We can hardly believe we’ve completed our journey. I dreamed up this adventure about 10 years ago while staring at a map of the world on my wall and now we’ve done it.
In our own car, travelling west to east, we crossed Europe and Asia. From Dunnet Head in Scotland we drove southeast to Esfahan in Iran, north through Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, then east through Mongolia and Russia to finish our trip on the opposite side of Eurasia in Vladivostok, Russia. Our route was determined by these things:
1) Travel from Atlantic to Pacific Ocean on roads with own 4WD vehicle
2) Visit the places that we were most interested in (everything but especially Scotland, Turkey, Iran and Mongolia)
3) Only go through places where we felt it was safe enough to travel through
4) Where governments would allow us to drive through
A Few Statistics
18,521 miles (29,800 km)
124 days
14 countries visited:
Great Britain, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia
More statistics for engineering or accounting types:
898 gallons of gasoline used (3393 L)
20.6 mpg average fuel consumption (11.4 liters per 100 km)
34.8 mph average moving speed (56 km/h)
532 hours moving. This averages to 4:20 hours moving each day.
Most expensive fuel purchased: Great Britain at 2.02 US dollars/liter (7.65 dollars/gallon)
Least expensive fuel purchased: Iran at 0.30 US dollars/liter (1.15 dollars/gallon)
Turkmenistan fuel was cheaper but not if you consider the km based road tax that foreigners pay
Final Thoughts
Now that our Big Trip is over it is back to life’s other challenges but we will always remember our Big Trip. We are proud that we, our car and our belongings made it through this adventure. We challenged ourselves, learned many things, and had a great time. We want to thank all of the wonderful people we met along the way and all of the people at home that helped make this trip possible. I hope that we were good ambassadors and guests to the people and places we visited and that we can also be ambassadors for the people and beautiful natural places we visited by bringing some of their good will, culture and beauty to our family, friends and country. Bye-bye and happy travelling!
It's been wonderful to follow your blog and live vicariously through your travels. What an incredible journey! Thanks for the time and effort to tell the story. I hope you write a book. Really looking forward to seeing you and hearing more.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Ian
I loved reading about your adventures and seeing the pictures and hearing the brief audio clips that you uploaded. The level of planning and organization you had to do to get ready for this trip is mind boggling. Thanks for letting me have a vicarious vacation! Good luck in school, too, Kirsten!
ReplyDeleteMarta