Planning a crazy road trip
Discussion
I've decided that a must do for 2011 is to buy a shed and drive as far as possible (I'm currently think morocco) and to sell over there and fly back. Or even the other way around: fly there and drive back.
So...what better place for advice? Is this possible in a week (and to still take in the surroundings)?
What car(s) would you choose? I plan to take some eager adventurous friends too so something roomy, with an ok MPG but cheap to buy as I'll be leaving it wherever we end up.
Where would you go? Somewhere with terrific scenery? Somewhere very different to the UK? Somewhere with adventure, but in relative safety?
Anyway, I'm not asking for a complete plan, just some information as I know we would all probably undertake something like this very differently.
If you have done anything like this, pictures are welcome
Over to you! Thank you
So...what better place for advice? Is this possible in a week (and to still take in the surroundings)?
What car(s) would you choose? I plan to take some eager adventurous friends too so something roomy, with an ok MPG but cheap to buy as I'll be leaving it wherever we end up.
Where would you go? Somewhere with terrific scenery? Somewhere very different to the UK? Somewhere with adventure, but in relative safety?
Anyway, I'm not asking for a complete plan, just some information as I know we would all probably undertake something like this very differently.
If you have done anything like this, pictures are welcome
Over to you! Thank you
Old Mercedes - I am under the impression that where ever you are in the world, an old Derv Merc can be fixed (I don’t know why I think this - can anyone back me up?)
My mate just hatched a plan following a partial Euro trip last year, to drive to Moscow via as much as Europe as possible, and then back via Scandinavia. Would be interested to also know people's ideas / tips!
My mate just hatched a plan following a partial Euro trip last year, to drive to Moscow via as much as Europe as possible, and then back via Scandinavia. Would be interested to also know people's ideas / tips!
fyou could do one of the banger rallys?
Morocco isn't that far. I've taken a volvo 340 round 12 countries in europe including warsaw (3000 miles in 10 days)
a volvo 360 (bought for £75) to The Gambia, across the sahara (approx 4,000 miles)
And a volvo 340 to Cyprus, via Turkey (approx 3,000 miles)
Set your sites further afield!
Important note - most countries outside of europe are *really* arsey about dumping cars. They get stamped into your passport and if you leave without them, you have to either find an official who will take a bribe (often relatively easy) or pay import duty, which is often a %age of new list price (so can easily be 3 or 4 grand). In the Gambia we were donating cars to charity, so had a pass, in Cyprus we were part of the EU, so were ok. Also for Cyprus we travelled in via northern cyprus, which doesn't have an official border to southern cyprus, so no stamps in the passport.
If you're planning to go to northern africa, an old renault is the trick. They do have old mercs out there (by the thousand) but also a vast number of old renaults. Particularly 21 savanna estates. There are some awesome roads in morocco, a reasonable plan could be
Uk-france-spain-morocco-italy-austria-germany (nurburgring)-belium-france-home
more pics of all my trips on http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/sets
Sorry for the edit but the content of the image evades the swear filter.
Morocco isn't that far. I've taken a volvo 340 round 12 countries in europe including warsaw (3000 miles in 10 days)
a volvo 360 (bought for £75) to The Gambia, across the sahara (approx 4,000 miles)
And a volvo 340 to Cyprus, via Turkey (approx 3,000 miles)
Set your sites further afield!
Important note - most countries outside of europe are *really* arsey about dumping cars. They get stamped into your passport and if you leave without them, you have to either find an official who will take a bribe (often relatively easy) or pay import duty, which is often a %age of new list price (so can easily be 3 or 4 grand). In the Gambia we were donating cars to charity, so had a pass, in Cyprus we were part of the EU, so were ok. Also for Cyprus we travelled in via northern cyprus, which doesn't have an official border to southern cyprus, so no stamps in the passport.
If you're planning to go to northern africa, an old renault is the trick. They do have old mercs out there (by the thousand) but also a vast number of old renaults. Particularly 21 savanna estates. There are some awesome roads in morocco, a reasonable plan could be
Uk-france-spain-morocco-italy-austria-germany (nurburgring)-belium-france-home
more pics of all my trips on http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/sets
Edited by 5lab on Thursday 16th December 10:31
Sorry for the edit but the content of the image evades the swear filter.
Edited by Big Al. on Thursday 16th December 11:33
If you drive your car into Morocco you need to have the full paperwork with it with all numbers matching (engine, vin, etc). These docs are checked against your car on your way in and again on your way out and you can be charged for any changes in the interim period.
I'm only using this as an illustration of how strict they can be as far as vehicles are concerned and that you'll need to check out all the local legal details before looking into selling a car over there. Would hate for you to get clobbered on the way out and end up paying the border peeps more than you actually got for the car.
I'm only using this as an illustration of how strict they can be as far as vehicles are concerned and that you'll need to check out all the local legal details before looking into selling a car over there. Would hate for you to get clobbered on the way out and end up paying the border peeps more than you actually got for the car.
MacW said:
If you drive your car into Morocco you need to have the full paperwork with it with all numbers matching (engine, vin, etc). These docs are checked against your car on your way in and again on your way out and you can be charged for any changes in the interim period.
I'm only using this as an illustration of how strict they can be as far as vehicles are concerned and that you'll need to check out all the local legal details before looking into selling a car over there. Would hate for you to get clobbered on the way out and end up paying the border peeps more than you actually got for the car.
^^ this. Our documents didn't match (it was a dutch car on british plates with an old v5 I had for a previous volvo 300) but fortunately the guy only checked the first 6 digits of the VIN, which are the same for all 300 series volvos. Absolutely bricking it is an understatement..I'm only using this as an illustration of how strict they can be as far as vehicles are concerned and that you'll need to check out all the local legal details before looking into selling a car over there. Would hate for you to get clobbered on the way out and end up paying the border peeps more than you actually got for the car.
I'm enjoying this thread (after all I made it :hehe)
Thanks for all the warnings and advice thus far. Maybe I'll stick to Europe after all (this time). Great suggestion regarding old Mercs, my dads got a couple he wants shot of!
Lol whoever said Portsmouth
And I said relative safety, so no death zones
Thanks for all the warnings and advice thus far. Maybe I'll stick to Europe after all (this time). Great suggestion regarding old Mercs, my dads got a couple he wants shot of!
Lol whoever said Portsmouth
And I said relative safety, so no death zones
morocco is a world apart from europe. If you've not been travelling somewhere a little under-developed yet, I can't reccomend it strongly enough. As long as you have honest reg docs, and plan on taking it out again (you can always dump the car in southern spain/portugal and sleasyjet back from there) then there's not that much hassle, and the juice is definately worth the squeeze.
Highly reccomended roads would be the tiz n tez pass, and the road up from agadir to essuera along the coast. Both awesome.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/382604134/in/set...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/382592830/in/set...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/382517239/in/set...
Highly reccomended roads would be the tiz n tez pass, and the road up from agadir to essuera along the coast. Both awesome.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/382604134/in/set...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/382592830/in/set...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5lab/382517239/in/set...
If you want somewhere closer to home what about Scandinavia? I think they're pretty tough on driving offences (so it might have to be relatively law abiding!) but I can imagine going up through the fjordes and then island hopping around the coast before getting the ferry across to Iceland or somewhere would be pretty cool.
I always thought it'd be cool to fly to New York, buy some old V8 yank tank and then drive route 66 down to Las Vegas/LA...maybe do the coast road, hang about california etc. Sell it and fly back (or drive it back to New York and ship it here)
Possibly a bit tame for the adventure aspect.
Possibly a bit tame for the adventure aspect.
The Lukas said:
I've decided that a must do for 2011 is to buy a shed and drive as far as possible (I'm currently think morocco) and to sell over there and fly back. Or even the other way around: fly there and drive back.
So...what better place for advice? Is this possible in a week (and to still take in the surroundings)?
What car(s) would you choose? I plan to take some eager adventurous friends too so something roomy, with an ok MPG but cheap to buy as I'll be leaving it wherever we end up.
Where would you go? Somewhere with terrific scenery? Somewhere very different to the UK? Somewhere with adventure, but in relative safety?
Anyway, I'm not asking for a complete plan, just some information as I know we would all probably undertake something like this very differently.
If you have done anything like this, pictures are welcome
Over to you! Thank you
A few suggestions: So...what better place for advice? Is this possible in a week (and to still take in the surroundings)?
What car(s) would you choose? I plan to take some eager adventurous friends too so something roomy, with an ok MPG but cheap to buy as I'll be leaving it wherever we end up.
Where would you go? Somewhere with terrific scenery? Somewhere very different to the UK? Somewhere with adventure, but in relative safety?
Anyway, I'm not asking for a complete plan, just some information as I know we would all probably undertake something like this very differently.
If you have done anything like this, pictures are welcome
Over to you! Thank you
Take 1 x Rover 800 (as per Alan Partridge)
Seal the laeaking coolant tank with epoxy resin
Decorate appropriately
Drive through France to Switzerland
Up the Alps
Visit the dam in Locarno (of Goldeneye fame)
And jump off...
In the evening check out Vanilla club (very very decent!)
Next day drive over to italy and break down 10 mins after crossing the border
And again on the Autostrada
Make some friends
Nip over to Venice and enjoy the sights
Spend the next day in Verona and see Juliet's House
Eat the local dish of horse goulash!
Drive through the Italian lakes and take in the epic views
Break down again
But enjoy the view
Make it to Austria, spend the night there and the next day head off to Germany. Enjoy these:
In Munich visit BMW HQ
Get drunk at the Oktoberfest
Meet some Fraulines
On the way back nip into the Nurburgring
But miss out on a lap owing to an 'incident'
Schade.
Eat lunch on your bonnet in Belgium
Make the last ferry home in Dunkirk
You can drive to Istanbul in a week. IIRC they're not too strict on car details etc in Turkey (Although I did it a few years ago now and things may well have changed) so dumping it there is a possibility.
With a bit more time the world is your oyster - we ultimately made it to Nepal.
I'd even recommend taking the same car as us, but 2CVs are getting quite pricey now.
With a bit more time the world is your oyster - we ultimately made it to Nepal.
I'd even recommend taking the same car as us, but 2CVs are getting quite pricey now.
My only advice is to get some mates and go as far away as possible. Get some visas and explore Asia, Russia.. anywhere. Try and give your car to charity/sell it and fly home, or drive it back if it still works.
Have some pictures of adventuring at its finest to brighten your rainy Thursday at work:
When things go wrong..
...bodge them
Have some pictures of adventuring at its finest to brighten your rainy Thursday at work:
When things go wrong..
...bodge them
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