I’m a traveling fanatic, in love with the world and with a lot of plans and trips that I dream about. But there’s one travel that I think about every day and which excites me more than any other: The epic Silk Road trip. On this article I’ll tell you what it is about.

What is the Silk Road?

Roughly speaking, the Silk Roads were a series of trade paths that in ancient times connected Europe with Central Asia and China. They were very important routes for cultural and technological transmission that linked traders, merchants, pilgrims and missionaries from many different civilizations. They were a conduit for the spread of knowledge, ideas, cultures as well as diseases between the different parts of the world.

The Silk Roads, extending over 6000 kilometers, were a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, India, Persia, Arabia, Egypt as well as Rome and in several ways helped to lay the foundations for the modern world. The routes enabled the trade of good as silk, satins, musk, perfumes, fabrics, spices, medicines, slaves, jewels, glassware and more.

The Silk Road Today

The Ancient Silk Routes are now hardly used. They were first replaced by maritime travel and later with other means of transportation. Nevertheless, the charm and magic of the old routes live on. Lost cities, virgin temples and a lot of history await the adventurous travelers who want to experience one of the most impressive itineraries one can imagine.

Who travels the Silk Road will experience the slow but progressive differences between the Eastern and Western World, plus all the secrets and mysteries that lay in the middle. The route combines modern metropolis as Istanbul in Turkey and Damascus in Syria with, for example, Samarkand (pictured) in Uzbekistan, an ancient city now acknowledged by the UNESCO as a Crossroad of Cultures.

The sheer amount of culture, history, archaeological ruins and different civilizations is nowhere else to be matched. These, all together, make the Silk Road a must-do route for all travelers striving for something unique and an unmatchable experience.

The Itinerary

In the ancient times there were many different silk routes. One road connected Europe and China through Northern India and Tibet, while one other went deep into Central Asia before turning into the Eastern Chinese territories. As the trade boomed in the second millennium new trade routes flourished, including even one naval silk route that went from Egypt to Arabia, India, Java and ended up near present-day Hong Kong.

Of all these the one I personally want to follow is the Central Asian one. I’ll give it a twist and mix it with the route of Alexander the Great. In his campaign deep into Persia Alexander ended up as far Bactria, in present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. That’s where I want to go. I want to go deep and explore places that so far are outside every traveler’s list.

Roughly speaking the itinerary would cover the following countries: Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and China. Depending on the situation spin offs to Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan may also happen.

The highlights of the trip include Samarkand, Isfahan and Bukhara, among others.

Preparing The Trip – Staying Safe

Even if I always prefer traveling alone, this certainly looks like the trip I would like to do with someone else. I rather be with someone when going to countries sometimes so backward, so hard to get into and where potential problems may occur.

Traveling as a woman or with a woman here would be tricky too. The Silk Roads include many hard-line Muslim countries and there are risks concerning women. Bride kidnapping happens from time to time in places like Kyrgyzstan so you got to be careful.

I suggest all men traveling alone or with a girl to these kinds of places to be well trained and prepared to fight if you have to. I might travel with a hard-wooden staff (which I’m quite proficient fighting with) so as to have an undercover weapon if I have to use one. The roads are most of the times safe, the people friendly and problems may well not happen. You just need to be as prepared if possible just in case.

Other Trip Preparations

Before I embark on this trip I plan to learn (putting into practice my technique here) at least some Persian, Russian and Chinese. Just the basics and all it takes to have emergency communications. People in Central Asia, despite they hate Russians, still speak the language today, so it’s a good skill to have. Of course, learn the greetings and the most basic words in every country you go to, be it Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan – It’s not hard and might give you a lot of advantages.

Other than languages I’ll make sure to keep my money safe, to have the paper and documents survival kit and to thoroughly investigate about each country I’ll be going to. I’ll learn the customs, the way people dress, what not to do/to do and more so as to avoid problems and make the most of my stay.

Timing

There’s no fixed timing on how long will the trip last. I’m thinking about a three to four months route just because I want to personalize the experience as much as I can. But I believe it can be done in much faster (or slower) if you feel like it. The trip is cheap and money shouldn’t be a problem.

I’ll take more time because it’s my dream to look for archaeological mysteries such as the lost cities of Nicaea and Bucephalia in the Hydaspes basin. If you don’t have any crazy adventures as these in your mind you can certainly make the trip faster than me.

As for the season, I suggest that mid-to-late spring is the best. I rather avoid winter and the worst of summer. This won’t only make the trip nicer but will also save me a lot of space in the backpack.

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