Just in case you weren't aware....
We have an official site for the Mongolia Charity Rally, which has a blog, photos, news of our sponsors and route and a whole host of other fascinating tit bits of information.
With just over four weeks 'til the off, things are pretty mental, so I'll probably only be updating the rally blog when I get a moment. All I talk about is the bloody rally these days anyway, so it's probably more appropriate.
Our website is http://mongolia.charityrallies.org/steppebysteppe
We'll be updating from the road via text message as well, so definitely keep an eye on the rally blog from 10 July.
Cheers!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
International relations
Well, the witching hour has just arrived, as I make the finishing touches to my Russian visa application. I started at 9pm.
The process saw me pay the price for the somewhat strained relations between our two nations over the last 50 years; three screens of pretty searching questions for me - my current and previous two employers' details (which considering I've been working in my current place for 7 years took a bit of remembering); details of any and all political, religious and charitable groups I'm affiliated with; details of whether I've been in the military or have any nuclear or bomb-making expertise; statements about whether I'd been in a conflict as either aggressor or victim; have I used drugs; my mother's name; my father's name - the list was long. I got there though, and everything's in place to head to the consulate tomorrow and pay the £90 fee for my visa.
I'll also be taking Justyna's considerably shorter application. Name, address, workplace, dates of entry and departure - all pretty straightforward and a bargain too at a mere £50. I thought it was down to old habits dying hard that Poland (and perhaps other former Eastern Bloc countries) got a bit of an easier ride until I noticed the names of the two documents we'd created.
Hers: generic 'visa application'
Mine: 'US-UK-Georgia visa'
Ah.
The process saw me pay the price for the somewhat strained relations between our two nations over the last 50 years; three screens of pretty searching questions for me - my current and previous two employers' details (which considering I've been working in my current place for 7 years took a bit of remembering); details of any and all political, religious and charitable groups I'm affiliated with; details of whether I've been in the military or have any nuclear or bomb-making expertise; statements about whether I'd been in a conflict as either aggressor or victim; have I used drugs; my mother's name; my father's name - the list was long. I got there though, and everything's in place to head to the consulate tomorrow and pay the £90 fee for my visa.
I'll also be taking Justyna's considerably shorter application. Name, address, workplace, dates of entry and departure - all pretty straightforward and a bargain too at a mere £50. I thought it was down to old habits dying hard that Poland (and perhaps other former Eastern Bloc countries) got a bit of an easier ride until I noticed the names of the two documents we'd created.
Hers: generic 'visa application'
Mine: 'US-UK-Georgia visa'
Ah.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
39 days
hello you lovely people. How the devil are you?
We've got Mongolian visas! So if all else fails, we can still make it to Ulaanbaatar - although clearly if all else fails it might make the trip that little bit more difficult.
Our passports are currently huddled together, shivering, in an unfamiliar cupboard in South Kensington as they endure their next right-of-passage at the Kazakhstan Embassy. Fingers crossed things go ok for them; this visa application is the one I have been most concerned about screwing up. It's not that the questions are harder; more that I've heard that any mistake, no matter how small, can result in the visa application being rejected. It will be an anxious wait until Friday.
In other news, our Russian visa support letters arrived today! Just waiting on Uzbekistan now, but we will be able to get the Russian documentation sorted next week, all being well with the neighbours.
Hard to fathom it is a mere 39 days til the off. It really is close now and my stomach contracts in knots every time I think about it. I can't quite grasp how much we still have to do in the four remaining weekends before we go - yet again I am cursing my lack of organisation as even a 9 month head start on the trip of a lifetime has seen me desperately try to cram everything into the last few weeks.
Maybe it's time to accept that it's just how I will always be, and learn to live with it. We have a vehicle, we may have insurance soon, we should hopefully have visas, and we'll just have to wing it with regard to being able to fix the van if it breaks down or read Cyrillic road-signs for, err, about 65% of the trip. We're trying to track down deals on the remaining equipment we need - camping gear, sand ladders and perhaps a roof box to hold a load of our crap, as well as some spare wheels. It's all awfully pricey; I've sent a couple of emails to specialist companies to see if they'd be interested doing a deal but am not holding my breath. We'll get it sorted somehow. Tally ho!
We've got Mongolian visas! So if all else fails, we can still make it to Ulaanbaatar - although clearly if all else fails it might make the trip that little bit more difficult.
Our passports are currently huddled together, shivering, in an unfamiliar cupboard in South Kensington as they endure their next right-of-passage at the Kazakhstan Embassy. Fingers crossed things go ok for them; this visa application is the one I have been most concerned about screwing up. It's not that the questions are harder; more that I've heard that any mistake, no matter how small, can result in the visa application being rejected. It will be an anxious wait until Friday.
In other news, our Russian visa support letters arrived today! Just waiting on Uzbekistan now, but we will be able to get the Russian documentation sorted next week, all being well with the neighbours.
Hard to fathom it is a mere 39 days til the off. It really is close now and my stomach contracts in knots every time I think about it. I can't quite grasp how much we still have to do in the four remaining weekends before we go - yet again I am cursing my lack of organisation as even a 9 month head start on the trip of a lifetime has seen me desperately try to cram everything into the last few weeks.
Maybe it's time to accept that it's just how I will always be, and learn to live with it. We have a vehicle, we may have insurance soon, we should hopefully have visas, and we'll just have to wing it with regard to being able to fix the van if it breaks down or read Cyrillic road-signs for, err, about 65% of the trip. We're trying to track down deals on the remaining equipment we need - camping gear, sand ladders and perhaps a roof box to hold a load of our crap, as well as some spare wheels. It's all awfully pricey; I've sent a couple of emails to specialist companies to see if they'd be interested doing a deal but am not holding my breath. We'll get it sorted somehow. Tally ho!
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