Although in this day and age we are just as likely to get mugged in London as we are in Lima, the fact is we’ll be travelling through some desperately poor countries where our appearance alone will present us as wealthy, affluent foreigners (despite us probably looking more effluent than affluent). We’ve prepared ourselves as well as we can in terms of security of our possessions but our personal safety is also a prime consideration. Avoidance is always key; don’t wander in dodgy parts of towns and cities alone late at night, don’t display valuables, be careful at ATM machines etc.
However, even with preventative measures in place, there is still a risk there that can’t be ignored and to help us be prepared for this extreme scenario we enlisted the help of Trevor Leech and Sean Murphy of Jujitsu Guernsey. Trevor and Sean are a 5th and 4th Dan respectively, with over 55 year’s joint experience in Jujitsu, a Japanese art of weapon less fighting. They are affiliated with the United Martial Arts International Guild and World Budo Kai. With limited time, they taught us the fundamental basics of responding to a personal attack. The focus was on breaking free from the hold of an assailant to allow us to run away fast from any potentially threatening situation. They taught us that an attacker never expects their victim to react in a fast, targeted manner so with this element of surprise you are already altering the balance of control. Self defence is about moving in such a way that makes it difficult for an attacker to maintain their grip or hold on you, in addition to possibly striking a sensitive part of their body. No matter what the size or strength of an aggressor, you can cause sudden pain by striking their nose, eyes or groin. If grabbed from behind, a sharp slide down the shin with your heel in addition to stamping on their foot will cause enough pain for them to loosen or release their hold on you, providing an opportunity for escape. Even if pinned down on the ground with your hands held tight either side of your head, a fast ‘snow angel’ downwards movement of your arms shifts the assailant’s centre of balance forwards allowing you to knee them forwards and momentarily incapacitate them. Although the focus is not on fighting, we did practice punching effectively (ie not like a girl with your thumb inside your fist). We were both told we pack a mean punch! We are enormously grateful to Trevor and Sean who freely gave their time to demonstrate and educate us in some basic self-defence. We plan to practice these techniques regularly so the response becomes second nature. The bottom line is that is someone wants your wallet or your camera and they're pointing a gun or a knife at you, you give it to them. No question. This knowledge is absolutely for the worst case scenario but should it arise we will be equipped with the vital skills. If the ‘bear hug’ from behind is from an actual bear let’s hope the same moves apply! Emma
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This week we visited St Sampson’s Secondary School to chat to Ms Henry’s Year 8 Geography class about our upcoming travels. Hopefully it made an interesting change to their normal Geography lesson; we showed them our planned route and some of the places we were hoping to visit. We tackled some stereotypes with some of the countries on our itinerary and explained why we were embarking upon such an ambitious project. We were very impressed with the student’s global knowledge and received a few good suggestions about carrying spare tyres and pulling the ladder up into our tent at night! We were also advised to carry a knife (its tough growing up on the streets of Guernsey these days). We also wanted to encourage the pupils to work hard in order to achieve their ambitions; with determination and commitment even the ‘craziest’ of plans can be accomplished!
After a slide presentation, we took the class out to the school car park where Bee-Bee was parked; we popped up the roof tent and Andy explained about all the modifications that have turned her into the expedition-ready vehicle she is today. There was a lot of interest in our multi-iPod ‘control panel’ and how loud we would be able to blast out tunes in the middle of a tranquil wilderness. The most popular question was “where do you poo?” (...the answer to this may have lost us a few potential overlanding converts). From feedback we received afterwards we may have inspired a couple of future adventurers... Emma We asked Karl Pilkington to be a Patron for our trip...Unfortunately he said "Why would I want to do that, travellin's rubbish". Instead he gave us a signed DVD to auction off to raise some monies for our chosen charities. CLICK HERE then leave your bids as a comment, highest wins, Auction ends Friday 20th at 6:30pm. Enjoy.
http://www.facebook.com/aroundtheworldin800days Andy Sir Ranulph Fiennes is commonly recognised as “the world’s greatest living explorer”. A title awarded to him by The Guinness Book of Records back in 1984, since then he has broken many more world records and led many more expeditions to remote regions. He is the only man alive EVER to have travelled around the Earth's circumpolar surface (more people have been to the Moon). In 2003, only a few months after a massive heart attack, 3-day coma and double bypass, Ranulph Fiennes (with Mike Stroud) achieved the first 7x7x7 (seven marathons in seven consecutive days on all seven continents)… And, if that wasn’t enough his expeditions have raised over £14 million for UK charities.
The above-mentioned feats are just the tip of the iceberg, please visit his website and learn more about this incredibly inspirational man. It is an honour to be able to print such a gratifying quote from someone so astounding; Emma and I can only strive to be as awesome as he is. Thank you Sir Ranulph http://www.ranulphfiennes.co.uk/ We leave in 34 days and counting!
We’ve sold almost all our possessions and could put a sizable deposit down on a house if we wanted. The rough route of our trip is 103,000 km or 64,001 miles. One mile on the road = 0.25p We will produce 62% LESS CO2 per day than going about our daily lives in Guernsey We will pass through 39 countries. We will cross the equator 5 times. Most expensive place to buy diesel is Norway £1.52 a litre. The cheapest place to buy diesel is Iran 3p a litre. We will drive through 6 continents (Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, North America and Africa) We will cross the Arctic Circle. We've approached over 150 sponsors and all (but one) have said NO. I've had 10 injections and two 'special' drinks of vaccinations for the countries we will visit. Andy Someone once told me I was a quitter, well today I quit my job and it feels great. With quitting my job comes the realisation that what we have been planning for the last year and a half is finally coming to fruition: in just 43 days Emma and I will embark on our adventure of a lifetime. It is glaringly apparent that we still have a lot of work to do; the lists are longer than ever and every woken minute is spent thinking about the trip. For me the planning and preparation are half the experience and I have loved every minute of it. Now that both our work places know we are leaving we can seriously step up our promotional media and hopefully get some last minute local sponsorship; although I’m not holding out much hope. Of the 150+ local companies we approached only 4 had the courtesy to even reply with an answer (incidentally all said ‘No’). If anyone is interested in sponsoring us, you can download our local sponsorship pack below. Andy
This weekend saw much progress in our logistics and packing. Our equipment acquired until now was packed into our new ‘Wolf Boxes’ to get an idea of how much (or how little) space we still have and how everything will fit into the back of Bee-Bee in some kind of ‘Toyota Tetris’. We have identified all the equipment items that we still need to source and purchase (the lists and spreadsheets detailing this reach new anally-retentive organisational highs). The interior of the back has been carpeted; it took Andy several hours which may have been a result of the super potent epoxy he was using (he looked a little dazed afterwards). The storage drawers are securely fixed and the fridge mounted on a sliding shelf from the rear. We have spent our first night sleeping in the roof tent... OK, it was only parked on the drive and we had to go to work in the morning but it got the expedition butterflies fluttering...
Emma There are few monumentous milestones in our lives; our first words, our first steps, first day at school, first time we ride a bike, first kiss, our first car, first day in a new job... For round-the-world adventurers those first shaky steps up a ladder into what will be our home for 2 years, 2 months and 9 days will always be treasured.
Our roof tent was surprisingly easy to set up; two clips at the front and one at the back and it ascends into position on hydraulic arms. Inside is surprisingly Tardis-like; we can sit fully upright and have around the same space as a double bed. The tent comes complete with a comfortable mattress and pillows and is roomy enough when closed to store a duvet and sleeping bags. There is a built-in light in the ceiling and various fabric pockets and an overhead cargo net to store essentials. This really can be a room with a view (or several)... 3 of the sides have doors which roll up completely and the front end has a semi-circular window. For those hot, tropical nights, each opening has a mosquito netting flap which can be zipped up to fend off blood-sucking invertebrates. Although our test-run was on the cliff top at the southern point of Guernsey, lying there we could imagine gazing out across snow-capped mountains, palm-fringed beaches and tranquil lakeside’s. For our global journey, this is Home Sweet Home. Emma Over the last couple of weeks we have been really busy working on and ordering things for our adventure. It’s been exceptionally exciting to return home after a drab day at work to discover huge parcels containing adventure goodies.
Our home for the next two years has arrived, our roof tent of choice is a Maggiolina Airtop; this should offer enough protection from the elements whilst still being practical enough for daily use. Our possessions inside the car will be equally protected inside Flatdog Wolf Boxes; which are a great cheaper alternative to the many more expensive boxes that are available. We have also purchased our new wheels and tyres; we have chosen to replace the impractical, but incredibly cool looking 33 x 12.5 fatties on alloy rims with more sensible 265/70 R16 BF Goodrich A/T’s on steel rims. These new tyres have a much stronger sidewall and can handle all the extra weight we will be carrying. This size tyre is also readily available anywhere around the world whilst the 33 x 12.5’s are tough to come by. Our food and drinks will be nicely chilled inside our Waeco CF-40 fridge freezer whilst the Coleman Duel Fuel stove takes care of the other end of the temperature spectrum. The car will also be fitted with a Bushranger hot water shower, so we can keep nice and clean(ish), that we purchased from the lovely people at Taubenreuther. All our auxiliary electrical goodies are going to be powered by an Odyssey PC1500 battery, which provides a unique combination of deep-cycle and high-current performance. This ‘house’ battery is isolated from the car batteries leaving the fridge, camp lights to run all night without flattening the starter batteries; It can also act as a jumper battery if the starter batteries fail. We have slowly been buying various ‘soft’ items too, clothing, sleeping bags, bedding etc. We have been well impressed with the quality of Berghaus clothing and are totally loving our –10 °C sleeping bags; although judging by the weather in the UK this week we might need a few blankets too. Andy |
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