Help me plan my trip to Europe/Russia?

I think it'd be a shame if you limited yourself to just Europe and Russia. With that kind of time and money and freedom, I think you should really broaden your horizons. Why not do an around the world tour? If you plan it right, you can get a round the world plane ticket for maybe $1,500? $2,000? If I were you, I'd try to hit all the major countries and a few minor ones that are fantastic... Japan - Tokyo & Kyoto China - Beijing & Shanghai and/or Hong Kong Russia - Moscow & St. Petersburg Germany & Austria - Berlin, Munich, Salzburg & Vienna France - Paris, Monaco Britain - London & Edinburgh Italy - Florence & Venice or Rome Spain - Sevilla and Barcelona Switzerland - Zurich and Lausanne or Lugano Norway - Bergen Croatia - coastal beach areas Turkey - Istanbul, maybe Izmir Iran - Isfahan, Shiraz, Persepolis, Tehran, maybe the Caspian seashore in lush, green Mazanderan province Dubai Israel - Tel Aviv, Haifa India - Mumbai, Bangalore or Hyderabad, or a cool hill station town Thailand - Bangkok, Phuket Fiji or Tahiti Australia - Sydney or Melbourne, Perth or Brisbane It's already too ambitious, but... I think it would be a waste to just "visit all the European countries". On second thought, I think I misread - you said you have plenty of money, not unlimited money. So cut out Australia and the south Pacific. Cut out India, because that's a big hassle - way too much culture shock and trouble. Maybe Thailand because it's too far out of the way. But the others are still recommended. I would especially advise you to see Iran while you still can - do a little research on LonelyPlanet . com and Rick Steves also did a special on Iran - by all accounts, it's a beautiful, fantastic, unique, very safe and extremely friendly country, and it's also a total bargain right now due to sanctions and the exchange rate and the fact that tourists are scared to go there now. It looks like the mad mullahs are determined to go ahead with their nuclear program, and also that the US/UK is determined to destroy Iran like it destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc... so go now so you can always say "I saw Iran before it was bombed back to the stone age - and it was a beautiful, wonderful place, and the people so kind and friendly". 50 years of rule by the secular, progressive Pahlavi Shahs made Iran modern, liberal and great, 34 years of mullah rule, imposed by the US/UK, has caused the country to decline, but it's still apparently very nice, but not for much longer - the mullahs and US/UK will destroy it.

I'd say if you are in Europe to start with then book up one of the European rail ticket things - basically you ride a train through Europe and stop off at all the countries you want and sleep on the train. In 6 months if you're wanting to visit Europe, Russia and Asia/Africa I would suggest choose your top picks for Europe as there are so many to hit you would run out of time unless you were going to be very strict with 2days in each place. I'm from England so I would either cross over to France and hop on a train and travel through to Russia or alternatively if you wanted a different route fly out to like Croatia ( which is meant to be beautiful) and ride the train around from that angle. Once in Russia you are right above Asia so its easy enough to make your way down. Morocco is pretty cheap to travel around and full of flavour. I advise taking a look at some travel blogs for suggestions on what your looking for - do you want the big places and tourist spots or are you looking for backwater places with less tourism or a mix? Also a lot of travel bloggers are happy to help if you email them asking. They've done it all before so should be a good point of reference. You can do quite a lot in 6months if you're strict with your time although that's easier said than done when you're there. I'd recommend using trains to travel between close countries/regions to keep the cost down if you can spare the time and then planes to jump large areas E.g. Train throught Europe to Russiat then plane to China and train around close areas and maybe short flights to Loas etc then a flight to China to Egypt etc

I think you should take a trans-Siberian express, with stopping over each places http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Railway