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Team member three now getting dressed so that is all available members here today matalan elgin

Definately Not A Holiday

Although travelling across Europe to Central Asia is some peoples idea of a holiday the Mongol Rally is anything but. 

My typical holiday usually involves me walking into a travel agent, telling them where I want to go, paying money then, after my tickets arrive, heading to the airport, jumping on the plane and spending the next week drinking by the pool.

The variance here is we have to get our money together, find a vehicle, pay for all our visa's and then struggle our way across Europe in said vehicle which would be more in place on my Grandad's driveway.

If we break down (and the average amount of break downs is 9 per team) then we need to attempt any repairs ourselves. 

Along the way we need to find somewhere to stay (resisting the ease and comfort of hotels/motels) and all our food (no all inclusive options for us).  

Then when we reach the end we will be handing our vehicle to the Mongolia government (who auction it off to raise money for charity) then we need to find a way to Beijing for our flight home.

Still sounds a bit like a holiday?

Well on the 2011 Mongol Rally (which is still ongoing at time of writing) there have been these problems teams have encountered:

*Team Nobody* had their car written off when a black Volvo 4x4 smashed into them. Thanks to the quick thinking of Steve Priovolos who was driving at the time only the car was badly damaged. 

*Team Nomader* What broke their front shocks with their left shocks buckled over on itself. Also their radiator was leaking causing their van to overhead.

*Team The Amboriginals *had an unfotunate experiance in Volograd when they were mugged.

*Team Mathematics not Mechanics* had a river crossing go awry when they realised they had no towing point on their car so had to attach the tow rope to a small piece of metal on the rear which snapped halfway.

*Team 206 a Race Odyssey* had their engine blow up in Germany leading them to have it rebuilt at twice the cost of the car. That was only the start of their bad luck. They had no brakes for 80km, ruptered their fuel tank and snapped the fuel lines, smashed one of their wheel rims and had their exhaust fall off.

But after all these (and more) reports we're still more than eager to do it. Where would the challenge be if we just jumped in a rugged offroader with air conditioning and coasted our way there?