Traveling from China to Europe on a cargo ship

This isn't as hard as it looks --- lots of freighters are set up to carry passengers. (Apparently about 1%, but that's still many thousands of ships.) You're basically staying in officer's quarters. The reviews I've seen all comment on the cabins and food all being plain but really good. There appears to be no internet (but you can make satellite calls at €5 a minute).

Pricing is reasonable by hotel standards, about €100 a day, but of course you have to pay for the entire voyage. A transatlantic voyage from Felixstowe to New York takes about 12 days. If you have 130 days to spare, you can do a round-the-world trip.

There seems to be quite a community doing it, mostly older people. They're not cruise liners, so there's no entertainment --- it's definitely for the self-reliant only. And, of course, the ship's going to cargo ports, so everywhere the ship calls will be in the middle of nowhere.

See here for more information (yes, I've thought of doing a trip):

https://www.freightercruises.com/q_a_freighter_cruise_guide....

In the last years there have been quite a few stories about these sort of trips.

While they were interesting to read at first, I have the feeling these trips come down to pretty much nothing, that is, hours and hours stuck in a room without much to do/see. Even if you're lucky with a crew/fellow passengers that provides you with some conversations/activities, they're usually nothing out of the ordinary or worth even telling. This doesn't mean they can be meaninful to oneself, but well... A good travel journal is like cooking a dish where you have the main ingredient (what happened/what u did) and the spices (the context, research and extra infos). Here you only have the second part as you spend a month doing little, seeing less, and sorry but everyone has that in their kitchen.

That said, large ships and cargo managememt are very interesting from the physics and technical sides, but these are hardly ever covered...

If you pack a vehicle in a container you'll have it available when you arrive.

People commonly containerize custom motorhomes as they travel between continents. Arranging travel for people and cargo on the same ship is less common, however.

I'm contemplating a circumnavigation by land and sea only (no planes) and plan to use cargo ships to cross the Atlantic and Pacific. So far it looks like the biggest hurdles are planning the trip around cargo ships. From what I've read, the passenger accommodations are booked far in advance and ships don't necessarily leave on a set schedule.There is usually a window of +/- several days, with possible delays that could last much longer.

This has been on my bucket list for ages. Perfect environment to disconnect from the world and rediscover ones self.

Are there any budget ones, where you just sleep in a shipping container?

great read but lots of inaccuracies.

This is a journey strictly for trust-fund kiddies and other rich people, costs about $160USD/day for a bed on this boat, so she paid around $4,500 for her 27-day trip just counting accommodation.