My geography is crap and I haven't time to

check it out, but, how can I get to Tokyo without a

13 hour flight. I can cope with shortish flights,

but would prefer to travel overland or by sea?

Is it possible?

Hi Jackie,



GETTING TO TOKYO BY SEA

=======================

You'd be insane to try.



GETTING TO TOKYO OVERLAND

=========================

Apart from the penultimate leg, this is certainly

possible.



You could catch the train from Windsor and Eton

Riverside to London Waterloo and then change on to the

Eurostar. The Eurostar to Brussels Midi would take

about three and a half hours.



Then you could travel by train from Brussels to

Amsterdam (I think the ultrafast Thalys train runs

along this route, but there are many other connecting

services). The train from Brussels to Amsterdam should

take (give or take) three hours.



From Amsterdam you could take an overnight train to

Berlin (10 hours, give or take), and catch an early

morning connection to Warsaw (6 hours).



The train from Warsaw to Moscow includes coupe

accommodation and takes approximately 27 hours.



You would then need to cross Moscow to Yaroslavl

station and catch the Trans-Siberian to Vladivostok in

the Russian Far East (the entire train journey takes

10-12 days).



From Vladivostok, you could catch the overnight ferry

across the Sea of Japan to Niigata City in Japan (this

is the penultimate leg of the journey).



Finally, from Niigata railway station, you can catch

the Joetsu Shinkansen ("bullet train") to Tokyo (about

two and a half hours).



I can speak with authority because I have covered

almost all the individual legs on this hypothetical

journey (though never all at once or in this order).



The journey would take you approximately 15-16 days

and cost about 1000 pounds (the same amount as a cheap

business flight to Tokyo). It would also be a colossal

adventure - let me know if you try it.



GETTING TO TOKYO BY AIR (SHORT HOPS)

====================================

Of course, you could take a series of short flights

(perhaps with a one or two day stopover in each

transit city).



Possibilities include:

London - Berlin - Moscow - Irkutsk - Vladivostok -

Tokyo



London - Istanbul - Bangkok - Hong Kong - Taipei -

Tokyo



London - Helsinki - Moscow - Ulan Bataar - Beijing -

Tokyo



There are many other alternatives.

Of course a series of five short hop flights (with

each lasting about 2-5 hours) would be very expensive.

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Replying to:

My geography is crap and I haven't time to

check it out, but, how can I get to Tokyo without a

13 hour flight. I can cope with shortish flights,

but would prefer to travel overland or by sea?

Is it possible?

Ahhh, overland from the UK to the East...



You could follow Alan's 'breakneck speed' 16 day journey, or do the whole thing on more of an 8 month basis as I (now) intend. It was only going to take me 3 months, but you know how these things pan out... "2 days; 2 weeks; 2 months" as a Frenchman not unhappily related to me last night.



I love flying, but in my humble opinion, by surface is nearly always best,



Jack Of All Tongues, Master Of None



p.s. Hi Alan, long time no speak thanks to Robin not checking other email accounts!