Nice People 13: Nice Save

vivatifosi

H do you plan to write a blog? I'd like to follow you so I can tread vicariously in your footsteps.

Pleased the planning is going well. How long do you think you will take? Is there anywhere that you want to go but the geo politics not right?

ETA... My criterion for choosing between vehicles would be... which one offers the most comfort to sleep in, when you're in the back and beyond, there's no local hotel and camping out is not a realistic option probably due to weather.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

vivatifosi wrote: »

H do you plan to write a blog?

Yes.

I'd like to follow you so I can tread vicariously in your footsteps.

The domain is reserved, I'll PM links or post in the other place once it's up.

How long do you think you will take?

That really does all depend on finances. You could do the big section below it in 3-4 months if you had to. I'd rather take a year and see as much as I can.

Is there anywhere that you want to go but the geo politics not right?

Absolutely.

DQWD

The dream trip first leg would be Cape Agulhas up the east side of Africa to Europe's northern point in Norway. That's off the cards as North Africa is a mess. The West side is still doable but messy with ebola. The compromise is probably a 5 country loop around the south in a rented vehicle at some point in the future, and a 3 week shakedown from UK to Dakar and back via spain and morrocco this year.

The second leg (main part) of the dream trip is the silk road through to china then south through Asia to Aus, but much of that is currently off the cards with Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan tribal areas off limits. So the detour is to go north through Russia and the Stans, then enter China through Kyrgyzstan and exit in Laos. But that's boring by comparison in terms of sights and culture, and expensive in terms of extra distance and china ($10K for the china crossing alone as Xinjiang province still requires guides).

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

vivatifosi wrote: »

ETA... My criterion for choosing between vehicles would be... which one offers the most comfort to sleep in, when you're in the back and beyond, there's no local hotel and camping out is not a realistic option probably due to weather.

There are really two schools of thought with this one.

1) sleep/live in the vehicle. Which means a camperback for the hilux (£11K but damn comfy) or a combined internal bed/camper arrangement for the LC (£7K and less comfy but way more convenient).

2) sleep on the vehicle. Which means a roof tent for either. like this one for £2.5K.... http://www.devon4x4.com/index2.php?page=shop.view_images&flypage=flypage_new.tpl&product_id=99410&category_id=1013776&pop=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14

Beyond that the choice is really do you want a newish hilux with a 3.0 diesel and 40K miles for 10K, or a more capable off road but 10 years old land cruiser with a 4.2 diesel and 70K miles for £15K. You'd need to spend 5K prepping the land cruiser mechanically, maybe 2K prepping the hilux, and then they'd both be equally reliable.

But then there's the cost of extras such as sleeping arrangements, camperback, travel gear, recovery kit, spares, off road mods like a winch, suspension lift, etc, survival gear, emergency coms, and so on... Which varies wildly with both.

Of course, you also see the bangernomics version of global travel in many blogs.... Where someone buys a 15 year old £2K Hilux Surf with 120K miles on it, builds their own roof rack, buys a tent, changes the oil and brakes, and does a 40K mile 2 year expedition with no issues....

Very MSE....

Probably also a very long way beyond my comfort zone.:o

ukmaggie45

I'm not quite sure what brought it on, but I started thinking about my Grandfather's car.

A Jowett Javelin.

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/file/width/640/media/5710975/Jowett%20Javelin%20(1).jpg

I want one! :cool: It would be great for me, as it's a tall car.

Ah well, OH is going to do the Lottery tomorrow - we'd need a pot of money as keeping it going would be horribly expensive! :rotfl:

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think one thing that worries me about leaving a SC on while I am not here is - what if I don't come back. Car break down, break a leg while out. There's nobody else coming home, or who could pop in and turn it off.

In the same vein, if anything happens to me and I am less mobile etc, then it'd be handy to still be able to have a variety of ways to cook easily/safely. So now's a good time to get one and experiment with it

Are you worried about the food spoiling, if it's left on for a prolonged period because you have an accident? That seems to be a valid concern. I could not find any incidents of one catching fire, though.

tom9980

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think one thing that worries me about leaving a SC on while I am not here is - what if I don't come back. Car break down, break a leg while out. There's nobody else coming home, or who could pop in and turn it off.

In the same vein, if anything happens to me and I am less mobile etc, then it'd be handy to still be able to have a variety of ways to cook easily/safely. So now's a good time to get one and experiment with it

You need a timer plug that will turn it off after x hours? Like this
Maybe you have one for those lamps already?

PasturesNew

tom9980 wrote: »

You need a timer plug that will turn it off after x hours? Like this
Maybe you have one for those lamps already?

It would really need a "once only" on/off timer, else it'd come on again

What if ... I got amnesia and didn't know/remember for a week who I was and where I lived?

tom9980

Who snores loudest my wife or my cat?

michaels

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

DQWD

DWs uncle turned up here having spent 2 days doing 1500km in a land cruiser of that vintage which didn't put a foot wrong. I would personally take the older vehicle on the grounds it is probably more easily fixed. Does the value at the end of the trip enter into the economics given that the financing costs are negligible?

I nudge the DW if she is snoring for her own benefit so that she won't have such a tired and grouchy DH the next morning.

CKhalvashi

michaels wrote: »

I would personally take the older vehicle on the grounds it is probably more easily fixed.

I was just about to say that.

My current car (and one before it) were notoriously unreliable, but the problems I've had (airbag deploying, handbrake stuck on at 70mph on the first one) were largely due to electrics, with the only mechanical fault being one I created.

I'd stay away from any of the Prado models, purely as while they're the same as the LC on the outside, they're mechanically VERY different. Original business partner had one, and most parts needed to be imported from Japan at £££.

Does the value at the end of the trip enter into the economics given that the financing costs are negligible?

It depends if you'd intend to keep the vehicle afterwards. I'd finish in Georgia and sell there (where car prices are a lot higher, as there's huge export market and low CIS-wide taxes), but unless you (ideally) speak the language and know how to get the vehicle officially temporarily imported (no import duty paid until vehicle is sold, which is useful if it goes to Turkey/Iran and using dealer plates), then don't bother IME.

I've woken up really not in the mood this morning