freeagent Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 You may find this has more to offer than a rank cup of mint tea with a prune faced sand arab When you're skint/diseased/injured/broken down you can just turn round and come home without having to worry about shipping/borders/visas/kidnappers. You are certainly making our upcoming trip to Morocco sound very appealing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger90 Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 You are certainly making our upcoming trip to Morocco sound very appealing... ears pricked up when "hot euro-chicks" was said.. i spose it will be half the budget but allso depending on how far you go haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Planning.... When we decided on our first trip in 2003. Margaret started planning in August 2003. She was still in some planning stage as we flew out in August 2004. Most of the information we needed was not readily available. Now it is. Carnet de Passage. Only the country that the vehicle is refistered in can issue the Carnet de Passage. Most countries require 150% of the VEHICLE value some like Kenya 200%. NOTE. The vehicle value.....Not the accessories. You try to get the lowest value of the vehicle for the Carnet de Passage. Note also. The Carenet de Passage is now only issued for 12 months. Your vehicle must have UK tax on at all times otherwise your third party insurane is nu and void. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightpot Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 You are certainly making our upcoming trip to Morocco sound very appealing... What with the missus coming along, it's prune faced sand arabs I'm afraid. need to keep planning that boys trip to France... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8bertha Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Agreed... planning and preparation is the key on big trips. Jen and I planned our North America trip for nearly 2 years. The preparation paid off though when we went to London to get Visas and when we went to collect the truck from the shipping agents in Baltimore. Immigration type people won't generally be impressed if you don't have an itinerary showing a planned departure date. Whether you stick to your plan or not is another matter of course! We planned all the places we wanted to visit and then once we hit the road completely changed everything! And its not just the paperwork... I spent the 2 months prior to shipping going over our truck with a fine toothcomb to make sure it was mechanically sound as possible. The last thing you need is for things to break and cause you to end up coming home early. As had already been mentioned, if time and money are an issue, then why not travel around Europe. There is an immense amount to see and some really beautiful places where you can camp under the stars. And of course, if visiting Europe you don't need to worry about visas, immigration, carnet etc etc. Even your breakdown cover can be extended to the EU. Good luck with whatever you plan to do though, it truely is an amazing experience when you do get out into the unknown! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
q-rover Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Eightpot has a good point. Not only will such a trip make your first adventure easier, it will give you experience <nd allow you to get used to your vehicle and find out what things you have done wrong, need to improve, add etc. There are plenty of place to get off the beaten track within Europe to do some testing. Pyrenees for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 What with the missus coming along, it's prune faced sand arabs I'm afraid. Thats not a nice way to talk about the missus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlykepower Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Yep, as has been said, dont do a major expedition as your first trip. Just after I got my Defender, I went on a small jaunt around Europe. I crossed the Alps, down into Central Italy, back up along the west coast of Italy to Monaco, and home via the Verdun Gorge. All in all, about 4000 miles. It got me used to driving a Land Rover and also got me thinking about what you would do differently on a longer trip. This mainly related to packing the vehicle out. Even then, I found it very, very easy to plan for that trip, as I did loads of backpacking when I was younger, I found it easy to translate my backpacking knowledge to vehicle based travel. Try and get away in your vehicle as much as possible. This does not have to be for several weeks at a time even; try going to a touristy type destination for a few days at a time, and see how you like living out of a vehicle. I go to Wales, Scotland, Peak District & Lake District whenever I can, just to see how easy it is to cope with living with stuff I have literally just thrown in the back. It all becomes second nature when you have travelled a bit, so I have never forgotten anything serious yet. If I did forget something though, it would be easy to rectify nearer home than somewhere in the middle of the Sahara. Several small trips will take a hell of a lot of pressure off the planning of a major expedition. And yes, I am going to be writing about my expedition! I am still looking at getting a website up & running, and have already accumulated comprehensive notes for the book my partner thinks I should write. I have even got as far as establishing a route to getting my book published. HTH Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I agree with the above, there are plenty of places in europe you can explore.. we went down to the Pyrenesse last summer, the weather spoilt it a bit (rained every day) but there is some good off-road driving on the Spanish side, and sime nice alpine camping on the French side. I've also been to the Alps, again some great mountain tracks and smashing camping.. Slovenia is a great country, as is Croatia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Hi Sam, If you go to any shows, keep your wallet firmly in your pocket and your credit card at home. Find the vehicles which are well used and obviously well travelled and find the owners and have a good chat. Find out what they think are the good points and bad points about the gear they carry. Have a look at the pristine shiny vehicles on the trade stands but remember they are there as a sales display. Then compare them with the well travelled vehicles Good kit is not the cheapest kit around, but will last a lot longer then the cheap kit Regards Brendan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Why not do your fist trip as a major one ? We did....PREPARATION is the thing.....First Overland was their first trip as well... As Brendan says..Look at vehicles at shows...We're at Donington on Sunday. Vehicle no 27 I think we are in the "Modified Vehicle display" If you are there call and see us. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The chances are that my over land 10 will be at Donnington too. You are welcome to look. It is a different set up to Mikes. What is right for one person and their vehicle is not necessarily right for another person. There is not one right single way to equip and prepare a vehicle for an overland trip. There is a wrong way to prep a vehicle for an overland trip and that is not to service and maintain the vehicle properly! Compound that with cheap kit and you have the recipe for an uncomfortable trip if not a dangerous one. How you equip a vehicle all depends where you intend travelling and how you intend travelling and personal preference. Regards Brendan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diff Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I agree with Mike, in that you don’t need to have a trial run. However, it is that personal choice thing again. Some are happy to dive in whilst others aren’t. Nothing wrong with either choice, whatever suits. If you have a burning desire to go and travel somewhere particular, it might be your only opportunity to do it. A ‘practice’ run may end up being enough to satisfy your wanderlust, it may inspire you more, or it may wipe out your limited funds which would otherwise have been put towards the journey that you really wanted to do in the first place. Life may take a turn which may mean you won’t get the chance again. I was 20 when I did my first expedition across the Sahara in the heat of summer. There were four of us sharing costs in a 1971 series 3 109 rescued from the scrap yard. We all met up as a result of personal ads in the newspapers. I was from near Basingstoke, Bill was from Devizes, Gus was from Bollington nr Manchester, and David was from Sheffield. We prepared/repaired the Land Rover at weekends for at least six months, and did as much research as was possible, but without the internet, we had only a very basic idea of what to expect. We drove through France, Switzerland and Italy and crossed from Italy to Tunisia. Then into Algeria, across the Sahara down into Niger, Upper Volta and into Togo. We returned back across the Algerian Sahara and into Morocco, through Spain, Andorra, France and home. We had an excellent adventure! We had very little reliable info on what to expect, and we coped, but information can make the difference between having a great time and utter disappointment. Your dream journey can be ruined if you turn up at a border to find that you can’t cross because of a piece of paper or a passport stamp that you could/should have known about before you even left England. You don’t need to do much research if you don’t want to, you can just load up and go, BUT you may have no end of bureacratic hassles and it may spoil your trip. The internet is a VERY valuable resource for the modern overlander. It makes overlanding so much easier from a planning/prep point of view. Use it to avoid disappointment. Hope this helps, Regards, Diff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger90 Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 yeah.. as i said prevouse replys. money and time in a issuse for me.. going round E.U sound tempting and doing and big trip later on..wehn i wont have money as a issuse ans uni in my way.. ahh yeah i am ment to be going to donnington.. yeah so i porbs give you a shout.. but as you'v all said getting good kit doesnt come cheap.. and the carnets that one of my worrys after all iv read about them.. but still pleanty of research to do.. but first i think will need to do is either get another truck for the job or get 90 overhualed and all the big problems at the moment sorted.. since my mate shoved it into a tree iv found couple of problems that where hindden lol.. cheers sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon W Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Hi it's great to see someone else my age wanting to do something like this off there own back, but having looked at various things I just can't afford to prep my truck or the cost of fuel to get me that far. So am gonig to travelling at some point. But this is the trip my brother went on recently and has raved all about it and how amazing it was. I have no link to this company but my brother is a very happy customer. http://www.odysseyoverland.co.uk/?gclid=CN...CFRaA3godyX-JdQ Rough idea of cost 6 months from london to darwin australia was £3.5k plus 1.5k for kitty money which covers a lot of food and essential. Obviouslt you then need beer money and other extras that you want to do, but i though 6 months for 5k didnt seem too pricey. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The real cost of our 2007/ 2008 trip, Six Months on Southern Africa.... Travelled 13.500miles Used 2.300litres of fuel@ 23mpg = £1.350 Accommodation/ food etc = £2.500 Shipping the car = £2.400 Flights = £1.400 Personal insurance = £700 Overall value PRICELESS mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reads90 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Overall value PRICELESSmike Agree totally. I could not tell you off the top of my head how much our trip round Australia cost, main reason is i don't care as it was worth every penny and more. And i would do it all over again at the drop of a hat I am lucky to have stayed here and will be holidaying all round Aus on 3- 6 week trips to some wonderful parts of Aus for years to come . Ali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Agree totally. I could not tell you off the top of my head how much our trip round Australia cost, main reason is i don't care as it was worth every penny and more. And i would do it all over again at the drop of a hat I am lucky to have stayed here and will be holidaying all round Aus on 3- 6 week trips to some wonderful parts of Aus for years to come . Ali Agreed. I know I spent over 9,000 Australian dollars, say £4,000. Total flights and shipping £10,000 Other costs, I haven't a clue. Do I care? Nope Cost has not finished as now got to sort the 110 out for the next trip. It was worth every penny. As Mike said PRICELESS There are no pockets in shrouds Regards Brendan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlykepower Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Yep, could not agree more. My trip is pretty much going to cripple me financially, but I could not care less. Funny thing is, I was expecting at least a couple of people who I have told about me doing this; that I will be quitting my job, selling almost everything I own & having to start again when I get back; to say that I was being reckless & irresponsible. Not a single person has said anything other than something positive. Sam, remember these well known sayings that a lot of people who have contributed to this thread will undoubtedly already know: "I would rather have an interesting life, than a long one" "Do not measure your life by the amount of breaths you take; but by the amount of moments that take your breath away" Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reads90 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Yep, could not agree more.My trip is pretty much going to cripple me financially, but I could not care less. Funny thing is, I was expecting at least a couple of people who I have told about me doing this; that I will be quitting my job, selling almost everything I own & having to start again when I get back; to say that I was being reckless & irresponsible. Not a single person has said anything other than something positive. Sam, remember these well known sayings that a lot of people who have contributed to this thread will undoubtedly already know: "I would rather have an interesting life, than a long one" "Do not measure your life by the amount of breaths you take; but by the amount of moments that take your breath away" Martin Godlykepower you have to do these things while you can. we drove around Aus just the misses and me. We had just moved to Aus so had no jobs no house. We were not part of the rat race. Now we have a kid, jobs, and a house mmm makes it alot more difficult When you have that time in life with , no kids ,no real responsibility or worries, the money is irrelevant as you can earn that money back but can't get that time back in your life , least until your too old to do a trip that you are planing anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Yep, could not agree more.My trip is pretty much going to cripple me financially, but I could not care less. Funny thing is, I was expecting at least a couple of people who I have told about me doing this; that I will be quitting my job, selling almost everything I own & having to start again when I get back; to say that I was being reckless & irresponsible. Not a single person has said anything other than something positive. Sam, remember these well known sayings that a lot of people who have contributed to this thread will undoubtedly already know: "I would rather have an interesting life, than a long one" "Do not measure your life by the amount of breaths you take; but by the amount of moments that take your breath away" Martin My best meal in my life? Christmas day meal of new potatoes and sag washed down with black tea. Done after a glorious days walking up a sunlit Himalayan valley. A fantastic moment of a Bergan Spectra at nearly 20,000 feet on Kali Patar overlooking Everest base camp. Best beer? Supped whilst watching electric storm in Simpson Desert All fantastic priceless moments. Money can not buy these moments! Regards Brendan PS My only problem is deciding when and where to go next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 agree with all the others... do it while you can... Me and the current mrs Freeagent had a few good trips (not much overlanding though) before we got married, got proper jobs and had a baby, which does, as Ali said, make things more difficult. but not impossible. the experiences you gain on those trips will stay with you for life.. Watching the penguins coming home at sunset on Phillip Island was worth a thousand nights in the pub, and the most surreal night out i think i've ever had was in a 'gentlemans' club in Sarajevo, just after the war finished.... Life goes by so fast, and events catch up with you... my younger brother is battling a serious illness with an uncertain future (he's 31) which has made me view life in a very different way... so get out there and make some memories before age/responsibity/circumstances stop you from doing it. One life. live it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reads90 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 agree with all the others... do it while you can... Me and the current mrs Freeagent had a few good trips (not much overlanding though) before we got married, got proper jobs and had a baby, which does, as Ali said, make things more difficult. but not impossible. the experiences you gain on those trips will stay with you for life.. Yeah i have seen much more of Australia than 90% of most Australians Watching the penguins coming home at sunset on Phillip Island was worth a thousand nights in the pub, Yeah that is speacial Life goes by so fast, and events catch up with you... my younger brother is battling a serious illness with an uncertain future (he's 31) which has made me view life in a very different way... My Dad told me to do the whole of Aus , as we were going to do half of it. He said the reasons for doing it were as pointed out already on here. Were going to save some of our money for a depsoit for our house hence the shorted distance. 1 week later my dad was killed in a road acciedent. As said life is far too short and make you rethink things. Hence why we blow all our money on a trip of a life time and a trip we will never forget so get out there and make some memories before age/responsibity/circumstances stop you from doing it. One life. live it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger90 Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 i couldnt agree more with what anyone has said.. im diturmind to do it.. iv had couple of people at uni and work saying "dont be so rediculouse at your age".. i just said back to them... because you didnt do, it doesnt mean i cant.. and it your fualt you didnt get your arse in gear and do it instead of working for the same petty farm for 30years!!! (i did lay into him fairly because that got in my skin). im only 18 now but i as you all said.. time goes quick.. doing this will be a big thing because. i actualy havnt been out this county so will be great to see some pretty amazing things.. other then tractor, fields, grain stores the same secenry every day. iv explored alot of the u.k, scotland, wales, derbyshire, highlands, yorkshire, devon, portsmoth.. but u.k is (lets be honest) sh*t lol.. 2 of my brest mates are currently out traveling the world.. personly id rather the expedition way because you can see what you want and stay (basicly) where you want.. go where you want (to certen extent) and spend as much time there.. im stop going to woffleing now.. whos going to donnington? it would be good to have chat with a few off you guys about it!! cheers sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Sam We're at Donington...In the Modified Vehicle enclosure....No 27 IIRC. Come and intoroduce yourself. If I'm not at the Defender Margaret will be. We'll have some pictures with us....The Defender will be able to be looked at in full. Brendan will also be there. The problem with Donington is not enough hours in the day. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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