The little things in life

Jupapina, La Paz, Bolivia [by Paula] I was a bit of a geek for miniatures when I was younger. While others had cool bedrooms crammed with music posters, Pacman games (yes, it was the 80s) and normal teenage paraphernalia, my shelves were lined with tiny little versions of just about anything I...
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Welcome Home

Yesterday was a milestone, I finally got our bikes back, it’s taken a while but the discount I got for my troubles was worth it so thanks to David & Julie at James Cargo!We left Edinburgh at 06.30 , Alex was not only on time but actually beat me to…

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Returning to London – The End Of The Expedition (Sat 1 Feb 2014)

Hi Folks, Nearly 10 months after departing from London […]

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Around Annapurna, Part 1: Into the Wild

Before we left on our trip I met exactly one person who had hiked in the Himalayas.  That happened to be Baroon, our dear friend whose family we had just spent a week with in Kathmandu. I was green with envy when he told me about his adventure; just imagine! The person sitting in front [...]

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Finally the last leg to Ushuaia

We had a 455 km ride for today back to Rio Gallegos with only one gas station between there and El Chalten at Esperanza at 315 km we got in line and gassed up before we left. We really needed … Continue reading →

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THAILAND-STRANDLAND

KO LANTA
Voordat we het beseffen, zijn we zomaar een week op dit eiland. De ene dag glijdt moeiteloos over in de andere. Het strand waar we staan, heet Ao Klong Jaak zo’n beetje op het meest zuidelijke puntje van het eiland vlakbij het Nationaal Park. …

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Liquor Without The Hangover - Rancho Bonanza, Ecuador

Finding quality beer in Latin America is starting to become a little easier! You may remember our trip to the brewery in Buga, Colombia to hunt down some good IPA. Two months later we managed to find a restaurant/campground/brewery outside of the …

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The Camargue #1, Rhône Delta, France 12/13

The Camargue – It has a mystical ring for any European. Beautiful wild white horses and Gypsies gathering in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer once a year. The Camargue, the Rhône River Delta, is the largest delta in Western Europe, but it is much more than that: Fighting Camargue bulls,...
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Rough driving and hiking in the Fouta Djalon, Guinea

First of all Happy New Year to everybody from Freetown! Much has happened in the last days and we can state that we have found our favourite country so far – Guinea Conakry! The rough dirt roads, welcoming locals, excellent hiking and amazing scenery will stay for us for a long time to...
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No Festivities in Botswana

Dec. 21-26, 2013 Our second pass through Botswana cut across the upper half of the country. We started at the Kazungula border post in the northeast and drove south to Nata, then cut west to Maun and north to Shakawe. Our route through Botswana. Much of the country is sparsely populated desert,...
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An Argentinian Christmas

We were flying down the smooth, black surface at rapid speed, long gone were the hours of persistent washboard and potholes lying in wait. We had finally made it out of the lunar SW Bolivian landscape. Pointing our nose West, more »

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Guanajuato

Guanajuato is one of those difficult cities to describe. It is stacked on a ravine like a colorful wedding cake with a maze of tunnels below it, making a somewhat geographically impossible city work during the modern age. For centuries the silver and gold mines surrounding it made Guanajuato one...
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Back to school, barracuda and caipirinhas (Bissau, Guinea-Bissau)

The rest of our time in Sukuta was spent with organizing a lot of little things including finding a new rooftop tent mattress, getting a t-piece welded out of a brake line to replace our broken magnetic fuel valve, stocking up on smoked cheese and polony imported from England, installing 12V...
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Carcassonne, Languedoc Roussillon Region, France, 12/13

Driving through the Southwestern part of France, many people had insisted we visit Carcassonne, the largest fortified city in Europe. What struck us first were the impenetrable walls high up on the hill, yet people were driving their cars into the fully walled cité where they clattered by...
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El Salvador – The Beaches

We spent our first week in El Salvador at various beaches along the Pacific Coast. The first and best beach is Playa Palmarcito, or as we called it “Thomas’ beach”. We had read good reports about a town called El Zonte, along the Balsamic coast. Unfortunately there is no access...
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Turkey – Istanbul, Dogbiscuit, Some Raki, And A Genius Idea

We rolled over the border into Turkey, to great amuseme […]

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Patzcuaro Tastes Delicious

We weren’t mentally prepared for the freezing temperatures of Patzcuaro’s 7000 foot elevation at night.  We also weren’t prepared for how amazing the food would be in this little mountain […]

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Drug searches, ferry problems and finally English speaking people again

Our first experiences in Gambia left a bit of a sour taste. The border crossing was quite easy with cheerful officials and only the obligatory false fee of 5000CFA on the Senegalese side which we never paid. After immigration, customs and police and being told to be able to leave now the big...
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Reunion in Dakar, mangroves and fever nights

Dakar was as expected not to be our favourite African city. Getting on or off the peninsula took ages due to the traffic. We had heard about a restaurant (Sunugal) that allows camping in N’Gor, once a separate village and now one of the northern suburbs of Dakar. The area was a welcome...
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10 days in Nouakchott, the notorious Senegal visa and relaxing days at the Atlantic

Having planned to be in Nouakchott for about two days, life decided to do it differently again. We spent 10 days in total there waiting for our Senegal visa approval. Endless e-mails and calls seemed to change little of the fact that African bureaucracy is stronger than reason. For anybody...
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Vinça, Languedoc Roussillon Region, France, 12/13

Being members of the Silk Road Motor Caravan Club, fellow travelers British/Scottish Chris and Jack Kane, invited us to stop by at their home in Vinça, France. Having just returned from a six-year journey through Central and North America, they were keenly aware of our needs to get off...
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The Kingdom in the Clouds

Crossing India had consisted of two thousand kilometers of pancake flat driving on the worst roads in the world. Now the roads were well maintained, and within a few miles of crossing the border we began winding through foothills, and then climbing int…

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CHOCS AWAY!

Mendoza Province, Argentina It was the stuff of legend, the sort of heroics to make aces like James Bigglesworth and Algernon Lacey positively drool, had they been real pilots, of course. Unlike Biggles and his chum Algie, the fellows I’m referring to were not in the least fictitious. In...
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Winter Camping at it’s Best

We are not shy about proclaiming our great love for off-season camping. Nearly empty campgrounds and open beaches bring a smile to our face and joy to our heart. Add in a full moon, mid-50′s temps and no rain (in … Continue reading →
Winter Camping at it’s Best is a post...
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With time to kill we took a side trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier and Mount Fitz Roy

Getting up the next morning the wind was already stronger than yesterday. The first 80 km west it was strong, but not gusting. Most of the way it was manageable. There was only the last 45 km to El Calafate … Continue reading →

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Plan gewijzigd / Plan changed

Na lang wikken en wegen, twijfelen en afwegen hebben we besloten om onze plannen drastisch te wijzigen… maar toch ook weer niet! We zullen eind augustus wel uit Arnhem wegrijden maar in plaats van naar het zuiden te rijden, rijden we naar het we…

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Pit Stop Varanasi

We reached Varanasi terribly late on the fourth day of our drive to Nepal. Varanasi was to be our much needed intermission point; a place to stretch our legs, build back our endurance, and wash off the caked dirt plastered on our skin. At some point in…

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New blog launched!

The last days have seen us taking time to do a little strategic thinking, brand management, navel gazing – for want of a better term. We have taken time to think about the various adventures, and the followers we have. And so, we decided to keep this blog purely dedicated to travels, trips...
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Belize It Or Not: Rainy Days and Changing Plans

Hey everybody! Sorry it’s taken me a while to update my blog. This has been a decidedly strange time for the Big Adventure. After spending what felt like forever in Mexico, my favorite new place in the world, we were on a whirlwind through Belize. My family was super excited about starting...
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Now for the serious stuff Patagonia !

There was almost no wind today and when there was it was 80% at our back!!! We kept south until Esquel and got gas again with almost no line. The old ruta 40 goes south from here but reports of … Continue reading →

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Into the White

Time for a long-awaited update… After a few weeks back home, I’m finally back out in Russia – in Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal. The first 3 weeks at home were spent indulging in the guiltless excesses of good food and drink over xmas, safe in the knowledge that I’ll be...
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Besalú, Cataluña, Spain 11/13

It was in Figueres that we met up with our old friend Chema Huete, past editor of Solo Auto 4×4. The readers of this magazine followed our travels through South America in the late 80’s and our Siberian trip in 1996. Chema now owns 4×4 Pasion.com, an online magazine. We spent a...
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Guatemala – A Country Recap

We spent about 5 weeks in Guatemala, of which about three weeks around Lake Atitlan. The other nights were a mix of boondocking on beaches, volcano mountains and a few parking lots. The People Guatemala was one of those countries many people warned us for and we were a bit cautious after we...
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Ecuador Overland

Ecuador Overland by camper truck Ecuador is situated on the equator on the Pacific coast of South America, bordered by Columbia to the north and Peru to the south and east. Despite being a very small country it really has so much to offer. You can experience different landscapes in a single day....
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Seven Lakes Route

Driving into Junin de los Andes we say gas and got gas, which is the rule down here and added our sticker to the collection. The drive on the 7 lakes route is a must do!They have actually renamed the … Continue reading →

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The XPCamper Build

We’ve been living full time in our XPCamper now for 6 months!  This isn’t just stationary, plugged-in, on the grid camping — we’ve put over 15,000 miles on the rig as we explored Canada, Alaska, and Mexico.  My point is this: the rig is receiving a lot of wear...
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Naar Ethiopië

Khartoum 3 Tuti-eiland ligt op het punt waar de Blauwe en Witte Nijl overgaan in de Nijl. Tot voor kort kon je er alleen per boot komen; het heeft daarom een dorps karakter. Om de bebouwing heen zijn veldjes met gewassen en “fabriekjes” waar van leem stenen gemaakt worden. Het is...
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Fork Me: A Drive Across India – Part 2

<< Click to read Part 1 Every morning on our trans-India drive started out the same way; we awoke from fitful sleep by our talking phone alarm clock to the suffocating weight of reality pressing down on our chests. It was a terrible feeling, as if we had accidentally burned down the house...
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Colombia 3 – Discovering more about coffee at Hacienda Venecia, Manizales.

9th – 18th November – We have decided that we would like to learn more about coffee production and have chosen to stay at Hacienda Venecia in Manizales, a fourth-generation, family-owned, working coffee farm.   It is considered to be … Continue reading →

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Naar Soedan

Jeddah Het regelen van de overtocht naar Soedan gaat vlot; ik kies een ferry die over drie dagen na het avondgebed vertrekt. Ik moet wel al ‘s ochtends aanwezig zijn, dus het zal wel net zo’n loketjesdag worden als in Bandar Lengeh. Ik overnacht aan de corniche. Zoals steeds kun je...
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Soedan

Port Sudan Ik word aangesproken door een man die vertelt drie vrouwen te hebben, twee uit Soedan en één uit Yemen. Hij heeft lang op het vliegveld van Jeddah in Saoedi Arabië gewerkt maar is nu bezig met een carrièreswitch: hij heeft een aantal wonderen meegemaakt en...
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The start of the Ruta 40

Leaving town there was evidence of the recent Dakar visit. We headed south to find the famed Ruta 40. But with the late start today we ended up just going 187 km in Malargue and finding a small hotel just … Continue reading →

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Final budget summary – Africa

After much work, we finally have put together a budget summary from our amazing adventure.  We hope that you find it helpful in planning your own African adventure. As a reminder, our adventure was broken into 2 stages: Stage I: Europe and North Africa, October 2012 – February 2013...
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Two Unesco World Heritage Sites, Two Car Accidents: Just another day on the road

From Patzcuaro, we headed towards Guanajuato.  Along the way, you pass Morelia.  We had heard amazing things about Morelia.  In fact, the entire historic city center is a UNESCO world heritage site. Negotiating our way into the historic center of Morelia with a one ton truck...
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01/18/2013 – 198 days/18644 miles

Here’s some video clips from my time in India…some while riding, others not. My last night in India, I stayed less than a mile from the border to Nepal, and when I arrived in the morning to get my passport … Continue reading →

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Guatemala – El Salvador Bordercrossing With Dog and Foreign Car

We are still traveling with John and Betti from the UK when we decide to cross the border into El Salvador. For some unknown reason it is not allowed to drive into the country with a Right Hand Drive Vehicle though, which is what John and Betti are driving. We are doing our border-crossing...
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Fork Me: A Drive Across India – Part 1

The distance from Hampi, India, to the Nepalese border is 2,200 kilometers, approximately the distance from Phoenix to Seattle. The plan was to drive to Nepal for the short trekking season, and then return to India later to explore the North. “It’s only 2,200 kilometers,” I...
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Of a friendly taxi driver and lousy Land Rover service

The friendly taxi driver I’m trying to find my way in the hustle and bustle of Casablanca’s insane traffic, looking for Salim on 625, Boulevard Mohammmed V. Salim is the dealer for Britpart in these neck of the woods, and Britpart in the UK has a gearbox ready to be shipped. We all...
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Colombia 2 – Salento and the Valle de Cocora.

8th November –  Salento is in the heart of coffee country and is one of the region’s earliest settlements.  The adobe buildings surrounding the main square are amazingly well preserved, with brightly painted roof trims, windows, doors and balconies.  There …...
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Step-by-step Guide on How to Get From Panama to Colombia

“The best step-by-step shipping instructions ever produced” – The Gringo Gazette So I know we said we weren’t going to do a shipping write-up, but I just couldn’t help myself. Step 1: Acquire latest overland shipping write-ups. Read through. Disregard. more »

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