Burger King and STA have teamed up for a hilarious and expensive round the world trip: tracing the history of the hamburger. It’ll set you back over £3,000 for just over a month on the road. So it’s not the most practical way to go around the world. Also, probably because it is a promo for a BK, it doesn’t include visits to great burger joints around the world – which seems like a massive waste of opportunity.

Piggy-backing on the idea you could end up with a pretty sweet trip though. If you took a couple of months and traveled a bit more frugally you could follow the burger production chain and eat the best burgers in the world. Places that I know my tour would include that aren’t listed in the Bk tour are:

• A Texas cattle ranch – have to see the source
• Le Parker Meridien – the best burger in NYC
• Heart Attack Grill – go to the page and watch the video it’s worth it. They only serve massive greasy burgers, lard fried fries, cola, and unfiltered cigarettes
• A kobe beef burger in Japan – for the most delicious burger ever.

Of course, the best burger places are those treasured by locals and hidden from the taste buds of most tourists. The trick to a world burger tour would be to ask around and find those secret burger places. I think I could handle the challenge, of course my blood pressure might disagree.

I want to cross Eurasia, but apparently my goal of doing it in a crazy vehicle is too tame for some. For example, the team of three that is riding on horseback from Beijing to London.

A middle-aged British woman and two Chinese companions on Saturday set off on an epic horse ride that will see them cross China, Central Asia and Europe — and arrive in London for the 2012 Olympics.

Megan Lewis, a 60-year-old British pony breeder and head of the expedition, said the three-year trek from Beijing to London was a lifelong dream.

That’s pretty hard core. At 60 years of age, no less. Good luck to Ms. Lewis, Mr. Jing, and Mr. Wenchao. Hope to see you in London in a few years.

Trifter has a good post with even better pictures on some of the amazing sights in Afghanistan under the heading: “Would You Take a Vacation to Afghanistan?” The answer is “yes”, but there are some obvious caveats. There are only certain areas of the country that are reasonably safe for tourists, and I would prefer to go when some of the land mines be removed. However, there are tours of some of the highlights, and all things considered, Afghanistan is one of the places I might consider getting a package guided tour. It’s certainly not my next trip, but something worth considering down the road.

Photo: Flickr user Tracyhunter under creative commons license.

A while back I was scheming about traveling to Tristan de Cunha, the most remote inhabited place on earth. Problem is, there isn’t much of a trip to be had there. You can catch a ride to the island on the yearly mail boat, but after that there’s not a ton of options.

But in place of the most remote place, it’s possible to hit a series of remote or otherwise ridiculous places in cruising from northern Russia down to China. I’ll highlight some of the superlative places, but if you are traveling in this are of the world, you’ll find that it’s all sparsely populated and challenging to get around. Here are some of the key stops:

Start of in Khatanga, one of the northern most cities in the world. There are some more northern options out there, but Khatanga is the largest settlement of any reasonable size. Carrying on from Khatanga is a bit of a problem, however, as there don’t appear to be any roads. The easy option would be to fly to the nearest place where you can carry on with ground transportation. Or if the folks there happen to know a way to carry on overland, that of course would be the preferred option.

The next stop is Oymyakon, the world’s coldest city. And it is f-ing cold. Looks like the high today is going to be -53 F / -47 C. Check out this Sky News segment for a sample of a warm day, when it’s only -31 C. The good news is that there are roads there, so somewhere before Oymyakon you can start the overland portion of the trip.

From there you’ll have to drive through Mongolia to Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang province of China. That’ll serve as your base for an expedition 200 km north to the middle of nowhere. But, it’s a notable middle of nowhere because it is the point on the planet furthest from the ocean, or the pole of inaccessibility.

Then it’s up into the Himalayas to go to the highest town in the world, Wenzhuan at 5100 meters (16,732 feet). Only problem is, I don’t know exactly where it is, simply that it’s on the road to Lhasa. It might end up to be a bit of a wild goose chase to find the place, but hey, that’s all part of the adventure.

At this point you’re trip will have racked up quite a tab, and it’s difficult to go to many places that are more remote or inhospitable than you’ve already been. Everest would be a natural stop, but since it’s not really inhabited I didn’t include it here. Auckland and Perth are options for most remote cities if you want to carry on, but at this point I’d call it a trip and head home.

The Adventurists, the cheeky chaps that run the Mongol Rally, have just introduced their latest adventure race. The Mongol Derby:

On 22 August in the year 2009 twenty-five courageous riders will mount their steeds amidst the ruins of the Great Khaan’s ancient capital Kharkhorin, to face a gruelling 1000 km race across the empty wilderness of Mongolia. This will be no ordinary horse race. The Mongol Derby is not a test of the horse’s speed, but the rider’s skill, endurance and the toughness of the skin between their legs. And by Jove will it put that to the test…

Yeah, a 1000 mile horse race thought the Mongolian Steppe? You bet that will put you to the test. That’ll put just about anyone to the test. That’s one hell of an adventure. If you fancy yourself and good rider and have a chunk of time this summer, check it out.