a while, saw the opera house, and went in the primary casino. If you ever go to Monte Carlo, do not go to the primary casino, it is a complete rip off. They charge you 10 euros just to enter (wat?) and then once you are inside, there are about 30 slot machines, and maybe 4 table games running. There were about 8 tables for table games, but when we showed up, there were only two blackjack tables and two roulette tables running. Both of the roulette tables were American (both zero and double zero) style. Seriously? In Monte Carlo?!

We ended up going to a nearby casino that had a craps table, and I won 12 euros there. No entry fee, and a lot more table games available.

There is a lot of money in Monaco:





There were Ferraris and Lamborghinis everywhere. I saw a Dubai license plate, which I thought was funny but I suppose makes perfect sense.

As a teenager I went to Monaco and I remember walking around seeing all of the crazy expensive cars while parents went to gamble. Pretty awesome.

Definitely still following, and looking forward to slow train to China.

Of course. Didn't you see Quantum of Solace? If 007 has one, they must be cool.

Are slip fees, or whatever they're called, outrageous in Monaco? I would think so.

The time to see the really expensive boats is during the F1:

Yeah, I'm not a car guy at all, but even I was looking at some of the sweet cars in Monaco.

Slip fees in Monaco were surprisingly inexpensive, probably only because we were expecting them to be ludicrous. I'd say they were about average for the French Riviera in high season, which seems inexpensive given that it's Monaco.


In current news, I left London a few days ago. Took the Eurostar high speed train through the chunnel over to Brussels, then changed trains to Cologne, then again to Berlin. Hung out in the Berlin train station for a while due to the German railworkers deciding to go on strike that night, but luckily they only struck for 3 hours so my next train only left a couple of hours late. That was the final train to Moscow. Got on the train at around 2200, got off the next night at 0300 in Moscow. 3 person sleeper compartment, met some cool Russians including one who would only refer to me as "Obama" or sometimes "American" despite exchanging names.

I've been in Moscow for a couple of days. Spent today in Red Square, eating blinis and looking at the Kremlin and some cathedrals. Also had borscht, which gets a really undeserved bad rap. I like borscht.

Tomorrow I head to Irkutsk. Will be on the train for just over 3 full days this time. It's about 2600 miles or 4200 kilometers. Siberia, here I come. Will be in Irkutsk a few days exploring the city and Lake Baikal, then on to Mongolia.


Irkutsk coat of arms:

lake baikal always intrigued me, get good pictures.

and calling all the Russians "comrade" seems the correct play.

I don't think antagonizing them is the best idea. They do have good senses of humor though. I guess you kind of have to, living in Russia.

Just tried to add photos to this but the 2p2 mobile app still sucks, so no dice.

On the train from Moscow to Irkutsk, just pulled out of Moscow. In a 4 bed sleeper compartment. Small but not nearly as small as the 3 bed one from Berlin.

Moscow is the starting point for this train, it goes all the way to Vladivostok. I'll get off in 3 days at Irkutsk. Just me and one dude in the compartment so far, so lots of room. We haven't spoken a word to each other, just pointed at our bunks to know who had which one, and nodded.

Let us go go go!

Borscht has a bad rap?? I love borscht. Esp w sour cream

I agree with this 100%, I just don't comment after the many awesome posts as I'm sure the current and future readers don't care to read what I think about them.

You are a true inspiration and I look forward very much to your posts and to incorporating some of your adventures into future adventures of my own! Thanks for keeping it going!

Thanks guys, always appreciate knowing people are still interested.

Still on train to Irkutsk. Currently stopped in Novosibirsk for a few minutes to unload passengers. I seem to have cell signal about 90% of the time, and internet near the larger cities. Very glad I picked up a Russian SIM in Moscow. $12 for 3GB over 30 days, plus about an hour of talk time. Awesome deal.

Should get to Irkutsk tomorrow night, everything I know about Irkutsk comes from playing Risk and reading about Lake Baikal.

Had a young Russian in my compartment this morning who spoke some English. He just got off here in Novosibirsk. Now it's just me and a 75 year old ex navy officer whose only word in English is "casino". I don't think he really had a positive opinion of me until I explained that I had lived in Las Vegas for a few months. When young Russian translated that, suddenly old Russian approved of me and now he is offering me a pear from his bag of pears. Guess I'm in.

Two open bunks now, have had 11 different people cycle thru this 4 bunk compartment in the last 46 hours. Small child in adjacent compartment speaks no English but constantly screams in Russian. I think his only volume is "scream", unfortunately. This is why I have 33db earplugs.

Will continue with photos when I get wifi again. Wish 2p2 app would work.

Thank you for yet another update — I'm one of the many that enjoy following your adventures from my computer screen in place of physically doing what you are.

Just wondering if I missed you posting an itinerary of your travel plan, if you did I must have missed it and can't seem to find it after a quick skim through your more recent posts.

Many thanks if you could say a bit about your travel plan and reason for the route you are taking. If you've already talke about it itt, well my apologies then and my thanks if you — or someone else — would direct me to the specific post(s).

Good luck with your travels!

EDIT: Nevermind OP, I found the posts describing your travel plans — turns out they were posted when I was on vacation and I had missed reading them.

Just this morning, the thought entered my head that I wondered what chopstick would take after Irkutsk.

Train trip + cargo ship is really cool. I will file it that on bucket list.

You down any vodka with the boys?

Download language translator app, imo.

In Irkutsk. Leaving for Mongolia tomorrow. Spent yesterday at Lake Baikal eating Omul (the little dried fish) and admiring the lake. Met a cool Russian who gave me a ride to Lake Baikal, but I did need to take the lol minibus back to Irkutsk. 12 people in a minivan for 100 rubles ($3). Reminded me of the Dominican Republic. The night before Baikal was vodka night in Irkutsk with some people from the hostel I'm at in Irkutsk. I also stayed in a hostel in Moscow when I was there, in addition to the Sleepbox place.

It's been years since I have stayed in a hostel, and now I remember why. Hostels are a lot of fun and you can meet some cool people, but the conversations are almost always the same (where are you from, where are you coming from, where are you going), and there is always one person who snores at a level that even my 33db earplugs struggle to win the war against. Haven't picked a place to stay in Ulaan Bataar yet, but I'm booked in the Crowne Plaza near the center of Beijing for that leg, should not be kept awake by snorers there. I'm Platinum IHG, so that should also come with a free room upgrade. I read they have a rooftop pool, looking forward to that.

Tonight is laundry, Mongolia lodging, Beijing stuff, and other logistics stuff. Google and Gmail have been down in China since the summertime, so I am also picking a good VPN to get around that. Looks like ExpressVPN wins there, they specialize in China with servers in Hong Kong.

I've got an iPhone with Google Translate, which works really well... with an internet connection. Also downloaded some various iOS apps that have Russian words and phrases. It's all good, I'm getting by with the basics that I always learn wherever I go - thank you, please, yes, no, hello, goodbye, how much, etc.

I have wifi but it's pretty slow, so no photos yet. If it speeds up later I'll put some up, otherwise we'll see how the wifi in Mongolia is.

One other lol moment from recently - I met up with a Russian who wanted to practice his English and offered to show me around Irkutsk in exchange. We met first thing in the morning and he asked if I wanted to go get a coffee, I said sure. He said he knew a good place, and off we went.

Where did we go?

Papa John's

Yes, the same one you are thinking of. Not only does the Papa John's in Irkutsk do the normal pizza delivery thing, they are also a popular spot as a cafe, with different kinds of coffees and hot morning drinks. I had a hot chocolate.

This is why travel is awesome. I never would have guessed we were going to end up at a Papa John's when he said go for a coffee.

I've only been off the train in Mongolia for a couple of hours and I already really like it here. Karaoke is everywhere - I passed 8 karaoke places in the 1.5km walk to the hotel from the train station. Most of the Mongolians I've spoken with exude genuine warm friendliness, even the taxi hustlers. I am very glad I taught myself a little bit of Mongolian before arriving, I think it makes all the difference in the world to be able to say things like hello and thank you to someone in their own language when you are visiting their country.

Well, maybe not for Paris.

But for everywhere else (including non-Paris France) it does.

My wife has been there a couple of times for work. She liked it as well. Don't know about the winters though.

Wow is Mongolia super inexpensive. I get a little refrigerator magnet as a souvenir wherever I go. Usually they cost about $2-4 USD. Here they are about $0.70. I stayed in the equivalent of a small guest house last night. Small room with ensuite bathroom - $10, including small breakfast. $10!

This is a nice change from crazy Moscow prices.

for like the past 10 years or so, I've always gotten dirt or sand from everywhere I've gone.

just a small ziploc bag maybe 1/2 full, enough to fill up a glass cigar holder that I put it in when I get home.

you could have quite the collection of dirt.

Just like the guy in Saving Private Ryan.

couldn't remember the movie (thought it was gladiator for some reason), but yeah that's what made me start doing it.

The thing with dirt is that it's heavy. Photos are much lighter.

I do occasionally take little rocks or such. I took some sweet smooth little rocks from the beach at Durdle Door in the UK. Also took some salt from when I crossed the salt desert west of Salt Lake City, pebbles from the Arctic Ocean, tons of shells from various places in the Caribbean, stuff like that. For the most part I just leave things where they are, photos are usually enough for me.


When we last left off, we were in Monaco after leaving Villefranche-sur-Mer.

We did some coastal sailing up toward Italy during this time, and some of the architecture on the coastline is breathtaking:





We also took a break to swim around in the water just off the Italian coast, which was nice. Swimming off a boat is much better than swimming off the shore because you can go wherever you want, which is great if you want to snorkel.

The owners eventually found a marina that could haul out the catamaran for damage repair, so we headed down to Port Louis Saint du Rhone, at the mouth of the Rhone, just west of Marseille. The PLSdR welcoming committee was there to greet us:





but left shortly after receiving a biscuit. We docked at a sea wall here, which is my preferred place. Anchoring out is a pain because you have to take the dingy back and forth. Docking in a slip is a pain because depending on how the slips are structured, it can be a very tight squeeze and you can be jammed in between dozens of boats. I like seawalls, because you just pull right up, tie off, and you're done. Worst thing that really happens is if someone needs to raft off against you.

My favorite thing about PLSdR was the dragonflies. There were dragonflies everywhere, in all colors. Here's one that spent most of our time there patrolling the inside of the cabin for mosquitoes:




He was a welcome guest.

PLSdR is a pretty small town, not much going on there. Once a week there is a little market where you can go get fruits, veggies, and lots of plastic crap made in China. I found the meat and cheese section, and picked up a rotisserie chicken and a bunch of potatoes. This van has a full set of spits inside it, and the potatoes sit down in a basket below all the chickens, so liquid chicken goodness is constantly dripping on them and cooking them that way. Yes, it was as good as it sounds:





This was also where I discovered that the French have not only box wine, but jug wine as well:





I'm not a wine drinker so I can't tell you how good or bad it was. I can tell you that the cider here was only so-so.

There was a little festival near the marina while we were there. I already posted a photo of the enormous pan full of octopus, so here's a look at the 5 euro sardines and other fish:





This was also right around the time that the place that was supposed to haul out the boat for repairs told the owners that they don't haul out boats. That was a fun conversation to listen to.

With no reason to stick around, the owners spent another day or so finding an alternate haulout location, and we headed out again, this time to a place called La Ciotat, closer to Marseille.

We had about two dozen dragonflies decide to come along for the ride:





they were just hanging out all over various parts of the boat. One by one, the disappeared as they were blown off by the wind or we passed their stop. This was mostly close in coastal sailing:





as we didn't have that far to go. Lots of other sailboats came fairly close to us in each direction. This is OK as long as everyone knows what they are doing and pays attention, but I still prefer the open ocean where there are significantly fewer collision hazards.

When we made it to La Ciotat, the managers met with us and confirmed the boat could and would be hauled out there in a timely manner. This place is enormous and used to handling megayachts. They have cranes and lifts all over their property that can handle vessels that are hundreds of meters long:





so the little 20 meter catamaran was not going to be an issue to drydock.

Of course, as I had no interested in living in a drydocked boat, this meant my time on the boat was done, at least for then. I was extended an invitation to come back later, which I'll most likely do. The owners plan to stay in the Med for a year, then head back across the Atlantic. I will likely join in again for at least that Atlantic crossing, if not earlier.

But for then, it was was time to switch from boat to train:





Direction Marseille, indeed. Then on to Milan, then Geneva, then London, then the Trans-Siberian as far as Beijing via Moscow, Irkutsk, and Ulaanbaatar. Then on to Hong Kong, then Los Angeles via cargo freighter. Then across the USA via train, back to the Annapolis area to complete a planeless trip around the world.

Currently in Ulaanbaatar!