May in photos

The post May in photos appeared first on Van en van.
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The Audience Phenomenon

  I was chatting with someone after one of my tool kit demonstrations at the 2013 Overland Expo, and he asked if I ever experienced the “audience phenomenon.” After he explained I laughed and said I certainly did—but not the same…
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England #1 (Arrival) 5/13

We have crossed the big water and we are now in this strange country called Great Britain. Strange indeed. They do speak English — sort of. The steering wheels on cars are on the wrong side, and if that wasn’t enough to make you nervous, they insist on driving on the bloody wrong...
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Day 85… Barcelona- Peri-Peri Chicken and Cana+Tapas

Ola, My route over the last few days. I left Lagos with a farewell breakfast with my new friends Petra and Hartmut. They are from Germany and travelled to Lagos […]
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I feel a “Quickening”…

In less than 12 hours, I will board a flight back to the USA to begin my final long ride through the Southern and Eastern states of America. During my ride, I will complete what is known as the “Four Corners” by American bikers. I have already been to the two corners on the Western...
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Back Home - Knickers Washed!!

OK – I couldn’t end on that last blog. It was a poor reflection on the whole trip which has been truly marvellous, so today I hope to impart a little of what it was that made it so marvellous. We arrived home to our little house in the Pyrenees, delighted to find Mum, Patsy, Jan...
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Tanzania: Car Jackers!

Many months later, fleeing from the dark, we would remember these dazzling steps along a sandy ridge in the Sudanese desert. At midday we had tramped away from the quivering road to an old fort on the dunes. Among the … Continue reading →
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The greatest car ever built

I had no idea Outside Magazine existed, but I think it’s the greatest publication ever printed! The post The greatest car ever built appeared first on Van en van.
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Along the Skeleton Coast

We finally reached the sea!  The vast Atlantic Ocean.  We had descended  about 900m over more than 100 km from the plateau to Henties Bay, a charming seaside town.  It seemed to be mainly retired people living there, and holiday homes for those living further afield, but had...
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The Adventure to Overland Expo 2013

This adventure began along the western slope of Colorado in Grand Junction. After a few days of selling off most of her worldly possessions Sarah Blessington, my new girlfriend and travel partner, hoped in the Sportsmobile to begin her adventure with me on the road. Our first destination would...
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Vertical Limit.....

Not had much Internet access lately. Back in Chile for the last time and this time we are in at Mendoza and over to Santiago and Val Pariso. Henning is delayed because he has tooth-ache. If theres ever been and more lame excuse for staying in Africa i’m yet to hear it……its got...
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Toy Story....

Matilda needs a hat….Sunburn. [...]
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South through Peru

We made it through rain, hail and mud to complete the Santa Cruz trek last week. It was a tough 4 days and 3 nights but the scenery and spectacular views made it all worthwhile. Well for the most part! … Continue reading →
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The best and worst of Peru

We have had an interesting week since the last blog. The highlight, obviously, was the surreal and amazing site of Machu Picchu. The low was in the southern town next to Lake Titicaca where our van was broken into and … Continue reading →
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Guatemala

After only a few days in Belize, we headed to Guatemala.  The border crossing, AGAIN, was pretty easy thanks to step-by-step instructions from LifeRemotely.com.  Guatemala is a gorgeous country with caves, rivers, large lakes, ocean, mountain…
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Plankton Warp Speed Overdrive

Gonzalo was from Argentina. You could tell he was going to be really awesome just by looking at him; something about the way he carried himself. When we found out he was from Argentina, it only solidified what we already knew: that he was a really awesome guy. “So, where are you...
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The magic of the unplanned

The magic of travelling – for me – lies in the unplanned experiences.  And sometimes, these are the memories that last forever. After Etosha, we headed towards Damaraland – or sort of in that direction.  We were on the way to Kamanjab, following the tar road from...
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Twyfelfontein

With the feel of cheetah fur on my palms, and raspy licks on my legs, we bid farewell to Otjitotongwe – off to Twyfelfontein! On our way, we stopped past Vingerklip.  This is a limestone pillar, about 35m high, that is all that remains after erosion of a plateau formed more than 15...
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Spitzkoppe

On the way out of Brandberg, we passed through a little town called Uis.  It really was the typical one-horse town!  It was a tin mining town back in the days of high tin prices, but that is no longer the case. Now, it feels more deserted, more sleepy. Aside from a little supermarket...
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Back in the US – we’ve been busy photos!

Since we’ve returned to the US, we’ve been making our way back to Washington State taking advantage of seeing lots of cool places in California, Arizona, Utah and Idaho.  Early in our journey we hit the 2012 Overland Expo and were happy to bookend it again...
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Shakira...Shakira...

Last night we stayed for free with an lovely Australian man at his Garden Nursery. He’s got quite a huge plot of land near Ibarra, Ecuador and sells thousands of plants wholesale style. He has a nice spot to park up and a kitchen and shower. He even has rooms if you’re on a...
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Hanging around in San Ramon

Due to our enforced break courtesy of BMW, our host Pete has been showing us around, really nice place around here, very clean and orderly after Latin America, a bit too clean and orderly though, still taking a bit of getting used to. This weekend is Memorial day weekend so everybody was off, a...
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The Final Episode: Colombia to Ecuador

Well here we go: the LAST blog post for The Matt, Atley, Ferg and Wendy Show! As I write this, Atley and Wendy pedal hard to the south of Peru, towards a potential motorbike buyer. Ferg rides the glorious waves of the Ecuador coast, patiently awaiting his bike buyer. And I am in central Ecuador,...
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The Ruins of El Jem, a Man and his Oasis in Ellouza

Our destination for the night is El Kahena, a hotel and campsite just outside of Ellouza, a small town about half-way between Sousse and Sfax. The route begins to feel more distant from anything we’ve ridden with long straight roads taking us along open stretches of landscape heavily...
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Bordercrossing US-Canada with foreign plated car and a dog

WE ARRIVED IN CANADA!! We crossed the border from the US to Canada. We went to the bordercrossing in Roosville. We crossed on a Sunday afternoon and it was all very quiet and easy-going. Officially Canada is not an exit country and with our 90 day visa we should have left Northern America within...
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Baku to Turkmenbashi – 3 days on a leaky boat

I woke the day after we left Baku to a beautiful sunny day on the Caspian Sea. The cool sea air was refreshing. Optimistically I hoped that we would dock today, one day ahead of schedule. The first sign that things were going to be different was my mobile phone had lost any network connection....
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An unplanned adventure

As much as we love an unexpected adventure, we learned long ago that if we want to do anything other than pirate camping over a major holiday weekend here in the Pacific Northwest we need to plan ahead. Months ahead. … Continue reading → An unplanned adventure is a post from: The...
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NYC part two

Back in NYC we took the subway to Battery Park and a visit to the World Trade Center Memorial. It will be a beautiful place in the center of the new towers when it’s done. Currently it is a bit … Continue reading →
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Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

Monteverde has lots to do and see, but is mainly known for it’s amazing cloudforests.  If you want to zipline over the cloudforest canopy, this…
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Heroes vs Villains Power Struggle

One more thing to love about portland.    It’s memorial day weekend and most of our friends are out of town.  Those still here are sick, so jen and i headed out looking for some fun. What we stumbled upon was one of the truly unique events that make portland, …
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The greatest car ever built

I had no idea Outside Magazine existed, but I think it’s the greatest publication ever printed! The post The greatest car ever built appeared first on Van en van.
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Mountains in Brasil

Despite the mixed weather we decided to head into the mountains (well really hills compared to much of South America) of Rio Grande du Sul. The mountains in Rio Grande are the one place in Brasil where it occasionally snows. Our first stop was the town of Praia Grande where we checked...
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The western Lake Turkana route south from Kenya, Sibioli National Park to Samburu

SIBIOLI NATIONAL PARK 1st -5th May After faffing around trying to find the way into Sibioli Park we were directed by the Ileret locals out of the town and to take a right at about 10km from town. We saw … Continue reading →
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Larsens Camp, simply breath taking in Samburu National Park

We drove into Samburu National park around 9am on the 7th May and after a short game drive we pulled into Larsens camp and debated whether to stay there or not. After a 10 minutes or so Sib negotiated a … Continue reading →
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Spiderman....

More on the spider when i upload the photos tomorrow.The more important thing. When flying one way some airlines will stop you bording and this includes the return portion of your ticket you used to visit home. You see you don’t have a return ticket now do you….you only have the...
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Into San Francisco but BMW gremlins strike again!

We arrived in San Francisco on Thursday to stay with Pete Balshaw who we knew from Scotland and who’s been working here for a year. Friday I was checking the bikes over and noticed Fiona’s was leaking coolant out of the Water pump drain hole, usually a sign one of the seals has gone,...
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Farewell Ginger!

After a few days of recovery, and shopping, in the warmth of Las Vegas we have the energy and the technology to write this blog! It’s been a tough and tiring couple of weeks since the last entry. So here … Continue reading →
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Road trip to Boston with the Lechas

Mario, Fernanda, and Fernandita flew into NYC from San Salvador on their way to Mario’s son Juan’s graduation from Berklee School of Music in Boston. We had to go along for the road trip!. The gang of course had to … Continue reading →
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GR – Nix verstehn in Athen...

Zurück in Europa Kati: Pleiten, Pech und Pannen beim Motorradtransport scheinen überwunden. Nachdem wir auch die fehlenden 8 Stunden irgendwie verarbeitet haben, heißt es: Ankommen in Europa. Alles ist uns fremd: die...
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Kenya: The Swahili Coast

Like a worried war-time family gathered around the wireless, we crowded around a small window in a Greek hotel room to see a torrent of protesters surge around the Landie, hurling rocks and abuse at the riot police. In Tahrir … Continue reading →
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Day 78… Rabat to Lagos- Goodbye Africa, Hello Europe

Bom Dia from a sunny Portugal, My route over the last few days. I left Rabat and Mike after with a bit of a hangover. Mike and I made sure […]
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Introducing Boris – Part 1 (The Film)

You have heard about him. Now it’s time to meet him. Introducing my mate Boris. Enjoy This short film was put together by Joby Newsom, my expedition film editor. You can follow him on twitter @Jnewson. Check it out in HD. Filed under: Adventure, Filming, planning, Poland, Safety,...
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In Honduras

We are now in Honduras, after a few days in which I made a coolant pressure testing device with a bike pump and some hose: Then patched a leaking tank with a lot of epoxy and plastic from a water jug: Then drove to San Salvador on this patch, which started leaking again as soon as I parked at...
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The loniest road in America

The past few days we have been driving the loniest road of America. This is the US50 that runs from Sacramento, California to Ocean City, Maryland and is called the loniest road since 1986 by Life Magazine and later on used by Nevada as marketing slogan.   I must say that this road is...
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CUSCO - MACHUPICCHU - PERÚ

A saída de Arequipa deveria ser rápida, mas o maldito programa de GPS que compramos na hora H não funcionava e tivemos que sair da cidade pedindo informações, o que te leva para diversas direções menos para a certa. Recebemos várias...
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COPACABANA - BOLÍVIA

Nossa última noite antes de entrar na Bolívia foi em Puno, onde chegamos já no final da tarde vindo de Cusco. Como o hotel já estava reservado anteriormente pela internet, não tivemos muitos problemas para montar acampamento. O estacionamento estava incluso na...
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Nos bons plans Buenos Aires/ Our Non-Guidebook Guide to BA

Voilà une liste des endroits qui nous ont plu à BA. This is it: the trip is over.  Tomorrow morning we climb on the airplane and we jet back to the ‘real world’, to friends and family (good) and to work (bad).  Here is a list of places and activities we...
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Campervan Train

In 1956 the French left Morocco after 44-years of occupation but recent times have seen a new invasion; from the Southern [...]
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Santa Rosalia to the USA (San Diego) plus some motorcycling legends

4x4 Overland Travel - Read the full article here!

We left Santa Rosalia and had quite a long day through the Baja desert to Rosita, including a 200 mile stint with no gas, however we were told in Catavina we could buy petrol at the side of the road, that was correct so we got a gallon each fom the r...

Gone in 60 Seconds.....

4x4 Overland Travel - Read the full article here!

A good few nights wild camping and driving quite quickly we stayed one night in a rather expensive campsite in Hotel Huanchaco Gardens Hotel. It was OK. I've posted some photos. For the price is cou...

Etosha National Park

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BlogThis!

To the Red Sea!

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Crossing over to North Sudan

Driving down from Gondar in Ethiopia to the Sudanese border takes you from a very cool elevation of 2,100m down to just 600m. Upon arriving at the border town of Metema, we were completely dumbf...

Georgia, the Mountains and the City

4x4 Overland Travel - Read the full article here!

Kezbegi Mountains

The Georgian border was a...

Revenge of the Monkeys

4x4 Overland Travel - Read the full article here!