Mongol Rally - The Ultimate Roadtrip

1 Inappropriate Car
2 Continents
4 Bloggers
15 Countries
9000 miles (14,500 km)
Countless Flat Tires
1,000 Wrong Turns
Hundreds of Dollars in Bribes
Thousands of Dollars in Equipment and Travel

Yes, I really did this.

What is the Mongol Rally?

The Mongol Rally is an unsupported road rally (for charity) from London, England to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia put on by the Adventurists. In July, 2011 four well-traveled, and some may say crazy travel bloggers set out on a 10,000 mile journey to Mongolia.   This was no fluff press trip…this was us against the open road, in a car that was not meant to be driven to these lengths.

Crossing 10,000 miles over unforgiving deserts, perilous mountain ranges and non-existent roads, we will faced the possibility of bandits, breakdowns and corruption while navigating our way through 13 countries and 2 continents. Oh yes, and not a one of us had any mechanical knowledge.

Additional Interviews and Articles I’ve done About the Mongol Rally:

Driving to Mongolia Photo Essay on Everything Everywhere

Far From Home Podcast Episode 2 – I was interviewed about my experience in the Rally. But I recommend listening to the whole podcast as it’s a great one about Scott Gurian’s experience on the rally

The Mongol Rally Podcast with Sherry Ott


Read the stories below of 4 strangers driving from London to Mongolia in an small, inappropriate car from the beginning to the end…

Posts In This Series:

Four People One Key – Mongol Rally

Posted by on August 6, 2011

Camenae key chain

I am going to make a bold statement…The Social Meida Syndiate Team has the blingyest keychain on the Mongol Rally! My good friends at CAMENAE who I do some consulting for from time to time have been big supporters of my Mongol Rally team.  To top it off they even sent us their luxury keychain […]

What I see out my window – Mongol Rally

Posted by on August 7, 2011

sunflower

I spend a lot of time looking out the window of our little Hot Box.  Even though we don’t have time to really stop and experience the countries we are racing through, we can see a lot of the countryside that many tourists never see.  I think the weirdest things is to realize the we […]

Mongol Rally: Driving in Ukraine

Posted by on August 9, 2011

Every day brings with it a new driving challenge in the Mongol Rally.  Today’s challenge was potholes.  We had heard horror stories about the roads and driving in Ukraine, but it’s hard to really imagine and believe until your wheel has been swallowed up by a huge hole and you hear the gut wrenching sounds […]

Hotel Nissan – Mongol Rally

Posted by on August 12, 2011

This is exactly what I was trying to avoid…I was hungry and tired. A deadly combination for anyone that has to be near me.  Unfortunately my Mongol Rally teammates were stuck in a car with me.  My stomach was a big stress ball; it felt like a knot was tightening every hour in my stomach. […]

Kiev Paperwork Forgery – Mongol Rally

Posted by on August 11, 2011

Kiev St. Michaels Cathedral

While on the way to Kiev we received the email that our official V5 paperwork had arrived! This was great news as it would provide us with the proper paperwork to get the car into our remaining countries and no longer have to use the Temporary V5 that seemed to be annoying most of the […]

Teaming up in Volgograd – Mongol Rally

Posted by on August 14, 2011

As we rolled into Volgograd (the former Stalingrad) it was filled with boxy cement architecture and crazy drivers. We stayed near the town center in an apartment sponsored by Roomorama. It’s always interesting to get to see the insides of these buildings that look a bit depressing from the outside. The apartment had it’s quirks, […]

Russian Stereotypes

Posted by on August 13, 2011

Russian stereotypes

Most of the time when I go to a country for the first time it’s all about shattering stereotypes that I was brought up with.  I did come into Russia with a lot of per-conceived ideas and stereotypes, thanks to growing up in the cold war era.  and surprisingly not many of them have been […]