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Europe to Australia without airplane
First way: by sea. You can go anywhere by sea, a slow voyage by passenger-carrying freighter or occasional round-the-world cruise. Expect this to take 32-40 days and cost around one-way £3,500 including cabin & meals.
Final way: by Railway. You can travel by train from London to Moscow and go to the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Far East, finally catch a freighter from there to Australia.
Europe to Australia by sea...
If you'd been going to Australia in the first half of the 20th century, you'd taking several weeks. Nowadays, there are no regular passenger ships from the UK or Europe to Australia.
• How long does it take? By regular cargo-ship, the voyage from Tilbury (UK) to either Sydney or Melbourne (Australia) or Auckland (New Zealand) takes 32 to 42 days. Most cargo shipping lines go to Sydney or Melbourne in Australia via the Suez canal, starting from Tilbury (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Rotterdam (Netherlands) or Dunkirk (France), though some head west via the Panama Canal.
• How much does it cost? A voyage from Europe to Australia or New Zealand generally costs around £3,200-£4,000. Looked at another way.
• What's travelling as a passenger on a freighter like? Ships typically carry up to 12 passengers in comfortable single or double cabins, often with en suite showers, fridge & TV, there's a lounge & dining room but obviously freighters have far fewer passenger facilities than a conventional passenger or cruise ship. There's often an age limit, with shipping lines not taking anyone over 75 or 80 years old.
• How do I find out more, and buy a ticket? For general info on long-distance passenger travel by cargo ship.
Europe to Australia by Trans-Siberian Railway...
It's possible to travel most of the way from London to Australia by train via the Trans-Siberian Railway. In fact, quite a number people travel this way. Time-wise, we're talking 4-5 weeks one-way, minimum.
Route, timetable & costs:
Travel tickets alone costs only £600 or so from London as far as Singapore, but you must add food, hotels, tours along the way. The links below cover travel in either direction, from London to Australia or Australia to London.
• Step 1: London to Moscow by train. Daily departures taking 2 nights, from about £160 one-way with sleeper. Spend at least 1 night in Moscow.
• Step 2: Moscow to Beijing by Trans-Siberian Railway Two trains every week each taking 6 nights, from about $450 or £225 one-way in 4-bed sleeper. Spend at least 1 night in Beijing.
• Step 3: Beijing to Hanoi by train two trains a week taking 2 nights, about $150 or £75 one-way in soft sleeper. Spend at least 1 night in Hanoi.
• Step 4: Hanoi to Saigon by train several trains daily, 2 nights. Why not stop off to see Hue or Hoi An? About $80 or £40 one-way in soft sleeper. Spend at least 1 night in Saigon.
• Step 5: Saigon-Phnom Penh by bus Daily, 1 day. Spend at least 1 night in PP.
• Step 6: Phnom Penh-Battambang by train or bus, bus to the frontier, train to Bangkok.
• Step 7: Bangkok to Singapore by train. Daily, 2 nights, from £40 or $80 one-way including sleeper for both nights.
• Step 8: The final leg to Australia is the problem. Although there are ferries from Singapore to Indonesia, there are no regular passenger ships to Australia from either Singapore or Indonesia. Anywhere, you therefore need either a cruise or passenger-carrying freighter for the last leg from Southeast Asia to Australia.
How to plan & arrange this trip...
There aren't any travel agencies who can arrange the whole trip from Europe to Australia, so you will need to plan and arrange each stage of the journey yourself. It's an exercise in project management! Unless time is absolutely no object, you should book the key sections in advance through various travel agencies, for example, book London-Moscow through a UK European train ticketing agency then book Moscow-Beijing & Beijing-Hanoi through a local Russian agency. You may also need to pre-book the freighter from Asia to Australia, as places are limited tickets for other parts of the trip. You'll need to pre-arrange visas for Belarus, Russia, possibly Mongolia, China & Vietnam. Cambodian visas can be obtained at the frontier. In many ways, complying with the various visa requirements is actually the biggest hassle, not buying the tickets for the trains, so check this out carefully using the relevant embassy websites.
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