Final preparation day

Today the plan is to get up early, buy lots of tools and spares for the mototaxi, and then head back to San Jeronimo (where the lockup is), where we are going to do the following.

1. Adorn mototaxi with our sponsor logos
2. Fit some bits that are missing
3. Have a go at replacing the chain and tyres  (better to do this for the first time now, in parc ferme, rather than on the side of a mountain)
4. Get better at driving it

After that, there is the small matter of New Years Eve to deal with where I think we have a meal and party booked.

Feliz Ano Nuevo to all our followers, we really appreciate the support.

One day until launch.....

Pictures at last

Finally, now that we have all bags and gadgets, I am able to share some photos with you all. It tells the story so far.

Coco Leaf tea upon arrival to clear our altitude and travel riddled heads.

Machu Picchu on PreDay 2

And the ones you have all been waiting for.....the mototaxi!

v0.1 not very good at all

v1.0 new improved with canopy and generally working

Picked up Mototaxis

Today we picked up our Mototaxi for the first time- it is equally as bad as all our expectations. This is a good thing!
After re-constructing the frame/chasis/brakes/battery/canope/sidepanels we only have a short list of fixes remaining to do tomorrow before the thing will be roadworthy, these are minor things such as: new tyres, wheels and brakelights.
There is no question that this thing will break down, the question is how often and how terminal!

Preparation days

Right, we've finally got ourselves some proper web access and can do a quick round up of what has been going on with the trip so far.

27th - an aeroplane-themed day, long flights from UK to New York and then New York to Lima. The flight over Peru was particularly exciting with the mountains jutting through the line of clouds and a vast wilderness of mountainous terrain stretching as far as the eye could see. I couldn't help thinking "we've got to drive over that lot" as we flew past.

28th - arrived in Lima first thing after having flown over the staggeringly impressive (but somewhat daunting) Andes. Discovered on arrival, after about 25 laps of the baggage belt that our bags would not be joining us. We convinced each other that it would be fine, and that we could get by without the stuff we've spent the last couple of months accumulating specifically for the trip. We carried on.  Further complication was created when none of my cash cards were being accepted - thus scuppering the 'plan b' of buying all new gear. These things are sent to challenge us.

In the afternoon Chris and I wandered up into the centre of Cuzco from our hostel, which was nicely situated in the "strangle-rape" quarter of the town (nice). We were advised to take taxi's everywhere.

We did some excellent shopping, procuring emergency pants (yellow and tight), various anti-dying pills (altitude effects were very prominent; breathless and pounding headaches), toothbrush, socks etc.

In the evening we sampled Pisco Sour (local cocktail) to regrettable excess with fellow competitors, many of whom were very likeable and would prove good buddies to convoy with.

29th - up at 6 am, took a 3hr train to the Machu Picchu area and then cleared our heads with a simply stunning 2.5 hour walk through the jungle, in the rain, to the ruins at the summit. It was an unforgettable experience. We got back pretty late, but still left time for another unforgettable experience - our dinner. After selecting a small, basic eatery, we were served up some really gorgeous meat, served on a kebab skewer, with potatoes. We had no idea what the meat was, but it was probably guinea pig or alpaca - very tasty and we decided to order more. This is where things took a turn for the worse. They´d clearly run out, but we couldnt understand the alternative we were being offered. It turned out to be the digestive system of an unspecified animal, utterly disgusting in texture and not too hot on taste either. Chris and I acted out our own slightly embarrassed version if the bushtucker challenge, heaving and wretching over our food until we could try no more. Sheepishly we retired to bed, but not before discovering that our bags had made it to us!

30th - today. We are off now to collect and work out how to drive and mend our mototaxi. More soon, hopefully with some pictures too.

Following progress

Right - so we are basically off now. If you want to follow what's going on then do keep checking this page. If time/facilities allow, we will try to post updates to this page - but that is likely to be patchy on the trip itself.

However, you should be able to see SMS type updates both in the right margin (under the twitter feed) and via the Where are we? page; which unsurprisingly should also show you where we are, plotted on a map...

Postcards from Peru?

Just a quick note. Anyone wanting to be emailed with our updates, please let me know and I'll add you to the auto-update function which will ensure you receive a nice journal postcard each time we do an update.

I'd recommend this, as I can't think of a better antidote to the January Blues than getting messages telling you that your pals are stuck in the mud in a torrential rainstorm whilst lost in the middle of the jungle.

Otherwise, keep checking the site and the "Where are we?" page - updates should (fingers crossed) appear there.

Packing

Reverse-Houdini scenes this afternoon as I tried to cram all of this stuff into my rucksack.

Sleeping and anti mosquito gear

Media and lights

Shoes

Map & Compass

Sponsors stuff to adorn the mototaxi

Tools

Something to wear

Socks, gloves, hi-vis top

All unfeasibly wedged into here

Somehow or other, it is all in. The problems will arise if I ever need to get anything out.



Newsflash: Our Shelterbox fundraising is going to be doubled

A quick call for any more sponsors to please direct their money towards our Shelterbox fundraising (see right margin for links). The boss at Chris's company has kindly offered to match whatever we raise (within reason)...and as things stand the Shelterbox pot is lagging a little behind. So, sponsors can make their money go further. A £25 donation will get the gift aid making it up to above £30...and will be matched too - so £25 becomes £55. Hmm, need to find a similar scheme for my wages!

Presents for the locals

Thanks to Aston Villa Football Club we'll be able to hand out pens, badges and signed team photos to people we meet on the journey. I received a sensible sized package at the weekend, which I should be able to squeeze into the rucksack. Many Peruvians will remember their hero Nolberto Solano playing for the club, so there should already be a bit of an affinity, which we look to build upon on the trip. Its nice to have something to give, however small, when being a guest in a country.

In 16 days we'll be airbourne...

So much going on now it is unbelievable, and time is closing in fast.

A quick round up:

*We've another sponsor on board, with a nice parcel arriving yesterday morning, containing things we can share with Peruvian folk we encounter on the journey - more on that in a separate blog post shortly.

*Our existing sponsor, ekit, has generously given us even more credit on our SIM card, which will mean we can get "cell-tower-triangulated" five times per day and provide regular updates of progress via SMS (subject to getting a signal)

*We finally booked up local flights (after a bit of a scare when the original airline we'd looked at had run out of seats. For a while we were staring down the barrel of flying with a company that translates as "small wardrobe".

*Chris has booked us up some accomodation in Cuzco, where we can settle in, acclimatise and use as a base whilst we sort out collecting the mototaxi and the various bits and bobs we'll need to maintain it.

*Chris has also sorted out his yellow fever jab - which is good, because without it he'd have been refused entry to the country.

*I have sorted my International Driving Permit, without which I'd be scuppered, and have to pay a fortune in bribes (might need to do that anyway, but there's one less reason to fine us now)

*And in In Peru news - it has just overtaken Columbia as the worlds biggest cocaine producer, so it adds that nice element of added peril to the trip as DEA and Mexican druglords all ramp up their respective efforts.

Still a fair bit to do, including booking up a quick trip to Machu Picchu the day after we arrive - it wou;d be rude not to.

More soon...

Keeping in touch - with ekit

The past 7 days has been particularly exciting, as we have a new sponsor on board. I have been in discussion with Rowena at ekit about getting a mobile phone, SIM card, and most importantly some sort of tracking service. What we've ended up with, thanks to ekit, is all three!

Yesterday I took delivery of this little number, which is now charged up and raring to go. On the face of it, it looks like a pretty basic mobile phone; but its what it can do that is the most exciting thing. This phone is cleverly linked up to a service called Travel Journal, which should be able to provide our followers the ability to follow our progress on the trip, pretty much in real-time

It is configured so that at various points during each day, the Travel Journal will try to 'locate' us. It does this using "cell tower triangulation". Anyone who's watched Jack Bauer in 24 will know the drill!

In doing this, it will plot us pretty accurately on a map; so even if we are totally lost and haven't a clue where we are - our followers at home will actually be able to tell!

The service will do this at least once per day, and we may configure it to do so more often. Likewise, we will be able to send SMS messages, and these too will appear on our Travel Journal, with a pinpoint to show where we were at the time we sent the message.There's lots more to it as well - and you'll see details of the functionality emerging on this site in the next couple of weeks, as we get our final preparations done.

A big thank-you to ekit for making this possible (I recommend other travellers take a look at the ekit website, they do some good quality and value SIMS and phones), and to Rowena for being so helpful. I expect our mothers in particular will be especially pleased to be able to find out where we are!

The "30 days and counting" interviews

With just 30 days until departure, let’s find out the team mates are getting on...

Have you got much left to do before leaving for Peru?

Chris: Far too much. I am still unsure what jabs etc to get, I haven't thought about what to take and my Spanish is at a level where I could just about order a beer (i.e. not up to reuesting a new clutch cable), so it'd be good to learn a few vital phrases! On the plus side, we now have the tickets, international drivers permits, passports ... and I hope a moto-taxi (though unconfirmed!)

Rich: Whenever I am asked about this or even think about it, I think “nah, not much left to do really”.  But when I list out the “couple of logistical things still to sort out” it ends up becoming a pretty big list including; buy malaria tablets, get international driving permit, work out how I’m getting to the airport, get Peruvian currency, re-learn how to ride a motorbike, learn how to speak spanish, get maps/think about a proper route, read up about the country, see if I can sort out a quick trip up Macchu Picchu before we start, raise lots of money for charity, decid if there’s room to take a tent….it goes on. So there’s a tonne of stuff to do, but in truth we could just go tomorrow and have a good stab at it, so I’m not phased by it.

Any more thoughts about the route you’re going to take?

Chris: North. Through the hilly cold bits, jungly wet bits and flat dry bits.

Rich: not really. The wet season in Peru is pretty genuinely wet, so mother nature will have the biggest say in the route we take (with roads often impassable or washed away altogether). I am eager to make sure we stay off the beaten track and take in some good jungle and mountain passes – which is convenient since there is around 3500km of jungle and forest between where we start and where we finish! One thing I’ve learned from previous travels is that there is little point planning a route (even once you’ve got a map, which I haven’t) because things change and the interesting route is the one you end up going.

Any nerves? What’s the most daunting aspect of the trip?

Chris: Nerves and sleepless nights are yet to kick in...though they are on the way. I am most daunted by the cliff top roads, the idea of being broken down stuck at the edge of a presipice at night does not fill me joy. TV airing programmes called "the Worlds most dangerous roads" won't help! On the flip side, its for experiences like these that make the whole trip so exciting!

Rich: I’d be lying if I said I had no nerves at all. It’s a new continent and I speak only a little Spanish, so communication is going to be tricky. I’ve not ridden a motorbike since I was 10 years old, so have forgotten how the controls work. I am a useless mechanic. All that is a recipe for some challenging times ahead – and now that I’m married, I feel I have an added responsibility not to get into a monumental amount of difficulty. But, in truth, aside from the basic “try to get home in one piece” thing, I am pretty much excited about it rather than daunted. The thrill of the trip is the absurdness of it, and the fact that we will need to stretch ourselves to communicate, navigate and progress

How’s the family? Are they nervous for you?

Chris: Unsure really. Dad, my brothers and sister seem fairly nonchalant about the whole thing. Sister-in-law and of course my Mum seem the most aprehensive.

Rich: The family are fine. I think for them it is the same mixture of feelings. On the one hand they’d rather I didn’t go because it’s a bit dangerous, but on the other they totally support me, are excited for me and are looking forward to me actually going so I stop wittering on about it!

What’s the most useful item you think you’ll be taking?

Chris: It's got to be a combination of Compass and Map. As long as we are heading North we can't go too far wrong. (I must remember to pack a compass!)

Rich: Perhaps a cheesy answer…but does “Chris” count as an item? Seriously though, its teamwork with these things and without Chris I would definitely be stuck. Sharing out the problem solving, conversations, driving and having someone to bounce ideas off is just vital on these trips. In terms of actual things – I think my rucksack (supplier by Outdoorkit.co.uk) and Leatherman (supplier by Whitbyandco.co.uk) will prove invaluable. We’re also in talks with a company who might provide us a mobile phone with local sim card and credit on it – which will be handy for providing text updates.

And the most useless?

Chris: Probably my running shoes. I have just signed up for the Paris marathon (in April), so need to use the opportunity to do a spot of altitude training. This is the first Rich has heard about this!

Rich: I’ll will undoubtedly end up taking a book, in the expectation that at some point I’ll be able to sit back in the mototaxi sofa seat and just read and chill. This will be utterly pointless as I will be too busy driving/looking at amazing scenery/digging mototaxi out of mudpit/flagging down help/looking at a map and trying to work out where we are.

Anything else to say?

Chris: "nos desean suerte!" (wish us luck!)

Rich: Really just to say “thanks” to everyone who has sponsored us, donated good, spread the word or helped in any way. The trip has really started to feel real since the publicity and fundraising has got going – its very apparent now that we’ve got generous support and this makes the whole experience feel much more like a shared one (rather than just me and Chris). I hope everyone finds some time in January to track our progress and share the journey with us.

¿Que? Guevara's TV debut

Last Saturday, Chris and I had the honour of treading the hallowed turf at Villa Park, taking part in a pitchside interview with AVTV, to help publicise the roadtrip we’re doing, and the charities we are raising funds for.

¿Que? Guevara interviewed at Villa Park from Richard Birch on Vimeo.


We got to the ground nice and early to meet up with Jack Woodward and his AVTV crew (Mark and Matt), and we had a great time doing the interview, where we talked about the journey, the charities and how unbelievably excited we are about it all.

Mike, Matt, Jack, Rich

We took the chance to get a few photo’s, right behind the goal.

The day just kept getting better though. Straight after the interview, Chris bumped into Villa’s mascot…we couldn’t resist a photo opportunity.

Chris, Hercules

Then onto the match, where we witnessed a 5 goal thriller, Villa coming out on top, 3-2. Brilliant day.

(N.B. credit for video goes to AVTV www.avfc.co.uk. For Villa & football fans, it is well worth a visit to the site and subscription to the service. Many thanks for providing the video, and if you've any issues me showing it here to promote the trip, then do let me know. )

Chris's mototaxi fix-it guide

One of the things that is certain on our trip is that the moto-taxi will break down. Most probably a lot.

What we really need is some kind of fix-it guide. Now, to the best of my knowledge, there isn't a Haynes Manual for the Lifan Trooper Moto-Taxi, so we’re going to have to work it out for ourselves.

If a part appears broken, follow these simple steps

Luckily however, Chris qualified as an engineer, and he has come up with a handy engineering flowchart, to use whenever a component fails on the mototaxi. We follow the simple steps, and whatever part is broken, becomes fixed. Thanks Chris – I feel much better about things now.

Whitby & Co

Yesterday was a fine day. We received an exciting looking parcel containing all sorts of useful goodies, provided to us by Whitby & Co, an wholesaler of the leading international brands of hardware (adventure type kit). In the box was a Leatherman Blast, an amazing Inova torch (tiny yet powerful), some Sunwise sunglasses and some really handy Nite Ize reflective flashy "don't run over us" type things. We can't thank Whitby & Co enough for their generosity - those items will be massively useful as we scrablle around the jungle, at night, trying to fix our ailing mototaxi!

Outdoorkit.co.uk

Exciting times at ¿Que? Guevara HQ yesterday as we took delivery of our first 'donated goods'. We are privileged to have the UK's leading online supplier of outdoor goods, Outdoorkit.co.uk on board.

They have really kindly donated a Vango Sherpa 65 rucksack and T-Shirts for the trip, which will be of great use. In return we'll be sporting their logo on our mototaxi, something of a [much needed] go-faster stripe!

As a company, they were a pleasure to deal with, turning round my request in unbelievably quick time, just 26.5hrs from my initial contact to the point when I had the rucksack in my hands. Many thanks for your support. To learn more about OutdoorKit, and our other sponsors, see the sponsors page.

Sponsors coming on board

In the last few days, we have been delighted to receive the backing of:

• A premier league football club
• A wholesaler of high quality hardware goods
• An online outdoor clothing and equipment specialist

The football club will be featuring our trip in the matchday programme and possibly even doing some recording for their club TV channel. The wholesaler and outdoor specialist will be helping us out by providing some essential kit for the trip.

We'll be naming and doing features on each of these generous companies in due course, and look out for them appearing on the sponsors page of this site.

If you are a company and want to support us then please do so via the contact page.In return for your generosity, you'll get exposure on this site, the chance to display your logo on the mototaxi, product reviews and photos of us using products on the trip.

Challenge 2 completed

We at team ¿Que? Guevara fully appreciate how times are tough, and that encouraging sponsorship donations is becoming a more competetive business. That's why we undertook to do some unpleasant, unenjoyable physical challenges as well as the lunatic roadtrip which our friends know we will love!

Yesterday, Chris did his second half-marathon (the first being a month ago), this time the Cardiff one. He smashed the 1hr 40 min barrier, coming in at a little over 1hr 37 mins. This after attending Octoberfest the week before - 'carb loading' he told me!

Well done Chris...and if you're impressed, why not show your appreciation with a small donation to the charities (see links in right margin of the site)

More popular than Bieber?

We're hoping that Peru will give us a warmer welcome than Justin Bieber is getting. I think we'll be a bit lower key and slip in under the radar. :)

Shelterbox

Whilst we chose to support Practical Action because of the excellent, proactive work it does in supporting Peruvian communities, we also felt compelled to support another charity providing a very different kind of service.
Shelterbox's cause may resonate more with some of our sponsors, since they provide a flexible and immediate disaster relief capability. The output of the charity is beautifully simple and tangible - they provide a box.

In this box is a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items needed by families displaced for whatever reason.
The charity is reasonably new, but already 107,000 boxes have been delivered to people who need them, be it in Sudan, Pakistan or Japan.

What we've arrived at is two great charities, one offering disaster relief to families who need any help they can get, and the other offering a brighter future for those living everyday in conditions that we are considering to be adverse enough to warrant sponsorship to travel through!

Remember all proceeds go directly to the charities. (Chris and I are funding the trip ourselves)

To sponsor our efforts and donate your money to Shelterbox, please visit this page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/QueGuevaraShelterbox

Practical Action

One of the great aspects of doing charity roadtrips is the opportunity it presents to understand some of the work that the charities do.

The first of our chosen charities is Practical Action, and they've been chosen specifically because they are delivering projects in Peru, the country we are travelling through. Chances are that we will be driving through communities that either are (or one day will be) impacted by the very projects our fundraising is helping to pay for. I don't pretend to understand a great deal about the challenges faced in Peru, though clearly poverty, climate and geographical isolation will be three of the main ones. The challenges that will make our road trip so treacherous, are issues that impact communities daily, throughout their lives. Transportation, communication and the Andean climate are but three key issues - and Practical Action has projects in place to try to improve knowledge and capability in each of these areas.

Why not read a little more about:
community telecentres
dissemination of agricultural tips via podcasts
coping with the big Andean freeze  and
harnessing windpower

To sponsor ¿Que? Guevara with your proceeds going to Practical Action - follow this link http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/QueGuevara

Challenge 1 completed

Chris and Rich both completed the Bristol Half marathon yesterday. Chris in a mightilty impressive 1hr 39 mins and Rich in a seemingly (it wasn't) more leisurely 1hr 55mins.

From this we can conclude that Chris should be in charge of "running to the next village to ask for help", should we find ourselves stranded in the Andes mountains in the New Year!

I can take charge of waiting with the moto-taxi.

If you're impressed with our exertions why not offer some post-race sponsorship (see either the charities page, or the links in the right-hand margin)

Bristol Half Marathon

Only 3 days to go until the Bristol Half Marathon now, and this represents the first charity fundraising 'action' that we're doing. Chris and I will both be sporting our Practical Action running shirts as we pound the streets of Bristol. We've been following a reasonably strict fitness schedule to get us into shape - and I think we're targetting sub 2hrs (me) and sub 1hr 50 (Chris) this time around.

Next month we're taking on the Cardiff half marathon (where we'll be trying to improve our times), so we should be in decent shape before we take on the mountains/jungles/desert in Peru!

Remember if you want to sponsor us, all money goes directly to the charities (none of it pays for the trip).

Planning bonanza

Lots of planning /eating

Chris and I had an epic planning session last weekend - taking off to the Black Mountains in Wales (not exactly altitude training - but we did camp in the ground of the "highest pub in the mountains").

We pitched a tent and, in a planning-meeting "first", we actually did some planning, as proven by the fact we now have content on this website.

Take that Waun Fach

We've worked out:

• when we're going,
• approximately where we are going (give or take -a few thousand kms),
• who we're raising charity funds for,
• put together our driver profiles
• and made a list of things we will need.

On top of the world

 We did all this in an impressive haze of San Miguel (reading the labels doubled as 'language training').
Next morning we felt it would be rude not to walk up Waun Fach (811m), a pretty big looking mountain next to the pub.

Nice.

All in all a very good weekend.

Peruvian Pork

At the weekend I realised, much to my annoyance that it there is still 6 months to go before the big trip. I have, bizarrely, convinced myself that there is very little preparation that can be done up front, in advance of flying out to South America.

This is of course a whopping miscalculation as the following need taking care of:

• Working out how to get to San Jeronimo in Southern Peru - and booking flights etc
• Selecting/finalising charities and doing the fundraising
• Learning Latin American Spanish
• Working out how to ride a motorbike (imagining there to be a sofa welded to the frame rather than a back wheel)
• Poring over maps and plotting some kind of provisional route through Amazon/Andes etc

As ever with these trips, the tangental possibilities are endless, and so it was that this weekend I ended up researching, cooking and eating a rather tasty Peruvian Pork dish instead of doing any of the above.

Navigation, navigation, navigation

Over the last decade Chris and I have navigated approximately 15,000 miles of foreign roads together. With plans afoot to put another 3,000 or so miles of unmarked and unsigned tracks in the Andes and Amazon, you'd expect us to do rather better than we managed last night.

Our attempts to drive Chris from a pub in Bedminster (Bristol) to the railway station (2 miles away) were an incredible feat of ineptitude.

In a hurry to catch the last train home, this was a great test of our teamwork and ability to arrive at places under the pressure of time. Despite having a sat nav device, and both living or having lived locally, we managed to navigate a perfect circle, driving back past the pub where we started 10 minutes after departing.
And so the clock ticked down. We tried route b, pushed the road laws close to their limits (possibly past them if the number of 'Slow down' illuminations are anything to go by), and delivered Chris to the station with barely 10 seconds to spare.

Note to selves, get better at navigation, or plan a circular route :o)

Cliff Face

Okay, so its not a Peruvian road-of-death, but this morning I did my first bit of cliff-edge simulation in advance of the trip; running up the mostly unstable Stonebarrow cliffs on England's South Coast. :O)

Ha. "Plan A" is on.

Silly me for doubting. Plan 'a' is officially a runner. We have secured the use of a legendary mototaxi. This 11bhp beast of a vehicle is a hybrid of motorcycle and sofa; and is so underpowered that the prospect of thraping it over the Andes and through the Amazon is just mouth-watering.

At 2011 draws to a close, Chris and I will fly to the 'lungs of the planet' (Amazon), near the shores of Lake Titicaca to collect our steed. From there we will plot a 3500km route through jungle, desert and mountain to a glorious finish somewhere else.

I literally cannot wait. More on the vehicle and route soon.

Considering "plan B"

Much angst over the past week or so trying to find a way to get hold of a car anywhere in the continent of South America, so that we can actually do the trip.

Whilst we don't want this to be easy, it does need to be possible for us to actually make a start. It's hardly a white knuckle ride to fly to South America, fork out money for a car, spend 3 weeks waiting outside the vehicle registration agency buildings, and then fly home.

On this basis, Chris and I have had to discuss whether there might need to be a "plan b".
We've given ourselves until April Fool's Day to determine a way to make our foolish plan possible. Failing that, we'll come up with another one.

The current plan b is to drive across and around China in a San Lun Che (Greenhouse/Moped hybrid). If that plan is blighted by the same administrative issues then we'll revert to type - buy a wreck off ebay and then drive it South as far as we can go (ideally until we sight penguins). Far more realistic!

Shipping cars is a "no go"

I had hoped that a possible 'Plan B' was to ship a car from the UK to the South American continent. I found a company who would do this for just £575 - which is probably cheaper than it will cost to fly me there!

However, I had not taken into account the dreaded import tax, which basically applies a taxation charge adding up to around 81% of the sum total value of car + shipping costs. This means that a £100 old banger would cost £100 to buy, £575 to ship and then a likely additional cost of artound £800 in tax (cars valued higher in S America) - so around £1500 in total; which is too much to pay for a car that would likely fall to pieces as soon as it hits the first pothole.

Minefield

Much of the week has been spent trying to understand the logistics of buying a car in South America. As in any country there is documentation to take car of, and there is an element of 'waiting game' about it.
What we're finding is that it doesn't look like it is possible to buy a car, hop in, and then tour the continent. We will need to fully register the car and complete the necessary paperwork in order to be able to drive the car at all (understandable) - but also before being allowed to cross borders. This is the stumbling block.
Whilst we will end up with a temporary RUT (which gives us permission to drive the vehicle) upon purchase - we will not be able to exit the country with the car until the permanent version of this document is lodged. This can take up to 1 month. On a 3 week road trip, where we will not be at any fixed abode, this is something of a stumbling block.
As things stand, we are literally attempting mission impossible.
This morning I have emailed the embassy of each and every South American country - to ask if they can help or advise...

Planning session: choosing the adventure

This was the main event. Chris and I occupied a booth in the pub, with a low, underlit table, perfect for spreading out maps and plans. In front of us were cast 10+ A4 sheets, each with an adventure idea on them, a crude map (printed off from google) and a few notes about the positives and negatives of the trip in question. Most of the ideas were given catchy names.

Immediately we were able to discard Australia Anticlockwise (a 20,000km charge around the continent) on the grounds of being too easy in terms of language and roads; we binned the ideas of Project 26 (a frantic charge around 26 European/Baltic countries), the Disaster Tour (historical procession to Chernobyl, Auschwitz, D'Day landings, Berlin Wall, Antioch earthquakes etc) and YllarLognom (Mongol Rally backwards) on the basis they repeated earlier trips too much. The Freedom Fighters idea (hitchhiking across Africa's uprising belt) was canned on the grounds that it didn't seem to have any purpose other than to get ourselves in trouble.

We also had to forgoe the idea of doing research for The Adventurists (basically becoming a travel guinea pig and going somewhere remote to see how possible it is to survive there). Tom, founder of the Advenutrists conceded that our timing was lousy as he has just completed a research mission and already has ideas and adventures coming out of his ears. We shelved the idea of circumnavigating New Zealand by boat (during Rugby World Cup time) on the grounds that this was too much like a holiday.

The next ideas to bite the dust were the Pan-American Highway (North to South America) as this would duplicate a bus trip through Central America that Chris has recently done. This left us with just three contenders. China in a San Lun Che (hybrid of sofa, motorbike and greenhouse); Operation Outbound (to get as far away form home as possible) and the eventual winner Argey Bargey (South America).

South America won because neither of us have been there, we both really want to go, it offers stunning scenery, a mighty challenge in terms of distance and logistics and later in the year will be gloriously hot/wet/muddy.

Planning Session, the first bit

As with all our road trips, they are kicked off with a pub-based planning session. The venue for this one was The Yard in Cardiff – just 5 minutes away from Chris's place. I'd been carrying around a huge Atlas all day, as well as 1 pager summaries of more than 10 possible adventures. The plan for the meeting was to:

- Compare "mission statements" (very businesslike, but actually a good way to check we want the same thing from the trip)
- Check possible timings
- Determine whether anyone else was coming along
- Decide which adventure to take on

A pretty full agenda to get through in just 3.5 hours; but we romped through it with time to spare.
First we established that we both pretty much wanted the same thing from our next adventure. Basically taking on what seems like an impossible or unlikely challenge, traversing a continent in a very bog standard vehicle, making sure there's plenty of mountains, rivers and remote/scary places thrown in for good measure, but also a town or two so we can unwind with a few beers every few days.

Timings wise we settled on September or November this year, with hinderences and benefits of both. We decided to be led by our choice of adventure – basically to go at whatever time it will be hotter in the continent of choice.

In terms of who is involved in the trip, it is just Chris and I at the moment. Our travel-buddy Dave can't make this trip, which is a real shame – both trips I've done previously have been lit up by Dave's company, but he needs to sit this one out. That's the problem with work and restrictive annual leave entitlements – they're the enemy of epic road trip fans (although we have to concede that our employment funds the trips and our employers give us the time off needed, so we can't really grumble). We agreed to make our plans and then if anyone else ends up joining in then fine, but ther logistics are impossible enough as it is, without involving a third party.
So then we got on to the important business. The choice of adventure. That part definitely warrants its own post.

Will this happen?

This website is going to track the planning and doing of an awesome road trip. Like all awesome road trips, it currently appears to be logistically and practically impossible.