Ending Point: N50°06 E19°93
Distance Traveled: 449.5 miles
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For some reason late nights seem to be followed by early mornings, and we got up in time to see the massive Klenová Castle campground strewn with tents, sleeping bodies, and Rally cars everywhere. Breakfast was lacking, the toilets were in poor shape, and the drinking water tanks had run dry; but that’s what happens when the Adventurists invade the ruins of a castle that was built in 1291. While walking around Chase wandered into the camp of the PhilieasFog Reformers, and was quickly reminded that Charla had committed us to going to Poland today. Poland? Well, OK then, Poland it is. About five minutes before departure, the Long Time No Sea girls decided that Poland sounded fun too, and they jumped in their car to convoy. After a day of driving, and a day of GPS giving faulty directions to the lead car, we finally all rolled into Krakow hungry and cranky. After checking into Hostel Barok, it was time to tackle the city. Andrew, one of PhileasFog’s team members was Polish, and he was a great tour guide and translator for the entire group. We went straight to Krakow’s Main Square, the largest medieval town square in Europe, for a delicious dinner. The night started out very relaxed, but Andrew decided that since we were in Poland we needed a traditional Polish evening, so we headed to Do Zjedzenia. Do Zjedzenia is a bar that calls out to Krakow’s past; it’s more commonly just called The Communist Bar. The walls are covered in old newspapers, they have more vodkas than one can imagine, the bartenders are stern and slow-moving old women, and everything costs €1. We were having too much fun at the Communist bar, and we were shushed numerous times, but it was still a great night. Starting Point: N49°19 E13°13
Ending Point: N50°06 E19°93 Distance Traveled: 449.5 miles
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We woke up early, thanks in part to the sounds of the road nearby and to Jared and Duncan for shaking our tent. Getting up early put us on the road in the soft light of the morning, and we were able to enjoy the landscape a bit more than the night before when we were trying to find a camping spot. We didn’t drive too long though, as we were nearing the border of Luxembourg and wanted authentic Belgian waffles for breakfast. (Who’s heard of Luxembourgian waffles?) We found Café Melba in the main square of Bastogne, the perfect answer to our waffle desires. Though Chase liked his double waffle with fresh cream, Charla, Duncan, and Jared clearly chose the best option of a cappuccino and a waffle with fresh cream and fresh fruit. In Bastogne, we were just a few miles from Luxembourg, so our first international border crossing of the day was an easy one. Getting out of Luxembourg, however, proved to be much more of a challenge. The route we planned was simple—cutting across northern Luxembourg and then into Germany—but part of that road was closed. And, so was every other road we attempted to take to get back on that road. Two hours later, we found the German border, got on the autobahn, and headed east. Somewhere in the process of getting on the autobahn, we lost the kiwis (they made it to the castle two hours before us…). Again, a simple route proved to be the most difficult. An accident 5-10 kilometers ahead of us shut down the entire six-lane highway. We sat, and we inched forward. As the inching slowed, another Rally car approached! That’s how we met the Phileasfog Reformers! There’s not exactly tons of entertainment sitting on a major highway on a hot day. We listened to the stories of the man trying to get home for his own birthday party with his girlfriend (she was not a happy camper/didn’t believe he was stuck in traffic). We attempted to get the van full of British lads to come hang out with us. Then, Justin busted out a deck of Uno cards. We had to move the car forward a couple times, which helped us to finally discover a use for our cassette tape deck! It’s a perfect Uno cardholder! Then, just as the birthday boy told us would happen, the highway started moving again around 4:00 PM, two hours after we stopped. Once the autobahn opened, it was a straight shot for us to the Czech border and on closer to the party. We turned off the highway for a possible shortcut, though we’re starting to learn that perhaps the long way is the faster one. We drove through the scenic villages of Stod and Merklin before finding ourselves a little lost under a canopy road. Luckily, there was a Czech couple out for their evening walk. They looked at our map and discussed something, then started giving directions, of which we caught the words “Oplot” and “Presice.” With a flourish, he ultimately declared in English “LEFT!” Now, we didn’t take a left turn at all, but we were able to navigate back to the main road and on to Klatovy using his directions. Once in Klatovy, we realized the castle wasn’t actually located in the city. A giant map board helped us out after a bit of driving around. Stoked to know where we were going, we headed back through the city and noticed four Rally cars whirling around a roundabout. We jumped in with them, and after a pow wow with our friends of Ulaanbat-Tartan, took the lead to Klenova Castle. With the last flecks of daylight illuminating our drive, we led the caravan into the castle! A feast and party were waiting. Today’s lesson: A journey of a thousand miles always starts with someone saying, “Hey, I know a shortcut.” Starting Point: N50°10 E05°22
Ending Point: N49°19 E13°13 Distance Traveled: 513.9 miles We had been thinking about this day for months, maybe even years: the start of the Mongol Rally! It was really happening! The morning was a blur of packing up, stickering, networking, and eating breakfast sandwiches. Then, everyone came together for a series of announcements and an awards ceremony. There were the expected awards like for best-outfitted car and most money raised for charity. The most memorable award was for the over-prepared car; the prize was a large golden TV to take with them on their roof rack. Following the ceremony, there was the traditional joust in front of the castle with two men on horseback and then a less traditional joust with one man on horseback and one on top of a car. The knight on horseback won… Perhaps an omen for the Rally? We hope not. After the ceremony and much anticipation, we finally rolled up the starting platform. No one could forget our start. We were the only team to stall three times getting up the ramp! We lived up to British stereotypes of Americans in that moment, but at least we were memorable, though perhaps less so than the team that had a mother get on the microphone to say goodbye. Leaving Bodiam, we followed Scarlett and Tom to Dover—a short hour-long drive full of Rally cars. At the ferry terminal, we accidentally separated from our navigators as we tried to pick up our tickets at the wrong building. The day changed from there, as we couldn’t possibly meet up with them in Frankfurt, Germany, at a pub whose name we didn’t know. We were lucky, however, to get on an earlier ferry to Calais with lots of other Ralliers. In the waiting lanes for the boat, we met Duncan and Jared from New Zealand and decided to aim for Luxembourg for the night. On board, we solidified our plans as we watched the white cliffs of Dover disappear into the distance. Just before leaving the ferry, we met Dick (we individually commented on his nice car) and he gave us better direction for the afternoon. We landed in France and met the Kiwis at the Calais Wine Superstore just outside the dock. The drive through France was beautiful and easy, until we were stopped in traffic for an hour, and then the drive through Belgium was almost as nice despite the change in road surface quality. Our delay in traffic put us behind in our plan for Luxembourg, so we found a camping spot in Belgium for the night and made some dinner while enjoying Belgian beers. Starting Point: N50°49 W00°18
Ending Point: N50°10 E05°22 Distance Traveled: 254.1 miles We started out our day by stopping in Scolfe’s Tea Room in Boreham Street. Charla had been hoping for a proper English cream tea for days, and we had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to enjoy it. Finally, on the last day before the Rally, we found the pleasant little tea room, dating to 1392; we were the youngest people in the tea room by decades, and the chatter around the room was how these two young Americans wandered into this village team room. Oh, and the cream tea was delicious! After tea, it was time to hit the road. The website for our camp spot had said they were 8 kilometers from Bodiam Castle, and the man in the pub had told us we were 12 kilometers from Bodiam, but in reality it took about an hour of driving to get from Boreham Street to Bodiam; from what people tell us, this is a pretty typical experience for driving in the Mongol Rally. When we finally arrived at Bodiam Castle and drove under the giant Mongol Rally arch, reality began to set in: here we are with a couple hundred other small cars, about to drive from this castle in rural England all the way to urban Mongolia. After all the months of dreaming and planning and hard work, here we were with hundreds of other people equally nervous and excited about this grand adventure. First we checked out the registration tent and started stickering our Panda with the official Mongol Rally stickers; from there, it was off to explore, check out the cars, and meet the other teams! We were introduced to so many people the day was a blur of names and faces. There was the big American team from Arkansas in a tinier car than us, there was the Norwegian Mongol Kart team, the two Scottish guys riding on motorbikes, the man dressed as a chicken, the team wearing only Speedos, and tons more. As the day stretched into evening we actually began to connect with other teams, and realized that we were partaking on this adventure with some pretty cool people! Though the dinner was less than exciting, the post dinner shenanigans proved to be fun. We had spent all afternoon parked in a staging area below Bodiam Castle, built in 1385. By the evening time, the organizers moved us all into the castle for an evening of medieval revelry. The castle was full of wenches pouring cups of mead for all who desired, and there were knights running around the castle sword-fighting whenever they could get the crowds’ attention. Juxtaposed to the medieval chaos, an orchestra was also performing lovely music throughout the evening for us in the castle courtyard. By climbing up the turrets, one could get both an amazing view of the surrounding English countryside and a hilarious bird’s-eye view of the party below. We met back up with Team Innocents Abroad from last night, and also met the girls from Team Long Time No Sea; we loved hanging out with the kilt-wearing Scottish brothers from Ulaanbaatartan, and the B-Team seemed to have it all together with a mechanic and a nurse on the team. The Launch Party was a great introduction to the Mongol Rally, and a great way to see what kind of craziness we were about to embark upon!
Today we spent the afternoon taking in some of Trieste’s history by visiting the Civico Museo del Castello di San Giusto, or the Castle of San Giusto. The castle is built on one of the highest points in the city, not far from the water, and was a strategic point for defending the port. With such a location the walk up and down through the steep hills certainly counted for our cardio for the day. Built over the remains of a previous castle, construction on this castle was started in the 1400s. The views from the castle were amazing looking over the city, and its use as a defensive post was very clear. Furthermore, the castle’s armory was filled with centuries-old swords, guns, and assorted weapons that were fascinating to examine. Our evening began with a look into Trieste’s more recent history, as we attended a performance at the Teatro Verdi--1913 Trieste a Teatro, put on to celebrate a hundred years of opera in Trieste and the opening of the theater’s exhibit at the Civico Museo Teatrale “Carlo Schmidl.” The Teatro Verdi is like a small version of La Scala in Milan, and we were lucky to have great seats with other Joyce School students. After the opera, we met up with everyone involved with the Joyce School for a farewell dinner at L’Antico Panada hosted by Irish ambassador Patrick Hennessy. It was a full Italian dinner of many courses, which provided lots of time for great conversation with our friends from the week.
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