Overland Trip Part 1

TWO FAMILIES ONE AMBITION In this new travel series we meet two amazing Swedish families who see overlanding with children as inspiring as well as being the adventure of a lifetime

PLANNING A dream overland vacation is one thing when you are a couple or friends, planning a year-long trip across half the world by Land Rover with four children is another. This is the story of the beginning of two families’ dream adventure to cross the world from Sweden to Australia in a pair of Defenders. ON A map it looked quite simple – writes RICHARD POSKITT – a long way, but many others have done similar routes… how hard can it be to just get in the car and go? We set about researching other people’s travels and quite quickly discovered things such as the Carnet de Passage, the nightmare of shipping, the equipment needed, and also the cost. The list of equipment other people had taken was daunting: extreme water purifiers, extra fuel tanks and sand ladders. We looked, at the cost of some of this plus the insurance we would need and of the Carnet itself. Shocked and disheartened we reconsidered the trip as a whole. We toyed with the idea that we could backpack – but that is not so easy with small children. We all felt that to make life for our children as normal as possible we needed to travel with our own vehicles and in our own time with a few comforts that would make travel lighter on the kids – after all, it would be a year away from home. We felt that it was something that

by Richard Poskitt & Pia Harell Poznic

we could do and should do, not only to have a vacation of a lifetime, but to also inspire other families to do the same. ‘Adventurefamily’ was born. We had discovered in our research that planning and preparation was half of the trip and, allegedly, half the fun too. We had two vehicles already, a 1971 Dormobile and a 1991 Discovery. We thought we were set – a little modification to the luggage section and a roofrack with tent and we are there.

organising, reorganising... Above: Test camp Sweden. Trying out the Webasto heaters in -15ºC. Below left: On-board gadgets. Main: Beach camp in Nin, Croatia. Note the heating duct going into the roof tent.

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Building up the vehicles started in my work’s workshop with lots of heated discussions on what would be the best solutions. Lina and Pia became pregnant again and Milan and Pia decided that the Dormobile was not going to be quite the vehicle to travel in with two children, so they replaced it with a 1998 300Tdi Defender 130. Next problem was exactly when

to go. We wanted to get the best weather while we travelled and this meant we should leave Sweden in the late summer. Milan and Pia had to finish their PhDs and Lina and I had to get a year off from our jobs. This would put the leaving date at the beginning of 2008 and not the summer of 2007 as originally hoped. Knowing this would be the offseason in most of Europe and cold sleeping in the roof tents, we had to think a little further. It would not be the best weather while we travelled but Milan had discovered the great idea of connecting up a Webasto heater into the roof tent and, with the extended thermostat option, we could have warmth in the coldest climates. On one of our many evening planning meetings we started to plan our route in more detail. We looked at back-up plans as certain areas were a bit volatile, such as Pakistan, Iran, Tibet and Nepal. With time getting shorter we split the jobs up in a sort of military style and this has worked well. Pia in charge of navigation and main route planning, Lina in control of medical issues, Milan the mechanic and I the communications, visas and documents. After a number of brief trial camping trips and organising and reorganising our packing lists, we were thinking all was finally getting

under control. It was at this point the Discovery’s engine finally died. Irritated and in no position to find the time to fix it, we decided we should look for a new home! So, in November 2007, off to the UK I went with Milan. After two days driving around the UK, an ex-military police 1998 300Tdi Defender 110 Station Wagon was found and brought back to Sweden.

ready to go?

The last few months proved to be very busy with the last of the vehicle fixings, getting the finance ready for the Carnet and all the documents we needed to copy and fill out. The Defenders were prepared for the trip with all of the equipment added, fridges, convertors, extra lights and batteries, water tanks with pump and purifier, heavy duty suspension, BF Goodrich tyres, compressors and so on. Finally a bit of armour was added along with a complete service and timing belt change. We stuck the roof tents back on after the winter and the vehicles were ready. We organised the Carnet de Passage through the RAC in the UK since the Swedish equivalent did not offer the insurance indemnity policy, thus saving us a huge deposit, as well as the fact that the 110 still had British number

plates and therefore was impossible to get issued a Swedish Carnet. Next came the selling of our apartment and the hunt for someone to rent Pia and Milan’s. With this all organised we finalised our packing lists; the medical box and the toy box were to be the most complicated. What toys and what medical stuff should we take? Toys are always fun to buy en route but some basic educational play things would be a good idea to bring for older ones. We had completed our vast vaccination list. Lina and Pia had undergone a course in first aid and how to deal with emergencies. February came, Lina and I had finished our jobs and Milan finished his PhD. We were as ready as we were going to be. On the morning of February 10, 2008 in the middle of Stockholm, we gathered in the central park with a little brass band playing a tune they had written for Pia and Milan’s wedding. Our sponsors came and checked the equipment. There were

Above left: Exhibition in central Stockholm. Above right: Luka waiting for breakfast in northern Greece. Below right: Oliver looking out from the roof tent.

tears from family members who were only just realising that we were really going to leave. Lots of photos and our documentary film crew pushing cameras in people’s faces. It was emotional but the time had come to go. We drove out of Stockholm for a while in silence, leaving our friends and family behind, as well as a Primus mug that had fallen off Pia and Milan’s bonnet – finally the trip had begun.

Pia takes up the story:

Richard and Lina Poskitt, Tuvalie (4), Oliver (2), Milan and Pia Harell Poznic, Luka (4), Tanja (2),

GERMANY – autobahn, grey, humid. Anyone up for a camp? Well, maybe not. But since it was the first night, we felt we should. Both vehicles have a diesel heater that reaches up to the roof tents, so it should still be pretty comfortable. Lina and Richard have a hose simply leading from the heater through the floor of the back and up into one of the tent doors. We have made a hole for the hose in the side of the car underneath the back left door as well as in the floor of the tent. It gets warm and cosy in the tent. We only stayed one more night in Germany, south of Berlin, before heading towards the Czech Republic. Despite the up and downs of the Alps and the weight of the Defenders, both only consumed one litre per ten kilometres. Strangely enough, they seem to consume almost exactly the same at all times. Since diesel in many of the countries we will stay in is expensive, it is a relief.

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Handling is not that bad either. I would expect it to be much less stable fully loaded, but it runs surprisingly well through the bends. In the morning we fixed the puncture on our Defender we had picked-up since we balanced the tyres in Gothenburg. The guy in the workshop did it for free since he liked our way of travelling with kids (at least that is what he said, maybe he just thought we were strange and felt sorry for the kids having to live in a tent). After fixing the puncture we headed for the Croatian coast passing through Slovenia in a day. We aimed for Krk, a beautiful island we had been to before. We had forgotten that there was a two-hour drive to the nice part of the island. The twisting roads might be really nice to drive fast on if you have any kind of sports car or, in fact, anything but a Land Rover. So, no stress… Very late, we arrived at a nice spot by the sea. The thermometer was well below zero as we stood on the shore drinking soup under the stars. In the morning we woke to an astonishing place and Tanja was the first one to take a swim. We spent one more night on the Croatian coast, on a beach near a village called Nin. The feeling we had, sitting in a warm winter jacket with a glass of wine chatting about the adventures to come, was hard to beat. We would have liked it to be a little bit warmer though. As we entered into Montenegro the shore changed from man-made beaches with either concrete, sharp stones or sand which had been transported there, into picturesque small beaches with stones as smooth as silk from being worn by the waves of the Adriatic Sea for centuries. The black, massive mountains meet the shore at an almost vertical angle and the road makes its way along the sides. It is really beautiful and might have been taken out of a tourist brochure. The impression, just looking out of the Land Rover window, is that people are more relaxed here; everything is less organised. Croatia feels a bit like Germany compared to Montenegro. The sea is the same but the environment makes it more welcoming. It is less like home, but I feel more at home. Richard and Lina wanted to fix an annoying ‘clonk’ from the rear suspension while we were in Montenegro. Even though he speaks the language, Milan did not manage to convince the guys in the workshop to do the job. Too much

Howling Moon Tourer roof tent Primus BiFrost H6 Ground tent Primus kitchen equipment Awnings and camping lighting by Primus Pentax K10D digital system camera IBM Lenovo z61m Laptop with external drive. Webasto 3500 diesel heater with roof tent extension pipes Optima yellow top batteries (four in each car) Compact Honda generator Converter: 12v to 220v Peli cases for almost everything Suunto watches Zodiac hand held and fixed radio communications Thuraya satellite phone Waeco fridge and air-condioning Lightforce extra lights Vehicle traking by FYM and Info24 with online mapping in almost real time VDO Dayton DVD/MP3 Stereo Radio Old Man Emu suspension kit and steering damper Patriot roofrack BF Goodrich 235/85 tyres Magellan Crossover GPS and hand held GPS Touratech mapping software with USB GPS units Wolf boxes Nature Pure Water purifier Sand ladders Mobile Storage Systems window bars and safe Nudge bars, steering and diff guards. HiLift jack ViAir compressor Many head lamps by Primus Main: Ready to set up a camp by a beautiful lake in Greece. Above left: Milan’s uncle’s garden in Kolasin, Montenegro. Above right: Hard working Montenegroans. Below: On the way to Kolasin.

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like hard work it seemed. We did get the brake pads changed on both cars however, and that took most of the morning including a few pauses for smoking. And then they only changed the rear brakes. It’s not that they are unfriendly – they simply don’t like work. The ‘clonk’ remained to be fixed later, hopefully at a time we decide and not on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere.

family in Montenegro

Setting off to visit some of Milan’s relatives, we took the road to Kolašin, by far the most spectacular road I’ve driven. Enormous mountains rise on both sides. It follows the river, disappearing into tunnels built ages ago, and climbs up the sides of the black mountain. This part of the road is called the road of death and many lives have been lost on every bend – and there are many bends. Far up in the mountains, at the top of a road inaccessible to an ordinary car, the landscape opens up. A dog was barking welcoming us and two cows were eating grass in a small barn. This is where the family lives, high in the mountains and, for the first time, we engaged low gear. All their food comes from the

farm house. The wife milks the cows, makes her own yoghurt and cheese, they have their own barn to smoke meat and, of course, a place to produce the Slivovica (Yugoslavian brandy). Making your own Slivovica is important. Plum trees, from which they use the plums to make this popular spirit, are the only growing trees on the grounds. Richard and Milan were given a taste of this home-produced strong drink as soon as we entered the house. We wives and kids got given a glass of juice each. After giving them a hint, tasting some from our husband’s glasses, we too got some Slivovica. After the welcoming we were shown the place to camp. Their grounds and the surroundings are really beautiful. From our roof tent we had an amazing view over the mountains. We spent two nights in the mountains enjoying the hospitality and the home-cooked food before we decided to move on to Macedonia through Albania, which we were told was possible to cross in a day. We wanted to pass through Albania in one day and avoid staying the night, since we had heard that it is not safe for Serbs (which Milan is).

Due to the building of a tunnel we had to start early in the morning in order to drive the whole distance. But the 110 would not start because of an electrical problem draining the batteries, so when we finally got on the road again it was too late for Albania. We stayed one more night on a nice beach in Montenegro. The fact that Albania is Europe’s poorest country soon becomes clear. There is rubbish everywhere. Montenegro is dirty, but nowhere near as dirty as Albania. You get the impression that the people have simply settled down on a piece of ground, but no one has responsibility for anything. Richard and Lina said the villages reminded them of the villages they had lived in Africa. Outside the towns the houses were built in no order at all and often painted in bright yellow and green colours, mostly in combination. Villages with room for many people stood newly built but empty. Almost all cars are Mercedes – the only ones that can manage the roads with any comfort. We spotted no Land Rovers at all, which probably explains the attention we got driving through the villages. When we left the country for Macedonia we all agreed that,

despite the fast drive through, it had been the biggest cultural difference so far. It is as if we had left Europe for a short time. Close to the border there is a lake called Ohridska Jezero which is part of UNESCO World Heritage. We stayed in Ohrid and spent a day strolling around the city and the next day we went to look at an old monastery half-an-hour drive from the city. We asked where to eat cheap and traditional food and got directions to a village not far away.

further East

As we entered the small picturesque village in our Land Rovers a few locals gathered around the cars. After speaking with them for a while we ended up with an old couple in front of their brewery where the husband made Slivovica. He was serving us straight from the tap while his wife was serving us pickled peppers of different strengths (here even me and Lina got to taste). The fish restaurant we were shown, lay just by the water and without our knowledge the locals had reserved the nicest table for us. What a view! It was a beautiful place. We stayed for three nights but Turkey was enticing us ever closer. We just had

Above left: Albanian balconies. Above right: Pickled peppers and Slivovica in Macedonia. Inset: Tuvalie resting after a long day’s drive.

to pass through Greece first. We wanted to enjoy the warm and sunny Greek weather and, after being in the city, it was so nice to make camp – we had all missed the camping life. We also took the time to check the oil level in the axles and gearboxes. We asked at a petrol station where to go next and were told to go to Chalkidiki, the coast. Thinking of it now, it was pretty stupid. We wanted to get to Turkey as soon as possible and it took us at least four hours to drive 50 kilometres on foggy, curvy and steep roads. The weight of the vehicles, especially the load on the roof, sometimes made it bit tricky. But, everything is an experience. The Landies have been great so far and we have had very little problem. One night in Alexandroupolis, then we are off to Turkey. We had already booked three nights in a youth hostel in Istanbul where we need get visas for Iran – something which we never had time to fix in Sweden. Next month, Adventure Family discover Turkey – the country where west meets east – and the real adventure starts. Check out their website LRM at www.adventurefamily.se

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