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Only 102 more sleeps until the adventuresome event begins!
Another weekend of adventurist carnage was had in Bristol, myself and Mike managed to rock up at the very very nice pub by the name of "Eldon House" Great Beer, Great Staff, and a very homely pub. Needless to say we got there early and started the festivities with some food, and then proceeded to get royally battered with the other rallists. All in all a good time though, Mike wasn't fairing well on the Sunday morning, but my trademark hangover cure seamed to work, it consists of orange juice (fresh with the bits, no less), bacon sarnie, Paracetomol & nurofen.....then the piece de la resistance....National Lottery Scratchcards!!! It works in only the way that drugs, alcohol, fried food & gambling can! I'm still adement that the gambling is the key ingredient, the drugs are just for effect haha
Then on the sunday Benedict Allen, one of the first tv adventurers, who pretty much started up the genre, gave a talk to us about various expeditions that he's undertaken.
He was funny, in a way that only a publicly schooled, tweed wearing 40yr old can....and needless to say his life have been threatened on more than one occasion by various means whether it be bandits, starvation or disease. All round a jolly good chap!
Then after my fill of tea & cake after the talk from our fellow adventurer, I was graciously offered a ride back home in the newly purchased Skoda "Felacio" as Owen my driver has nicknamed it....it proved itself well as Mongol Rally stead so hopefully it will see him and his team through, my payment for the journey involved a ginsters pastey and a bottle of lucazade from the local garage, and after a few sat-nav based detours it worked out pretty well, and I arrived back not to late, so I could get my beauty sleep.
Other than that, we'll be sorting out our visas for the trip over the Easter period, so i'm sure that wont be as simple as we all may wish it to be, so I'll keep you up to date on any further mis-adventures...
Cheerio!
Monday, 6 April 2009
Saturday, 14 March 2009
125 Days Remaining
I'm a bit late uploading the blog for my exploits in New York, needless to say it was a rocking time in the city that doesn’t sleep, Mike joined me in this hop over the pond, there was plenty of photo’s over the 5 days, a couple of the nights we were out at different bars with various American rally teams. The US teams were all great, they were very friendly, most were a bit nuts but all in all we hit it off pretty well. They all have plans for their vehicles such as paragliding off the back of their ice cream truck etc...
The start of the trip was a bit manic, we woke up about 6.30am on the Thursday morning, Mike had stayed over on the sofa, so we grabbed a shower, and headed off to Victoria to catch the train to Gatwick airport. We’d managed to pre-book the tickets and god £3 cheap singles to the airport, all was going well until we had to get the tickets from the machines within the station, with 10mins till the train departed the machines said they couldn’t access our details so we waited in the queue to speak to customer services, now I’m pretty patient, but these guys were sloooowww! We got the ticket guy and he insisted on printing off about 5 tickets each then making us sign all the documents and he was in no hurry, Mike got his ticket first so he went to check the platform for the train, all this with 2mins left to go. Once my ticket was printed I ran to the concourse and couldn’t see him, so tried ringing him, as I’m ringing I run to platform 19 for the train presuming he’s already gone there. I get to the platform and can’t get hold of him so I get on the train hoping he’s already on it. Just as the doors close and the wheels take their first movements I look out the door window only to see Mike rooted to the platform with an angry face. Needless to say, not a good start, after a slight delay he catches the next train without any issues and meets me at Gatwick, he was not a happy bunny, but as I explained I couldn’t be sure where he was so I got on, in the hope he was already on board. Oh well, we’re still fine for check-in. We wonder through to the departure lounge and set up shop in the Wetherspoons there. I grab some breakfast and a Kopparberg then a nice shot of Jameson whiskey with ginger ale which was a free taster.
Once on the US airways flight, there were plenty of spare seats so we could spread out and I even managed to get a slight bit of sleep on the way to our connecting flight from Philadelphia to LaGuardia New York. Once at Philly we went to grab some food & a beer at the bar there. I managed to confuse the waitress royally, by asking for a Cheeseburger with cheese...yeah I know, school boy error, well the burger was nice an fresh, but I got stung by offering Mike a beer, and then the bill showed they were at $9 a piece it turned into an expensive lunch!
We were on a tiny internal jet from Philly to NYC, which reminded me of the planes we used to catch from Guernsey to Southampton. Anyways, we got to NYC a little earlier than expected and caught a cab to Hotel 17, which was our residence for the 4 nights we were going to be there. It had great reviews online and was very cheap, mainly due to the fact you have to share the bathrooms. But it lived up to the reviews, very clean, not too small, very comfy beds & a certain shabby chic; it happens that a couple of films have been filmed there in decades past, including a Woody Allen film. It also has live-in residents that include dwarves & transsexuals, so it had quite the mixture of clientele.
The first day we walked for miles, wondering up to central park, then mainly due to my loss of landmarks got lost for a while within it. Mike tried to instil his understanding of the streets & avenues, as spines & ribs; my brain just couldn’t help thinking that avenues went up/down, streets when left/right. Each to their own I guess.
We went and met up that evening with the Rolling Cones, an American team that invited us to a bar they were having a fund raiser at. They had good tunes, plenty of good people but more importantly they were sponsored by 2 drinks companies. One was a tequila supplier called “Inocente”, which Mike can vouch against that name, after he was hanging out of his arse the next morning, it was far from innocent! The other drinks sponsor was “Jolt”, an energy drink in the US that has been around for ages, it comes in what only can only be described at a WD40 canister only without a straw, I avoided this stuff, purely because those who were drinking it looked like they were under the effect of substances a lot stronger than the average energy drink! We got to mingle with some lovely ladies, as well as some of the rally organisers who flew in from a new South American adventure.
The next day we went to get breakfast, but I relatively untouched from the previous nights events, Mike was not in a good way, the weather was also very sunny & hot, whi
ch I’m not sure is good or bad for a hangover. Either way we walked for a good few miles taking photos of the various places & sights, including Grand Central Station, the Woolworth building, ground zero & the Brooklyn Bridge. That evening we had a rally tea party to attend, it was at a really good venue again, with the help of a live old new York style band people unwound and got to know the various teams, we met a guy called Domino the night before but this evening we were talking and it hit us, what a legend he is! I don’t want to spoil any of his stories, but If you get a chance to catch up with just ask about one of his many hitchhiking night
mares &various other exploits.
So, the next day we did more sightseeing & then in the evening we ventured up the empire state building, the views at night are pretty impressive, we paid a little extra to go to the very top as well, that was the 102nd floor, the photo’s are on my flickr account for people to check out, I was annoyed though, because I took my tripod to get good night shots without camera shake, and at the security booth I was told they’d have to hold onto it as it may trip people up. Luckily I kept the camera bracket in my bag and this did the job almost as well, and allowed Mike to use it on his
camera as well.
We headed back the next day, with good memories of our little adventure, more than a few good photos & quotes from the adventure and hopefully some helpful friends to give us a hand come rally time.
The start of the trip was a bit manic, we woke up about 6.30am on the Thursday morning, Mike had stayed over on the sofa, so we grabbed a shower, and headed off to Victoria to catch the train to Gatwick airport. We’d managed to pre-book the tickets and god £3 cheap singles to the airport, all was going well until we had to get the tickets from the machines within the station, with 10mins till the train departed the machines said they couldn’t access our details so we waited in the queue to speak to customer services, now I’m pretty patient, but these guys were sloooowww! We got the ticket guy and he insisted on printing off about 5 tickets each then making us sign all the documents and he was in no hurry, Mike got his ticket first so he went to check the platform for the train, all this with 2mins left to go. Once my ticket was printed I ran to the concourse and couldn’t see him, so tried ringing him, as I’m ringing I run to platform 19 for the train presuming he’s already gone there. I get to the platform and can’t get hold of him so I get on the train hoping he’s already on it. Just as the doors close and the wheels take their first movements I look out the door window only to see Mike rooted to the platform with an angry face. Needless to say, not a good start, after a slight delay he catches the next train without any issues and meets me at Gatwick, he was not a happy bunny, but as I explained I couldn’t be sure where he was so I got on, in the hope he was already on board. Oh well, we’re still fine for check-in. We wonder through to the departure lounge and set up shop in the Wetherspoons there. I grab some breakfast and a Kopparberg then a nice shot of Jameson whiskey with ginger ale which was a free taster.
Once on the US airways flight, there were plenty of spare seats so we could spread out and I even managed to get a slight bit of sleep on the way to our connecting flight from Philadelphia to LaGuardia New York. Once at Philly we went to grab some food & a beer at the bar there. I managed to confuse the waitress royally, by asking for a Cheeseburger with cheese...yeah I know, school boy error, well the burger was nice an fresh, but I got stung by offering Mike a beer, and then the bill showed they were at $9 a piece it turned into an expensive lunch!
We were on a tiny internal jet from Philly to NYC, which reminded me of the planes we used to catch from Guernsey to Southampton. Anyways, we got to NYC a little earlier than expected and caught a cab to Hotel 17, which was our residence for the 4 nights we were going to be there. It had great reviews online and was very cheap, mainly due to the fact you have to share the bathrooms. But it lived up to the reviews, very clean, not too small, very comfy beds & a certain shabby chic; it happens that a couple of films have been filmed there in decades past, including a Woody Allen film. It also has live-in residents that include dwarves & transsexuals, so it had quite the mixture of clientele.
The first day we walked for miles, wondering up to central park, then mainly due to my loss of landmarks got lost for a while within it. Mike tried to instil his understanding of the streets & avenues, as spines & ribs; my brain just couldn’t help thinking that avenues went up/down, streets when left/right. Each to their own I guess.
We went and met up that evening with the Rolling Cones, an American team that invited us to a bar they were having a fund raiser at. They had good tunes, plenty of good people but more importantly they were sponsored by 2 drinks companies. One was a tequila supplier called “Inocente”, which Mike can vouch against that name, after he was hanging out of his arse the next morning, it was far from innocent! The other drinks sponsor was “Jolt”, an energy drink in the US that has been around for ages, it comes in what only can only be described at a WD40 canister only without a straw, I avoided this stuff, purely because those who were drinking it looked like they were under the effect of substances a lot stronger than the average energy drink! We got to mingle with some lovely ladies, as well as some of the rally organisers who flew in from a new South American adventure.
The next day we went to get breakfast, but I relatively untouched from the previous nights events, Mike was not in a good way, the weather was also very sunny & hot, whi
ch I’m not sure is good or bad for a hangover. Either way we walked for a good few miles taking photos of the various places & sights, including Grand Central Station, the Woolworth building, ground zero & the Brooklyn Bridge. That evening we had a rally tea party to attend, it was at a really good venue again, with the help of a live old new York style band people unwound and got to know the various teams, we met a guy called Domino the night before but this evening we were talking and it hit us, what a legend he is! I don’t want to spoil any of his stories, but If you get a chance to catch up with just ask about one of his many hitchhiking night
mares &various other exploits.So, the next day we did more sightseeing & then in the evening we ventured up the empire state building, the views at night are pretty impressive, we paid a little extra to go to the very top as well, that was the 102nd floor, the photo’s are on my flickr account for people to check out, I was annoyed though, because I took my tripod to get good night shots without camera shake, and at the security booth I was told they’d have to hold onto it as it may trip people up. Luckily I kept the camera bracket in my bag and this did the job almost as well, and allowed Mike to use it on his
camera as well.We headed back the next day, with good memories of our little adventure, more than a few good photos & quotes from the adventure and hopefully some helpful friends to give us a hand come rally time.
Monday, 2 March 2009
137 Days Remaining
Not much has happened since my last post rally-wise, but a mini-adventure is on the horizon, something to quench the adventurists thirst! A journey that mesmerises and captivates thousands each year, this voyage of discovery is none other than a hop over the Atlantic, yes two thirds of Team Swift (therefore by majority rounded up to the whole of the team), will be gracing the great “US of A” with their presence, Mike & myself will be jetting off to New York this Thursday! Bring it on!!!
I’ve gotten in contact with another rally team, “the rolling cones”, who have a member based in New York and as such have latched onto them like a parasite, feeding off their planned parties and generally imposing myself on their social life!
So we have a rocking night planned on the 2nd night, which by coincidence happens to be one block from our hotel, so some drunken jay walking is pretty much a given.
Then on the 3rd night there’s a rally tea party event, where you get to meet past rally teams, and drink your favourite brew whilst eating cakes and listening to tales of adventuresome people. This ultimately will lead to a messy night as all these events are certain to do.
That then leaves another night to make nuisances of ourselves in the city that never sleeps.
I have chosen a hotel (http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/travel/07check.html) that may well prove to be either a classic haunt or a complete nightmare; it has an unusual history and shared toilets so bring on the fun!
So until we’ve completed our mini adventure, take care people. Updates of our misadventures to follow...
I’ve gotten in contact with another rally team, “the rolling cones”, who have a member based in New York and as such have latched onto them like a parasite, feeding off their planned parties and generally imposing myself on their social life!
So we have a rocking night planned on the 2nd night, which by coincidence happens to be one block from our hotel, so some drunken jay walking is pretty much a given.
Then on the 3rd night there’s a rally tea party event, where you get to meet past rally teams, and drink your favourite brew whilst eating cakes and listening to tales of adventuresome people. This ultimately will lead to a messy night as all these events are certain to do.
That then leaves another night to make nuisances of ourselves in the city that never sleeps.
I have chosen a hotel (http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/travel/07check.html) that may well prove to be either a classic haunt or a complete nightmare; it has an unusual history and shared toilets so bring on the fun!
So until we’ve completed our mini adventure, take care people. Updates of our misadventures to follow...
Friday, 27 February 2009
140 Days Remaining
With it getting closer an closer until we set off on the rally, we need to get somemore things sorted, ultimately this leads to a mountain of paperwork, the visa's for all the countries is interesting, there's no reason why we should be declined but if we don't get it sorted soon then it'll be one almighty rush!
The adventurists are meant to provide a magic visa sorting service but as yet we haven't heard anything, so bring on the paperwork!
There's an adventurists tea party in the 7th March for our American brothers across the pond. Not many details have been set, well really only the date and city so far, but I've managed to get cheap flights over there for a week to meet the other teams and have a bit of fun. I've managed to organize another night out over there with the rolling cones, who have a team member living there, so that should take the hassel of finding places out of the equation. Also Mike has decided to join me on this mini adventure, so I'm sure we'll be able to tear up New York for those few nights. The hotel I've booked is an eclectic mix of traditional motel with live-in residents and the set of several films scenes over the years so once again should be interesting. It cheap cheerful & you share bathrooms, watch this space on my verdicts...
We're slowly adding more sponsors to our ranks, but as always not as fast as we'd like, ideally we want to be able to cover everywhere but the windows with sponsorship stickers, so we'll have too wait an see how that pans out.
In terms of media coverage we haven't done too bad to date, I've arrange articles and interviews, but all for regional media outlets, nothing on a national scale has materialized unfortunately as yet.
I have been in regular contact with Jen from the Mercy Corps, she's been really helpful in Organising press releases as well as plenty of mercy corps branded merchandise, we've got enough stickers, badges etc. To sink the titanic!
The car is running great, other than me being the lucky one to push as Paul wheelspan it out from a muddy patch during the latest photo session. I've decided that we have to at the very least take a couple of planks of wood to help the tires out of sticky situations!
All in all things are going well.
As always I'll keep you all upto date with our latest adventures!
The adventurists are meant to provide a magic visa sorting service but as yet we haven't heard anything, so bring on the paperwork!
There's an adventurists tea party in the 7th March for our American brothers across the pond. Not many details have been set, well really only the date and city so far, but I've managed to get cheap flights over there for a week to meet the other teams and have a bit of fun. I've managed to organize another night out over there with the rolling cones, who have a team member living there, so that should take the hassel of finding places out of the equation. Also Mike has decided to join me on this mini adventure, so I'm sure we'll be able to tear up New York for those few nights. The hotel I've booked is an eclectic mix of traditional motel with live-in residents and the set of several films scenes over the years so once again should be interesting. It cheap cheerful & you share bathrooms, watch this space on my verdicts...
We're slowly adding more sponsors to our ranks, but as always not as fast as we'd like, ideally we want to be able to cover everywhere but the windows with sponsorship stickers, so we'll have too wait an see how that pans out.
In terms of media coverage we haven't done too bad to date, I've arrange articles and interviews, but all for regional media outlets, nothing on a national scale has materialized unfortunately as yet.
I have been in regular contact with Jen from the Mercy Corps, she's been really helpful in Organising press releases as well as plenty of mercy corps branded merchandise, we've got enough stickers, badges etc. To sink the titanic!
The car is running great, other than me being the lucky one to push as Paul wheelspan it out from a muddy patch during the latest photo session. I've decided that we have to at the very least take a couple of planks of wood to help the tires out of sticky situations!
All in all things are going well.
As always I'll keep you all upto date with our latest adventures!
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Ane Brun
From this day forth any gig I attend is going to have to prove itself beyond anything you can imagine. I have this evening just witnessed the best live performer to date. This messiah of lyrical talent falls under the name of Ane Brun, a musical goddess in its most elemental form. Hand in hand her charm and eloquence were matched by the venue; its cold stone walls were contrasted by the warm up lighters and the natural eminence of the talent that occupied its voids. Ane's diamonds as she called them were three beautiful and talented ladies, emitting an unquantifiable pleasure and playfulness.
The multi coloured luminaires hung within the Union Chapel caused a beautiful array of refracted colours to shine from the likes of her guitar, visually contributing to the emotive warmth.
Teitur & Ellie Goulding accompanied Ane & her diamonds, each bringing their own flavour to the nights events. Ellie started things off, she was a little nervous due to inexperience, but as soon as she released her lyrics she settled straight in to the set.
Teitur was a joy to listen to, but more interesting at some points was his movements, as if he was itching to crawl out of his skin; this was completely contrary to his musical & vocal talents which we a great blend in the evenings mass.
All in all an amazing nights entertainment.
The multi coloured luminaires hung within the Union Chapel caused a beautiful array of refracted colours to shine from the likes of her guitar, visually contributing to the emotive warmth.
Teitur & Ellie Goulding accompanied Ane & her diamonds, each bringing their own flavour to the nights events. Ellie started things off, she was a little nervous due to inexperience, but as soon as she released her lyrics she settled straight in to the set.
Teitur was a joy to listen to, but more interesting at some points was his movements, as if he was itching to crawl out of his skin; this was completely contrary to his musical & vocal talents which we a great blend in the evenings mass.
All in all an amazing nights entertainment.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
145 Days remaining....
Yesterday we had a photographer from the Kent Messenger meet us for some off road photos. The local golf course let us take the car around some of their unused land, which all went well, only had to dig the car out of the mud once, I ended up being the lucky one who had to push as Paul wheel span the car through the mud.
So after striking poses for our fans, hopefully the article will be in next week’s edition. When the photos are available I’ll upload them to the team site etc...
In the meantime I’m left planning the potential travels after we complete the rally. I can’t quite decide what I want to do the most yet, but it’s boiling down to perhaps a couple of months of further travelling. I’d like to “do” Australia & New Zealand, but I’m not sure that 2 months is really enough time to do everything I want to, so an alternative option would be to take the trans-Mongolia train from Ulaanbaatar through China, stopping off somewhere like Shanghai then taking a ferry over to Japan and scoping out the main island. Then perhaps taking the trans-Siberian railway back, from Vladivostok to Moscow and training it through Europe from there.
So basically I have plenty of decision making, planning and soul searching left to do before the summer of adventure begins.
PP
So after striking poses for our fans, hopefully the article will be in next week’s edition. When the photos are available I’ll upload them to the team site etc...
In the meantime I’m left planning the potential travels after we complete the rally. I can’t quite decide what I want to do the most yet, but it’s boiling down to perhaps a couple of months of further travelling. I’d like to “do” Australia & New Zealand, but I’m not sure that 2 months is really enough time to do everything I want to, so an alternative option would be to take the trans-Mongolia train from Ulaanbaatar through China, stopping off somewhere like Shanghai then taking a ferry over to Japan and scoping out the main island. Then perhaps taking the trans-Siberian railway back, from Vladivostok to Moscow and training it through Europe from there.
So basically I have plenty of decision making, planning and soul searching left to do before the summer of adventure begins.
PP
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Back on track
Right, for those who don't know this summer on the 18th July, I shall be setting off on a little adventure known as the Mongol Rally all in the name of charity! The afore mentioned charity is the Mercy Corps, they do some great work around the world so well worth the effort.
I've mustered up a couple of allies for the road, both being equally unaware of the adventure that lies ahead of us. So all in all, this should amount to some life lessons, stories for the grand children, huge arguments and a whole heap of fun!
Essentially we are undertaking an 8-10 thousand mile drive from Goodwood race circuit on the south coast of England, through countries such as the Czech Republic, Russia, Kazakhstan and ultimately arriving at the capital of Mongolia - Ulan Bator.
But not to tarnish this lovely undertaking in anyway, we’ve also committed to travel in a 993cc Suzuki Swift, this red beast from the east, will be our chariot, and the simple aim of the adventure is to raise a minimum of £1,000 for the Mercy Corps whilst having a whole heap full of fun!
So until that faithful date arrives in July, there’s things that must be done. We’ve obviously got the car sorted; we still need to get visas for every leg of the journey, insurance and petrol money among other things.
Corporate sponsors would be ideal to help us achieve this goal, so we’ve got an information pack together to send to potential sponsors.
So that is where we stand at the moment with only 146 days remaining.
Take care,
PP
I've mustered up a couple of allies for the road, both being equally unaware of the adventure that lies ahead of us. So all in all, this should amount to some life lessons, stories for the grand children, huge arguments and a whole heap of fun!
Essentially we are undertaking an 8-10 thousand mile drive from Goodwood race circuit on the south coast of England, through countries such as the Czech Republic, Russia, Kazakhstan and ultimately arriving at the capital of Mongolia - Ulan Bator.
But not to tarnish this lovely undertaking in anyway, we’ve also committed to travel in a 993cc Suzuki Swift, this red beast from the east, will be our chariot, and the simple aim of the adventure is to raise a minimum of £1,000 for the Mercy Corps whilst having a whole heap full of fun!
So until that faithful date arrives in July, there’s things that must be done. We’ve obviously got the car sorted; we still need to get visas for every leg of the journey, insurance and petrol money among other things.
Corporate sponsors would be ideal to help us achieve this goal, so we’ve got an information pack together to send to potential sponsors.
So that is where we stand at the moment with only 146 days remaining.
Take care,
PP
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