You can read selected emails I sent from abroad: Poland Kyrgyzstan Georgia.
If you want to learn more about these countries then check out the CIA Factbook or the Foreign Office site.
Following the completion of my contract in Kyrgyzstan I spent two months travelling overland from Central Asia to the UK. This included the Trans Siberian Railwy. You can read some emails from that trip here. I used the Let's Go and Lonely Planet guides. It would have helped if I had had the guides before travelling but that involves too much planning. Instead people gave or swapped their guides.
This map here gives a good perspective on the journey.
I used to hitch hike but the last time I tried that was in Central Asia when another teacher and I went to Arslanbob, (intersting site). I also travelled around the US and Canada by Greyhound bus. There are some emails about that trip here.