DVD Box set bonus material

The following blog post is unpublished on the Charity website, for reasons best known to my 32-year-old self. This, therefore, is the first time it's seen the light of day.

7 weeks to go...

UNPUBLISHED

  by Tony Edgar on 23 May 2010 at 08:31

So, 49 days from now we should be somewhere between Hannover and Gdansk, en route to Justyna's parents for the night.

It's hard to believe the rally is nearly upon us. I'm feeling woefully unprepared, hence sitting in the flat trying to tick things off the list whilst London basks in 28C sunshine outside. Figure we'll be sick of the sun by the time we reach UB in early August, so am not too despondent.

A quick update on how we're getting on:

Fund-raising: Almost two-thirds of the way there now! People have been incredibly generous; every email I've sent out has resulted in another small flurry of donations to the cause. I'm a little concerned that we may not keep up the momentum and hit our target, but plans are afoot for a fund-raising night at a local pub which may help swell the coffers.

Logo: we have an official logo! By an actual graphic designer! I've not uploaded it yet, as I want to give the man his dues in a separate post, but I think it'll make people smile as we pass by. I've found a few companies that make van-signage, so next step is to send them the design and get "brand Steppe by Steppe" shoved in the face of an unsuspecting public.

Vehicle: we're still trying to find the best insurance deal we can and finally bring our wee Kangoo back home. Again, I'll post something separately to thank our generous benefactors; they've been amazing and have hung onto the vehicle until we get the insurance sorted out. But the legal documentation is signed off and it's all approved by Mongolian customs, so it's the one bit I'm not stressing over.

Equipment: not got anything yet. Figure we at least need camping gear and a stove, and there's a deal in Argos at the moment for the lot. Not 100% convinced it's designed for the rigours of the Steppe, but we can't afford to splash out, especially when we're planning on leaving it in UB with the charity. Also need to get jerry cans, water tanks, those grill things for under the wheels if we get stuck in a sand trap, a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit to comply with Russian driving laws. If anyone can help out with sources, it'd be amazing.

Visas: the number one, sleep-depriving, priority. We've got the photos, we've got the forms, we've got the contact in Almaty (the incredibly helpful David from Stantours) who's sorting out our Letters of Invitation for Uzbekistan and Russia - we just haven't got any actual visas yet! I plan to go to the Kazakh Embassy on Tuesday morning to hand over our documents. Just waiting to see if any Travel Insurance companies are willing to give us a discount before signing up (as insurance details are required for the applications)

Funds: err, low. Very low. Hoping that we can borrow some money from the bank to help us on our way. Beyond that, may have to flog a few extraneous body parts. Am (probably naively) assuming that a month on the road in Central Asia shouldn't cost significantly more than a month of living and socialising in central London, so the fact we're taking the time off as paid holiday is a huge bonus. There remains, however, a strong possibility we may end up washing dishes in return for a plate of plov on more than one occasion.

Actually, writing everything down makes it seem like it's more under control than I feared. We got a Russian phrasebook the other day and have an entire wall of the flat covered in maps, so we know roughly where we're going and how long it might take (if the good people at Google Maps are to be believed). I also had a bit of a result from my 'asked-to-remain-anonymous' mobile phone provider, who generously credited my account with £25 towards the cost of texting updates from the road. It's things like that that give us the kick up the arse we need to keep at it when it all seems a little bit over-whelming. I've started having a recurring dream where we get to Mongolia in about 6 days and realise we didn't really see anything en route and forgot to blog from the road. UB looks a lot like rural Northern Ireland, surprisingly.

Anyway, will be posting more regularly from now until departure - people keep asking about the website, so I guess they need something to read on it. For now, I've got hotels to find in Samarkand and a press release to write!