Last night I went to a bookstore to see Tony and Maureen Wheeler (the founders of Lonely Planet) speak. There weren't many people there, but the audience raptly followed the slideshow and trade-off narration. He'd narrate a slide, then she'd pick up with the next. They were old hats at the presentation. I'm sure they'd done it dozens of times since the book they were supporting--newly published in the US--has been out in many other parts of the world since 2005.
"Should I get the Lonely Planet book or the Bill Clinton autobiography?" I'd asked the young woman working in the upscale mall bookstore in Gaborone, Botswana two years ago. She'd smiled sweetly and pointed to the Clinton one. "He is very interesting."
Nevertheless, the weight of the Clinton autobiography sent me to the LP book. I was already carrying a huge backpack and a laptop. And probably a Lonely Planet guidebook to Southern Africa.
When the Wheelers finished their slideshow last night, I squeezed in a question about their participation in the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge, as they'd mentioned that the Mitsubishi they'd driven had cost $600.
"I thought cars had to cost less than a hundred pounds and preparations could only cost fifteen pounds," I said.
"They're more suggestions than rules," said Tony Wheeler.
Boy howdy. I'd dismissed the idea of driving in the rally after Anne-Marie had suggested it, because the last thing I want to do is be in a car that overheats once an hour in the Sahara Desert. Even my trusty Henry the 1990 Ford Taurus is a thousand-dollar-car, not a hundred-pound-car. And he gets cranky once in a while.
I'm not saying I'm driving in any rally. It's infinitely cheaper to take the bus to Banjul from the UK. But $600 seems less crazy that 100 pounds.
"We had one puncture in this $600 Mitsubishi," said Tony Wheeler. "That was it. Not one mechanical problem." And they'd sold it for more than twice what they'd bought it for, with all the money going to charity.
Maybe I should give this expedition a little more thought before ruling it out completely.
1 comment:
He's right. More suggestions than rules....
When I did the PDC / PBC my friend and I took a Citroen C15 van, of a 88 vintage. It cost us £295, so just under $600 by today's exchange rate. Incidentally the friend was a London based LP employee, so Tony knows of her exploits and grilled her before this trip...
However, when I did the T4 last year, we took an 87 Ford Fiesta. Which cost us £0 as it was free. It was detsined for scrap so we took it, gave it a new battery (£23) and a new alternator (£55) and then spent something like a further £8.79 on spares before we left. But this time round I had the benefit of being partnered by Rich, who knows his way round cars a little better than either Clarry or I did the year before.
Then when you get to the other end the cars get sold to a local at a charity auction.
And if you want to feel even better about it, I see it as a form of advanced recycling. Yes, they are older cars and less efficient etc but on the other hand, cars otherwise destined for scrap are kept alive for people who cannot afford new cars. Enabling plenty of Gambians to run taxis or use their cars for business in other ways.
But most of all it's one big adventure.
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