I woke up in our campsite by the side of the road, feeling tired and restless. I had not slept a wink. Because we sleep in the car which serves as a makeshift camper van, we had left the sunroof open for some air. As a result, I was covered in several layers of sand…
Day 10: Immigration at Turkmenbashi
If you’ve ever complained about long queues at immigration and border controls, you might as well know that the seaport immigration into Turkmenistan beats them all. If you plan to wash up on the shores of this mysterious country, come prepared with a lot of patience!
Day 9: Crossing the Caspian Sea
The most uncertain part of our trip was about to begin. Crossing the Caspian Sea can be notoriously unreliable and full of confusion. The confusion was compounded by the fact that our visas were not in order, as we found out two days ago. We had already contacted Ismayil, the fixer well known for helping…
Day 8: Barreling towards Baku, Azerbaijan
It’s safe to say that Azerbaijan and I have gotten off on the wrong foot. After getting ‘fined’ 100 USD the night before for ‘speeding’, we had checked into a hotel room that stank of stale cigarette smoke and crashed into bed.
Day 7: Getting to Ganja, Azerbaijan
We woke up from a deep sleep and discovered life around us at the beach camp on the Georgian coast of the Black Sea. There were workers putting up a new fence, the family keeping the grounds eating breakfast and cows frolicking on the beach. I’d say they were grazing on the beach, but there wasn’t…
Day 6: Baffled in Batumi
It was one of those mornings that I didn’t want to get up, but the temperature in the car had started to climb. I had no choice but to throw off my sleeping bag and sit up. The sun was blazing through the sunroof which we had left open, and I decided to poke my…
Day 5: Under the stars in Ünye
By day 5, we were making good progress. We drove 846 km in 9 hours, switching driving duties every two hours and stopping for an hour long lunch break. We wanted to leave Istanbul early but couldn’t start driving any earlier than 10am. I generally need some sort of breakfast to start the day off….
Day 4: Istanbul in a hurry
It was hard work dragging ourselves out of bed that morning, but we were determined to get to Istanbul by the end of day. So after a solid night of sleep and a strong shot of coffee on the house, we headed out to drop Mikaela off in Sofia and catch up with a friend…
Day 3: Next stop Niš
After dropping Samuel the Scientist off at the train station, we weaved through rush hour traffic and made attempts to leave the city. A little outside of Prague, we found a gas station to buy breakfast, set our tired brains straight and recalibrate our driving schedule for the day. The aim was to get to…
Day 2: Partying it up in Prague
We got up the next day bright and early in order to head to the Kazakh Embassy to reclaim my passport, with or without the promised visa. Having arrived early, we positioned ourselves in front of the gate to be the first ones in once they opened. Sure enough, we were the first ones beelining…
Day 1: Half way across
Deciding to do the Mongol Rally is easy. Doing the Mongol Rally is easy too. What comes in between is the hard part. We had been discussing since June 2014 that we wanted to drive 15,000 km in a crappy car to Mongolia. We fostered a healthy dose of skepticism about whether or not we…
shehrinakamal 