We had been warned a couple of times about the paranoid nature of the government in Uzbekistan and the restrictions placed on most people’s civil liberties. However, politics and powerful dictatorships aside, we immediately fell in love with Uzbekistan and its people. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. In Tashkent we actually found a Toyota dealership and they even had break pads for our Sequoia. This is pretty amazing considering they only see one or two Sequoias a year according to the boys at the shop. Uzbekistan is also home to some amazing architecture and the mosques and madrasahs in Samarkand we spectacular to say the least.
Kyrgyzstan Photos
By Steve Bouey in
January 20, 2008 – 6:57 pm
Kyrgyzstan was an amazing place and quite a refreshing change from Kazakhstan. We immediately encountered change from the minute we crossed the border in the middle of a blizzard to the friendly locals who helped us out in Osh. Kyrgyzstan offered up dramatic mountain scenery and friendly faces. Kyrgyzstan was also where we met up with the expedition members of Trabant Trek. We had been exchanging information about overland travel with the Trabank guys for several months and Kyrgyzstan happen to be where our paths ultimately crossed… the Trabant guys were headed east on their way to Cambodian in old, Russian plastic cars and we were headed west towards Europe.
We are caught up!!!! – Here is Kazakhstan
By Steven Shoppman in
January 9, 2008 – 4:05 pm
It has now been over 2 months since we were in Kazakhstan, and we are sincerely sorry for the delay in getting caught up on photos. Now that we have had this few days on the Hurtigruten, we will be releasing the latest photo galleries over this week. Today we have Kazakhstan.
Since we were robbed while we were in Kazakhstan, not a whole lot of pictures were taken. From the radioactive wastelands in the North to the Kyrgyz border we only spent a total of about a week in Kazakhstan. The people were not all that friendly to us and after we were robbed we decided it was time to move on, but there are some funny photos and some cool mountains to take a look at. Up next is Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and more…by the end of the week we will be caught up all the way through here in Norway!!! Finally.
Around Almaty
 This album is taken on our second trip into Kazakhstan to transit to Aktau and get on the boat across the Caspian Sea.
Here comes the Sun..dit ta do do.
By Steven Shoppman in
January 8, 2008 – 1:38 pm
The Hurtigruten has been steaming its way, or I guess nowadays you would say powering its way up and down the Norwegian coastline for the last 100 plus year. During that time the operation has gone from one small boat to a large fleet with boats picking up passengers daily from 34 ports, starting the trip north from Bergen and returning south from Kirkenes. Long ago the boat was more purposeful as it carried mail up and down the coast to all of the hard to reach towns in the fjords and islands along the coast.
Today not much mail is transported back and forth by these ships. Now the cargo is hundreds happy vacationers looking for a diversion from their work or daily lives. For lunch today we dined in the main restaurant. Lining the walls of both sides of the room are windows that give everyone a spectacularly changing view of the scenery as it passes by. Today this moving view was the “Seven Sisters” peaks that are the inspiration for many Norwegian fairy tales and poetry. After stuffing ourselves with crab legs and meats and salads and desserts, the sun started to set. Normally the setting sun is something we all might categorize as simply a nice part of the day when the sky produces some spectacular colors and landscapes. However for us this sunset has a little more meaning.
On our quest for the trophy of conquering the North Cape in the middle of winter, we left the sun behind nearly two weeks ago. With bad weather since around Christmas, we had not seen the sun for quite a while before entering Scandinavia. Once we arrived in the land of the north, we quickly made our way above the Arctic Circle where we spent over a week…until now. Our treat today was a chance to interview the captain of the ship and film him navigating into the harbor of Sandnessjoen. I knew that we must be getting close to the Arctic Circle on the map so I asked the captain where we were. Apparently this town would be our last stop before crossing the official line south.
Both Mark and I were hungry, so after we finished up with the Captain on the bridge, we hurried down to the restaurant to be the first in line for the buffet at lunch. I really thought nothing of the fact that we were about to cross over the official Arctic boundary in the scurry downstairs to get fed. While we were eating, the boat left the harbor and started pushing on south and just as we finished up our second plates of the delicious desserts, Mark said to me, “There is a glow on the mountains behind you.” That was the moment we left the Arctic and the setting sun actually rose above our horizon to give us a total of about 10 minutes of time with that wonderful burning orb of gas I missed so much for the last couple of weeks.
The Northern Lights are an amazing thing to see, and I will most certainly take any chance to see them again. This last 10 days without sun is the longest period I have ever gone without seeing the sun. With the incredible beauty that lies up north, the aurora borealis, the fjords, and the mountains I can see why people choose to live up here, but for me…I will continue my love affair with the sun. Sitting here on the Hurtigruten after a successful trip to North Cape and a truly amazing sunset is definitely a stylish way to start the journey south…Africa here we come!
Steve making some calls on the bridge.
Helping to steer the boat.
Okay, okay the Captain really steering the boat.
The captain and his charts.
10 beautiful minutes of sun.
Quick Update
By Steve Bouey in
January 8, 2008 – 1:39 am
Just a quick update to let everyone know what is going on in TWBR land. I am currently on the Hurtigruten ferry on my way to Bergen, Norway. Steve and Mark are also on the Hurtigruten ferry on their way to Bergen, but are a day behind… long story. I will be in Bergen for a day doing a newspaper interview and then will meet back up with Steve and Mark on the 10th, just in time to catch the ferry from Bergen to Newcastle, U.K. Being on the Hurtigruten is pretty cool and gives you an opportunity to see some great sights… when it is actually light out. We have also had a chance to catch up on photo galleries and video editing, so when we are not running into town to poach wireless for the 45 minutes that the ferry is in port, you can look forward to a ton of new content. That’s all for now… I think I hear the horn sounding.
The Hurtigruten, TWBRs latest adventure on the North Sea.
By Steven Shoppman in
January 7, 2008 – 3:11 pm
Over a year ago in a conversation with my British friend Chris, I came to the realization that the Chunnel was not only an extremely expensive endeavor, it was ruining a great tradition. Before the Chunnel was built under the English Channel, the only way to get to or from Western Europe was via ferry. This way all of the passengers could enjoy a short peaceful ride on the boat and short drive up to London. Now people pack onto a train with their cars and make the commute through a dark tunnel. Although faster, there is not much of a romantic notion behind packing into a high speed train named the EuroStar and flying through a tunnel at 150 mph.
A year later we are now in Northern Norway and after successfully making it halfway around the world from South to North, our ride on the Hurtigruten Coastal Steamer could not have been a better choice for making our way South to Bergen and finally over to Newcastle in the UK, via another ferry. Instead of braving the dark icy roads of Northern Norway, we are sitting pampered in first class accommodation aboard a ferry that weaves its way through the breathtaking fjords of Norway. After the near 30,000 miles we have driven in the last 10 months through some of the harshest conditions imaginable, the idea that I get to have my own room with a sea view for four days gives me a sense of a home that I have been missing for the better part of the last year. Sitting on this boat for the last day most certainly takes Chris’s point home.
About 3 years ago I had the opportunity to ride on the Hurtigruten during the summer. Since a good majority of the miles it navigates are above the arctic circle, during that time of year the sun is in the sky 24 hours per day. The Hurtigruten boat that I traveled on before did not have many amenities, but that did not matter as the natural beauty surrounding the boat was available for viewing 24 hours a day in bright sunlight. The opposite of this “midnight sun” is called “polar night.” 
Although many of the fjords we pass by are masked by darkness, the 3-4 hours of twilight we experience each day cast a light on the surrounding rocks that I have seen nowhere else on the planet. The best part about these luxurious ferries is that even without the beautiful sights surrounding you, there are still countless diversions to enjoy.
One of these diversions is the Arctic pools on the top deck. Two Jacuzzis on the roof of this giant boat are a perfect way to ensure that my break from driving for this short moment are as relaxing as possible. As Mark and I sat in the tubs last night, we also had the pleasure of seeing the Northern Lights above us…a sight everyone should see at some point in their life. Our venue happened to be a quite premium location to view this meteorological phenomenon. At first glance the lights look like a dim cloud formation, but after taking a closer look the dancing green lights in the sky are a true indication that your location is truly special. And if that is not enough and the cold air after you get out of the hot tubs gives you a bit of a chill, just inside a door 50ft away is a sauna ready to ensure stress levels stay as low as possible. In case you might be worried, the sauna has floor to ceiling windows so that no important sights will be missed during the warming session.
Honestly, I may have a hard time getting back behind the wheel of the trucks after this. I imagine that plenty of you readers out there are saying, “Wow, you guys are really roughing it…aren’t you supposed to be tough seasoned travelers?” To that my response can only be, “It’s all part of the adventure.” I think the tents and camp stoves are enjoying a little break from the road as well.
The Northern Lights above the Boat
Hello From the top of the World
By Steve Bouey in
January 4, 2008 – 7:23 pm
Hello everyone! I hope the new year is treating all of you great. It is really hard to imagine that it is 2008 and Steve and I have been on the road for nearly a year now. Over the course of that year, we have covered nearly 28,000 miles and passed through many different countries. Every single mile we have driven and each of the countries we passed through have been milestones in their own right, but yesterday we reached a big one. A lot of people thought we were out of our minds in attempting to reach the North Cape in the middle of winter… a lot of people thought we were out of our minds leaving on this trip in the first place I guess, but I have to admit, North Cape was definitely a bit out there, I mean up there. It was not easy or cheap and in the end we had to pull a few strings to actually get there, but we successfully made it as far north as we can drive in Europe. There is one point that is technically one kilometer farther north, but North Cape represents the farthest you can actually drive in your own car and considering it is only about 1,300 miles from the North Pole, it is good enough for us. It is not too often you can say you drove all the way from the cliffs of Cape Otway overlooking the Southern Ocean to the cliffs of North Cape overlooking the Arctic Ocean in one trip… halfway around the world north to south.
The roads we encountered on our journey north were in pretty good shape. The road surface has been snow-packed and covered with a thick layer of ice, but the roads are open and for the most part, they did not hamper our progress. This is kind of ironic because I am now writing this blog entry stranded in Hammerfest, Norway because the roads leading north and south have been closed due to extremely high winds… we were supposed to make it to Tromso to catch a ferry south but have been informed the roads will be closed for the remainder of the night thus forcing us to alter our plans. The lack of daylight has not really been a problem either, although it is like being in a recurring episode of the Twilight Zone. It has been cold, but Sweden, Norway and Finland are actually experiencing one of the warmest and driest winters on record… maybe Al Gore is onto something. So, given all of the conditions that worked in our favor, we were extremely shell-shocked to find that the road was closed just 12 kilometers from the Cape.
When it is light out, you realize you are in a pretty remarkable place
Ice on the road catches the headlights of the Tundra
We backtracked 30 kilometers to the town of Honningsvåg where we were informed that the road to the Cape is essentially closed to private vehicles for the winter. When we heard the woman at the information center say "essentially," we knew that there was still a way up there. We found out that there is a bus that takes tourists up to the Cape once per day, but taking the bus would obviously mean leaving the Toyotas behind. The fact that busses are even allowed up to the Cape in the middle winter we were told is pretty rare and they have only been doing it for about three years. After a little more poking and prodding, we found out that a few times per year, private vehicles are allowed up to the Cape, but only in an escorted convoy… a snowplow leading the way and a safety vehicle bringing up the rear. It was beginning to sound like the 12 kilometers to North Cape past the point of no return was the most dangerous stretch of road in the world.
We thought we had made a very long trip for nothing
After a little more Q&A at the information desk and a few phone calls, we found out that if we wanted to go up to the Cape with the Thundra and Little Pepe, we could arrange for the escort the next day. We also found out how much it cost, but surprisingly enough, the price of hiring out the snowplow and the driver was about the same as the cost of the bus ride! Cost of the bus ride for three people = 2,100 NOK. Cost of the snow plow escort = 3,000 NOK. We hade made it this close and although we are totally broke, we knew we had no choice but to cough up the cash for the escort to the Cape even with the weak and beat-down US dollar bringing us only a touch over 5 Kroner.
The next morning, we went back to the Royal North Cape Club offices to pay for the plow only to find out that we had been "misinformed" about the price. As part of the escort, we would also have to pay 1,800 NOK per hour for the safety truck. We still had no choice. We had to do it. It would be one of those decisions that you would regret for the rest of your life, although at $41 a kilometer for 24 kilometers of escort, the decision definitely hurts in the near term. Obviously, cost precludes a lot of people from driving their cars up to the Cape in the winter. Cost, coupled with the fact that the Norwegian road authorities only made the decision to partially open the road to escorted traffic three years ago, means that you can basically count on your hand the number of people who have driven up to the actual Cape in the winter. After Steve swiped his credit card, we were informed that we were officially going to be the first Americans to drive our cars up to North Cape in the middle of winter. The decision to pay the money and go for it was already starting to pay dividends… now we just had to make it up what seemed like the road of death.
Ready for the Cape
In the end, the road of death was far from it. It was icy and snow-packed and if you made a mistake, there were no guardrails to protect you from a 600 foot plunge off a cliff into the icy depths of the Arctic Ocean, but we have seen worse. So we made it… 71 degrees, 10 minutes and 21 seconds north latitude and we made it just as the sun was starting to set for the day, further rewarding us with an amazing backdrop. "Not too many people in their right minds drive up here in the winter," we were told by a man who referred to himself as the Nar-Viking. Well, obviously we are all a little "off" here at TWBR, but we can now claim the title of being the first Americans to successfully make it to the North Cape in our own vehicles in the dead of winter.
The North Cape marker and the Arctic Ocean behind the trucks
The first Americans to drive a car (x 2 in background) to North Cape in winter
Who Turned Out the Lights?
By Steve Bouey in
January 1, 2008 – 11:22 am
I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and is looking forward to the new year. You are probably aware that our website was down for several days… the main server in Florida has some issues, so sorry for keeping everyone in the dark but we think the problem has been fixed. Speaking of keeping everything dark, we are currently in Narvik, Norway, a few hundred miles above the Arctic Circle looking down on most of the world. We also have not seen the sun in quite a while. The sky starts to get light at about 10 in the morning and by 2:30 in the afternoon, it is pitch black out. The sun does not get high enough in the horizon to actually see it and with another 1,000 kms or so to go before we get to North Cape, it is only going to get darker. It has been a bit of an adventure getting up here. The roads are still nice and smooth but also happen to be covered with about an inch or two of solid ice. We soon found out that trying to take a picture of a reindeer while skidding down a two-lane road at a 45 degree angle at 45mph can be quite challenging. I guess we will have to work on that… first the whole 45 degree angle thing and then maybe we can incorporate the photography. Luckily, in this part of the world, there are only about three or four people per square kilometer so there is not much traffic on the roads outside of the towns and urban areas.
Our highly detailed map of where the Arctic Circle is located
TWBR crew at what we thought was 66 30′ north latitude – 1:30 p.m.
The actual Arctic Circle was really 1 kilometer up the road – 2:00 p.m.
The lack of sun, coupled with temperatures that are consistently below freezing, can really mess with your head. It seems like I am always tired. I guess our subconscious, internal clocks tell us that it is time to go to bed when it is dark out. However, when it is only three in the afternoon, it really does not make much sense to go to bed, so in order to combat the fatigue that your mind seems to be forcing upon you, you eat. Steve, Mark and I are always hungry. We can not seem to get our hands on enough chips, salami, nuts, fruit, sardines, pickled herring or whatever we can find that does not cost more than $10. Even a McDonald’s value meal in Scandinavia will set you back at least $10. Not to worry, in true wandering nomad style I still seem to be loosing weight no matter how many calories I consume.
A beautiful sunset in Narvik, Norway at quarter past noon
Oh yeah, we also took some Christmas photos considering it was just a few days ago. We have become quite good at multitasking so the photos were taken while waiting in line for the ferry from Germany to Denmark. We do live in a time warp of varying degrees but every now and then are reminded of what time of year it is. In this case, we got a plastic Christmas tree as a gift for purchasing a SIM card in Bulgaria. Depending on who your favorite TWBR crew member is,(even though you love all of us), or which one you are related to, you can just print this page, preferably in color, cut out the appropriate picture, add whatever language you might feel is cleaver or appropriate and there you go… a TWBR Christmas card. You can pretend you got it a week ago.
Steve wishes ________ a Merry Christmas!
Steve wishes ________ a Merry Christmas!
Mark wishes __________ a Merry Christmas!
Smooth Sailing
By Steve Bouey in
December 31, 2007 – 8:45 am
These days it is smooth sailing for TWBR. Smooth sailing in many ways. We are finally in the heart of Europe… although at the moment we are off on the Scandinavia artery… and with that comes great road surfaces. In fact, in Germany, they pride themselves on having some of the best road surfaces in the world. The road surfaces are so go that on the Autobahn, the German word for motorway encompassing all such roads in the country, there is no speed limit. Of course, authorities recommend that you keep you vehicle under 130 kph (82 mph) but if I had a new Porsche, BMW or Mercedes, I would relish in the freedom the autobahn affords and as you may have guessed, many people do just that. Do not worry, the Toyotas have a governor on them so we were not able to totally risk our lives seeing how fast they can go, but I can say with a cheeky grin that a fully loaded Tundra drives exceptionally smooth at 170 kph (105 mph)… I think I read that in a magazine somewhere.
It has also been smooth sailing in terms of border crossings. I am working right now on calculating just how much time we spent sitting at borders on the expedition to date. We have had to sit at borders whilst waiting for paperwork, waiting for our turn in a one car per hour crossing and in many cases simply waiting for them to open the border in the first place. Now that we are in Europe, driving from country to country it is almost like driving from state to state back home. Here in the European Union, there is an open border policy and you are able to freely travel among EU countries by car without stopping and without any passport control. The restrictions on international travel in Europe were made easier in part by the formation of the EU. When we crossed into Bulgaria, the first European country on our trip, we had to stop, go through passport control, get the vehicles inspected and ensure the customs officials that all of our paperwork was in order, but it was all very organized and simple. There was no passport control leaving Bulgaria, but we still had to stop for a brief check upon entering its EU neighbor to the north, Romania. This was also the case with entering Hungary.
No one was at the Romanian border to tell us if filming out of the window was safe
When we left Budapest, we fully expected to have to stop again or border formalities before we entered Slovakia and the Czech Republic. These border stops we anticipated would be far from inconvenient as all of the EU crossings to date have amounted to no more than 20 minutes of our time put together. At this point in the expedition, we were so used to stopping at borders and explaining what we were doing that it actually felt very strange to see signs indicating that we had suddenly left Hungary and had mistakenly entered Austria. In any other region in the world, this would probably be a fairly significant problem, but not in this part of Europe. We had made a wrong turn and found ourselves in Austria instead of Slovakia, although it was easy enough to find our way back to the Slovakian border. We were again surprised to find the border control post at the Slovakian/Austrian border completely abandoned and were waived through without stopping at the Czech frontier by the one lone police officer there. It just so happens that if we had left Hungary and drove to Slovakia and the Czech Republic the day before, the empty border offices would have been occupied and we would have had to stop for customs control. The day we crossed into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, December 21, 2007, was they day that these countries, along with a handful of others in Europe, had become party to the Schengen agreement.
All is quiet on the German border outside of Dresden
The Schengen Agreement basically creates a single external border around its member states thus eliminating the need for internal borders. The agreement makes traveling between these countries hassle free with the exception of trying to figure out if you should fill up your tank before you cross the border because the price of petrol is $1 more per gallon in the next country. Even sea border crossings are greatly simplified. On the ferry from Germany to Denmark, the only indication that you were on an international ferry crossing was the long line of Danes outside the on board duty free shop. The duty free shop opens for a grand total of about 25 minutes enabling people to stock up on booze and cigarettes without having to fork over the 30+ percent taxes they encounter on these items in Scandinavia. All in all, it has been nice not having to worry about what is going to happen at the next international border we cross. We are saving some pages in our rapidly filling passports and do not have to worry about what time the border closes for the evening. Hopefully the ease at which we are able to cross through the next 10 or so countries will not make us soft, because Africa looms on the horizon and I would hedge a bet that things work a little differently down there.
Goodbye Blue Tarp
By Steve Bouey in
December 30, 2007 – 5:26 am
As most of you are all aware, someone broke into the Sequoia in Kazakhstan and robbed us and in the process of the robbery, the rear passenger window was completely shattered. Since the break-in, we have been using a blue plastic tarp as a make-shift window and have been dealing with the added cold, noise and inconvenience of discovering new, tiny shards of glass pretty much on a daily basis. Having a tarp for a window also poses a little bit of a security concern and it has definitely contributed to some added stress levels from time to time. We have tried unsuccessfully on a couple occasions to get the window replaced but we did not have our hopes up too high knowing that finding replacement parts for a vehicle that is not sold or manufactured anywhere near where we were was going to be a long shot. We came close to finding a new window surprisingly enough in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but alas it did not pan out. We tried again at the main Toyota dealership in Istanbul but again, most people at the dealership had not even heard of a Sequoia let alone seen one. Another option was to get a replacement window shipped out from the states, but since we are pretty much on the move all the time, we were finding it difficult to coordinate just exactly where to ship the window, who to ship it to and how to do it without spending a fortune.
Finally, two months after Little Pepe’s window was smashed out we were able to get it replaced. Our friend Lori laid the groundwork for us at a Toyota dealership in Prague, Czech Republic and when we arrived three days before Christmas, the boys at the dealership were waiting with a brand new, rear passenger window that even had the same color tint. It was quite an event at the dealership because according to the manager, they only see about two Sequoias per year and this was the first that was in the middle of an around the world expedition. The staff at the dealership were very helpful and within a few hours everything was fixed and fixed for a lot less than we had anticipated. So, many thanks to Robert and everyone else at Toyota in Prague… having a new window is a relief and now Swinger has an entourage.
Toyota said they could help with the window but the mess and the smell is our problem
You guys want this tarp back?
Swinger’s new Toyota posse
Group photo at Toyota Prague
