Days 5 & 6: Austria & Hungary

Day 5
496miles/798km

We awoke at 10:30, and with hindsight I have to admit I was probably still drunk from the previous nights partying. We managed to get on the road by 12:30, the sun was in the sky again, and we both felt good. Then the clouds descended and the hangovers and tiredness began to take hold. The music choice in the Landrover went from The Courteeners to Nick Drake as we chased the descending sun eastwards.

The night was closing in, and after only one stop for a brew just outside Vienna, we continued driving through Hungary determined to get to the hostel we had booked before it was too late. We eventually arrived and checked in just before 23:00. We had dinner and went to bed too tired to do anything else.

The long days of driving have paid off as we are now in Eastern Europe and the food, the diesel and the beer is cheaper. The places are more different and exciting, and the further east we head, the warmer it will become, but the snow was still falling in Budapest.



Day 6
0miles/0km

We awoke to find the Landrover and the rest of Budapest for that matter completely covered in 3cm of snow. We spent the day wandering around Budapest seeing the sights and buying food for the next few days. With the help of an extremely friendly hostel owner (who insisted he wasn’t racist but made it quite clear he didn’t like the Turks) we found a brilliant market hall in Pest and were able to buy some really cheap and tasty food.

Budapest seems to be the frontier to eastern Europe, with what appears to be one foot either side of what was once the Iron Curtain. In places it appears as developed as the rest of western Europe, but it still holds a visual connection with its history as part of the Eastern Bloc.

We planned our onward route in the evening and decided to get to bed early for an early start planned to travel further east into Romania, knowing that the progress from now on would be slower as the roads become worse.

Days 3 & 4: Germany & Austria

Day 3
272miles/438km

After another much needed sleep we spent the morning walking around Freiburg. Snow had fallen and it was perfect skiing weather with no clouds in the sky. After our walk around the city we drove up into the Black Forrest to take Christoph to the ski slopes which was on our intended route over to Austria.

It was the first time we had used the third middle seat in the Landrover, and it was good to have Christoph accompany us on a short part of our journey before we said our goodbyes and continued along the North of the Bodensee into Austria and onwards into Innsbruck. Thanks very much to Christoph for your unbelievable hospitality.




Day 4
0miles/0km

We decided to spend the morning organising our equipment from the back of the Landrover now that we had been on the road for 3 days, and we knew what needed sorting out. We were hoping for good weather to make the job easier, and we were greeted with another day free of clouds, but the –10°C temperature wasn’t expected or enjoyed.

The evening was spent firstly in the Innkeller where I was pleased to meet most of the friends I had known from my previous 6 months in Innsbruck where we shared a few drinks, and I got chance to say my goodbye. At the end of the night it was sad to leave the house of Chris at around 5am in the morning, but it had to be done as me Nathan had booked a hostel in Budapest for the next day. Only 500miles to travel on a hangover.

Vielen Dank Helene für dein Gastfreundlichkeit, es freut uns. Ich werde schreiben, aber dauert die letzte woche, ich bin zu faul für mich diese blog auf English zu scheiben!

Days 1 & 2: UK, France & Belgium

Day 1

336miles/541km

We finally departed from Wrexham as the clock ticked over from 23:59 31/12/2009 to 00:00 01/01/2010. A new decade had begun, and the trip down to Dover was quiet and tiring, illuminated by the full moon and a few fireworks that were being fired into the sky to welcome in the new-year. During the ferry crossing to Calais we both slept, and when we awoke, we found ourselves in France to see the sun come up across the flat lands that stretch into Belgium.

Our first stop was Brugge. It was either that or Lille, but we had seen the film ‘In Brugge’ and decided to see if it really was like a fairytale. Trying to find somewhere to park I followed the signs for parking, only to find them leading us into a tunnel to an underground car-park where there were no warnings for the height clearance. The sound of crumbling concrete as the roofrack hit the ceiling was not a good sound, but luckily the only damage was the rooftent cover being torn and the car-park ceiling probably needing to be looked at by the local council.

Brugge is a very scenic city, but I wouldn’t call it a fairytale. [Nathan: Belgium is weird.] Not wanting to start eating into the budget by paying for lunch in a restaurant, we decided to cook a (tuna) curry in the car on a camping stove. It certainly wasn’t a delicacy, but it removed our hunger. Wanting to get to sleep we bought a few cheap beers from the nightshop next to the hostel and sat in the room chatting until all of the beers had been drank, and the alcohol had kicked in enough to send us straight to sleep. We finally got a well earned sleep and left early the next morning for another long journey to Freiburg in Germany.

Day 2

469miles/755km

We managed to pass through four countries by mid afternoon as our drive from Brugge took us through Brussels, Luxembourg and on into France and Germany. The brief stop in Luxembourg City was enough to stretch the legs and have a quick look around a strange place where France and Germany collide at the heart of Europe.

The onward journey to Freiburg was terrible. The roads were unlit, with no cats-eyes, and the windscreen washers on the Landrover had ceased functioning meaning the windscreen was constantly filthy.

We arrived in Freiburg to meet Christoph, an old freind of mine from my days spent in Manchester. We spent the evening eating, drinking and chatting, though we were still tired from the journey and retired to bed ready for the journey to Innsbruck the following day.

Departure Day!

The Landrover is packed and we are ready to go. Thanks very much to everyone who has helped us in our preparation, and hopefully I should have some photos to upload very soon.

Das Landrover ist gepackt und wir sind bereit. Bald, hoffentlich soll ich fotos hochladen.

One Month Until Departure.

If everything goes to plan, we have less than one month until we leave. Since the last post we have bought vehicle insurance and personal insurance, and we have (mainly Nathan has) also bought most of the equipment we will need for the journey.
This equipment includes the roof top tent, a fridge for the back of the Landrover, a Hi-lift jack and tow kit in case we get stuck on bad terrain, a multi-fuel stove so we can cook using diesel, a 12V electric shower and many more smaller items I might list on here in the future.
Nathan is busy building a few items for the trip at work, including the roof rack. Hopefully before we leave we should have posted more pictures of the Landrover.

Both of us have nearly finished our vaccination course, and are now testing the Lariam oral vaccine for Malaria, hoping that we don’t get any side effects.
We have also been buying many books to read along the way, I’m particularly looking forward to reading the books of Ray Mears before arriving in Africa!

Wenn alles geht gud, wir haben ungefähr ein monat bis unsere abfahrt. Seit die letze Nachrichten, wir haben Fahrzeug versicherung und persönlich versicherung gekauft, und wir haben (oder Nathan hast) auch meist von die Ausrüstung gekauft dass wir fur die Reise brauchen.
Die Ausrüstung einschließt das Dachzelt, ein Kühlschrank für hinten von das Landrover, ein ‚Hi-lift Jack’ und eine Schleppenausrüstung falls wir werden auf schlect Gelände festsitzen, ein Multibrennstoffherd so dass wir mit diesel kochen können, ein 12V Elektronischdusche und viel mehr kleiner Artikels dass ich vieleicht bald auf hier aufführen werde.
In arbeit, Nathan baust ein Dachständer [‚roofrack’ auf English], und hoffentlich bevor unsere abfahrt, wir sollten mehr fotos von das Landrover auf diese Webseite aufladen.

Beide von uns haben fast unser Impfungenkurs gegenden, und jetzt proben wir die Lariam Oralimpfungen für Malaria, und wir hoffen dass wir keine Nebenwirkungen bekommen werden.
Wir haben auch viel bücher für die Reise gekauft, und bevor unsere Ankunft in Afrika, ich fraue mich auf die bücher von Ray Mears zu lesen!

The Route

The route has been decided not only because of a desire to visit certain places along the way to Cape Town, but because of limitations of the road network in Africa and certain countries being too difficult or bureaucratic to travel through.
We have decided to change our initial route through Italy into Tunisia and Libya because the entry requirements for Libya are unnecessarily bureaucratic and expensive involving paying large sums of money for an entry invitation, VISAs and the cost of having an official travel guide travelling with us through the country.
The route we have now decided on takes us through Germany into Austria, through the former Yugoslavia and into Bulgaria and Turkey. From there we will travel through the Middle East into Egypt, and down the east coast of Africa to Cape Town.

Jetzt haben wir die Route entschieden, nicht nur wegen ein Wunch zu bestimmt Landes entlang die Weg nach Cape Town besuchen, aber sondern auch wegen die Beschränkungen von das Straßenetz in Afrika und weil bestimmt Landes schwierig Erfordernis haben.
Wir haben uns entschieden unser erste Route durch Italien, Tunesien und Libyen zu änderern weil die Eintritterfordernis zu bürokratisch und teuer ist.
Die Route wir haben nun entschieden, nimmst uns durch Deutschland nach Österreich, durch das alt Jugoslawien nach Bulgarien und die Türkei. Von da, werden wir durch der Nahe Osten nach Ägypten, und unter östlich von Afrika nach Cape Town fahren.

Wales; Wales
England; England
France; Frankreich
Belgium; Belgien
Luxembourg; Luxembourg
Germany; Deutschland
Austria; Österreich
Slovenia; Slowenija
Croatia; Kroatien
Serbia; Serbien
Bulgaria; Bulgarien
Turkey; Die Türkei
Syria; Syrien
Jordan; Jordanien
Israel; Israel
Egypt; Ägypten
Sudan; Sudan
Ethiopia; Äthiopien
Kenya; Kenia
Tanzania; Tansania
Malawi; Malawi
Zambia; Sambia
Botswana; Botsuana
South Africa; Südafrika

The second part of our trip will require us to ship the Landrover to South America, where we will then drive up the west coast to Ecuador, where again we will need to ship the car to Panama or Costa Rica before heading up through Central America into the USA.

Der zweite Teil von unsere Reise wird uns erfordern das Landrover nach Sud Amerika zu verschiffen, wo wir werden dann hinauf westlich von Sud Amerika nach Ecuador fahren, wo wieder wir werden uns brauchen, das fahrzeug nach Panama oder Costa Rica zu verschiffen, bevor wir fahren durch zentral Amerika nach die USA.

Brazil; Brasilien
Paraguay; Paraguay
Argentina; Argentinien
Uruguay; Uruguay
Chile; Chile
Peru; Peru
Bolivia; Bolivien
Equador; Ecuador
Panama; Panama
Costa Rica; Costa Rica
Nicaragua; Nicaragua
Honduras; Honduras
El Salvador; El Salvador
Guatemala; Guatemala
Belize; Belize
Mexico; Mexico
USA; USA
Canada; Kanada

If by the time we get to the USA we have enough money left, we will then tour around The States and Canada ending up in New York where we will need to ship the Landrover back to the UK. We need to return the car to the UK to ensure that we can get our deposit back from our Carnet De Passage, a piece of documentation which allows us to temporarily import the vehicle into a country without paying import tax duty, on the condition that the vehicle also leaves the country.
If we don’t have enough money to tour the USA, we will drive directly to New York and try to arrange the journey home across the Atlantic.

Wann wir kommen nach die USA mit noch genug geld, nach werden wir durch Amerika und Kanada Reisen, endlich in New York zu ankommen, wo wir werden uns brauchen, die Landrover zuruck zum Großbritannien zu verschiffen.
Wir mussen die Landrover zum Großbrittanien zuruckbringen damit wir unsere Carnet De Passage Anzahlung zuruckbekommen werden. Das Carnet de Passage ist ein Dokument, das uns lasst das Fahrzeug zu Importieren ohne Steuer zu zahlen wann wir versuchen das Fahrzeug zu exportieren.
Wann wir haben nicht genug geld zu die USA reisen, wir werden direkt nach New York fahren und unsere Reise hinüber der Atlantik arrangieren.

The Landrover

So, since the time I have set up the blog, we have bought a Landrover. It’s quite old, but for it’s age, it has only done 125,000miles, which for a Landrover Defender is nothing.

The next stage is to kit it out in preparation for the trip which will take us across terrain in Africa that can vary from tarmac to sandy, rocky, muddy and very wet. At the same time we will be buying all of the day-to-day items that we will need during the trip, including a rooftop tent that we will sleep in most nights.
We are both also currently getting our vaccinations for the trip, and gathering the final information we need on the route and all of the countries that we will pass through.
As I’m currently working in Austria, and trying to learn German, I thought it would be a good Idea to write every blog in both English and German to improve my language skills. So, for those of you who speak German, feel free to correct my poor grammar!


Also, seit die Zeit dass Ich das Blog aufbauen habe, wir haben ein Landrover gekauft. Es ist ganz alt, aber trotzdem, hast es nur 201,000km gefährt, welche für ein Landrover Defender ist gar nichts.
Das naschte Stadium ist zu die Landrover ausrusten, damit wir für die Reise vorbereiten können, die kannt von Asphalt zu sandig, steinig, schlammig und sehr nass verändern. An derselben Zeit werden wir alles tag zu tag Artikels kaufen dass wir für das Reise brauchen werden, einschließlich ein Dachzelt dass die meiste nächte wir hinein schlafen werden.
Auch zurzeit, impfen wir beide, und sammeln wir die letzte Auskunft, die wir brauchen für die Route und alles Landes dass wir durch fahren werden.
Weil zurzeit ich in Österreich arbeiten, und Deutsch lernen versuche, Ich dachte es wird gud sein zu jedes blog auf beide English und Deutsche schreiben, damit ich mein Deutsch verbessern kann. So, wann sie können Deutsche sprechen, du darfst mein schlect Grammatik korrigieren!