Visualizing the No-Tour Tout-Tout Itinerary

I remember having a math teacher who was somewhat obsessed with "Visualizing". Going through the itinerary prepared in a spreadsheet for the trip, I now understand why. I feel it needs something a bit more tangible ... Time to "Visualize". Fortunately, nothing that a digital Map tool can't solve. What's cool about it is not only does it allow for easy routing on a global map (one basically draws a line between from and to cities), but the tool automatically gives the mileage as well ... 

Why would one waste the energy with all, one might ask? For no particular reason except to try and understand the trek, I suppose. I mean when planning for such a trip, one tends to either overlook or "underlook" things. One way to avoid both is to actually look ahead. This is not to say that everything needs to be planned down to what gets eaten for breakfast on Day 4. The tingling elements of surprise have to be given a chance to manifest themselves, if only to avoid boring one's self to death with pre-planned tours and schedules that zap the soul of any adventure. 

Speaking of tours, the last one I believe I did was in 2008 in the Dominican Republic, of all places, where I had gullibly signed up the family for a tour to some water park somewhere on the island, without an inkling of much detail- a _brainless task by a brainless tourist--one whose price would be paid heftily at 3 am the next morning, when the tour operator zealously showed up at the hotel door. 

"You realize it's 3 am, right?" I said rubbing my eyes.

"Si senor."

"What on earth are you doing here?"

"Picking you up."

"Are you mad, hombre? What tour starts at freakin 3 am? I mean who does that?"

"Well senor, you signed up for it, remember?"

Oh I remember alright! Never again ... Never again. USA ... USA. No wait ... Mixing up chants ... and trips. Back to the Russia trip and the no-tour family policy itinerary!

So the trip is expected take a route starting in Washington, DC in the US, transiting through Dublin, Ireland, then Munich, Germany (a business sojourn that I begged the vacation God's forgiveness for), then onto Warsaw, Poland for a day trip, through Kaunas, Lithuania, and Riga, Latvia in the Baltics, then north up to St. Petersburg in Russia. Inside Russia, it will then take us to Moscow, Kazan, Nizhniy Novgorod, Sochi, back up to St. Petersburg, and finally Moscow again to catch a flight back through Vegas, and then finally back home to DC. The distance traveled will be approximately 18,500 miles within 26 days (a whopping average of 705 miles a day no doubt skewed by the long Atlantic crossings). The trip begins on June 26 at 10 pm and will end on July 22 at roughly the same time. As per map below, it will include planes rides (in red), trains (in pink), buses (in purple), and cars (in blue), ... and if we come across any mule, we will adjust accordingly. 

Trip Begins on June 26 in Washington DC, Dulles Airport with an outbound flight to Dublin Ireland