RE: 5 road trips to inspire you to just keep driving
Discussion
fivetenben said:
Excellent work sir, what wheels are you thinking of taking? 
Yaris 1.0I have experience of roadtripping in 1980 and 1981 Corvettes and I have to say I prefer the reliability of the modern C6 now. I did almost 10000miles over Europe in it over last five months.
My girlfriend is VERY excited about "pimping it up", my "other car" is an A-Team van replica party bus so we're no strangers to crazy wheels.
I'm also thinking about buying one soon and following your footsteps into the Arctic as a trial run in January.
fivetenben said:
Cheers! I have to say, roaming the outback in a Land Cruiser sounds a pretty sweet way to pass time; I'm rather jealous. Still never made it over to Australia for a road trip, but it's certainly on the list - one of these years!.
It has its moments 
Still regularly makes me chuckle when I remember they are actually paying me for what I do.Well, there is plenty of lunacy and strife you could get in to over here and lots and lots of space to do it in. Give me a shout when you are ready, I could ring in sick for say, 6 months? I am sure my team would be reet....., probably wouldn't notice I had gone, or as many of them often do, just look at me blankly and shake their heads.
Dafuq said:
fivetenben said:
McFarnsworth said:
Another trip that's worth adding, and that Ben's also partially sort of done, is to drive to the North Cape in winter. Take the most unsuitable vehicle you can find and go find the most northern tip of Europe at the worst (best?) possible time of year. You'll get to see the northern lights, swerve around moose and reindeer, not see the sun for a week, and the last hour of the way to the North cape is like driving on Hoth. You can visit Santa in the most touristy place on the Arctic circle, and enjoy his amusement park built in his nuclear fallout shelter (yes, really). You don't need any paperwork for this trip, it takes around two weeks, and is utterly amazing.
These are very true words - you can't get much more adventurous while staying within the confines of Europe, than a trip up the Arctic Highway in winter. I can't recommend it enough; just remember that you'll need to fit winter tyres by law... and for common sense reasons too. We did this drive 3-up in a Fiat 126. Here are a few pics:[url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/9lue3LHY[/url
...and a trip report: http://bencoombs.net/hell_tripreport1.html
Dafuq said:
Ha ha ha, this trip looks like it was epic, and the Fiat 126 was the only car for the job. It would be the first vehicle any serious petrolhead would consider for the task surely. I bet the three of you didn't know what to do with all that space
I'll have you know it was a positively decadent 4,000 miles we spent in that Fiat - more space than we knew what to do with! 
rottie102 said:
fivetenben said:
Excellent work sir, what wheels are you thinking of taking?
Yaris 1.0I have experience of roadtripping in 1980 and 1981 Corvettes and I have to say I prefer the reliability of the modern C6 now. I did almost 10000miles over Europe in it over last five months.
My girlfriend is VERY excited about "pimping it up", my "other car" is an A-Team van replica party bus so we're no strangers to crazy wheels.
I'm also thinking about buying one soon and following your footsteps into the Arctic as a trial run in January.
It's good to see there's someone else out there using their Corvettes as nature intended; keep up the good work!
fivetenben said:
Dafuq said:
Ha ha ha, this trip looks like it was epic, and the Fiat 126 was the only car for the job. It would be the first vehicle any serious petrolhead would consider for the task surely. I bet the three of you didn't know what to do with all that space
I'll have you know it was a positively decadent 4,000 miles we spent in that Fiat - more space than we knew what to do with! And who needs roof lining when you have an upside down duck, good work.
Epic trips/plans guys, I am jealous and impressed.
Wish I had the time for anything like these. They make my 800mile around day trip to get Fish'n'Chip (albeit in the 7) earlier this year amazingly tame.
I wonder whats the shortest distance/least time you can take to have a motoring adventure that's still on the Epic scale?
Wish I had the time for anything like these. They make my 800mile around day trip to get Fish'n'Chip (albeit in the 7) earlier this year amazingly tame.
I wonder whats the shortest distance/least time you can take to have a motoring adventure that's still on the Epic scale?
scubadude said:
Epic trips/plans guys, I am jealous and impressed.
Wish I had the time for anything like these. They make my 800mile around day trip to get Fish'n'Chip (albeit in the 7) earlier this year amazingly tame.
I wonder whats the shortest distance/least time you can take to have a motoring adventure that's still on the Epic scale?
I guess it depends on how you define 'epic' - a run up the hill at Prescott can be just as epic as anything here, in its own way. Wish I had the time for anything like these. They make my 800mile around day trip to get Fish'n'Chip (albeit in the 7) earlier this year amazingly tame.
I wonder whats the shortest distance/least time you can take to have a motoring adventure that's still on the Epic scale?
Earlier this month I spent a week driving Lands End - John O'Groats and the NC500 in an early '90s Fiat Panda. Even though that road trip didn't even leave the country, it still felt pretty epic, so I'd say it comes down to the 'feel' of the trip, as much as the distance covered.
Ynox said:
I've read Survival of the Quickest a couple of times. It's an awesome book (well worth a read if you like cars or travel writing) and I didn't realise the author was on PH!
Cheers, glad you enjoyed it GM182 said:
Fantastic story. I've been thinking of an Arctic trip for quite a while...maybe this story has brought it one step closer.
I've just spent 45 mins on your website Ben. All good stuff and I look forward to reading the rest.
How do have the time to do these trips?
Most of the more time consuming trips were made when I was working as a self-employed engineer, so I was able to take breaks from work to go off gallivanting around the globe pretty easily. Now I've started a 'proper' business, it's a bit more difficult, but ultimately, I'm of the opinion that if you want to do something enough, you'll find a way. For instance, friends have taken unpaid leave, sabbaticals or even years out from medical school to come along on some of the trips described, so it's not impossible, even with a full time job.I've just spent 45 mins on your website Ben. All good stuff and I look forward to reading the rest.
How do have the time to do these trips?
bigandclever said:
Where's the pub in Pyramiden? When I went there was only one daft bugger living there
Apparently it's in the hotel, which now opens for a couple of months each summer:https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLin...
fivetenben said:
bigandclever said:
Where's the pub in Pyramiden? When I went there was only one daft bugger living there
Apparently it's in the hotel, which now opens for a couple of months each summer:https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLin...
bigandclever said:
Love it... the Radisson in Longyearbyen will have to get some new marketing materials. Strictly speaking, the Russians will sell you beer and spirits in the Camp Barneo 'bar' at 89°, but I reckon you'd struggle to get the car there
True, we've had to be a tiny bit contrived with our definition of a 'bar' - for instance there's a bar at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Base, but you can't exactly just rock up out of the wilderness and buy a beer. For the purposes of Pub2Pub, we've defined a bar as a permanent building where a passer-by can wander in, hand over money and buy a drink, which renders the likes of obscure bars in old Cold War radar & air bases in the Arctic, bars onboard ships & aircraft at high latitudes, and most Antarctic research station bars, outside the remit of the trip.
Hi Ben, impressive. I am somewhat intrigued tho - as a mid-30's male who followed the standard job, house, family trend and now having what can only be considered a early mid-life crisis regarding "what have i actually achieved with my life so far" thoughts.. How old are you? and where do you obtain the time? and the funding to take these trips? and do you have aspirations longer term to carry this on? I know a guy who's brother runs the annual Australian Sh*tbox rally full time and that is his job.
I have very much considered a number of times to pack up shop onto a boat and sail the world.
I have very much considered a number of times to pack up shop onto a boat and sail the world.
Brilliant stuff. The best I've done so far is buying a 1992 Land Cruiser and driving it around Iceland via Holland, Germany, Denmark and two ferries (August 2015). I took my entire years holiday allowance in one go so I could spend a month on the trip.
On my to-do list:
On my to-do list:
- Atlantic highway (Norway)
- Morocco
- Istanbul via the Alps, Italy and Greece
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