I am sure some of you have been waiting just as anxiously for our trucks to arrive in Buenos Aires as we have. Jeg er sikker på, at nogle af jer har ventet lige så ængsteligt for vores lastbiler, der ankommer til Buenos Aires som vi har. We finally have an “estimated” time of arrive and that is the 21st of August. Vi har endelig fået en "anslået" tidspunkt ankommer, og det er den 21 august. Hopefully the ship will arrive as scheduled because it looks like Argentina is going to be a bit of a challenge in terms of getting the Toyotas unloaded from the vessel, unpacked from the container and cleared through customs. Forhåbentlig skibet vil ankomme som planlagt, fordi det ser ud til, at Argentina vil være lidt af en udfordring i form af få Toyotas losset fra båden, uemballeret fra beholderen og clearet gennem skikke.

The Toyotas are in there somewhere De Toyotas er der et eller andet sted

The first quote we received to “assist” us in completing these tasks in Buenos Aires was over $2,000! Det første citat, vi modtog til at "hjælpe" os med at afslutte disse opgaver i Buenos Aires var over $ 2000! Considering the entire shipment over there only cost around $4,000, we kindly told them “no gracias!” Hopefully we will be able to find a freight forwarding agent and customs broker for a much more reasonable price, but as we have experienced before, sometimes you are at the mercy of other people in strange and foreign lands. I betragtning af hele forsendelsen derovre kun koste omkring $ 4000, vi venligt fortalt dem "no gracias!" Forhåbentlig vil vi være i stand til at finde en fragt speditør og skikke mægler for en langt mere rimelig pris, men som vi har oplevet før, nogle gange er prisgivet andre mennesker i mærkelige og fremmede lande. On thing is on our side and that is with all of the border crossings and customs BS we have been through over the last year and a half, Steve and I have been able to develop some pretty persuasive mind control techniques, so we can always hope to pull a few Jedi mind tricks of our own on some unsuspecting officials at the port if it comes down to it. På ting er på vores side, og det er med alle de grænseovergange og skikke BS vi har været igennem i løbet af de sidste halvandet år, Steve og jeg har været i stand til at udvikle nogle ret overbevisende tankerne kontrol teknikker, så vi kan altid håbe at trække et par Jedi Mind Tricks af vores egne på nogle intetanende ansatte i havnen, hvis det kommer til stykket.

We are all looking very much forward to starting the last segment of this expedition and we have a great crew joining us in Buenos Aires. Vi er alle ser meget frem til at starte den sidste del af denne ekspedition, og vi har en stor besætning slutter sig til os i Buenos Aires. Some of new crew member bios are already up on the website and a few more will come shortly. Nogle af nye besætningsmedlem bios er allerede op på hjemmesiden og et par mere vil komme snart. One thing is for sure, the adventures are still far from over! En ting er sikker på, de eventyr er stadig langt fra slut!

When it comes to shipping our trucks overseas, it definitely ranks high among the least desirable activities associated with our expedition. Når det kommer til skibsfarten vores lastbiler i udlandet, er det absolut rangerer højt blandt de mindst ønskelige aktiviteter i forbindelse med vores ekspedition. I would even go as far as to say that it is the worst part of driving around the world. Jeg vil endda gå så langt som at sige, at det er den værste del af kørslen rundt om i verden. You would think that after doing it three times on three different continents, the entire process would get easier, however, nothing could be further from reality. Man skulle tro at efter gør det tre gange på tre forskellige kontinenter, hele processen ville blive lettere, Men intet kunne være fjernere fra virkeligheden. Currently, the trucks are somewhere in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean on their way to Buenos Aires, having left the port of Cape Town a week ago… we think. I øjeblikket er lastbiler er et sted midt i det sydlige Atlanterhav på vej til Buenos Aires, der har forladt en havn i Cape Town for en uge siden… vi tror. The fact of the matter is, the shipping industry is so far from being streamlined and staffed by people who do not know the answers to your questions that the trucks could be on their way to Iceland for all I know. Sagen er, skibsindustrien er så langt fra at blive strømlinet og bemandet af folk, der ikke kender svarene på dine spørgsmål, at lastbiler kan være på vej til Island for alle jeg kender. If you ask someone in the shipping industry a basic basic question such as: “Did the container I paid $5,000 for make it on the ship, and did the ship leave,” you usually get a response that goes something like: “I am not sure about that, I will check on it and get back to you.” Well, it has been over a week and we still have not heard back to see if the container actually made it onto the ship as planned. Hvis du beder en person i skibsindustrien en grundlæggende grundlæggende spørgsmål såsom: "Har beholderen Jeg betalte $ 5000 for at gøre det på skibet, og gjorde skibet forlader," du normalt få et svar, der går noget i retning af: "Jeg er ikke sikker på, at jeg vil tjekke om det og vende tilbage til dig. "Tja, det er over en uge, og vi har stadig ikke hørt tilbage for at se, om beholderen faktisk gjort det ud til skibet som planlagt. One would hope that this would be information you would not have to ask for. Man kunne håbe, at dette ville være oplysninger, du ikke ville have at spørge om.

Both the Thundra and Little Pepe fit in a 40′ standard container Både Thundra og Little Pepe passer i en 40 'standard container

As you can see, we have had some tire problems recently Som du kan se, vi har haft nogle trætte problemer for nylig

You would think that for the money we are paying, shipping companies would let you know the status of the goods you have so willingly and trustingly placed in their care, and it does take a lot of trust. Man skulle tro, at for de penge, vi betaler, rederier vil fortælle dig, hvilken status de varer du har så fri vilje og trustingly placeret i deres pleje, og det kræver en masse tillid. I do not even have a physical receipt or any other proof in my hands showing that I stuffed a container full of $100,000 worth of Toyotas and expedition gear. Jeg har ikke engang et fysisk modtagelsen eller ethvert andet bevis i mine hænder viser, at jeg fyldte en container fuld af $ 100000 værdi af Toyotas og ekspedition gear. The only evidence that I have of shipping our trucks are the photos I took after I spent 4 hours loading them in their container. De eneste beviser, jeg har af skibsfarten vores lastbiler er de billeder jeg har taget efter at jeg har brugt 4 timer på at laste dem i deres beholder. To make matters even more frustrating, I do not even have the vehicle Carnets in my possession either. For at gøre tingene endnu mere frustrerende, jeg har ikke engang køretøjet carneter i min besiddelse. You may recall that Carnets are very important and extremely valuable documents, but due to a misunderstanding between the shipping company and the South African Customs officials, the customs officials decided to hold the Carnets for ransom until someone paid for “services rendered…” having a customs official come down to see that the container was sealed properly. Du husker måske, at carneter er meget vigtig og yderst værdifulde dokumenter, men på grund af en misforståelse mellem rederiet og den sydafrikanske Toldembedsmændene, toldembedsmænd besluttet at holde carneter for løsepenge, indtil man har betalt for "ydede tjenester…", der har en tolderen komme ned at se, at containeren blev forseglet ordentligt. Again, for the money you pay, you would think that things like this would be taken care of, but instead, I am the one having to listen to the customs officer complain about not getting his $20, even though I just coughed up several thousand for the shipment. Igen, for de penge du betaler, ville du synes, at ting som dette ville blive taget sig af, men i stedet er jeg den ene behøver at lytte til toldvæsenet officer klager over ikke at få sine $ 20, selv om jeg bare begyndte at hoste op flere tusinde for forsendelsen. I even offered to pay him the 200 Rand on the spot myself, but because the evil face of corruption pops its head up quite frequently in South African government sectors like customs, they will only take an electronic payment from the company that is supposed to have arranged for everything in advance. Jeg selv tilbudt at betale ham 200 Rand på stedet mig selv, men fordi det onde står over for korruption popper hovedet op temmelig ofte i sydafrikanske regering sektorer som toldvæsenet, de vil kun tage et elektronisk betaling fra selskabet, der formodes at have sørget for alt på forhånd. Now, instead of bringing the Carnets with me, I have to “trust” that they will be couriered to me without any problems. Nu, i stedet for at bringe carneter med mig, jeg er nødt til at "tillid", at de vil blive couriered til mig uden problemer.

Hope rope holds… Håbets reb ejer…

Four hours later and the container is ready to go Fire timer senere, og containeren er klar til at gå

Bye, Bye Toyotas, I hope we see you again Bye, bye Toyotas håber jeg, vi ser dig igen

Oh well, I guess it is the nature of the beast. Nå ja, jeg gætte det er karakteren af udyret. We get a lot of e-mails from people asking us questions about the expedition and a lot of them revolve around the logistics of shipping vehicles overseas. Vi får en masse e-mails fra folk beder os om spørgsmål om ekspeditionen og en masse af dem drejer sig om logistik skibsfart køretøjer i udlandet. We have a lot of experience in overseas shipping, but the only advice we are really in any position to offer is, good luck and be prepared to be disappointed. Vi har en masse erfaring i oversøiske skibsfart, men det eneste råd, vi virkelig er i stand til at tilbyde er, held og lykke og være indstillet på at være skuffet. I can not recommend any shipping companies either, because we have tried three different ones and have had problems and setbacks with each and every one. Jeg kan ikke anbefale nogen rederier enten, fordi vi har prøvet tre forskellige virksomheder og har haft problemer og tilbageslag med hver og én. I guess I have to look on the bright side, our trucks have arrived at their destinations in one piece… more or less. Jeg gætter jeg nødt til at se på den lyse side, vores lastbiler er nået frem til deres destinationer i ét stykke… mere eller mindre. Some Dutch friends of ours somehow had their vehicle totaled somewhere in-between dropping it off at the dock in Rotterdam and picking it up in Cape Town. Nogle hollandsk venner med vores anden måde havde deres køretøj totaled andet sted i-mellem droppe det ud på anklagebænken i Rotterdam og pillede det op i Cape Town. I do not know where you would even begin to sort something like that out, but the sad reality is that something like that is not that far out of the ordinary for an industry like overseas shipping. Jeg ved ikke, hvor du vil endda begynde at sortere noget i retning af at ud, men den triste virkelighed er, at noget lignende det er ikke så langt ud over det sædvanlige for en industri som oversøiske skibsfart.

Make sure that thing is sealed properly! Sørg for, at ting er forseglet ordentligt!

Off to the container stacks for vessel loading Off til containeren stakke for fartøjet lastning

We are changing up some of our video gear for the last segment of the expedition, and with this we need to sell some of it.  One of our FS-100 Focus Enhancements digital recorders is for sale.  Click the link below to learn more about it, and if you have anyone in the video industry that may be interested please have them contact me. Vi er ved at ændre nogle af vores video redskaber til den sidste del af ekspeditionen, og med dette er vi nødt til at sælge nogle af dem. En af vores FS-100 Focus Enhancements digitale optagere er til salg. Klik på linket nedenfor for at lære mere om det, og hvis du har nogen i videoen industri, der kan være interesserede bedes du har dem kontakte mig.

steve@theworldbyroad.com

http://www.focusinfo.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=150 http://www.focusinfo.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=150

In 1893, the crazy Norwegians living in the north of their country were mostly cut off from the outside world. I 1893, den skøre nordmænd som bor i den nordlige del af deres land meste var afskåret fra omverdenen. With giant fjords and mountains blocking easy paths to and from the northern coast, inhabitants could hardly receive letters, let alone even consider the idea of leaving. Med gigantiske fjorde og bjerge blokering nemme veje til og fra den nordlige kyst, indbyggere næppe kunne modtage breve, endsige endda overveje tanken om at forlade. What is now called the Hurtigruten group changed all of that. Hvad er nu kaldes Hurtigruten Group ændrede alt dette. After the first express voyage spawned regular service after that, citizens in the north could receive letters in 3 days instead of up to 5 months in the winter. Efter det første udtrykke sejlads opfostrede rutekørsel efter, at borgerne i det nordlige kunne modtage breve i 3 dage i stedet for op til 5 måneder om vinteren. The truly remarkable aspect of this achievement was that the initial sailings of these express boats were done with only two official coastal charts and a small smattering of lighthouses in a place that is dark most of the time in winter. Det virkelig bemærkelsesværdigt aspekt af dette resultat var, at de indledende sejladser af disse udtrykke bådene blev udført med kun to officielle kyst-diagrammer og en lille lille smule af fyrtårne på et sted, det er mørkt det meste af tiden om vinteren.

About 4 years ago, this same route was mine during the summer. Om 4 år siden, det samme rute blev minen i løbet af sommeren. I spent about a week as a bum on the Hurtigruten reading “Who Needs a Road” Jeg brugte omkring en uge som en drukkenbolt på Hurtigruten reading "Hvem har brug for en vej" while sitting in the sun at 3am on the top deck of the boat. mens du sidder i solen på 3am på den øverste dæk på båden. As a poor young traveler, I boarded the boat with no room booked, slept on the couch in the lobby and to my surprise never was forced to purchase a room. Som en fattig ung rejsende, jeg opbragte båden med ikke plads reserveres, sov på sofa i lobbyen og til min overraskelse aldrig blev tvunget til at købe et værelse. With so much time to sit and read as I passed through fjord after fjord, I managed to finish the book in a couple of days and was convinced that I needed to drive around the world. Med så megen tid til at sidde og læse som jeg passeret gennem fjord efter fjord, jeg formåede at slutte bogen i et par dage og var overbevist om, at jeg blev nødt til at køre rundt om i verden.

Four years later, I am driving around the world. Fire år senere, er jeg køre rundt om i verden. However, this time, instead of being on the Hurtigruten in the midnight sun in the summer, my journey journey was in the winter. Men denne gang, i stedet for at blive på Hurtigruten i midnatssolen om sommeren, min rejse rejse var i vinter. This time, it was even more of an adventure. Denne gang blev det endnu mere af et eventyr. We had always planned to go up to North Cape, and were not sure the best route to head back south. Vi har altid havde planlagt at gå op til North Cape, og de var ikke sikker på den bedste rute til hovedet tilbage syd. After sending an email to the Hurtigruten to see if they would like to have us film and write about our journey with them, they obliged giving us a free ride and transportation of the trucks. Efter at sende en e-mail til Hurtigruten at se, om de gerne vil have os til film og skrive om vores tur med dem, er de forpligtet til at give os en gratis tur og transport af lastbiler. Not only was this a cool way to travel south, it was a lifesaver on the cost of gas with one gallon reaching over $8. Ikke alene var det en cool måde at rejse sydpå, det var en lifesaver på prisen på gas med en gallon nå over $ 8. We looked at our options for the different ships that were heading south finding that only certain boats were able to carry the trucks. Vi har kigget på vores muligheder for de forskellige skibe, der var overskriften syd konstatering af, at kun visse skibe var i stand til at bære lastbiler. We talked to the marketing guy, Stan, at Hurtigruten and were informed that the updated schedule had the Richard With, their flagship boat, available to take us south the day after our scheduled convoy to the North Cape. Vi talte til markedsføring fyr, Stan, på Hurtigruten og blev informeret om, at den opdaterede tidsplan havde Richard With, deres flagskib båd, til rådighed til at tage os syd dagen efter vores planlagte konvoj til North Cape. Perfect! Perfekt!

This was in direct conflict to the information that I had found online, but he was the boss. Dette var i direkte modstrid til de oplysninger, jeg havde fundet på nettet, men han var chef. The important note about the sailing of this ship was that it would get us into Bergen the day before the next ferry from Bergen to Newcastle in the UK. Den vigtige notat om de sejler med dette skib var, at det ville få os til Bergen dagen før den næste færge fra Bergen til Newcastle i Storbritannien. Since that ship only sails every three days and my parents were to arrive in London the same day of our arrival in the UK, we had no choice but to make it on this ship. Da skibet kun sejler hver tredje dag og mine forældre var der ankommer til London samme dag af vores ankomst i Det Forenede Kongerige, vi havde intet andet valg end at gøre det på dette skib. It was falling together like clockwork. Det var der falder sammen gerne clockwork. Go to North Cape, take a night to get organized, board the Richard With, hang out on the ship for a few days, get into Bergen in time for an interview with the local newspaper and board the next ship…no problem. Gå til North Cape, tage en nat at få organiseret, bord på Richard With, hæng ud på skibet for et par dage, kommer i Bergen i tid til et interview med den lokale avis og pap det næste skib… ikke noget problem. After we reached North Cape we were all elated. Når vi har nået North Cape vi alle var opstemt. “Let’s go open that champagne!” “Halfway around the world North to South and now we get to ride on a ship!!” "Lad os gå åbent, at champagne!" "Halvvejs rundt om i verden nord til syd, og nu får vi at ride på et skib!"

When we got back to our hotel, the manager allowed me to use the phone. Da vi kom tilbage til vores hotel, bestyreren tilladt mig at bruge telefonen. I needed to call the reservations desk on the Richard With to confirm some rooms for us the next day. Jeg blev nødt til at kalde forbeholdene desk om Richard Med til at bekræfte nogle lokaler til os den næste dag. Mark and Bouey went down to the kitchen to open the champagne. Mark og Bouey gik ned til køkkenet for at åbne champagnen. I called the reservations lady and said, “Hello this is Steven Shoppman with TWBR, I think Stan already contacted you about booking some rooms on the Richard With and I am calling to confirm them.” Jeg ringede de forbehold dame og sagde: "Hej dette er Steven Shoppman med TWBR, jeg tror Stan allerede kontaktet dig om booking nogle værelser på Richard med og jeg beder om at bekræfte dem."

“We have already sailed. "Vi har allerede sejlet. Didn’t Stan contact you?” Gjorde ikke Stan kontakte dig? "

“Oh there most be some kind of mistake. "Åh der mest være en vis form for fejl. This is the Richard With that sails tomorrow from Honningsvad, right?” Dette er Richard Med dette sejl morgen fra Honningsvad, højre? "

“Yes this is the Richard With, but we sailed this afternoon about 3 hours ago.” "Ja det er det Richard With, men vi sejlede her til eftermiddag omkring 3 timer siden."

“This must be some kind of mistake, we just talked to Stan and booked this.” "Dette skal være en slags fejl, vi netop talt med Stan og Udsolgt dette."

“Stan made a mistake and had the wrong schedule.” "Stan lavet en fejl og havde den forkerte liste."

My heart dropped. Mit hjerte faldt. Things were not going so smooth anymore, and the popping of that champagne bottle seemed to be a little premature. Tingene var ikke at gå så glat mere, og det popping af denne champagne flaske syntes at være lidt forhastet. I called Stan and he informed me of his mistake with two options to correct it. Jeg ringede til Stan og han informerede mig om hans fejl med to muligheder for at rette det. Since the trucks would not fit on the ship the next day, we would have to wait two days for the next ship, which would not arrive in Bergen in time to catch our next ferry. Da lastbiler ikke vil passe på skibet næste dag, ville vi være nødt til at vente to dage til den næste skib, som ikke ville ankomme i Bergen i tide til at fange vores næste færge. Drats! I asked Stan if he thought it would be possible for us to leave right away to catch back up with the Richard With and board it in Tromso, a small city about 8 hours away. Jeg spurgte Stan hvis han troede det ville være muligt for os at forlade lige med det samme at fange tilbage op med Richard With og pap i Tromsø, en lille by omkring 8 timer væk. He told me it was a longshot, so I said, “Ok, we are packing our bags now, please inform the Richard With that we will be boarding in Tromso.” The three of us hastily packed the trucks in the gale force winds sweeping through the parking lot, gassed up and started the race against the clock to Tromso. Han fortalte mig, det var et longshot, så jeg sagde: "Ok, vi er pakning vores poser nu, skal du informere Richard With, at vi vil være boarding i Tromsø." De tre af os hast pakket lastbiler i den vindstyrke vinde fejer gennem parkeringsplads, gasset op og begyndte kapløbet mod uret til Tromsø. Three tunnels, four bridges and two hours later we were back in the plains of northern Norway on our way to the junction to head South to Tromso, still three tunnels, four bridges, and 5 hours away. Tre tunneler, fire broer og to timer senere var vi tilbage på sletterne i det nordlige Norge om vores måde at krydset i hovedet syd for Tromsø, stadig tre tunneler, fire broer, og 5 timer væk. As we approached the junction we saw a line of cars and a full restaurant of people. Da vi nærmede sig krydset oplevede vi et sortiment af biler og en fuld restaurant af mennesker. Something did not seem right. Noget syntes ikke rigtigt.

When driving in the far north, all the roads are covered in a thick sheet of ice. Ved kørsel i langt mod nord, alle veje er dækket af et tykt lag is. At first it is a little disconcerting driving at high speeds on the ice, but you get used to the grippiness of the gravel that is embedded in the ice and it actually seems to perform even better than dry pavement. Ved første er det en smule foruroligende kørsel ved høje hastigheder på isen, men man vænner sig til grippiness af grus, der er indlejret i isen, og det faktisk lader til at udføre endnu bedre end tørre fortovet. Just before we reached this junction at Skaidi , we were driving in extreme winds with snow falling horizontally, blowing so hard it seemed imminent that the trucks would be blown off the road. Lige før vi nåede til dette kryds ved Skaidi, var vi kører i ekstrem vind med sne falder horisontalt, blæser så hårdt det syntes overhængende, at lastbiler ville blive blæst væk fra vejen. A dust of snow blew across the road giving it a look as though the road was made of with white fluff. En støv af sne blæste på tværs af vejen give det et kig som om vejen var lavet af med hvide dun. Once we arrived and saw the lineup, it could mean only one thing. Når vi ankom og så line, kan det kun betyde én ting. The road south was closed due to the same winds we had experienced already. Vejen syd blev lukket på grund af den samme vind, vi havde oplevet allerede. To do our diligence we asked the plow drivers if we could take our chances on the road as we were tough adventurers and needed to get to Tromso ASAP. At gøre vores diligence spurgte vi plow bilister, hvis vi kunne tage vores chancer på vejen, da vi var seje eventyrere og havde brug for at komme til Tromsø ASAP. A few chuckles later, we were denied. Et par chuckles senere, blev vi nægtet.

After calling the road conditions hotline, talking to more locals and getting out the maps, it was clear that we would never make it to Tromso in time. Efter at kalde vejforhold hotline, taler med flere lokale og fik ud af de kort, blev det klart, at vi aldrig ville gøre det til Tromsø i tide. I called Stan and worked out that if we went to Hammerfest, Steve Bouey could get on the ship the next day in order to meet the reporters in Bergen. Jeg ringede til Stan og arbejdede ud, at hvis vi gik til Hammerfest, Steve Bouey kunne få på skibet næste dag for at opfylde de reportere i Bergen. Markand I would then have to wait for the Trollfjord the day after to take us and the trucks as far down the coast as we could go before disembarking with enough time to carry on the race to catch the Newcastle ferry. Markand Jeg vil derefter nødt til at vente på Trollfjord dagen efter at tage os og lastbiler så langt ned langs kysten som vi kunne gå, før borde med tid nok til at medføre om kapløbet om at fange Newcastle færge.

Steve Bouey borded his ship as planned, to his dismay, it was the oldest and smallest of the fleet. Steve Bouey borded hans skib som planlagt, at hans forfærdelse, det var den ældste og mindste af flåden. At that point we had no choice though. På det tidspunkt havde vi ikke noget valg selv om. Someone had to get to the reporters in time. Nogen måtte komme til reportere i tide. The next day Mark and I drove the cars onto the ship and to our surprise boarded the nicest ship in the fleet. Den næste dag Mark og jeg kørte bilerne ud til skibet og til vores overraskelse opbragte det nicest skib i flåden. Bouey really got the short end of the stick. Bouey virkelig fik den korte ende af stokken. Not only were we on the nicest ship in the fleet, we had first class dining and one suite for each one of us. Ikke alene var vi på nicest skib i flåden, havde vi på første klasse, spisestue og en suite for hver enkelt af os. Bouey REALLY got the short end. Bouey virkelig fået den korte ende. We then checked out the rest of the ship to find a workout room, hot tubs on the roof, and countless other amenities for our enjoyment. Vi så tjekket ud i resten af skibet for at finde en workout room, hot baljer på taget, og utallige andre faciliteter for vores nydelse. Four days went by and we were experiencing hands down the most luxurious part of the expedition so far. Fire dage gik og vi var oplever afsiger den mest luksuriøse del af ekspeditionen hidtil.

With the Northern Lights in the sky above us, we floated south enjoying a little quiet time down the coast. Med Nordlys på himlen over os, vi sejlede sydpå nyder lidt stille tid ned til kysten. Mark and I had a chance to meet the captain, get a behind the scenes tour of the ship, and have ample time to research the best place to leave the ship and complete the Norway tour. Alesund was our decision, against the advice of the crew on the ship. Mark og jeg havde en chance for at mødes kaptajnen, få en bag kulisserne rundtur på skibet, og har rigelig tid til at udforske de bedste sted at forlade skibet og fuldføre Norge rundvisning. Ålesund var vores beslutning, imod råd fra besætningen på skibet. They told us to get off sooner, but we did not want to get stuck again in a storm so we chose the closest port still giving us enough time for the drive. De fortalte os om at komme i gang tidligere, men vi ønskede ikke at gå i stå igen i en storm, så vi valgte den nærmeste havn stadig giver os tid nok til drevet. The Newcastle ferry was scheduled to leave Bergen at 11:15 am and we would dock in Alesund at midnight, giving us about 10 hours to take two short ferries and cover 450kms in the middle of the night over two different mountain passes on ice covered roads. De Newcastle færge var planlagt til at forlade Bergen på 11:15 am og vi vil Dock på Ålesund ved midnat, hvilket giver os omkring 10 timer at tage to korte færger og dække 450kms i midten af natten over to forskellige bjergpas på is omfattet veje . No problem. Intet problem. The concierge did us the courtesy of getting us the ferry schedules for the short crossings on the way to Bergen. De concierge gjorde os den ulejlighed at få os færgen tidsplaner for kort afgange på vej til Bergen. The first was only 10 minutes from the dock and left at 12:45 am. Den første var kun 10 minutter fra anklagebænken og venstre ved 12:45 am. We raced there and were on our way. Vi har travlt der, og var på vej. First ferry down, on to the next mountain pass. Første færge ned, til den næste bjergpas.

The roads at first were mostly dry and it seemed we would have no problems. De veje ved første meste var tørt, og det syntes vi ikke ville have nogen problemer. Then came the first mountain pass, and of course there was a storm so thick that 4-5 inches of snow had freshly fallen on the road before a plow could get there. Så kom den første bjergpas, og selvfølgelig var der en storm så tyk, at 4-5 inches af sne havde frisk faldet på vejen, før en plow kunne nå dertil. It was now about 2 am and we were getting a little tired. Det var nu omkring 2 henne og vi var at få en smule træt. Since all of the gas stations we passed were closed we could not get coffee or water so we had no choice other than to eat the single serving Nescafe packets we took from the hotel. Da alle af gas-stationer vi passeret var lukket kunne vi ikke få kaffe eller vand, så vi havde noget andet valg end at spise det indre tjener Nescafe pakker vi tog fra hotellet. We searched the back of the truck and the only liquid we could find was a jar of cherries, so down the hatch went the coffee granules followed by a shot each of cherry syrup to wash it down. Vi har søgt i den bageste del af lastbilen, og den eneste væske, vi kunne finde var et glas af kirsebær, så ned ruge gik kaffen granulat efterfulgt af et skud hver af cherry sukkerlage at vaske det ned.

The trucks were still good on gas so we raced on. De lastbiler stadig var gode på gas, så vi travlt på. Another couple of hours went by and the gauges were nearing empty. Et andet par timer gik og målere var næsten tom. At 4 am in small towns in Norway the gas stations are not open, but we had one hope. Ved 4 henne i små byer i Norge gas-stationer er ikke åbne, men vi havde et håb. With a local credit card we could use the strange old pay at the pump system and be on our way. Med en lokal kreditkort vi kunne bruge den mærkelige gamle løn på pumpe-system og på vores måde. We started to flag cars down driving by the gas station to see if they would take our cash and put the gas on their card. Vi begyndte at flaget biler ned kørsel af gas station for at se, om de ville tage vores kontanter og sætte gas på deres kort. Most would speed by or were unwilling to help. De fleste ville hastighed ved eller var uvillige til at hjælpe. Finally a trucker sleeping in the parking lot woke up and was willing to try to help us, but his card did not work at this gas station. Endelig en Lastbilen sovende i parkeringsplads vågnede op og var villig til at forsøge at hjælpe os, men hans kort har ikke arbejdet på denne gas station. It was such a strange thing that a technologically advanced country like Norway would not have a way to get gas at night and not have the credit card systems linked up. Det var sådan en mærkelig ting at en teknologisk avancerede land som Norge ikke ville have en måde at få gas om natten og ikke har kreditkort systemer knyttet op. Was a credit card problem really going to be what stopped us? Var et kreditkort problem i virkeligheden vil være, hvad stoppet os? At 6:30 am we had no choice but to roll the dice and hope that we made it to the next bigger town without running out of gas. På 6:30 am vi havde intet andet valg end at kast terningerne og håber, at vi gjorde det til det næste større by uden at løbe tør for gas. “Okay we will coast in nuetral and the trucker told me that most of the way is downhill,” said Mark. "Okay, vi vil kyst i nuetral og Lastbilen fortalte mig, at det meste af vejen er ned," sagde Mark.

Fifteen minutes later we were in the gas station, and now were able to buy real coffee to try to rinse some of the granules out of our mouth from the last two rounds of Nescafe. Femten minutter senere var vi i gas-stationen, og nu var i stand til at købe ægte kaffe for at forsøge at skylle nogle af granulatet ud af vores mund fra de sidste to runder af Nescafe. We filled up and carried on to the next short ferry leaving at 7:50 that runs only once an hour and watched it sail at 7:53. Vi fyldt op og føres videre til det næste kort færgen forlader på 7:50, der kører kun en gang i timen og overvågede det sejle på 7:53. It was math time. Det var math tid. With a little over 100kms to go and a 20 minute ferry ride that will not start for one hour with an average speed of 60kms per hour including another mountain pass that will slow progress by at least 20%, is it possible for TWBR to make it to the hotel for the interview and still make it to the ferry terminal in time to board the ship to Newcastle at 11:15? Med lidt over 100kms at gå og en 20 minutters færge, der ikke vil starte i en time med en gennemsnitlig hastighed på 60kms timen inklusive et andet bjergpas, der vil langsomme fremskridt med mindst 20%, er det muligt for TWBR at gøre det til hotellet for samtalen og stadig gør det til færge-terminal i tide til bord på skibet til Newcastle på 11:15? No problem. Intet problem. This time we did not believe it as much as before. Denne gang har vi ikke mener, at det lige så meget som før.

On the ferry, winds were whipping across the deck so fast that I was not sure we would even be able to dock on the other side. På den færge, vind var whipping hele bunken så hurtigt, at jeg ikke var sikker på, at vi ville endda være i stand til at havnearbejderne på den anden side. We made it across, raced out of the ferry terminal and pushed on through the 8 tunnels, one mountain pass, thunderstorm, gale force winds, and some of the most beautiful scenery at sunrise we had seen since the beginning of the expedition. Vi gjorde det på tværs af, travlt ud af færgen terminal og pressede på gennem de 8 tunneller, et bjergpas, tordenvejr, vindstyrke vind, og nogle af de smukkeste steder ved solopgang vi havde set siden begyndelsen af ekspeditionen. This time however, the sheet of ice on the road did not have that nice grippy gravel all over it and we were sliding all over the place. Denne gang dog presenningen af is på vejen havde ikke at Nice grippy grus hele det, og vi var glidende alle overalt. Ten o’clock passed and we were nearing Bergen where we encountered city traffic. Ten o'clock gået, og vi var næsten Bergen, hvor vi er stødt på byens trafik. “Come on, come on!!” I said to myself. "Come on, Come on!!" Sagde jeg til mig selv. We were almost there. Vi var næsten der. Traffic is not going to be the thing that stops us from getting on this boat. Trafik vil ikke være de ting, der stopper os fra at komme på denne båd. 10:30 am passed, we were in the city, but could not find the hotel that Bouey and the reporters were at with our limited maps of the city. 10:30 am passeret, var vi i byen, men kunne ikke finde det hotel, Bouey og reportere var på med vores begrænsede kort over byen. 10:45 passed, we stopped by a supermarket for directions. 10:45 passeret, er vi stoppet af et supermarked for retninger. Mark came running back outside and we raced to the hotel, parked illegally and grabbed Bouey, the reporter and the photographer shoved everyone in the trucks and raced through traffic while still getting interviewed on the way. Mark kom kører tilbage udenfor, og vi travlt til hotellet, parkerede ulovligt og grabbed Bouey, reporter og fotograf shoved alle i lastbiler og travlt med gennemgående trafik, mens den stadig bliver interviewet på vejen. The photographer was snapping off shots of us breaking countless traffic rules racing to the docks. Fotografen blev snapping off shots af os bryder utallige færdselsregler væddeløb til havnebassiner. We pulled into the parking lot and ran up to the ticket counter, with photograhper and reporter by our side snapping shots the whole way. Vi trukket op i parkeringspladsen og kørte op til billetten counter med photograhper og reporter ved vores side snapping skud hele vejen. “My name is Steven Shoppman and this is our confirmation number for the ship that is supposed to leave…right now!!!” I said to the lady on the other side of the counter with bloodshot eyes and no sleep for the last two days. "Mit navn er Steven Shoppman og det er vores bekræftelse nummer for skibet, der formodes at forlade… lige nu!" Jeg sagde til damen på den anden side af skranken med blodsprængte øjne og ingen søvn i de sidste to dage .

“We have been waiting for you, hurry up and go through customs and get on the boat!” she replied. "Vi har ventet på dig, skynd dig at gå igennem told og får på båden!" Svarede hun.

I was nearly in tears from the exhaustion and excitement of knowing that someone somewhere was looking out for us on this one. Jeg var næsten i tårer fra konsumption og spændingen ved at vide, at en person eller andet sted søgte ud for os om denne. I have no idea how we pulled it all off. Jeg har ingen anelse om, hvordan vi hev det hele ud. We somehow raced through the mountains and fjords while facing nearly every element you can imagine over the course of ten hours, with no crashes. Vi anden måde travlt gennem bjerge og fjorde, mens der står næsten hver eneste element, du kan forestille dig i løbet af ti timer, uden nedbrud. We officially boarded the boat at 11:16 am and it sailed as we were parking the cars and high fiving the attendants for making it just in time. Vi officielt opbragte båden på 11:16 am og det sejlede som vi var parkering af biler og høj fiving de ledsagere for at gøre det lige i tide. On the two day ferry to England we made friends with some locals from Bergen and told them our story. På to-dages-færgen til England har vi gjort venner med nogle lokale fra Bergen og fortalte dem vores historie. They went home the next day to see our story on the cover of the Bergen newspaper. De gik hjem næste dag at se vores historie på forsiden af Bergen-avis.

Stupid bearded adventurers Mom’s who are happy TWBR made it to London in one piece and on time = Everybody happy. Dum skæggede eventyrere mors der er glade TWBR gjort det til London i ét stykke og på tid = Alle er glade.

Bouey talks to the ferry guys about the expedition. Bouey taler med færgen fyrene om ekspeditionen.

Click here to see the Bergen Article Klik her for at se Bergen artikel

Click here for the Flickr Gallery Klik her for Flickr Gallery

Click here for the TWBR gallery Klik her for TWBR galleri

I know that we have posted a few blogs about our current financial situation recently and some of you are probably getting sick of it. Jeg ved, at vi har lagt et par blogs om vores aktuelle finansielle situation for nylig, og nogle af Dem er sandsynligvis bliver syge af det. The bottom line is we are struggling, but that is not going to deter us from finishing what we set out to do and that is to drive around the world, regardless of the reason. Den nederste linje er vi kæmper, men det vil ikke afholde os fra overfladebehandlingen, hvad vi satte sig for at gøre, og det er at køre rundt om i verden, uanset årsagen. Unfortunately for us, we decided to drive around the world in an era of rising fuel prices and a declining US dollar. Desværre for os, besluttede vi at køre rundt om i verden i en tid med stigende brændstofpriser og en faldende amerikanske dollar. In fact, you might call it the perfect storm. Faktisk kan du kalde det det perfekte storm. However, if rebels in the Congo can not hinder our progress, you can bet that this little economic weather front will not stop us either, even if it feels like a category 5 hurricane right now. Men hvis oprørere i Congo kan ikke hindre vores fremskridt, kan du vædde på, at denne lille økonomisk vejr front vil ikke stoppe os begge, selv om det føles som en kategori 5 orkan lige nu.

Courtesy of Newsbusters.org Courtesy of Newsbusters.org

To put everything in perspective, since I have been here in South Africa, one of the last apparent safe havens for the US dollar, the value of the dollar has declined about 8 percent to the South African Rand. At sætte alting i perspektiv, da jeg har været her i Sydafrika, en af de sidste synlige sikre tilflugtssteder for den amerikanske dollar, værdien af dollaren er faldet omkring 8 procent til den sydafrikanske Rand. At the same time, local fuel prices, which are controlled by the South African government and are set at a fixed price on a monthly basis, have increased about 6 percent. Samtidig har de lokale brændstofpriser, som kontrolleres af den sydafrikanske regering og er fastsat til en fast pris på en månedlig basis, er steget omkring 6 procent. It has pretty much been the same in most of the countries we have traveled in. When we were in the Congo, we watched the value of the dollar drop nearly 20 percent compared to the Central African Franc and the fuel prices in Europe have risen enough to lead to massive transportation strikes in several different countries. Det har stort set været den samme i de fleste af de lande, vi har rejst i. Da vi var i Congo, har vi set værdien af dollaren faldet næsten 20 procent i forhold til Den Centralafrikanske Franc og brændstofpriser i Europa er steget nok at føre til massiv transport strejker i flere forskellige lande. Unfortunately, there is not much we could have done to either predict how much fuel prices would increase over the course of the expedition, or predict how bad the US dollar would get pummeled on the foreign exchange markets. Desværre er der ikke meget, vi kunne have gjort for enten at forudsige, hvor meget brændstof priserne vil stige i løbet af ekspeditionen, eller forudsige, hvor slemt den amerikanske dollar ville få pummeled på valutamarkederne. Overall, the combination of rising fuel prices and the declining value of the dollar has increased our overall expedition costs by approximately 20 percent. Alt i alt er den kombination af stigende brændstofpriser og faldende værdi af dollaren har øget vores samlede ekspeditionen omkostninger ved at cirka 20 procent. On a trip of this scale and proportion, that 20 percent amounts to a significant amount of money. På en tur i dette omfang og andel, at 20 procent svarer til en betydelig mængde penge. So, if you are contemplating a jaunt around the world, Alan Greenspan’s advice might be just as important as what type of vehicle you choose. Så hvis du overvejer en lille tur rundt om i verden, Alan Greenspan's råd kan være lige så vigtig som en hvilken type bil, du vælger.

Courtesy of Planebuzz Courtesy of Planebuzz