Brussels and Hotel Belmont

[Blurred out Government Building in BG]

The highway just instantly cuts off and we follow signs to Brussels, its a bit confusing since its already dark and we’re trying to find a small side street. Joel calls the Hotel we made reservations with online, and they try and direct us to the Flemish district in some broken English. Also our map doesn’t go into much of scale  of detail for the city.

[Hotel Belmont Front Night]

Before we know it we’re going back and forth in a tunnel system for about a couple of hours, and ended up risking it above ground. Lady luck have it, the hotel’s entrance is right next to us. Bingo.

Joel and I are beat, arrive at the Hotel late at night, but hungry. The only place we dare to venture out is the Turkish Restaurant next door. Have a few Kebabs and call it a night.

[Turkish Restaurant Neon]

Calais to Brussels

Immediately getting off the ferry its a bit odd to change back to the right hand side of the road for driving. Also kinda surprised by the heavy amount of wind power.

Joel and I are used to driving around in sub 1 liter vehicles and pushing them to the limit. Others were kind of surprised how our Sambar was holding up and how much a difference our Super Charged 660cc did on the freeway.

People were saying we might’ve pushed a little too hard. As soon as we were off the ferry I think we were one of the first out, and by the time we were in Belgium we didn’t see any of the rally cars, so we assumed we were way ahead. E40 ended up going straight to the heart of Brussels. We got our first of many beautiful sunsets to come.

Dover Ferry to Calais

Joel and I had reserved a ferry around 5:30pm, we figured we’d be hanging out at the dock town for quite a while, but in actuality with traffic and the speed the van can go, it was just in time. While there wasn’t much of an inspection, there were lines for ticket sales and checks etc.

Beautiful mountains, and a chance to talk to other rally participants while we waited to board. Here are some visuals.

Catching up….The issue I have with travel writing.

Yes, the woman is supposed to be me.

Alright, I’ve mentioned before that with lack of internet I’ve been trying to write in between catching up on sleep and navigating when I’m not driving. This is the problem I’m sure everyone faces when they travel. They put off a day, but want to write their thoughts of the day before and figure they can catch up the next. Then sooner or later, before you know it you find yourself in the situation do you just write about now while stuff is fresh? Or after thoughts that are being dated slowly, and fade for each day you put off.

It’s inching in on a week and I’m coming at a cross-road whether or not to just quickly write up something to fill in and not be in as much detail as possible. Most the time I get back from driving or exploring the town and I immediately want to go to sleep. So the question is do I keep trying to catch up with articles in fine detail? Or just update when I can? Any people that have tuned in and have been patient with the lack of updates, any thoughts?

ima

CBC Covering Team Smaller is Better at the Rally Launch!

We’ve been featured on CBC News: Today: Weekend Edition

According to our Rally Team Coordinator, Steve got a message from Shawn about how CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) took interest as to what we were doing. Grant it Joel and I are from the US, but we live close enough to Canada (Minnesota and Michigan) that we get CBC on our local cable tv.

Shawn has sent us some details that we’re going to meet up with a Canadian Correspondent, by the name of Brian Kelly, that will contact us tomorrow! Good job Shawn, this is really exciting, and will hopefully help us with our main goal of fund raising for the several causes we are hopefully raising awareness about.

Updates: We’re farther along than you think we are.

Joel and I have finally taken a day away from the wheel for some much needed rest in the beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic.

In several days we’ve crossed through 4 Countries: Flew in the UK, Took a ferry into France, Stopped in Brussels, Belgium, then went drove across Germany into the Czech Republic. The funny thing is that we’re actually behind most the teams! I’m trying to work a balance between catching up and filling in the story from launch until now, but try and bare with me.

For those of us who are worried, Joel and I are safe and well.

Launch Day: And We’re Off!!

So within moments of putting on our stickers and rearranging our stuff, meeting new teams, and doing the piece with Brian from CBC, a wave horns and cheering creeped closer and closer to our van. Before you knew it, Joel and I were scrambling as adreanaline rushed through our bodies.

We pretty much paraded our cars out the gate, after all its just a park, and it’d be dangerous if it was like a real rally/race of sorts. I’m glad that we got to be seen off. Anwyay check out the gallery for more if you want.

Launch Day: Arrival at Hyde Park

Well, after a few wrong turns Joel and I finally make it to West Minster’s Hyde Park. It took us a bit to find the entrance, our Europe Map wasn’t as concise as we liked it to be. But basic use of landmarks and sense of direction, after a few u-turns and following the fences of the park we finally were coaxed in by a man in a work vest, which lead to a large row of rally cars, pretty much as far as you could see.

The park was alive. It didn’t really have the roar let say of cheering stands at a raceway, especially since the park’s drive where all the teams readied up was relatively narrow. Teams dressed for the launch event, men in drag, 70’s detectives (a la Beastie Boys Sabotage), the villain from the Hannah Barbara Race Cartoon, the list goes on and on.

We arrived around 11:15ish, and the start was to happen around 12:30pm. Music was blaring from the stage, some teams where queuing up for registration, and others were making last minute adjustments to their vehicles, top of that a Mongolian Ambassador and some Mongolian Brits came through.

Lines of people came to cheer on and see off loved ones, family and friends, even Joel’s Cousin, Adam, came up from Oxford (a good half-hour away) and his friend to came to check out the launch and see us off. There were small short statements made by representatives of each of the Official Mongol Rally Charities.

Double Decker Bus, Special Participant in the Rally

While most cars were under 1L engines, the rally made exceptions for an Ambulance and a Double Decker Bus, both just outrageously cool and over the top, much like the atmosphere this rally is all about.

We were issued two official Mongol Rally 2008 Launch T-Shirts, 2 Buff Rags, A Folder with Rally Information,  2 Wristbands to the Czechout 2008 Event in 2 days, decals for the charities we raised money for and 3 Rally Decals.

Joel and I were pretty much decal’d out from the day before, but these were huge decal/stickers, unfortunately we didn’t know it was possible to divide up the sticker to make it fit on the hood, so Joel and I ended up putting it on the roof.

Double Decker Bus, Special Participant in the Rally

Brian Kelly, Correspondant for CBC

Launch Day: Check Out and heading to Hyde Park for the launch

Joel is finally up, we start packing our bags, in the van. It’s raining! The forecast for the day is scattered rain throughout the day, and not to mention its freezing in comparison to Japan! (Brrr..)

We food and fuel up, and look up on the British Equivalent to Google Maps in the States, called “AA” which I believe is kinda like AAA in the states, but has trip tickets or something online. They have directions mapped our in the UK, Ireland and the EU. We didn’t have a printer, so we kept all the direction windows open and just in cased we printed to PDF to open digitally later.

We fuel up at the gas station closest to our hotel, and get stared at by pretty much anyone we passed. I guess our van is somewhat stands out in the crowd, its a bright cabbie yellow and has international Japanese Plates. When we were paying for gas and some water, the cashier asked us where we were from…he thought for some odd reason we had French Plates, we answer with Japan and he replies, “I’ve never been to that nice country either”.

Launch Day: Morning

I’m still jet-lagged and the second time I  wake up around 3am. Other than being awake a little eariler than Joel, I’m usually hungry.
Other than that the timing is pretty good, it means that HQ and people at work are on their lunch break and I get to fill them in with funds and what not. Call home VoIP on Skype and Video Chat with loved ones.

Honestly I still can’t believe that we’ve managed to make it this far and the journey ahead when you think of it is quite overwhelming. Also with the knowledge of making it a truck that only has 4 decent rims is a bit of worry. I hope we can find a decent supply later on. Time to keep playing catch up with the blog.