Since we will be travelling for six months we think this is a very important section. We will have a great truck and bunch of people and where we live, sleep and eat adds a huge amount to the enjoyment. We have used our years of experience and researched the options to make it as exciting and comfortable as possible. With a preference for free camping, small family run home stays and small hotels- most who now know us well and really look after us when we visit.

 

The accommodation

This will depend on where we are and what we are doing. This is an overland trip and so where possible, we camp. This may be in organised, serviced campsites or free camping wherever we choose. Expect to camp about 50% of the time. In most cities and large towns we will use a mix of comfortable small hotels, guest houses and home stays. This said, the quality of accommodation does vary, most is of good quality, but at times we have to do with what's available. Most people are pleasantly surprised at the quality of the accommodation we use.

Camping is our preferred choice as it allows us to keep our costs down and get off the beaten track. Free or bush camping has been seen as a highlight by past travellers. This is when we use the truck's self-sufficient design to get well off the beaten track and setup camp wherever we want. Imagine yourself high up in the stunning Himalayas near a local village where we get the chance to invite a couple of locals for dinner and begin to understand the local customs. Imagine camping in the vineyards of a Georgian family, or on the beach in Thailand. How about in a traditional yert with a Kyrgyzstan family? For many of the people we meet en route like this, we will be as much a novelty and a treat to them as they are to us.

Once you get used to camping and the way we set it all up it is a great way of living. The tents are large two person heavy duty expedition tents with heaps of room for two people and your kit. They are easy to put up and are designed for our type of expedition. Bring along a good roll mat and sleeping bag and you are ready to camp. Normally you can expect to camp for a couple of days and then have a night or two in a hotel, guest house or a homestay to enjoy. We also carry a set of small trekking tents to allow us to do overnight hikes and horse treks.

The hotels and homestays we stay in are normally on a twin sharing basis and in most cases will have their own en suite toilet facilities. We really try and support the smaller family run homestays, guest houses and hotels as this normally provides a truer experience and not a sanitized experience as you would find in the bigger hotels. Many of the hotels and guest houses have seen us coming back for years and really enjoy having us as their guests with many a local meal prepared for us in the family kitchen giving us a true taste of local food.

This said I am sure on our journey there will be a couple of shockers, but an adventure at times is best relived after the event. Past experience has been really positive with the free camping raved about by the most unlikely people. It's all a matter of how you do it!

 

The food

We believe the local food is a huge part of travelling and we love preparing the local ingredients and trying local specialities. We will try to eat local food wherever we go as once you know what to order or how to prepare the local fresh produce most places we are visiting offer amazing food. This could be around the campfire or a street side vendor to a speciality restaurant in some of the towns and cities. When staying with local country people they will cook local specialities for us. It’s all part of the experience as we live the country through their food. Hopefully you will return home with many new dishes that you have tasted and if interested learnt how to cook as well.

At times, the thought of bangers and mash, a Sunday roast or a veggie lasagne would go down a treat. No worries we will cook it up as we travel along. If you have a special dietary requirement, in most cases this will not be a problem and we will be able to serve a great selection from all the fresh supplies we will pickup en-route. We also stock the truck with a range of goodies before we leave the UK. Lastly don’t worry we don’t live off canned food but use the amazing fresh produce to cook great food. On past expeditions the food cooked while camping has been seen as better than many of the restaurants we are proud to say.

So who does the cooking when we are camping? Don't worry we won't throw you in at the deep end and expect an amazing 3 course meal for 20 people. We will be hands on here, the crew will do all the planning and shopping and lead the cooking. About once a week you will get your chance to help out as we cook up a storm with the amazing local ingredients, feel free to jump in anytime if you enjoy cooking. You get to hit the local markets and haggle for amazing fresh products. Find something interesting or different bring it back and let’s see what we can do with it. It’s all one great culinary adventure. In addition along the route we are sure to pick up some amazing Georgian wine, Russian beer and vodka, refreshing teas and all the other many speciality drinks of these countries we visit. Ever had the craving to drink fermented mares milk, yep that’s horse milk and is the drink of choice in Kyrgyzstan. As to the washing up, we all get to do our bit but we all muck-in and it's no major thing. The truck is well kitted out and makes cooking a pleasure!

A great quote
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.” James Michener

back to top