Quick Update
Hello again. I am sure that you can guess that as the clock ticks time away we are getting busier and busier with our plans. As I write this we have 6 weeks to go before we leave, and all the jobs that have always seemed like a distance dream are now taking on a sense of urgency. The main work we are doing currently is:
- Sorting out our visas (Iran and Central Asia being the complicated ones)
- Receiving vaccinations (Hep A + B, Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis, Tick-Borne Encephalitis, Polio-Tetanus-Diphtheria in one shot, typhoid. The last two are free in the UK, the others we have had in the UK and Ireland and the prices are somewhere between £30-50 a shot)
- Carnet. Paul from the RAC (if you need his contact details drop us an email) has given us the go ahead to apply. For us, the cheapest way to do it is via a Bank Guarantee, which we are doing with Nat West. Be aware though, we were told by about 4 different people that Nat West did not do such a thing. It was not until I threw my weight around that we finally got the form. They are charging us at 3% of the guarantee, which is £150 a year, as our vehicle is rated at £1000 and we have ea x5 premium for India and Iran and maybe others. The RAC also charge us a fee, something like £100 or so. Still a very cheap way of doing it.
- Organising our leaving do. We are having a big leaving weekend in Cornwall where I (Ollie) am from. A lot of our friends are coming down and we are renting a YHA for the weekend. Also having a hog roast and thinking of a number of other things to do.
- Sorting our the final things do be done for Dino. More of which later.
Troublesome Turkmenistan
As implied above, plans that have been made for a long time are now being put in motion, which means that details that were approximate and guesses, now have to be become firm and er juicy! This is having a major effect on many things, but most notably here, the route. We have had one last major re-think and have decided we will no longer go the northern route to Russia! Crazy, but because of Iran and Turkmenistan visa issues we find it very hard to visit all the countries we want to and fit in Russia. Russia was always going to be a big highlight for Jenny, and so it is a big move for her to give it up. Luckily all the recent snow and cold weather has made her very glad to be going the Turkey route instead! So now we hit Turkey after Europe, followed by Iran and a sharp left turn up into Central Asia, where we go through Turkmenistan (on a transit visa), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan (Pamir Highway), Kyrgyzstan, quick pop into Kazakhstan, back to Kyrgyzstan before entering China for a weeks visit. Madness. Anyway, I am trying my hardest to update our route pages, and this should all be online in the next week. We have also picked up a couple of bikers to join us and Russ for the China leg, which should help save us all a bit of cash.
We have also decided to pop into Bangladesh to visit our friend Az also, who lives in Mauritius but comes from the Dhaka and will fly in to show us round. The only other change to our route is that we will be getting our sorry asses across to eastern Europe quickly, and then skirting round back on ourselves to Turkey.
Overlanders Party
Having had a web presence for over 3 years now, and also because I frequent a lot of other peoples presences, we have been in touch with quite a few overlanders in our time. We are always talking about meeting up, and finally we managed to get a convenient date for us all, which was Saturday just gone. In total we had 11 people visiting us; Russ, our long term friend who is doing a similar trip to Australia as us, and he will be joining us for some legs; Vicky and Nick whom we met a year or so ago through their own overlanders gatherings; Jacques and Mandy who are mid trip, having started from Australia and heading home to South Africa; Rose and Dave who are also mid trip and touring the world in various vehicles called Nessie; Anne and Andrew who are going to head off about a year after us with their kids in tow; Claire and Gary, two other adventurers who are doing a similar route to us. By the time everyone arrived our parking area looked liked an overlanders dream. 3 land rovers, 1 Toyota Troopie, one MASSIVE Mercedes thing, and a bike! We ended up having great craic (well I did anyway) and managed to get nicely (read very) drunk . Read more of it here on the Overland with Kids website.
Dino’s Done!
So – we are all but completed on Dino and are looking forward to finally hitting the road with him. There are a couple of small jobs to do, but we could leave with them undone. Two weeks ago we took him for his final visit to Foley’s, who upgraded his suspension (we have an extra ½ tonne to play with), gave him new tyres and rims (BFG A/Ts tubeless, with some spare tubes), and fixed a few other things they found (steering column, fuel tank and prop shaft). They also spent some time going over an on the road service, and reviewing our spares. Turns out we were only a few spares short, but of course they were more than happy to sell them to us. Dino has been to Foley’s 3 times and I would definitely recommend them over all the other garages we have been to. Stuart and paul are a couple of nice guys, and are alsohonestly excited by helping us on the road if needs be. You could see in Stuarts eyes that it’s a bit more interesting saving someone on the road than doing routine stuff in the garage. I am sure we will be speaking to him again J
Whilst on the subject of Dino, we bought him with 168k miles on the clock, having just returned from Africa. At the time we had only just decided upon the idea of going overland, and were about as naive as you get when it comes to knowing about such issues. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret buying Dino, and even at the time we knew that buying Dino was a necessary step, to ensure that we had a level of commitment to keep the dream going. It would have been typical for me to find a ‘new’ dream and move onto that, but I really wanted overlanding to be the one, and Dino was the answer to that. But reviewing where we are now, and for more normal people, I would recommend waiting a while until you know what you want, buy the base vehicle, and take your time building up from there. We really bought into the dream of an already kitted out vehicle, but have spent the last 3 years replacing almost all of the overland gear. I don’t blame the sellers (now!), as a trip through Africa was bound to take it out of the gear, and the vehicle. Don’t tell Jenny, but I think I would have gone down the Toyota route, but that would definitely been an expensive one. To those interested we overpaid on Dino (£7k) and spent about the same again on repairs and additions over the last three years. But man, and I happy with him now, and can’t wait to go! 6 weeks and counting ….
More Training
Another thing on our endless list has been to continue our training and so we have attended some more off road training with the Land Rover Adventure Club. This is dirt cheap, at £65 a day for the two of you, and I would say, along with joining an off road club, one of the best things you can do, especially if you are new to the game. And to top this off we have also attended a Red Cross first aid course, again great value for money and well worth doing.
OK - well gotta run - we will make sure there is at least one more update before we go.
Peace and Love
Folly and Jolly
