Tag UK

The summer season is a superb time to consider a visit to Edinburgh, with so many events and activities scheduled for the summer months. Book with Travelodge and you can enjoy affordable accommodation in the centre of the city meaning that you won’t be too far from the action and your bank won’t be crippled.

You may have caught some of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo on the television in previous years, or you may have been lucky enough to see it in person at some point in your life. If either of these is true, you’ll know just how incredible an event it really is and an absolute must-see if you’re planning a visit to Edinburgh in the near future.

Since its official inception in 1950, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo has gone from strength to strength. From its humble beginnings, providing entertainment for 6000 spectators to what the event is today – a total sell-out, with over 217,000 people catching the performances at some point or other. With the majestic Edinburgh Castle dominating the background, the Tattoo is held on the esplanade in front of the castle, where temporary Grandstands are constructed so that spectators can enjoy the show in comfort.

Having been a sell-out for the last decade at least, the Military Tattoo is a pinnacle part of the calendar – not just for Scottish nationals but for visitors from the rest of the UK and beyond. During August, the Tattoo is performed every weekday evening and twice on Saturdays – regardless of the weather. If you are lucky enough to secure tickets for the second Saturday night performance, you will also be treated to fireworks and a pyrotechnic display. This year, which celebrates the Year of Natural Scotland, the Tattoo is run between the 2nd and 24th August, giving you plenty of dates to play with.

As part of the event, you can enjoy music and performances by military bands and tribes from all over the world, which leaves spectators emotional and brimming with pride. The Tattoo is run for charity, with money going towards military charities every year as well as providing valuable funding for the Edinburgh economy.

If you want to see something completely unique and memorable this year, the Military Tattoo could be the perfect thing for you. Make sure you stay until the end, when the pageantry ends with the sound of the lone piper, high in the castle ramparts, plays his lament. It’s often considered to be the most spectacular show in the world and while watching it broadcast on TV is immense, nothing will compare to actually being there.

Prices range from £26 to £60 and can be booked online here. Prices vary, depending on the date you choose and where you wish to be seated. Book accommodation with Travelodge as soon as possible to avoid disappointment because as you can expect, hotels will sell out fast. Look forward to this remarkable event that you will never forget.

*Sponsored post.

Arriving in London was quite the experience having been at sea for the previous week. We caught a bus from Southampton to Victoria, the transportation hub of London for metro, bus and train. The National Express bus service was amazing, with good service and arrival ahead of schedule—for only 12 pounds a person.

London is a beautiful city. We managed to drop off our bags at a friend’s apartment before venturing out on the town. First there was an impressive walk around the Tower of London, then a glance at London Bridge and the even more impressive Tower Bridge. We strode through the memorial park and monument to those lost in WWI, and jumped on the tube (subway) to the British Museum.

For anyone even mildly interested in history, the British Museum is a must-see. For me, it was an experience that was shrouded in finality because with our travels abroad we’ve heard many folks from around the world say they wanted their artifacts back from the British Museum. Now, seeing the world’s cultural relics in one place in the UK, I felt a bit sad that the items were not left in their original locations, with monuments of information and research set up around them. In some cases, as with the items collected in China prior to the Cultural Revolution, the removal of the artifacts ended up being a good thing in terms of preservation. But, by and large I’m starting to wish these amazing treasures were back where they belonged. Seeing the Rosetta Stone (image), for example, was amazing. What an important and beautiful piece of world history. However, it might be more appropriately returned. Same with the thousands of other Egyptian artifacts in the museum. I felt similarly about the multitude of Greek and Roman artifacts remaining in the British Museum. It was amazing to see them, and we’re lucky they are compiled in one location so we can soak it all in conveniently. But history is such an amazing thing it is worth traveling to the real location to learn about and see. For places to stay in the area, check out Holidaycheck.com.

After the British museum we jumped on the tube to the V&A museum, which houses a strange modern display on tiny architecture as well as artifacts from around the world ranging from clothing to pottery to statues larger than a three story house. Another must-see for any tourist to London, or any history or culture fanatic.

With all the iconic things to do in London, we’ve been quite busy doing things like riding in the top, front row of a double decker, red bus. Taking a cab ride in one of the black, antique-looking taxis. Trying fish and chips by the Thames. We have quite a few things remaining while in London. I want to shove as many people in a red phone booth as possible. I want to see if I can make the guards at Buckingham Palace laugh. I want to check out the parliament buildings and then stroll through Hyde Park and see if the Queen is free for tea this afternoon.

It’s official! We’ve finally ironed out our route details to the finest detail. We have decided to head from London to Paris, and from Paris to Luxembourg. After a break, we’ll head to Nuremberg and the Prague for the 2010 Czech Out Party, which we’re all very excited about. From there we head south to Bratislava and Budapest before entering Romania for a few castle tours and vampire stalking. We then head to Chisinau and then into Ukraine to the famous port city of Odessa. From this point on the trip gets really interesting. We head due east through Russia, hugging the Black Sea coast until we enter Kazakhstan. We’ll cut inland and aim directly for the Aral Sea inside the Uzbek border. We’ll cut across Uzbekistan and then re-enter Kazakhstan heading north into the mountains. Back into Russia for a moment before entering Mongolia and racing across the open Steppe to Ulaanbataar. Yup, that’s what we’ll be doing this summer, driving across 1/3rd of the distance around the trodden earth. If none of this made sense, check out the nifty map we made (yeah, I should have led with that!):

View Central Asia Route Map created by ATC for the 2010 Mongol Rally

This map is awesome, and really shows the distance and scale of the land we’ll be covering. Some 8-10,000km through 13 countries in a car that even Mickey Mouse would say is too small– a 1.5l engine auto. Below is a picture of a rally car from 2009, ours will be very similar.

If you are more interested in the car, aka- how to buy, register and insure one in Europe, or even cooler (if that is possible) a post on all our awesome media coverage, or possibly the list of woe-is-me updates we made when we were feeling down, then check out these other posts or head to the Mongol Rally and Sponsorship pages, which explain it all.

For the 2010 Mongol Rally, we’ll be buying our car in the UK and then licensing and registering it to leave the country almost immediately. We’ll also have to accumulate a bunch of documentation to appease the sundry border guards along the 12 border crossings, and import documentation for bringing the car into Mongolia. For an American, these tasks are not without their challenges. Since we’ve done a bit of research and have a clear idea of what the steps to accomplish this are, we’ve decided to outline it here in the hopes of saving someone else a massive, British-accented headache.

Buying the Car. There are several locally recommended car dealerships in the UK that seem pretty legitimate, trusted and versatile. Check out Gumtree, and  Autotrader to get you started. London’s Craigslist is another interesting option, as is the London eBay.

Registering the Car. The first step is to make sure your seller fills out and gives you the V5 form. You then give this form to the DVLA (the British DMV). Like the American DMV, this one promises long lines, frequent delays, and excessive and seemingly redundant amounts of paperwork. Then the car is in your name. Yay!

You’ll also need something called a MOT certificate (Ministry of Transport) that shows your car meets the minimum standards for safety and environmental protection. The seller should ensure the car already has this, and it is passed on to you. Better to buy a car that already has it then deal with the hassle of getting your car tested yourself.

Insuring the Car. Apparently every country on the planet has different rules about what needs to be in your car, what shape your car needs to be, and how to insure it. For example, cars in France have to have high-viz gear and an emergency triangle in the car. One way to deal with this is to get a carnet for the car, but that costs money. Or, you can find out each country’s laws individually and attempt to meet them all. Regardless, you’ll be buying random crap to stuff in your trunk to appease border guards.

You’ll also have to have the car insured. Coverage for the EU rarely extends into Russia and the ‘sSans. Rumor has it that you have to buy insurance at the border for these countries anyway, whether insured by a UK or EU provider. Our plan is to get insurance that covers us in Europe, and buy insurance at the borders everywhere else. If anyone has a brighter plan, we’d literally love to hear it!

Exporting the Car. As a foreigner buying a used car in the UK intending to export it, you’ll need to fill out a form (big surprise) called the VAT410, which gives you tax exemption. You might need to check with HM Revenue and Custom’s to ensure you have the right form for what you want to do.

Importing the Car. Luckily for us and other Mongol Rally teams, the rally admin are dealing with this. If you are going solo, keep in mind that it takes about a month to get the required paperwork for importing a car into most countries. If you have any info on how to do this, let us know so we can share with the whole class!

Finally, the car is yours and you are legally covered to ride. Only problem is that your car now has the driver’s seat and wheel on the right-hand side.

So much has happened in such little time, and yet so much remains undone! With the Mongol Rally launch date fast approaching we’re quickly losing sleep over the amount of work needing to be completed before our piddly rally car can promenade out of London.

Remaining to be done:

• Visas. We literally have none. Although, by the time you read this we’ll be well on our way to filling out the gruesome paperwork required for all of these lovely entrance tickets. We’ll need visas for 5 countries along our route, so we’re hoping no one turns us down!
• Car. Yes, that’s right. We don’t have a rally car yet. Would you like to donate one? If so, we gladly accept provided it has an engine. We’re working on finding a car in the UK and dealing with the issue of where to store it until our arrival and how to start the registration process from afar.
• A method of arrival. We are hoping to take a boat from the East Coast, USA to Europe, and we’re busy searching the internet for cruise deals, freighter travel that is affordable or even a rickety dinky that we can paddle across the big pond.
• Money. Yup, we still don’t have a whole lot of that green stuff. However, we’re hoping someone extremely wealthy and wonderful will donate a bunch of that right before we leave. Its for a good cause, and Mercy Mongolia would be as happy as we would if a huge sponsor stepped in!

Already done:

• Team mates. On the up side, we are ecstatic to have Bill on the team, and we have every reason to believe a 4th team member will be joining us soon.
• Equipment. We also have almost all the supplies we need for the 10,000 mile journey, which is great news because without the car we might be hiking the 10,00 miles (and we’re well equipped to do so with all the survival stuff we have!)
• Route. We’ve ironed out our exact route and we have even put together a decent time line of where we will be and when! Nifty what information you can find online, as well as all the cool tools available for trip planning on a massive scale. You can find some of these tools listed on the Resources page.
• Communication. Lauren is busy learning Russian as quickly as a brain can hold that knowledge. We also have all the language apps one i-touch can hold, as well as a few PC programs for language acquisition and a nifty phrase book for Russian. When all else fails, we’ll do as the Italians do and gesture!

That’s where we are, folks! Wish us luck on the insanity that is about to ensue as we get our butts to the UK and get this rally underway!