No response - no excitement

I've emailed two Russian shipping ports who are reported to speak English very well - neither have replied in a week.
We've revisited the idea of doing the trip in reverse.

The risk and complication of arriving with a decent car at Magadan and not been able to get it shipped home is still daunting, and if this lack of correspondence is any guide, I can expect immense difficulty at the end of the trip, right when we need it least. I figured if we could use the one shipping company to get it from Australia to Magadan, then the likelihood of it going wrong would be far less. If there were complications, at least we would be fresher to deal with them. I can imagine no complications leaving the UK, if there is, we can discuss it, do paperwork etc. - all with no pressure or language barrier.

It's seemed obvious to all of you that the west to east direction previously proposed would have us rushing through Europe just to 'get into the trip' - just because we'd be saving our energy for the difficult parts to come. Going east to west will have us travelling at a relaxed pace from day one. Hopefully using any time gains to  leisurely drive around Europe on our way home.

A small concern  would be that I relied on the concept of testing the sat phone in the UK so that if there were any problems with Telstra's roaming agreement with Iridium we could source a dedicated Iridium SIM in the UK. I'm confident technically, there should be no difference, but it just takes one forum post suggesting that our carrier plan won't work outside of Australia to plant a seed of doubt. A quick Internet search has revealed no Iridium dealers in Vladivostok. It may be worth getting a pre-paid SIM, complete all the paperwork so that a quick email to a dealer will be activated in hours. I guess we could also test it in the airport on the flights over.

Another advantage of this east-west route is my parents will be in the UK/Europe as we arrive - somewhat of a welcome party. That should be nice. Imagine what we would look like, the car turned from a crisp white into dirt/mud grey.

Oh, and you can fly into and out of Magadan now! I've been checking flight trackers and sure enough, inbound and outbound flights. One punch in the guts, is the current temperature is -26C. oh my.
Doing the trip this way round will mean we start in June which is two month later the previously proposed.

Some quick calculations sees us travelling through the wettest, but warmest months. Mongolia in the wettest time with 10 days of rain per month. I'm not sure about you, but I'm now convinced of the need for an integrated camper. Only yesterday was I reconsidering that perhaps a more comfortable 4WD with a tent may be a good solution.

PS. I am now confident that sweetened condensed milk DOES go off if it's out of refrigeration once it's been opened. I don't think it's my imagination that its getting darker and increasingly bitter. It's funny because the tube came with us (unopened) on our two week trip which for half of it would have been above 30'c.

So not a super exciting or positive post, but a post nonetheless.