And so it has finally begun.
30 minutes until I board the second of my two flights to London. The 31.5 hour journey has given me a little time to reflect on the preparation we’ve done.
The transit is usually the worst part about any trip but, truth be told, I was sort of looking forward to it. People constantly asked me if I’m ready, and I think with something like this, you can never over-prepare. There is always the weight of having something to do, but once you’re on the plane, you are powerless to do any more preparation. All you can do is sit there for the duration of the flight. There’s a sort of freedom in that. It releases you from some of the stresses of preparation.
And there has been an awful lot of both. In the approximately six months since the trip was confirmed, we have booked flights, organised visas for 8 countries (5 of which were costly, difficult and time consuming), organised a charity trivia event, researched and bought a car, learnt (not enough) about cars, set up a facebook page and blog, picked a route, purchased a satellite phone/emergency beacon, created packing lists, music playlists, updated travel vaccinations, purchased the odd bits and pieces required (maps, medications, equipment etc), and done all the admin to get the car registered and allow us to legally drive it across half the planet.
This was all happening whilst temporarily living out of home, starting a new job and maintaining a busy social schedule. Oh and for most of this time, Mitch was on the other side of the world, making communication a bit of an issue too.
We haven’t even started, and I’ve already learnt something about myself. I like to be prepared, and prepared early. I leave room for roadblocks, hurdles and slippages in timelines. Mitch, on the other hand, is a bit more relaxed with the planning side of things. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll always come through and get it done, he just leaves things a bit later than I would.
However, through all this planning we have worked pretty well as a team. We haven’t wanted to kill each other yet (but don’t worry, there’s still time!). Despite the communication complexities, having Mitch in England for most of the planning phase has actually been a great convenience. He has done a fantastic job purchasing the car, which took a fair effort (refer to blog post 2).
Although there was a lot to do, the planning process went relatively smoothly. Up until a couple days ago, when I double checked the dates on my visas. Mongolian visas are valid from three months from the date of issue. There was a bit of confusion with the dates, and the visa machine applied too early, so my visa expires about five days before we realistically think we’ll get there.
I can just get a visa from the embassy in London, right? Well, yeah, but not this week. It’s closed for a public holiday all week. And as the rally starts in a week, we’ll have to somehow get it en route. Apparently there’s an embassy in Prague that I can get it from…
We’ll call that challenge #1. Oh well, it’s all part of the rally