First of all, welcome to all of you who've signed up for our email list or joined our Facebook group to follow my brother and I as we prepare to embark on this incredible adventure, driving nearly 11,000 miles from London to Mongolia (and if you haven't signed up yet, what are you waiting for?).
With less than three months now left until the rally begins, the clock is ticking down, and we've still got a ton of stuff to do.
So far we've gotten most of our vaccinations, purchased travel insurance, secured our duplicate passports (more on that later), and begun the process of applying for all the visas we'll need for our journey. Our friend Rosi -- with whom we'll be traveling -- has done a fabulous job planning the route, which will take us down through Europe before winding around Central Asia and eventually heading up through Russia and into Mongolia to the finish line (which is actually just north of Mongolia in Ulan-Ude, Siberia). The political situation in parts of the region can be unpredictable, so we're keeping a close eye on the news and various travel advisories, and will be ready to adjust our route if needed. We've also decided on a charity that we'll announce in the coming weeks when we launch our crowd-funding campaign.
Among our upcoming tasks are scouring the online classifieds around London to find a car that seems up for the journey, registering the vehicle and getting car insurance, learning to basic first aid and car repairs, finding corporate sponsors, and applying for the rest of our visas.
Nearly everyone we've told about our trip has shared our excitement, and many have said they're jealous and would love to experience an adventure of this sort. We're thrilled at all the offers of assistance that have come rolling in so far, from folks pledging to donate to our cause (hold on just a little longer; you'll get your chance soon!) to various sorts of editorial guidance and help with promotion and publicity. As you can probably imagine, planning an expedition of this sort is a massive undertaking, so we're incredibly grateful for all the help we can get. If there's some sort of special way you'd like to lend your support, please don't hesitate to drop us a line. I'd like to offer a special thanks to my fabulous colleagues at PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, for their technical help and for generously volunteering to host my podcast where I'll document this journey!
We're still trying to build our audience, so please spread the word about Far From Home to anyone you know who might be interested, and subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, or the podcast player of your choice (visit this page if you’d like to see some other options or if you need a primer on how podcasts work). The show launches June 2nd.
We're just getting started, but we'll have many more updates in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned!
--Scott