
Budapest has received a lot of fan fare in recent years for its bohemian settings and casual expat culture. We got to experience a bit of this for the few brief days we were in Budapest. First, the city is divided in half and together Buda and Pest comprise the metropolis of Budapest, the river [...]
Needless to say, the entire convoy of people were now desperate for a shower and a few days to rest. We saw signs for Budapest and drove into the center of town. No hostels came up on Hostel World that were affordable and had safe parking, so just as we were debating jumping in the [...]
The Bone Church is roughly an hour outside of Prague to the east, which was great for us since east is the general direction of Mongolia. The caravan now had about five cars, and once we finally reached the Bone Church we found a few other rally cars already parked outside. We paid our minimal [...]
If you are going to get hopelessly lost driving in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and can hardly read the signs, then Prague isn’t a bad option. We managed to join a small convoy heading into Prague from the Czech-Out Party and, after purchasing the required highway road-tax sticker we headed [...]
It was early evening when we finally pulled into Klenova Castle’s mighty camping area. It was not an easy sight to miss because the rolling green hills surrounding the castle were covered in rally cars with tents set up between them. Sprinkled throughout were ralliers dressed up to match the theme of the party—Jules Verne, [...]
Posted on 28 August 2010
We arrived in Bratislava that evening after leaving Vienna. We heard it would be cheaper in Slovakia than Austria, but a quick consultation with Hostel World proved otherwise. We did manage to discover that there was a large camp ground near the city. We asked for directions and followed them….almost. Somehow we overshot the campground [...]
Posted on 26 August 2010
With our small caravan, we made progress slowly. Having stopped for food, for water and for gas and bathroom breaks (all at separate times for some reason) we eventually lost one of the cars in our convoy, the Back flips and Summersaults team, which had farther to go that evening and wanted to make haste. [...]
Posted on 10 August 2010
Prior to the Mongol Rally’s official launch, several dozen teams met the night before at the Goodwood Estates camp ground. To amuse the eager rally goers, a soccer game was set up. A full 20+ ralliers participated in the round-robin tournament. The goal was a bit of a boot camp training session for the real [...]
Posted on 06 August 2010
While in London, Bill is staying with some friends from college. They were kind enough to have us over for dinner. Oz is from Sri Lanka, and his wife is an American. She was lovely enough to cook a massive Sri Lankan-style meal for us that came complete with daal and biryani both of which [...]
Posted on 03 August 2010
We left the Brooklyn docks in the intense heat index of 110 degrees F on July 6th. Hauling our backpacks, chalked full of (almost) everything we needed for the Mongol Rally – ranging from clothing and safety equipment to Russian phrase books and a toilet seat. Needless to say, we were a rare sight on [...]
Posted on 30 July 2010
Arriving in London was quite the experience having been at sea for the previous week. We caught a bus from Southampton to Victoria, the transportation hub of London for metro, bus and train. The National Express bus service was amazing, with good service and arrival ahead of schedule—for only 12 pounds a person. London is [...]
Posted on 14 July 2010
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Posted on 10 July 2010
I noticed something recently on an American TV show called ‘Pawn Stars’ and that is the fact that Americans have no idea how to bargain. You’ll see the same thing on ‘American Pickers’ and other History or Discovery Channel shows. It is a common tale, you take something into the pawn shop and they talk [...]
Posted on 08 July 2010
One of the most common questions we get is about financing our travels. We left Shanghai, our apartment there and our jobs in May of 2009. It is now July, 2010 and we’ve traveled for over a year. It is a fair and understandable question when people ask if we are secret millionaires or if [...]
Posted on 05 July 2010
We’re busy brainstorming ways to make the Abandon the Cube website more accessible, easier to use, more graphically pleasing and better organized, and we’re hoping you can help us by sending in your ideas. Now you have a chance to help us make the site better. If you have some changes in mind, don’t hesitate [...]
