Tag launch

The Mongol Rally launched on July 24th from the Goodwood race track where the Festival of Speed is held annually to the great glee of the British public. To slow things down a bit, the Mongol Rally rented the race track for the 24th and lined up all of the rally cars. There was a fire truck, 55 ambulances, an ice cream truck, a Rolls Royce, and several jeeps. There were service vehicles galore as well as the standard 1.2 liter miniature car like our own little Citroen Saxo. We adored the little car and, with only one short hour of driving stick shift under our belts, we knew this adventure was going to be something special.

The launch was meant to be a party, and the Adventurists provided live music on stage and a celebrity announcer (Buddy, from Lonely Planet). Gypsy singers and dancers played as they walked around the parking lot while we clothed our car in stickers and did our final packing. A good friend from London rented a car and drove the four hours down to Goodwood to see us of, which brought us all comfort and made us feel like we had our own little cheering fan club (of one) in the stands somewhere. The rally organizers also hired three actresses to run from car to car in wedding dresses asking if anyone had an American or British visa for her (did I mention they were Russian?). The joke being that the route will have gypsies, as well as women willing to marry anyone to get out of some of the places they live.

To get the festival of slow in the mood for a snail-paced rally the Dandies were hired to race their ancient wooden bikes down the track. The Dandies were all in their 80s, and were a fun pack of gentlemen dressed in traditional attire. They managed to go faster than some of the cars. Before the official launch, one car had already broken down.

The launch was finally announced at 2pm. We piled into the car and revved the engine. With wild cheers, screams, honking and waving we set off on our pre-victory lap around the Goodwood race track. The ol’ Saxo managed to make it around some extremely tight curves. A good sign, considering the road ahead of us! Finally, we finished our lap and took off down the highway…. In the wrong direction. The Mongol Rally begins!!!

With only days until the launch of the 2010 Mongol Rally, Bill, Mike and I are busy outfitting the car, working on last minute paperwork, begging for expedited visas and enjoying a bit of what London has to offer.

For the most part, things are coming together smoothly. We dropped off our applications at the Uzbekistan consulate in London last Friday. There was quite a long line, and there are (we were told) no guarantees that your visa will be returned in 5 working days. Nevertheless, we leave on Saturday the 24th and have no word from the consulate yet. No pressure! We also managed to apply for our Kazakhstan visas in a very last-minute manner. They were extremely helpful and quick and assured us we could pick them up well before the launch of the rally, which we managed to do after only a three day wait.

In terms of acquiring last minute items, as I type Mike and Bill are out scouring the city for a roof rack for our tiny red beast, as well as gas cans, spare tires, a tire jack and a few items like new wind shield wipers and a tool kit. We went and looked at the car for the first time last evening. It is much bigger than I originally thought it would be. In fact, there is even room for a fourth person should we meet someone who already has a barrage of visas and a pocket full of cash (unlikely). We’re extremely pleased with the car and the condition it is in. If it makes it to Mongolia, we’ll be even more ecstatic! Bill has changed the oil and has done a once-over on the engine to secure back-up parts. We’ve managed to acquire camping equipment that borders on the extreme, meaning we’ll be one of the most outfitted teams in the rally. Yes, we have our car insurance, we have our travel insurance, we have a massive first aid kit, a roadside kit, a triangle, orange vests and a jack. We’re really ready….. I hope!

The launch itself is at Goodwood Estates, which is apparently a race track in West Sussex. Events kick off the night before on Friday at 4:00pm when the Adventurists cater in free beer and provide us with a camping spot so we can test our gear, get to know fellow ralliers and even partake in a massive soccer game. Sounds fun! The following morning at 11:00am cars that are registered begin to take off for Mongolia with a pre-victory lap around the race track before gunning it to a full 30 mph before heading to the tunnel or ferry. We’re hopping on a ferry and have plans to make it all the way to Paris by the end of Saturday night. Fingers crossed on that, since it is a bit of a drive.

When next we write we should be in Paris, and I’ll hopefully have quite the story to tell about the launch, the ferry, France and its most cherished city Paris.

We’d like to offer a giant, humongous, ridiculously large, massive, heart-felt thank you to our sponsors!

For high-quality designer eyewear, sunglasses, and contact lenses delivered to your door, contact Smart Buy Glasses. With offices around Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia, there is an online store shipping to your area. Thank you to Smart Buy Glasses for their eyewear donations to our team!

Likewise, we’d love to thank Kelly’s Necchi New Home Sewing Center for our team uniforms! She did an amazing job. If you live in Illinois, its worth the drive to get to Kelly’s sewing shop for your quilting, embroidery and sewing needs. Thanks, Kelly, for your donation to our team in the form of amazing (pictures coming soon) uniforms!

Moreover, Nomadic Matt has sent some money our way for the Mongol Rally.   We are very appreciative of that.  Everything counts when you are trying to fill up your tank in the U.K or Europe.  We are just fortunate that the Dollar to GBP / Euro is at its best rate in a very long time.

We’d also like to thank our ridiculously supportive families. Throughout the last year (while we were excitedly stuttering through explanations about the upcoming event) our families remained positive, supportive and eager to help. Luckily, our families love travel as much as we do, and their passion is infectious. Thankfully, also, they opened up their wallets and purses to us. We’d like to thank them all (and have done so personally) for their love, support and interest in our upcoming adventure. Most folks hear what we are planning and shake their heads sadly at our lack of foresight, lack of equity and totally devastating credit scores and write us off as bums. Our loving and understanding families continue to support our traveling lifestyle and encourage us to do as much trekking as possible. So, thank you to our biggest sponsors and the people who make this all possible- our parents, our siblings, our uncles and aunts, and our grandparents. Thanks!

If you are interested in sponsoring our team, you can do so online, or you can donate to Mercy Corps-Mongolia on our website.