Yes, I really did this.
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.
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
Today sucked…really sucked. I expected the hard, slow, dirty driving in the Mongol Rally, but I wasn’t expecting it today. There really was no road except for some rubble that was more hardship than what it was worth. So ingenious drivers made their own roads alongside the “official road.” It was like a […]
After camping without much preparation the night before, all the teams got up, took down camp, and drove into the next town, Atyrau, where we promptly used my Lonely Planet digital guide to point us to a restaurant with breakfast. We were all starving, and the restaurant served a proper English breakfast. We inhaled it […]
The best thing about camping on the Mongol Rally is peeing in the desert under the stars. It’s bliss. And it’s certainly better than Kazakhstan gas station bathrooms where you have to plug your nose and try to wipe the disgusting memory from your mind before it scars you for life! I’m not much […]
One of the hardest things about the Mongol Rally is that we are speeding through countries in a car. This means that we really don’t have much time to get out and meet locals or dig into culture which really pains me. In fact – we encounter most cultural/local interaction at gas stations – […]
The Social Media Syndicate shows off their camping skills This is my favorite team photo to date! We rolled into this dried out lavender field while the sun was setting and quickly jumped to action setting up camp before we lost the light. This was our 3rd night of camping in a row […]
By the time this post goes live, I’m hoping that I will be close to entering Mongolia. I feel (and hope) it’s at this point I can breath a small sigh of relief. As we’ve traveled through Europe and Central Asia, I’ve been slightly on edge because driving a car through these parts of the world as […]
“You tourist?” This is the most asked question of us in Kazakhstan. The crazy thing is that it’s asked everywhere; on the street, in hotels, and even as we are driving down the street other cars will slow down, roll down their windows and ask the popular question. It’s been a long time since I’ve […]
I expected poor roads, hot days, car issues, team disagreements, dirt, hunger, and communication challenges. But there was one thing I didn’t expect – Kazakhstan. The 9th largest country in the world has knocked me off my feet…my smelly, hot , dirty mongol rally feet. The environments and unfortunately road conditions in Kazakhstan change wildly […]
I don’t think any Mongol Rally team has actually made a plan and stuck to it. The rally throws you too many curve balls to be able to do that. We had our first curve ball in Kazakhstan…it was called time. We drove into Aktobe on considerably better roads. At one point, they […]
You know all about our Social Media Syndicate Team, but I’ve yet to introduce you to the heart, soul, and engine of our team…The Hot Box. Our car, the lovely Nissan Almera from Allways Rentals has been a peach. She’s been termed the Hot Box because even though she has an air conditioner, it doesn’t […]
