Moscow, Russia
Done the trans-Siberian. 2 days in Moscow
Moscow, Russia
Done the trans-Siberian. 2 days in Moscow
Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan
Day 4- Prague to Budapest. So I woke up at 8am to go down and pay a bit more money for our parking ticket which was running out at 8:30. I was feeling a bit groggy as I had gone to bed at 5:30 and had been feeling a bit jealous of Ed and Max who were both still fast asleep. After walking back from the car I had breakfast, a shower and waited for Max and Ed to wake up. This took longer then I had expected. My family always say I'm the worst at waking up in the morning but Ed and Max seemed to be just as unwilling to get up in the morning when we clearly needed to press on. To be fair to both of them, last night was an intense session to say the least. So after Max and Ed both realised they would have to pay a fine for not checking out at the set time, they rushed to check out 10 minutes prior to the deadline. Now we were set and ready to get going. With Edward driving we set of for Hungary (Budapest) which would take us through Slovakia. The drive was relatively simple, mostly motorways and a minor detour to Banska Stiavnica which proved worth our while! This little town, once a thriving mining community had some beautiful buildings with a medieval feel. Ed kept saying he 'loves Slovakia' numerous times which reassured us having taken a worth while detour. So after sightseeing in Banska Stiavinca and a delicious meal, Max and I were stuffed of duck, compared to Ed's local meal which looked meagre and tiny in comparison. Ed expression when presented with this local dish set us all into hysterics. It definitely hadn't filled him up. We pressed on to Budapest. Going out in Budapest was not up for debate. So we stopped of just after dinner stoking up on beers for the last leg of the journey. I had asked to drive to Budapest from Branska Stavinka so annoyingly I couldn't drink. We parked the car somewhere in the center, got changed and headed for a place called Szimpla. This was a bar worth while seeing (Max had recom ** some text is missing **
Tbilisi, Georgia
Georgia Tblisi- the be team and desert spoons
Tbilisi, Georgia
Georgia Tblisi- the b team and desert spoons
Üsküdar, Turkey
Istanbul hostel terrace
Tălmaciu, Romania
Day 3- Germany to Prague - so we wake up nice an early after a mediocre sleep in the tent to get ready for the garage to open to fix are car. When it opens Max who of course can speak German gets told that they can't fix it today but we can drive to another garage 5 km away. So we set off with hazard lights on, going 10-20 km/hour and a horrible high pitched noise coming from the wheel, hoping that the damage isn't to serious. We arrive at the garage to find out they can have a look at it now and depending on the damage they can start fixing it. So he slowly takes of the wheel and tells us that we should hope that something hasn't snapped. He says it will either cost 80 euros or a lot of money. To are relief it is still intact and they only need to order a part and then we can be off. So after waiting around for 4 hours we set off around 1 to Prague on one single motorway. So on arriving in Prague we find a spot right in the centre and we get some luck which is what we need, we pay 1 euro for 1 hour in the car but for some reason it gives us 24 hours so we don't need to park the car again. We get are bags and set of for the hostel which is quite cosy and at a good rate. After dropping are bags we go for a wonder around Prague which has some beautiful places. We end up eating 1 floor up (which is so much cheaper then downstairs. Weird. We have a few beers and then wonder back to the hostel to get ready for the night. Little bottle of Absinthe bought for us to share to get the night going. So after getting ready ad drinking and chilling in the hostel we set of to the club which is apparently the biggest in Czech Republic. It ended up being a short and sweet night not as good as we expected but still worth it.
Ed
Inexperienced, unprepared 20 year old northern lad with next to no knowledge about cars/mechanics. Going into this probably a bit too light heartedly, but still 100% determined to get to Mongolia no matter what!
Louis
Is an unexperienced 20 year old who has just finished his first year at university and therefore maybe his last long fun summer. No better way then finishing the summer with the Mongol Rally.
Is probably more prepared then Edward Hoyle, which isn't saying much. But is ready for the 10,000 miles and on reaching are long and awaited destination with a car intact.