18 The Mongol Rally with Sherry Ott and the Social Media Syndicate – Podcast

In Episode 18 in my travel podcast series, I talk to Sherry Ott about the Mongol Rally and her adventures driving from London to Mongolia with three other travel bloggers. I met Sherry, who blogs at Ottsworld, in London just as their Social Media Syndicate (with Deb and Dave from ThePlanetD and Rick from Midlife Roadtrip ) were preparing to leave England starting from Goodwood. Now Sherry’s safely back from the Mongol Rally we caught up and heard about their adventures driving on dirt roads when the tarmac ran out, through rivers and over rickety bridges, although all this seemed tame compared to what happened to some of the other teams. In 5 weeks they made it to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia where all the Mongol Rally cars were sold to raise money for charity and there were not one but three finish line parties to celebrate the achievement.

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Show Notes

The Mongol Rally is a car adventure for teams to drive from London to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, preferably in a totally unsuitable car. The Rally is organised by The Adventurists to support a different Mongolian Charity each year and all the cars are sold at the end with the proceeds going to support the charity.

Before they set off Sherry’s Social Media Syndicate team arrived in London to prepare the car that they had bought over the Internet, making sure they had all the spare parts they needed and well as getting all their paperwork in place. The challenge was that the team knew very little about car mechanics even though on average each Mongol Rally team has 9 breakdowns en route.

The team comprised Sherry Ott from Ottsworld, Deb and Dave from ThePlanetD who are based in Toronto and Rick Griffin from Midlife Roadtrip - their strap-line was “4 travel bloggers over 40″

Each Mongol Rally team can choose their own route and Sherry’s team planned to travel through 14 countries; Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Mongolia finishing in Ulaanbaatar. To decide the route to team had got together on a Skype call with Google maps and plotted what they thought would work, but there was no detailed plan. There were times when Sherry wasn’t sure if they would make it due to delays at borders, problems with paperwork and mechanical difficulties, not to mention the terrible roads.

The team are all still friends but it was stressful always being in a car together and having to make constant travel decisions such as; what road do we take, where do we eat, where do we stay, what was that sound in the car? The team worked out any disagreements by sitting down and talking out the pros and cons of each decision, such as whether to change their route.

At the start of the Rally at Goodwood, everything came to life with a circus atmosphere and the organisers even arranged actors to impersonate Russian Border guards. It was exciting but everyone had their hoods up and was looking under the engines which made Sherry anxious that the other teams were better prepared than her team was.

A lot of the vehicles were ambulances and one was a small school bus named the “Too big to fail bus” which lived up to its name and made it to the end even though they had a few problems driving their bus through the streets of Istanbul. There were a couple of fire trucks and a car covered with long purple fur, called the “Fast and the Furriest” which by the end was completely grey with dust. Another car was completely wrapped in duct tape and the team had a lot of problems at borders because the officials couldn’t understand how to classify the car.

In Europe they enjoyed staying with travel bloggers in Cologne and Brussels and Prague was highlight where they stayed for a day to look around. Then they drove through Hungary and Slovakia and Sherry loved Brasov in Romania, a beautifully kept town surrounded by mountains. Sherry was sad not to be able to see more of these places but they were focused on keeping going and too many stops would put them behind on their schedule and even then they wouldn’t have time to see it all properly. There were also constraints due to the visas which determined that they had to enter Russia on 4 August as they only had 30 days to cover several countries then cross back into Russia again.

Kiev Ukraine Church on the Mongol Rally

Visiting Prague on the Mongol Rally

Until they got to Romania there were no border crossings but as they crossed into Moldova and into Ukraine things changed because there were border crossings and this meant delays over paperwork and difficulties in communicating as the language and alphabet changed and these countries had much less tourism. At borders they had to be patient and wait it out to get through without too many bribes. The border crossing took from 1.5 hrs to 24 hrs at longest with an average of 4 hours. Often they would have to act dumb and pretend they didn’t understand what was going on to avoid paying bribes.

On the roads crossing from Russia into Kazakhstan the roads got worse, because although they are tarmac they were poorly maintained and pounded by huge trucks with massive potholes or pot hills. If you went too fast the road condition could change quickly and you could scrape the bottom of the car, risking damaging it. In Mongolia the roads were also difficult as they were dirt and it was not always obvious which route to take.

Road choices in Mongolia on the Mongol Rally

Camping in Kazakhstan on the Mongol Rally

Sometimes Sherry felt a little vulnerable at night in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, when they would pull off the road and drive into a field to camp, as she feared that they might be robbed, although in the end they had no problems of this kind. All the locals who came up to them just wanted to talk to them and find out what they were doing.

Once they got to Mongolia they encountered river crossings where they would rely on the advice of locals on the best route to cross the river as they were not always the obvious crossing points. Once they followed 2 guys on a motorbike, snaking though the river and the water came into the front of the car but they kept their foot on the gas and kept moving so as to avoid getting water in the exhaust. Although the driving was stressful, after 5 weeks Sherry was becoming a bit more relaxed about this kind of challenge.

Sherry had visited Mongolia 2 years ago when she spent 2 weeks on a local tour in the Gobi desert. This time she was able to see Western Mongolia which is more remote, but she found that outside the city the Mongol way of life of living in Gers remained the same and the landscapes were just as stunning. Whenever they camped in Mongolia the locals would come to visit them in the morning or evening and bring gifts such as cheese or fermented mare’s milk. As they had a map sticker on the bonnet they could use this to try and explain their journey. Any local visitors would invariably ask to buy their car due to the shortage of cars in Mongolia. Even though people can afford to buy a car, very few are being imported, so even in the smallest villages people would ask to buy the car.

Once the teams arrived in Ulaanbaatar they handed over their car and the paperwork to the Adventurists who organise the Mongol Rally. Some better vehicles get cleaned up and put in a bigger auction but otherwise they are auctioned on the day they arrive. The organisers pay the vehicle import taxes and the rest of the money goes to the charity with many of the cars being sold for more money than they were paid for in the UK. The charity changes every year, but this year it was the Christina Noble Foundation who run a Ger camp that houses orphaned or disadvantaged children who can’t live with their families. At the final party the kids from the camp performed for the teams, singing, playing music and doing a judo display, with around $500 being raised for the charity.

A Ger in Mongolia on the Mongol Rally

Western Mongolia on the Mongol Rally

Because the Mongol Rally has no set end date, with everyone arriving at different times, the organisers set  up 3 different finish line parties, one at 4 weeks after the start and the others at 5 weeks and 6 weeks. This meant that most of the teams could go to one of the parties, depending on when they arrived.

Once Sherry’s team met up with the other teams they realised that their team got off lightly. One team from Scotland went to a disco in Russia and 2 out of 3 got drugged and robbed while the third got in a cab to go to his hotel and the driver took him outside the city and demanded money from him. There were stories of people driving into rivers and their car floating away. Sherry reckoned that the Social Media Syndicate were too busy working and blogging to get into as much trouble as some of the younger teams.

Throughout the trip, the blogging team worked very hard at staying online. When they stayed in hotels they could generally find wifi and would work late into the night to get photos and blogs posted. Until they reached Mongolia they were able to use a 3G Kindle to get Internet access and do some live tweeting en route and check email. Once they were out of 3G range in Mongolia, they could use a world sim card sponsored by Onesimcard to text their tweets to a phone number which would then be posted on Twitter. In Europe they used a Tep wireless device which enabled them to get wifi on the move and they could even get Internet access and do work in the car. The Car was sponsored by Allways Rental in New Zealand.

The team used a satellite tracking device from Track24Solo who tracked their position and posted it onto their Facebook pages – within Europe they were able to track their position on the map but once they got to Mongolia they used it to track distance between villages. In London the team were put up in an apartment by Oh-London and in several other cities, Roomorama provided short term rental accommodation.

Now she is back in the US, Sherry’s current project is a series of meet-ups in cities in the US and Canada through her Meet Plan Go website, inspiring and advising people how to plan career breaks to enable them to travel. After that Sherry is not sure what she will be doing and has a feeling of anticlimax, that nothing can top the unique adventure of the Mongol Rally.

Find out more about the Mongol Rally

The Mongol Rally is an annual event organised by the Adventurists - find them on Twitter @theadventurists
You can read all Sherry’s stories from the Mongol Rally on Ottsworld
Read what Sherry’s team-mates wrote about the Mongol Rally – Deb and Dave at ThePlanetD  and Rick Griffin at Midlife Road Trip
Connect with the Social Media Syndicate on Twitter @ottsworld @theplanetd @midliferoadtrip – they used the hashtag #mongolsms and #mongolrally

All photos are copyright of Sherry Ott

More Travel Podcasts from Heather on her travels

If you enjoyed this travel podcast please check out my other podcasts in my Travel Podcast Archive

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

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17 Our long weekend in Copenhagen – Podcast

Episode 17 in my travel podcast series takes us for a long weekend to Copenhagen in the early summer. You’ll hear the sounds of the children’s carnival that we came across while shopping, and the gastronomic specialities from Smørrebrød to Michelin star cuisine, that have given Copenhagen such a reputation as a foodie destination. Just like the Copenhageners we got on our bikes and took the train to visit the Karen Blixen Museum at Rungsted, cycled back along the coast road and enjoyed the band and old fashioned amusements at the Tivoli Gardens. We also took the canal tour to see the sights of the harbour area, such as the Royal Yacht and the Little Mermaid and had to duck to avoid banging our heads on the low bridges of Nyhavn.

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Show notes

• We flew from Heathrow to Copenhagen airport and easily made our way directly to the hotel by Metro, buying a ticket from the machine in the airport that takes credit cards.
• We stayed at the Ibsens Hotel, a neighbourhood boutique hotel in Nansensgade, an area that has a studenty feel with plenty of small bars and restaurants and is near the Copenhagen lakes. The hotel aims to be CO2 neutral – breakfast it is served on a plastic tray with a selection of different cereals and fruits in glasses and sandwiches in paper bags to avoid waste. The decor is colourful, funky and modern with items from local artizans who have shops nearby.

• We spent our first morning shopping, walking around the main shopping street of Strøget and Amagertorv, exploring the big 3 Danish designer shops, starting with Illums Bolighus, a homeware store that sells beautiful Danish and Scandanavian design for the home. You can walk directly through from the 1st floor to the Royal Copenhagen store with the famous blue and white Copenhagen pattern that we also saw in many of the restaurants that we visited as well as the Christmas plates that we saw on sale in the flea market beside the canal. We also visited the Georg Jensen store with silver jewellery and watches – I visited the Georg Jensen workshops in a previous visit to Copenhagen and saw some of the heritage pieces being made.
• As we walked along Amagertorv we saw a parade of children dressed in green and pink, drumming and dancing in a procession as part of the Copenhagen Carnival that was taking place that weekend.

 

 

• Copenhagen is known as a gourmet destination and is scattered with a number of Michelin star restaurants, with Noma being one of the best known as it was voted the ‘Best Restaurant in the World’ We wanted to try the Danish open sandwich known as Smørrebrød and stopped at Gitte Kik for lunch, then later tried Aamanns where there is a deli with Smørrebrød made with fresh and seasonal ingredients for a late afternoon snack. The chef Adam Amaans started his deli after he wanted to make good food for his children to take to school for their packed lunch and couldn’t find the quality he was looking for, so ended up making it himself.
• At Gitte Kik I interviewed the owner Frank about the Danish tradition of Smørrebrød. At Gitte Kik, rather than a menu card they have a counter where the dishes are laid out so that customers can choose from 80 different combinations of toppings. The restaurant has been on this spot since 1797 and as it’s right opposite the Danish Parliament Building, its a popular lunchtime spot for the Members of Parliament. Herring is very popular topping and is generally washed down with beer or schnapps. One of the specialties is known as Dyrlægensn natmad or the Vet’s night snack, with a topping of liver pate with salt veal and onions which was traditionally prepared by the farmer’s wife when the vet came out to tend to the livestock.

• I interviewed Christian, the owner of Ved Stranden wine bar close to the canal – apparently it’s the favourite off duty haunt of René Redzepi, the chef at Noma. The wine bar, which opened a year and a half ago, tries to create a convivial atmosphere for guests. The speciality here are cold climate wines from Austria, Germany and Eastern Europe with great minerality, structure and fruit.
• Later we moved on to look around the neighbourhood of Nørrebro, where we stopped in the Claus Meyer bakery, known for the great Danish bread - I had visited the Claus Meyer production bakery when I was last in Copenhagen, so I know how passionate they are about their sourdough!

• Just across the road  we stopped in at Coffee Collective where they are equally passionate about their coffee. There’s only one small shop and a few tables outside and most people get their coffee to take away although they sell coffee all over Copenhagen.The owners work with the farmers in Brazil, Guatamala, Kenya and Panama paying the best prices for the best quality coffee.

• We finished the day with Champagne and canapes at Kiin Kiin, the only Michelin star Thai restaurant in the world, where I chatted to the owner-chef Henrik Yde Andersen. Henrik was a chef for 4 years in Thailand – his signature dish is the frozen Red Thai curry served with a lobster salad with coriander seeds and for desert the Khao Niaow Ma Muan with sticky rice and sweet mango or the Pandan ice cream with roasted coconut.
• If you want somewhere low key to eat, Henrik also has a number of other restaurants in Copenhagen such as AroiDee just next door to Kiin Kiin, Rice Market and Dim Sum. Henrik is also on a suicidal mission to take Thai food back to Bangkok and has rcently opened his latest restaurant at the Kempinski Hotel in Bangkok.When he’s off duty he takes his Dad for lunch at for Smørrebrød at Schoenneman

• We hired bikes and took the train out to Rungsted to see the house of the famous Danish Writer, Karen Blixen. I had visited her house in the neighbourhood of Karen (named after her) in Nairobi built on the site of her coffee plantation. When her plantation failed in the 1930s she returned with no money to her childhood home at Runstedlund
• In one wing you enter the shop and cafe with an exhibition room upstairs where you can see the typewriter on which she wrote all her books. In the other wing are the private rooms which are furnished as they were in her life where you can walk through the rooms that she lived in, the dining room and drawing room  where she entertained guests and a chest given to her by her servant Farah.
• She was known for the beautiful wild flower arrangements from the garden where there is a cut flower garden. In her later life Karen Blixen became a celebrity and she travelled to America to speak on American Radio. At the back of the Karen Blixen House, through the garden is a bird sanctuary in the woodland where she is buried under a shady tree. Everyone I met seemed to have a story at Karen Blixen, she was such a strong character who inspired many people.

• We rode our bikes back to Klampenborg station along the coast road catching glimpses of the sea between the houses. At Klampenborg we stopped for a while on the beach to look at the apartment complex designed by the famous Danish designer Arne Jacobsen. It’s easy to travel with your bike on the train in Copenhagen – there’s a special carriage at each end of the train where you can put your bikes.

• In the late afternoon we visited the Tivoli Gardens where we strolled around looking at all the attractions and sat listening to the band in the bandstand. As you come in the gate you can see the Moorish Palace style building of the Nimb Hotel and there is a lake with boats and a pirate galleon. It’s said that Walt Disney visited the Tivoli and it gave him the idea for the Disney parks.
• Although there are many restaurants in Tivoli, we decided to eat in the neighbourhood of our hotel where there were many small bars and restaurants. We found a restaurant called Nice, which sold Moules and Chips which my husband fancied trying. We realised when we sat down that the restaurant didn’t take credit cards and we had 500 Krone which would normally not go very far in Copenhagen where eating out is expensive, but luckily it was enough for our meal.

• On the Sunday morning of our last day we decided to take a canal tour which is a good way to see a lot in just an hour. We took the one with DFDS boat that was included in our Copenhagen cards although there is a cheaper Netto tour boat a little further along the quay. The tour goes through the canal areas under the low bridges and then we moved into open water, passing the Royal Yacht and the Royal Library nicknamed the Black Diamond. We saw the Little Mermaid with crowds of people waiting to have their photo taken. The areas which were once the run down areas of Copenhagen are now the most sought after with expensive apartments with boats moored alongside and merchant houses looking like Amsterdam.

If you enjoyed this travel podcast please check out my other podcasts in my Travel Podcast Archive

More about Copenhagen

In search of the perfect Smørrebrød – in Copenhagen
Out of Africa and other Danish stories – At the Karen Blixen Museum
What can you buy for 500 Krone in Copenhagen?
A tour of the Georg Jensen workshops in Copenhagen
Modern Thai cooking with Danish style at Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen

Links to the places mentioned in Copenhagen

Ibsens Hotel
Illums Bolighus
Royal Copenhagen
Georg Jensen
Aamanns
Slotskaelderen hos Gitte Kik
Ved Stranden
Claus Meyer
Coffee Collective
Kiin Kiin
Restaurant Schønnemann
Karen Blixen museum in Copenhagen
Tivoli Gardens
DFDS canal tours

Resources for visiting Copenhagen

• The Visit Copenhagen website has information about places to visit in Copenhagen
• We used the Copenhagen Card that gives free entry to 65 museums and attractions as well as free public transport around the city

Thanks to Wonderful Copenhagen for sponsoring our weekend in Copenhagen.

Music credits: The music at the start of the podcast was Venus as a girl by Andy McKee on Musicalley.com and the Mozart music from Out of Africa was Clarinet Concerto Adagio played by Umeshshankar with other music recorded at the Tivoli gardens in Copenhagen.

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Copenhagen – around Copenhagen photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home
You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

Free and family friendly holiday activities in Devon

If you’re looking for fun and more importantly free, family friendly activities in Devon, this article from Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks, will give you some great ideas.

Brilliant beaches

Woolacombe’s beach is one of the best in Europe, a fact testified to by the thousands of delighted family holidaymakers flocking there every weekend to sample its delights. It’s good news for families with younger members, being extremely flat, accessible and buggy friendly. Even off-season, the kids are guaranteed to be entertained for hours building sandcastles (they may get lucky and be able to enter one of the fantastic Saturday sandcastle competitions), sandboarding down the dunes, playing cricket and football… and then braving the sea itself of course.

If you’ve got a baby backpack and it’s a sunny Devon day, then you should load junior onto your back and take a long stroll from Croyde to Baggy Point. Part of the South Devon Coastal Path, there are stunning sea views and dramatic views of Lundy Island and Wales, especially if you’ve been lucky with the weather and visibility’s good.

Cycling trails

Devon’s famous Tarka Trail offers 32 miles of traffic-free cycle path along former railway tracks. It’s pleasurable even for families with younger cyclists, and there are fabulous views between Braunton and Meeth. See the countryside more or less as it was when described by Henry Williamson, who wrote Tarka The Otter back in 1927.

Rockpooling

BBC Wildlife Magazine voted Devon’s Tunnels Beach the third best place to go rockpooling in the UK, and with its abundance of fish, crab, anemones and coral species replenished by the tidal system, finding a fascinating specimen to put in your bucket is as effortless as lifting up a rock.

Remember – the best rock pooling is around low tide, so be sure to check tide times and plan your trip to maximise your exploration time.

Fly your kite

Saunton Sands is a perennial favourite for kite buggying, windsurfing, paragliding and all manner of air-propelled sporting action.

And that means all you’ll need for hours of fun, even on a grey and blustery day, is some warm outdoor clothing and a kite or two. Saunton’s beach is open, exposed and goes on forever… Perfect if you’re a more extreme kite flyer, too.

Ride the waves

It’s the original and best – and surfing, swimming and bodyboarding in the shallows or the waves off one of Devon’s world-class beaches is surely the best way to while away a sunny afternoon in the UK. And it’s free!

My thanks for this sponsored post to Woolacome Bay Holiday Parks, who offer family friendly accommodation on the Devon coastline including camping and touring and holiday cottages in North Devon

Photo credits: Woolacombe beach by Joseph Tame , Cycling on the Tarka trail by Stuart Berry, Rockpooling safari by Markheybo.

More fun things to do in Devon and Cornwall

A visit to Padstow and a walk through the dunes to St Enodoc
Hunting the ash-black slug on Dartmoor in Devon
Castles and cream teas at Dunster

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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