To Russia with love

There's a special feeling before the trip, everything is new, nothing has gone wrong (well, nothing *on* the trip, see below), it's all possibilities and anticipation.

I am utterly, joyfully, movingly excited about going to Romania. A little bit scared - for some reason the fact I have to get a visa to visit makes it seem even further away, more foreign, slighly spooky... oh, and the Dracula stuff.

Latest Itinerary:

Sydney
plane
Japan - Tokyo, then Toyama/Fushiki
ferry
Russia - Vladivostok
trans-Siberian railway
Russia - Lake Baikal, Ekaterinberg, Moscow, St Petersberg
bus
Estonia - Taillin
bus
Latvia - Riga
train
Lithuania - Vilnus
train
Poland - Warsaw, Kracov
train
Hungary - Budapest
train
Romania - Oradea, Sigisoara (this town sounds fantastic, described as 'floating in the Carpathian mountains' with castles and gothic churches), Brasov, Bucharest

To be continued...