Dream Trip: Mongol Rally

A road rally (video) beginning in England, passing through Prague, and continuing through Europe and across Asia to Mongolia. There are only three rules:

1. You can only take a farcically small vehicle
2. You’re completely on your own
3. You've got to raise a £1000 for charity

This idea of the Mongol Rally (official site) has been stuck in my head since I learned about it several months ago.

For someone that was one of the early adopters of CouchSurfing (in 2006), I'm surprised that I didn't learn about such a cool idea as the Mongol Rally until now, given that its inaugural run was in 2004. It is, in essence, an organized, yet disorganized road trip to end all road trips. Visit as many or as few countries as necessary to reach your final destination, go as quick or as slow as you decide. Here is one of the easier potential routes, below.

This is what they have to say about the vehicle specifications:

You must bring the shittiest rolling turd of a car you can find. Use a car you swapped for a bag of crisps. Seek out a steed that most people wouldn’t even use for the weekly shop. Better still, come along on a scooter.

After all, an adventure is only an adventure when things go wrong. Where in the name of Uranus would the fun be in cruising 10,000 miles in a 4x4? If you look at your vehicle and think; "This is the right car for crossing a desert," then you've got it badly wrong.

Wussy wagons are Out. Shitmobiles are In.

After watching at least a half-dozen unofficial videos from various Rally teams on YouTube and reading several long-format write-ups, it appears that:

• Several major repairs will likely be needed along the 10,000-km journey;
• You will change possibly dozens of tires;
• Extreme boredom may entice you to ride outside (i.e. on top of) the vehicle;
• Bribes may be necessary once local officials realize your fantastically embellished crapmobile means you're adventurers from Western Europe or some other prosperous region.

I'm incredibly intrigued and wish I could pull together a team, or at least Paola and myself, and find the 1-2 months necessary to complete the full trip. It can be done cheaply, or so I've read. This year's Rally begins on July 19, 2015.

Here are a few sources that I found entertaining:

• Driving to Mongolia: How I Drove from UK to Mongolia in a Shitty Car (journal)
• Mongol Rally 2013 - Team Dingo Babies & Drop Bears (long-format video)
• Mongol Rally 2013 - The Motoring Monks (long-format video)
• The Adventurists' YouTube Channel
• The Cars of the 2014 Mongol Rally
• Travel bloggers The Planet D attempt the Mongol Rally

From vochoverde.wordpress.com

If it were up to me, I'd start my own rally from Mexico through Central and South America using nothing but old vochos (VW Beetles) bought across the border from California. For that matter, if we could get one of these underpowered VWs to England, it could also be used to drive to Mongolia.

Anyone game to join someday soon?