I did not plan the route before I departed apart from a list of the countries I wanted to travel through as I did not want to be held to a timetable. I worked out the route as I went along. I new the places I wanted to take in, and as I got closer I would look at the map a work out the best route, trying to avoid what I thought would be the busiest roads. For most of the trip I did not book any hotels in advance. Going into big cities I booked if I arrived at a busy time for visitors. Going across Turkey I started to book a day or two ahead as I found I was able to get a substantial discount on the roll-up price. In Europe it became more necessary in order to get a decent rate. Especially in November and December with people making city breaks to go Christmas shopping. I was unable to Transit Pakistan and Turkmenistan. In India I found that the Pakistan Embassy was unable to issue Tourist visas at all and special short term visit visas were only available to Indian Nationals. The only option would have been to return home to apply to the Pakistan Embassy in London which was not an option. Turkmenistan had to be skipped because the visa took so long to arrive my Uzbeckistan visa was about to expire. Annoyingly the reference number was emailed through the day I flew over. The visas for Tajikistan and Uzbeckistan are date specific and not just valid for a period of time within a three month window as is usually the case. It was necessary to have an outline plan of these legs and build in a bit of contingency before applying for the visa. I did not book accommodation so I could change my plans if I wanted, provided I kept within the overall contingency I had allowed.