I use public transportation if I can. However, the best for me is to use a vehicle in which I can also sleep and cook. Sleuth camping is free. Cook and eat better and cheaper. Saving on food and accommodation can pay for the rental vehicle. As I see so many Nomad Mania sites, personal transport is the only way to connect the many waypoints saved on Google Maps.
WALKING
I love walking, hiking and trekking, things I have actively done all my life. The byline of my website ronperrier.net is “Only where you have walked have you been”.
I commonly walk 15-22 km per day in many cities. I use metros or occasionally buses to get to an area and walk to see the sites waymarked on Google Maps. I walk through many neighbourhoods and see the city up close. I stop and have tea with locals.
See my post Destinations to read about my many hikes and treks.
Crossing streets in countries with no traffic controls is an art form. Cross by walking through the moving traffic. I love it as it is so efficient.
• Flip-flops. I wear flip-flops 99% of the time when travelling. Most people respond “I get sores between my toes and could never travel with flip-flops.” Havianas are very popular but are only for fashion and not to walk in. Only one brand of flips allows unlimited walking every day comfortably – Chacos. They have a formed footbed, a soft nylon strap between the toes and simple nylon side straps that don’t trap sand. I have never had a sore spot. They are not cheap. I mail-order mine from REI in Seattle for about US$65 per pair. One pair will last me up to 2 years.
The only problem is the straps can pull out. This happens once or twice with every pair. I wrote Chacos suggesting they permanently fix the straps. My last pair was used for over 2 1/2 years and the straps didn’t pull out. I carry the Speedy Sticher Awl to repair the strap.
I also have hiking shoes. They are light trail running shoes with a wide-toe box. I only use them for trekking.
Azores July 2022. I climbed Mt Pico (2351m), a perfectly cone-shaped dormant volcano. It is the third-highest peak in the Atlantic Ocean and the highest in Portugal. The nine-hour return climb is the ultimate Azorean challenge.
I did a night trip starting at 01:30 to get to the summit for sunrise and avoid the inevitable cloud that obscures views later. The 1151m (3726 ft) climb was a nice grade and easy walking. The 70m summit scramble through venting fumaroles to a mini-mountain called Piquinho was the hardest. It was cold at the top and I put on all my clothes.
On the descent, I met a guy in flip-flops. I was impressed and we had a great discussion about our favourite footwear. I thought I was a hard-core flip-flop wearer but not on this trip. I could have managed the climbing but it would have been too cold.
HITCHHIKING
I love hitchhiking. It is one of the best ways to meet locals. You are often invited into their homes. The price is right. Sometimes there is no other option.
But I don’t usually don’t plan to hitchhike. It is random as the necessity arises. I end up doing it quite a bit.
I usually have a vehicle or use public transport and walk in cities. I have no worries about danger and not infrequently hitchhike. It was great to get around Easter Island and avoid a car rental. In Nauru, I hitchhiked through the phosphate field and up to Buada Lagoon. I saw Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Samoa by hitchhiking.
I often pick up hitchhikers and usually meet interesting people. In South Africa, I rented a car and often picked up hitchhikers, all black folks. They had never had a ride with a white dude before.
Some younger adventurous travellers use hitchhiking as their only transportation. In the Philosophy of Travel post, I describe a young Australian with extremely low-cost travel.
• Kyrgyzstan/Kazakstan border Feb 2016. In the remote far east of Kyrgyzstan, there was no public transport. I hitchhiked almost 100 km from Karakol to the border and was lucky to find a ride for the 280 km into Almaty. He was the perfect host – he treated me to dinner, we visited his farm, drank a lot of vodka and dropped me off in front of my hostel.
· Henric Jepperson, the youngest person to reach 193 at age 27, hitchhiked over 1000 times during his travels.
· Tajikistan October/November 2015. I had arrived in Murghab in the middle of the Pamirs by an expensive private hire from Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The next morning, I went down to the bazaar and a hoped-for ride to Khorog. There were no share taxis and a guy in a small truck immediately hustled me. He had business to do first and we headed up to his house to load the freshly butchered carcasses of 4 goats and 6 sheep. I was able to see the last goat killed and butchered, interesting as these guys are so practiced.
I was then invited into the driver’s house where all the men involved in the butchering came for food and drinks. It was interesting to look around the room at the different facial features – the narrow, Roman-nosed, round-eyed Tajiks and the round-faced, small-nosed, slightly slant-eyed Pamirs and Kyrzyz. Two big plates of boiled mutton and fat appeared along with bread, tea and vodka. The lungs, heart, liver and thoracic fat from the most recent butcher were cut into small pieces, fried up and placed on the mat. There were 8 of us sitting on the colourful rugs. There were lots of laughs.
After all the carcasses were loaded in the back, we departed but there were some obvious mechanical problems with the truck in town. Our luck ran out in the middle of nowhere. Two vehicles stopped to help, tools were used, spark plugs were removed and several attempts at pushing to jump-start the truck failed. It seemed the problem was with the gas tank, now removed along with the rear wheel. I eventually bundled up under my sleeping bag with the woman in the back seat. The temperature was well below zero. Nothing beats shit happening. The fuel filter or fuel pump was fixed and we were on our way again. A while later, when we passed some trucks, our driver was hailed down as gas was leaking on the ground. Again, the wheel came off and the leak was fixed. We finally made it to Alichur, another village on the road. Our driver disappeared apparently to get gas. We ate and then waited for about 2 hours in the café. I started to think the worst – that he had left town and absconded with all our stuff when a guy came along in a jeep, picked us up and took us to his house where the back wheel was off again. After 6 hours, we are only about a third of the way to Khorog, normally a 6-7-hour drive.
Every time you enter a house, hospitality is at the forefront. In this remote place, tea, bread, cookies and soup appeared. It is like every time we entered a yurt in Mongolia. Or visited one of my farmer aunts in southern Saskatchewan.
We continued, it was dark and the road deteriorated into rocky dirt as it went over Kol-Tzezek Pass (4272m). Any pavement was broken, frost-heaved and pot-holed. Not much has changed in the journey – rocky desert and forbidding rugged mountains. One hundred kilometres from Khorog, the truck broke down permanently and we were left on the side of the road at 10 pm to hitchhike.
Several vehicles refused and then three young guys in a car picked me up. I wondered what I had gotten myself into – blaring music, interminable questions in Russian and lots of vodka. Regular-sized cups were being passed to the driver who thankfully spilled as much as he drank.
We detoured over a rocky back road to the driver’s mother’s house and picked up his wife and two children. I put my pack into the trunk next to the live sheep. After several more kilometres where the guys behaved themselves, we stopped at a store and they broke the padlock on the door. They must have owned the place (and not have a key) because his family stayed there. We then went on another back road, dropped off the sheep and the drunkest guy and picked up a young woman. Back on the highway, it was a mixture of broken potholes and gravel and the guy was driving at top speed with nobody wearing seat belts as there weren’t any.
We arrived in Khorog at 2 am and the search started for a gas station, none were open and the guy extorted 120 sonomi from me. They stopped at a gas station and left me alone next to the car (don’t ask me where they went). So I got tired of waiting and started to walk to find a hotel. The first place was closed, the second was full. A car stopped and drove me to the Pamir Lodge – I would have never found it. So I arrived at 3 am and everything was dark. There was an outdoor sleeping space with mats and a pad and I put out my sleeping bag, but I was so hyped from the wacko day, that I laid awake for an hour.
• Nanaimo to Home. July 2024. I got home this morning after a 15-hour ordeal to do the last 100 km from Nanaimo.
The only transportation from Nanaimo is Island Link, a 20-passenger van that meets the ferry five times daily. I was unsure which ferry I would get. I arrived from Tokyo at 11:50. I had immigration, Canada Line, bus 257 to Horseshoe Bay, and missed the 2 pm ferry. I took the 4 pm ferry. Island Link doesn’t allow same-day reservations. The 6 pm van was full and the last of the day.
Hitchhiking seemed to be the only way to get home tonight. I knew the route back to the highway but had only driven it. With all my luggage, it took an hour to walk over 4 km. Hitchhiking is illegal but ok from the on-ramps. It took 2 rides and 2 hours to get to Bowser. It was now 10 pm. I slept in a park gazebo. It was great – I am well-equipped to do this comfortably. I was standing on the road at 6:30. It was two rides and 2 hours to Fanny Bay and I got the city bus to downtown Courtenay, HOME! It was 9 am.
I was never worried and always appreciate an adventure.
BICYCLES are common in many big cities with good bicycle lanes. The Netherlands and Flemish Belgium are the prototypes. Bicycles have the right of way making driving difficult. It is hard enough to keep track of other vehicles and pedestrians and bicycles add another dimension. They behave in an en way.
China has better bicycle lanes than Europe and are part of every urban street. They are wide, protected by a barrier and shared with scooters. One must navigate others going the wrong way. I used them most with a scooter.
Overland bicycle trips. I would never do this; it is too slow and makes getting to out-of-the-way destinations hard. Hills and wind are a problem. I am always amazed by the people whose only transport is by bike. Some take enormous trips – from the Arctic to the tip of Patagonia or Cairo to Cape Town.
· Heinz Stücke. This famous bicyclist from Westphalia, Germany visited all 193 countries including an amazing 1105 of The Best Traveler regions by bike over 51 years, about 660,000 km. He must be the greatest traveller of us all. To finance his trips, he sold colour brochures about his incredible journey.
· Dervla Murphy (1932-2022). Using an Armstrong Cadet man’s bike, she started her long treks at 31 – 4,500 miles from Ireland to Delhi (“Full Tilt”, her first and most famous book), 1,300 miles through the Andes and trips to southern Africa, Madagascar, Cuba, and the Middle East. Her copious diaries grew into 26 books. She travelled alone and carried a .25 pistol. She was tall, deep-voiced, well-muscled, and could drink like a man, beer being her staple. The more remote the place, the more she was drawn there. Afghanistan on a bike became her special love. She felt she might have stayed in the Hindu Kush, living in the sanity of backwardness. She disliked Western ways. Mass tourism, motor roads, expanding markets, mobile phones and capitalism were all near hell to her.
· Kyrgyzstan/Pamirs of Tajikistan. This is a great cycling destination. I met three of them either in Osh or in the Pamirs.
Overland bicycle trips. I would never do this; it is too slow and makes getting to out-of-the-way destinations hard. Hills and wind are a problem. I am always amazed by the people I’ve met cycling from the Arctic to the tip of Patagonia or Cairo to Cape Town.
a. Two amazing travellers with an end point in Australia and determined not to fly: a German fellow cycling from Germany and a Swedish woman cycling from Sweden. Both were alone. They certainly see an amazing amount of road, but I also wonder what they miss. Because of their transportation style, they tend to move in pretty straight lines through countries. They are in wonderful physical condition.
Riding a bike is dangerous. The Swedish woman had fallen from her bike, fractured a bone in her foot on the 4200m pass between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and was flying home to recover before returning next spring to finish her journey, but to go a different way (through Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan) this time. Kazakhstan would be the most boring country to cycle – thousands of kilometres of nothing. Even the German guy finally took the train.
b. Just past the Tajikistan border, we passed an English couple cycling from New Zealand. back to England (via Australia, Timor Leste, Indonesia, SE Asia, China, Almaty Kazakhstan, Bishkek and Osh). It had taken them a week to get to where it had taken me 5 hours. The road was compact snow on rough dirt/gravel. People travelling in this part of the world are incredible. I was embarrassed to tell them about my minimalist adventures and say nothing.
c. I met this couple in Tajikistan past Murgab. After our vehicle had broken down for the second time, I was standing on the road and a couple of cyclists passed by. An Australian couple had started their trip in Bangalore, India, north through Gujarat, Rashastan and Punjab to cross into Pakistan at Amritsar (famous for changing of the guard at the border). Then they cycled through Pakistan to the Karakoram Highway to Kashgar, China, via Irkeshatam to Sary Tash and into Tajikistan. Because of visa issues, they were uncertain where they would end up.
The most adventurous travellers in the world were in Central Asia and Mongolia.
MOTORCYCLE TAXIS are common, especially in East Africa and South Asia. Where traffic is heavy, they are the only practical way to navigate many cities. They drive between rows of cars and use the shoulders and sidewalks liberally to pass heavy traffic. They have a reputation for driving recklessly and some travellers avoid them. I have found them all to be great, and cautious drivers. They are cheap.
The key to riding is to hug the driver’s hips with your legs giving a very stable ride (like riding a horse) and holding on with your hands is unnecessary. A rolling suitcase would be impossible but a backpack works great, I use them commonly between accommodation and airports or bus stations. Many don’t understand Google Maps and I guide them to unfamiliar destinations.
· Bangladesh March 2023. Dhaka is an amazing city to get around. With 23 million people, there is not one traffic light. The only traffic control is traffic police using whistles at major intersections. Like many 3rd world countries, there are no traffic rules, The right of way is getting ahead of the next guy. It rewards aggressive driving. Any uncontrolled intersection is mayhem as vehicles nudge the front of their car ahead. A few vehicles make it across together before another lane cuts in. Honking is common and necessary for cutting in front of others. I took several moto-taxi trips in Dhaka, several with all my travel gear.
I have seen amazing loads on motorcycles – 50 empty jerry cans was a record, a load of 15 m boards, beds and furniture, 4 men or entire families of five.
SCOOTERS I have never driven a motorcycle with gears but scooters are easy. I have rented scooters innumerable times driving hundreds of kilometres several times. I drove about 600 km on Madeira, Canary Islands and Mallorca with my daypack and a tent and camped at waysides or beaches.
· China. Rental scooters are everywhere (except in some big cities like Beijing). Use Alipay or WeChat to pay and unlock the scooter. Few have phone holders and I travel with a holder that straps to my arm. Navigation would be dangerous and impossible without ready access to Google Maps. The problem arises when you park to see a site like a museum. The scooter is often gone when you get back. All have GPS and are disabled remotely outside a prescribed area.
SHARE VANS are common throughout Africa, South Asia and almost all 3rd world countries. I use them routinely whenever possible as they are so cheap. It is a good way to meet locals. In cities, they drive fixed routes that I don’t understand and follow on Google Maps to get off when they go off my route. I dislike taxis, especially from airports into the city. On the Solomon Islands, the ride into Honaria by taxi costs 100SBD and the share van 5SBD.
They are also common between cities and towns. They invariably wait for a full load which can take time.
· Sudan. On Dec 18, 2022, I took a share van from Wadi Halfa to Karima for 15,000 SP ($27). Transportation is expensive in Sudan compared to the rest of Africa but this was 578 km and an 8+ hour trip. With an expected departure at 8, they didn’t start loading the roof until 09:45 ending up with a 4-foot-high load. Tying it down took till 11:30. Like all share vans, they don’t leave until full. It was 11:50 with 7 passengers in the 15-passenger van. I luckily had a front seat. Music videos blared. At 1:15, we stopped to pick up a guy with 3 large nylon bags, a huge heavy gunny sack, a 10-gallon gas can, personal clothes and a large outboard boat motor that they tied down at the front of the roof. Along for the ride came 10 flies that tormented me. The road had enough potholes to slow things down,
At 3 pm, we had a flat tire. It had exploded and was completely delaminated. The van was so overloaded and the tire so flat, that all 9 passengers had to rock the van to get the jack under it. Outside my legs were instantly covered with 100s of tiny bugs that bit leaving small hemorrhagic lesions.
The load at the back shifted and was hanging way over to the right. We dropped off some and picked up others and the back of the van was full of stuff. The old guy with three television sets finally got off.
At 18:20, we were at Dongala with only 173 km to go. It had been dark for an hour. I had no idea where I would sleep, somewhere in Karima. The driver talked almost nonstop on the phone which I find irritating.
BUSES
In cities, I find them difficult as I rarely know the route. Follow on Google Maps and get off when they go off route, To avoid expensive taxis from airports, shuttles are common and I use them whenever possible for a fraction of the cost.
On intercity trips, I routinely pack my sleeping bag or puff jacket, eye shade, ear plugs, KIndle and a pillow.
South America has the best intercity bus systems in every country.
· Brazil January/February 2022, I visited every province in the country in an epic journey using mostly buses, 2 flights and a ferry on the Amazon. The buses are the best in the world with many lines and possibilities for every destination. Most are double-decker with luxury seats on the bottom deck – 4 rows of three across that go almost flat (avoid the back row as they don’t recline completely). Usually, there are USB plugs to charge electronics. All have toilets. The trips were long and I rarely used other accommodations because the seats were so comfortable.
TAXIS
I avoid taxis but in many places, they are the only choice. When getting from airports into the city, one is immediately accosted when you exit arrivals. They usually work together with a fixed price and don’t negotiate. They never tell the truth about other transportation options. Sometimes, when there is a crowd of them, I hold an auction for the cheapest fare. Once you arrive at your destination, they raise the price or expect a tip.
I prefer shuttles into the city or walking out to the closest street to find a bus or share taxi.
Most countries have taxi apps with Uber being the prototype. It’s so well-designed and easy to use. Prices may be up half normal taxis.
• Salvador, Brazil May 2021. I used an Uber to get around the city. On one ride, I asked to stop at a store to buy cigarettes. While in the store, the Uber driver left – with my pack, computer and Kindle. I hadn’t paid the fare and was only out of the car for a minute. He wouldn’t reply to my calls. Uber has no recourse as Uber drivers are private employees, and the Tourist police were a joke. I can’t travel without a computer, so decided to return home. My COVID PCR was positive so I quarantined in Mexico City for 10 days.
· Afghanistan June 2024. In Kabul, there is no public transportation and no motorcycles so taxis are the only method of transport. Riding a bicycle is life-threatening. Gas is subsidized so everyone has a car. The right of way is determined by getting ahead of the next guy and drivers are very aggressive cutting in at every opportunity. Double parking is common. The few traffic control lights are ignored.
· Pakistan June 14, 2024. As I was writing this book, I had a typical taxi experience. I flew from Kabul to Islamabad. Upon arrival, I had several taxis vying for my business. I needed a taxi to Christal Travel, a bus station 32 km away in Rawalpindi, Most offered 5000PK but one 4000PK and I went with him. It was 40°C and he had no AC. No problem. During the drive, he phoned a friend with excellent English. He wanted to talk to me. We arrived and I only had a 5000 bill. He had no change so suggested $20, then 3000 +$10. He says “You are rich, please give me more. He leaves with 5000PK (US$18).
TRAINS
I love trains. They are so civilized – you can move around, have a bathroom (although usually foul squat toilets), comfortable seating, a bed, electricity, all the hot water you want, and the melodic rhythm of the rails.
I had never been on a train until I worked as a brakeman for the CPR as a summer job during university and then not again until I started to travel. I have been on some great trains: the Trans Siberian, the spectacular Japanese system, the Chinese system, the best of them all, the chaotic Indian system and easily the worst trains in the world in Myanmar. North America is so far behind.
· Myanmar September 2013. I travelled for 9 hours down the Ayeyarwady River by ferry from Bhamo to Katha. It was then a rickety taxi for one hour to Naba over one of the most horrendous roads ever travelled – confluent potholes, rocks, and stream crossings to eventually take the train from Katha to Mandalay.
Myanmar’s railways were inherited from British times and haven’t been upgraded since, resulting in an uneven bed and warped rails. Sleeper cars aren’t available on this line and foreigners must buy upper-class tickets in $US at 10 times the prices for locals.
It is impossible to describe the 11-hour ride. It was like a midway ride – at times the cars swayed a few feet from side to side, and each time the car passed over a joint, it lurched like it hit a pothole. At top speed (rarely above 25 km/hour), I counted 100 lurches per minute. On some bad stretches, you almost leave your seat with each. And it was nonstop for the entire time; no piece of track was minimally smooth until we approached Mandalay.
Every passenger had their luggage in front of them taking up most of the leg room. I had great difficulty talking the teenage monk across from me to move his bag taking up most of my legroom. With nonreclining seats and still insufficient legroom to stretch out, I did not sleep a wink. Amazingly, most locals seemed to have no problem as their heads bobbed up and down several feet each time. The lights were also on full for the entire night. It was so hellish that it became humorous. Pairs of seats face each other and I had a good time with the 7 passengers and two babies in our ‘group’. I was the only foreigner on the train. It was a journey I will never forget and part of the Myanmar experience – easily the worst quality railroad in the world. Exhausted on arrival in Mandalay at 6 AM, I went to my hotel and hit the sack.
· India. The roads are so bad, that trains become the default transportation. I only used third class with 3 tiers of bunks on each side. There is no door, the windows have rebar and are always open, and the bunks have no bedding. My first train ride in India was from Varanasi to Bodhgaya. I woke up just before the arrival time. The space between the bunks and the hallway was packed with standing bodies. I could barely get off my bed. I hurriedly packed my luggage and asked, “Is this Bodhgaya?” A sea of nonresponsive people looked back. I got up and wedged through the crowd repeating “Is this Bodhgaya?” Somebody said, “No, it’s the next stop.”
• Transiberian Railway. September 2014. I went from Moscow to Irkutsk over 74 hours and continued to Ulan Batar Mongolia. The scenery was identical for the entire trip – not a hill, birch trees, Svoiet cities with little to see and impoverished farms. Stops are so brief, it is not possible to buy a sandwich off the train. If you want to stop in a city, I’m unsure how to reserve tickets and reboard. No one spoke English on my train.
The people who rave about this are usually in a group, party and drink a lot. Otherwise, it is extremely boring. The food is bad so stock up before you leave. The trains are nice with good beds but it is expensive.
· Japan. Trains are the best way to travel around Japan. Flying is quite expensive and the train system is world-class. Buy the JR pass before entering the country as it can’t be purchased in the country. It is cheap especially when moving around a lot. Arrive in a big city for several days because it is not useful in cities and activate the pass on leaving. When leaving, don’t arrive in the city until the pass is finished for the same reason.
The trains are wonderful, fast, frequent and on time to the second. There is no need to buy specific tickets, walk through the turn styles showing the pass.
I had gone to the far north hoping to hike in Hokkaido, It was early April and there was a lot of snow on the ground. That wasn’t going to work so I decided to go to Y???, an island in the far south that I didn’t think I had time to see when I was close my first time. I travelled the entire length of Konsho ???? in about 12 hours. That day alone was probably worth the cost of the pass.
One of my odd observations about Japanese is the quiet on the train. All you hear are frequent sniffles. Japanese don’t seem to like to blow their nose and will sniffle repeatedly.
· China has a world-class system. Easy to book on Trip.com and 12306. Inexpensive. Arrive at any station and navigate it easily with no Mandarin. At the entrance is a large signboard showing all trains with the gate. The gates don’t open until about 10 minutes before boarding. No paper ticket is necessary, just scan your passport. The manual foreigner line is also used by children as they don’t have national identity cards yet.
Most high-speed stations are outside the cities although in large cities like Beijing and Wuhan, some are also inside the city.
Slow trains have three classes and I would encourage you to use the first class with doors, only 2 tiers of bunks and the AC is better. They are great to sleep in and provide good bedding. The conductors are very diligent about waking you up for your stop.
Beware that some trains book out quickly. I wanted to go to Tianjin from Beijing and didn’t book a train as there was one every 10 minutes; At 8 am, all trains were booked past 6 pm.
VEHICLES
Rental cars. I use rental cars a great deal as they are the only way to see all my Nomad Mania destinations. I have driven in over 80 countries. My favourite rental car company is Europcar. My least favourite is Avis/Budget (the same company) as unwanted charges are common and I have been ripped off with damage that didn’t occur and cleaning costs. Book on premium credit cards that cover the insurance and save a lot of money.
Ideally, rent a vehicle that you can sleep and cook in. The savings on accommodation alone can pay for a significant part of the cost. This only works if you wild camp and avoid campgrounds which is easy everywhere.
I have purchased vehicles twice
CHEV TRUCK and BIG FOOT CAMPER
When I retired in 2006, I purchased a Chevrolet one-ton diesel truck with an eight-foot box and a Big Foot camper. Chevrolet Silverado diesel trucks are the best of the North American trucks. The 2006 version of Duramax diesel has been described as the best diesel engine produced by General Motors and the last year that high-sulfur diesel could be used. Big Foot campers are the Cadillac of campers with a continuous shell, full kitchen and bathroom, a basement for storage and a great solar system to dry camp anywhere for long periods. I never stay in campgrounds.
When travelling in North America, a truck and camper are ideal for my style of travel because of their great mobility. I could drop the camper on the side of the road to go through tunnels (Real de Catorce in Mexico is only accessible by a long tunnel), or on four-wheel-drive roads and other rough roads unsuitable for campers. Campers are much safer than towed motor homes, especially on narrow roads. Because it is relatively short, I can park anywhere and often stay in the centre of towns close to the sights.
My camper has everything I could desire. I can take bicycles and kayaks. I would not get an RV with slides because of the weight and I don’t need the extra floor space to dance. The solar system allows me to dry camp and avoid campgrounds. I have not used a campground since 2009. Having a well-functioning source of electricity is key to the modern RV as every appliance (refrigerator, heater, water heater) has an electric ignition. Sirius satellite radio (hard-wired in both the truck and camper) is my lifeline to home and the world and my major source of entertainment. CBC (all the world-class interviewers are a joy), NPR (National Public Radio in the US), and BBC are my mainstays. I don’t miss TV here.
I avoid travelling with any other vehicles as then what I do would be dictated by someone else. Your main social interaction would be with the same people instead of the whole variety of other travellers and the local population. Forcing yourself to interact is one of the keys to a complete travelling experience. The only negative is being alone to share your experiences with and mealtimes especially at Christmas are the most difficult.
• Baja Mexico Winter 2006/07. This was my first year of travel and the first time I used my new truck and camper. After exploring a large swath of the Southwest US, we entered Mexico and drove down the Sea of Cortez coast to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the Baja Peninsula and up the Pacific coast. We camped for a few days to a week at San Felipe, Gonzaga (a highlight was the thrilling day hike to Mission Santa Theresa or “Mission Impossible”), Bahia Los Angeles (kayaked around the entire bay), Bahia Conception ( Free camping 10 feet from the water. I kayaked from Mulege to our campsite), Loreto, saw grey whales at Magdalena, Tecolote near La Paz, La Ventana (kite surfing camp), Cabo Pulmo National Park (a marine reserve renowned for diving), Los Cerritos, Cabo San Lucas (a tourist trap) and Todos Santas (Hotel California). A common pastime was walking beaches and picking up the trash on every beach. We mostly met other snowbirds in their motor homes. We went to a wedding and had the unlikely treat of meeting old friends from British Columbia.
We crossed back into the States at Tijuana and took a month to drive the length of Highway 1 on the Pacific coast. Highlights were camping in a parking lot in downtown San Francisco, redwood forests and the Oregon coast.
• Mainland Mexico Winter 2007/08. I drove my truck and camper from home in southern British Columbia to the Yucatan in Mexico driving 20,000 km. I made three large inland loops and saw a lot of the country. Problems included getting an oil change for the diesel and removing things from the top of the camper. I hit palm trees in Porto Vallarta and low-hanging trees in Calakmul, removed the air conditioner on an unmarked low overpass and disastered the awning in San Christobal de la Casas. I used a lot of hot glue and larger screws to reattach everything.
The biggest problem was all the topes or speed bumps. Every dog, chicken and house had a speed bump. Most were unmarked and I hit many going too fast. Eventually, the back tie-downs on the camper fractured completely creating an unsafe condition. On my way home, the automatic transmission went on a holiday. I could only drive in fourth gear and limped into a Chev dealership in Poza Rica, an unattractive town of oil refineries. After unplugging and checking everything, they finally diagnosed that the transmission control module had failed. Ordering one from Detroit took 10 days. I unloaded my camper in the used car lot for a well-deserved rest. I read 12 books that I had bought and hadn’t had a chance to read. No one in the dealership spoke English but one fellow had a sister who adopted me. We saw local sites and she invited me to eat with the family. She was lovely and we still occasionally communicate on Facebook.
• Across Canada, New England States to Florida and the Florida Keys. This was my first trip driving across Canada to New Brunswick. In the US, I stayed in all the cities, I camped near a train line and went into New York City for three days walking all over Manhatten. I took the Blue Ridge Parkway and kayaked in the Okefenokee Swamp. From Key West, I took a boat to the Dry Tortugas NP and camped on a beach for $3/night. I returned home in December after three days of hard driving – sleep, drive and repeat. I drove through a tremendous blizzard in northern Arizona and didn’t hit snow again until Idaho.
• British Columbia, Yukon & Alaska. Summer 2012. I drove to the Rocky Mountains and the spectacular Ice Fields Parkway to Mount Robson Provincial Park. The fantastic Berg Lake Trail is a 4-day backpacking trip below Mt Robson (3954m, 12,972’), the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies.
I visited Hyder Alaska, only accessible from Stewart British Columbia, Teslin, and Atlin Lake in BC, and Whitehorse and Dawson Creek in the Yukon. In Alaska, I drove to Fairbanks, Denali NP and Anchorage and flew over Glacier Bay from Haines. The Alaska Marine Highway continues along SE Alaska, the slender 540-mile-long strip of Alaska accessible only by plane and boat. After Prince Rupert, I boarded BC Ferries to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island and drove home.
• Midwest and Northeast USA and Canada. March-July 2020. I crossed into the US on March 15, the day before the border closed because of COVID. I drove as far south as Texas, through the midwest, the Great Lakes states and from Maine, I finally entered Canada in New Brunswick. I finished seeing all 50 US states when gas was at an all-time low, traffic was minimal and parking available everywhere. I was perfectly self-isolated only seeing anyone in gas stations.
Once in Canada, I was quarantined in a hotel in Fredericton for 2 weeks for a great rest. I drove across Canada, visited family and friends in Calgary and arrived home in July.
South of Detroit, I was hit by an impaired woman and my camper sustained irreparable damage. This was my last trip in this Big Foot, I received a great insurance payout and bought a new one identical to the first. The original one had had a storied life and had slowly developed many problems. I am looking forward to seeing more of North America in my new Big Foot, a modern recreational vehicle.
I sleuth camp most of the time with its great solar system, complete kitchen and full bathroom. It more than paid for itself.
VOLKSWAGEN CALIFORNIA
In Europe, normally the most expensive travel was my cheapest. To see Europe and Western Asia during 2018-19, I factory-ordered a VW California camping van in Leipzig Germany. To own and register a vehicle requires an address. I had met a lovely man in Petra and he had agreed to let me use his address. We went to the town office and registered me as a resident. Insurance is another major problem but the dealership obtained excellent insurance through Alliance.
VW Californias are the ideal travel vehicle – a great bed, stove, refrigerator, storage, an efficient heater that runs on diesel, and best of all, built-in pulldown window shades for complete privacy in 1 minute. The van was white and looked like a hundred other VW vans and I was never hassled wild camping.
I eventually drove 200,000 km around Europe and Western Asia (Iceland to Baku, Azerbaijan), slept in it for over 700 nights, and never paid for accommodation – nor spent a second finding or reserving accommodation. I cooked 98% of my meals in the van, saving money and eating healthier than in restaurants. I tell the story below but I had 2 vans with a net cost over the 2 years of only €9,000. worth 3-4 months of hotels in much of Europe. Californias retain their resale value very well. My only cost was gas, oil changes, food and tolls.
• Iceland / Faroe Islands. I took the van on a ferry from northern Denmark to Iceland for 1,536€. That seems excessive but renting a van of lesser quality in Iceland was 2,000€ per week. I was there for 3 weeks. I purchased all the food I needed in Germany and drove in a day directly to Herschels in north Denmark. I didn’t buy more than $10 worth of food in total. I sleuth camped (which is illegal in Iceland) for all three weeks and never paid for accommodation. I saw almost everything in this spectacular country. On the return trip, the ferry stopped in the Faroes for two days and I had a vehicle to explore another beautiful part of the world.
I doubt anyone has had my experience in Iceland and spent less money. It is an expensive country. The only thing free is the car washes in every gas station to clean all the mud off your car.
• Birmingham England May 2017. Driving a left-hand drive vehicle on the wrong side made driving in England the most difficult I have ever done. At a roundabout in Birmingham, I ran into the side of a new Mercedes. It was my fault but cars race around the outside lane of roundabouts and he was going fast. It is a lot easier with a right-hand drive. The damage was to the right front corner of the California and still drivable.
• In Wales, on a long curve, a truck with big mirrors came into my lane and tore my right mirror off. He immediately was on the offensive and accused me of crossing the line when I knew I hadn’t. He never paid for the repair. The Welsh are a weird bunch and this was just one of many odd occurrences I had here.
• Sweden. September 2018. I was north of Stockholm on a remote gravel road and crossing a double rail crossing. Just as I crossed under the control gate, it started down and I was trapped. I tried to get off the track but my left rear had about 6 inches exposed. I had picked the wrong track. When the train hit the corner, the van exploded with a tremendous bang heard by a woman a block away. She eventually adopted me for a day, helped me rescue my possessions and let me stay at her place for the night. I flew home the next day.
The van was totalled and eventually sold for 17,000€. I received a complete payout of 59,000€.
I went home for two months and purchased a new van from My California in Narden, Netherlands for 51,000€ and picked it up in December 2018. My California registered it in Belgium as it was much cheaper. I had Belgian insurance.
• Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia Dec 2019. I continued to the west to leave Nagorno and reenter southern Armenia. Although I thought I had climbed as high as possible, the road continued to climb through dense fog. This road was full of potholes. When I swerved to miss one, I hit the high shoulder of the road and bent the rim of the right front wheel. It started to leak and the low tire pressure light came on. None of the gas stations had a pump and as the pressure wasn’t decreasing, I continued to Goris in southern Armenia. I luckily stopped at a service station with a tire shop. After removing the wheel, he discovered the bent rim and took a sledgehammer to it. All good and for less than €4.
• Verona Italy. On New Year’s Eve, 2019, I took the ferry from NW Greece to Venice. I was driving my California to Amsterdam to sell it back to My California. After about 100 km near Verona, I was in the middle lane of the major expressway going the speed limit of 130 km/hr A small older car that was passing on the left suddenly swerved into the guardrail. His right rear end hit my left rear end, I did a 180 and hit the guard rail with the right side of the van. All 4 tires were blown.
Back down the highway, they had not gotten out of their vehicle. I went down and the driver was trying to start the car. I grabbed the keys and the fight was on with him and his three passengers, all drunk, They tore the right pocket off my jeans and finally wrenched the keys from my right hand. I was yelling at the other vehicles to stop but 25 or so passed by. The culprits left the scene of the accident. A car finally stopped. I had bruises for two weeks.
The van was towed to a VW dealer in Verona. My Belgian insurance company obstructed the repair for more than a year. I eventually paid for the 27,000€ repair personally and repairs didn’t start until June 2021. This was a blessing because of COVID-19 – I couldn’t use it anyway and saved the storage fee for 18 months. I picked the California up on August 4, 2022, the day after it was finally finished. Great timing. I drove through Italy, south and north Franc, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium back to Narden.
I slowly received the money back from insurance. The last payment of 800€ for Verona costs and my flight home came in 2023.
The van had parking damage on the right so I was lucky to have done the 180. The van was in perfect condition, and I received top dollar for it – 42.000€. It had 96,000 km on the odometer.
Issues with traveling in a camper in Europe
• Registration and tickets. You must have a European residence to register the vehicle and purchase insurance. All speeding tickets are sent to that address and must be paid. Europe is one giant speed trap. Italy is the worst. I had a 120€ ticket for driving in a bus lane for a few hundred yards. After my year with My California, they said they would never register a vehicle again. Normally when they sell a vehicle, they never hear from the customer again.
• Showers were my biggest issue. The California had an outside shower but I didn’t use it much. I showered in marinas, snuck into campgrounds, and used swimming pools and sports clubs. In many European countries, the major service centres on freeways have cheap or free showers and they were a mainstay. I often went longer than most people needing one. With the antiperspirant Drysol, you never smell and that was a major help. Wet wipes are useful to keep privates clean. I don’t think anyone needs a shower every day or 2 or 3 or more days anyway.
• LPG gas. The tank is specific to the California, it is not refillable and there are no alternatives. I bought a second tank but ran out in Eastern Europe. It could not be purchased east of Italy. I bought a different type of propane tank with a screw-on burner that I used outside.
• Pollution controls result in only CO2 and water. If the AdBlue ran out, it couldn’t be started. The 3500€ diesel particulate filter in the exhaust plugs if driven on city roads for a long time as it requires travel at speed to keep clean. In Iraq, I filled up with cheap diesel. It was high-sulfer and completely plugged the DPF resulting in an 800€ repair.
• Oil Changes are exorbitant – 300€, 5 times the cost in North America.
• Ulgii Mongolia. I was here to see the Golden Eagle Festival and stayed at Travelers Guesthouse. This big Ford F-550 diesel truck with California plates was parked in the centre of the compound. Mounted on the truck was a specially built European-style camper with Turtle Expedition.
Mammoth tires, a winch, an over-cab steel rack, a large metal box on the roof, 2 solar panels and many outside compartments rounded out the vehicle. They were a couple in their early 60s who had been travelling since 1972. This was their fifth Turtle vehicle with #s 2,3, and 4 simple pop-up campers. They had it made in California and is a one-of-a-kind vehicle (I saw a similar truck/camper vehicle in southern Utah called Earth Roamer which they claim copied them and has since gone bankrupt).
They are photojournalists and have several sponsors, but I am unaware of their funding for such long trips. In 1996, they drove the entire length of Russia in winter and now were on a three-year trip that started in Portugal to travel the Silk Road. They have finished that bit and now have driven to Western Mongolia. Go to turtleexpedition.com for details.
My Bigfoot camper has much more space with its over-the-cab queen bed and full bathroom. But my truck suspension and tires come nowhere close to what is on this vehicle. It looks like it can go anywhere.
Drivers around the World
Every country without rigid speed controls (South Korea, UAE, Saudi Arabia) has a small percentage of drivers that drive very aggressively. Sometimes they are so aggressive the drivers can be the worst thing about a country (Armenia, Georgia, Romania). Of the “accelerate hard, brake hard” variety, they use every opportunity to get ahead – drive on the wrong side, speed, cut ahead, drive on the shoulders and use constant lane changes. Beware if you drive here as the danger of an accident is high, especially when changing lanes. I have never been passed so often.
On highways, they speed, come from behind and flash their lights demanding you to pull over, tailgate, pass unsafely (on solid lines, drive on shoulders) and generally don’t follow normal road rules. Some of their other bad habits are unsafe passing on hills and corners, cutting corners, excessive speed and extreme intolerance.
In Armenia, in five days, I saw 4 significant accidents and never did figure out who had the right of way in roundabouts. Romania has the most aggressive drivers in Europe, followed by Italy. When cars fail the difficult pollution controls of countries like Germany, rather than fix them, they are shipped to Romania – BMWs, Mercedes and Audis are more common here than anywhere else. Having all that power enables aggression.
When a car follows too closely, I often tap my brakes as a warning to move back. The reactions are usually negative. I have had drivers force me off the road, get in front of me and drive very slowly or even follow me for long periods and threaten me.
In Italy, it is not uncommon to see cars driving at high speed with only a few metres between. Some would say they are poor drivers, but I would disagree – they are bad in not following common sense or the rules but their driving ability is very good. Otherwise, they would be dead by now. They should be on a racetrack, not a highway.
Other countries have no road rules as they have no traffic control – India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are good examples. Here right-of-way is determined by who is farther ahead. Get an inch ahead and you have the right-of-way. Sometimes major intersections have traffic police who control which lane moves, but most intersections are mayhem. One car nudges ahead and some follow but if one is a little slow, others get ahead. It makes for inefficient traffic flow.
Bangladesh would be a classic example. Dacha, the capital with 23 million people, doesn’t have one traffic light. The only efficient way to get around is on a motorcycle that moves along gaps between cars, the sidewalk or any method to bypass the traffic snarl.
Iraq is also unique as there are no road rules. The standard speed limits of 100 highway and 60 in town are meaningless. On good roads, I often drove 120-160 and cars breezed by like the autobahn. They come from behind flashing their lights, then tailgate closely demanding you pull over. If not, they will pass in any way possible including driving on either dirt shoulder at speed. Right-of-way has no meaning as we understand it. Roundabouts are a treat of aggressive behaviour.
Lane speeds are meaningless. Slow vehicles are in any lane. Red lights are ignored much of the time. They rarely signal. Vehicles often go the wrong way on one-way roads. This can be unnerving but is handy when you have gone the wrong way too. Pedestrians have no rights. There were a lot of accidents but less than what one would think.
Kabul in Afghanistan has no public transport and no road rules. Petrol is subsidized so surprisingly for such a poor country, everyone seems to have a car. Traffic jams are legion and stay at home at certain times.
Cutting corners is also a problem. I cut corners when I can see ahead and there is no oncoming vehicle. I never pass in unsafe conditions – on a hill or a corner. I drive as fast as I can get away with but always assess the road conditions.
Many third-world countries have pedestrians, slow-moving vehicles, vehicles with no lights at night, double-parked vehicles, share vans that don’t pull over and make driving difficult.
Most drivers anywhere don’t understand the safe way to pass. If it appears a passing opportunity is coming up, it is important to increase your speed and then accelerate aggressively to safely execute the pass.
I have driven in at least 85 countries. Any country with a British heritage drives on the left-hand side which takes some getting used to, especially with a manual transmission as you are now shifting with your left hand. I always worry about how I may react in an emergency when reflex habits can take over.
I like to drive aggressively so after some adjustment, I was doing all this too in countries with no rules. It was fun to see what you could get away with – and that was anything. Many of our rules (like waiting for red lights when there is no traffic) don’t make common sense. Taiwan has no stop signs and every intersection, no matter how tiny has a traffic light. I became so tired of waiting at lights with no traffic moving, I drove through hundreds of red lights.
I believe I could drive safely anywhere.
· Namibia. April 2017. On my 5 1/2 month overland trip from Morocco to Capetown, I left the trip in Windhoek and rented a car. I drove over the entire south. The roads are mainly gravel and I had purchased windshield and tire/rim coverage. In the deep south next to South Africa, I cut a left turn too close (they drive on the left) and hit a rock. Both left-side tires were flat as both rims were bent. Three cars drove by, all responding “You’re f**ked”. Reassured that I had an unsolvable problem, I was not too worried – things always turn out for me. I had food and water for a couple of days.
The fourth vehicle that came along was a farmer. He took a sledgehammer and pounded on each rim for 5 minutes, inflated the tires with his air compressor and pounded more until there were no leaks. Problem solved. I drove back to Windhoek checking in every town if they had VW rims that fit. The only ones were in Windhoek. The extra insurance paid for the rims.
• Saudi Arabia. I rented a car from Yelo at the Jeddah Airport. Yelo was the only one of 10 companies with unlimited mileage and would accept a Visa card. They took a 1500SR (US$400) deposit. Speed limits never exceeded 120 km/hr even though the highways were excellent everywhere, usually 4-6 lanes divided and with street lights on every major road for hundreds of kilometres. I had a radar detector so wasn’t worried about speed tickets. The only cameras appeared to be on overhead gantries. In 10 days, I drove about 8,000 km most at 160 km/hr. I saw everywhere in the country including Mecca and Medina,
After about 7 days I realized what the speed cameras were – small rectangular green boxes that flashed when speeding. It was possible to recognize them and as their range was less than 50 m, it was possible to slow to below the speed limit. They appeared to work on a photo mechanism and not radar.
On returning the car to Jeddah Airport, I got the bad news. There were 4,500SR (US$1200) of speeding tickets that I paid with my credit card. The absent hubcap on the right front cost $50. When I got home, I received another bill for 4500SR bringing my total speeding bill for 10 days to US$2800.
· Australia. September to November 2023. I rented a car in Australia from Travelers Autobarn for 77 days. It was a Ford station wagon that I slept in for all but 74 days. It had a stove and dishes that I used a lot. I started in Brisbane and drove counterclockwise for 25,000 km ending in Brisbane. South of Darwin, I made a big detour south to Alice Springs and Uluru, returning the same way. I never paid for camping and usually slept on highway waysides. There are a lot of boring roads and repetitive scenery – lots of bush but no sand. It was not usual to have Google Maps announce “turn right in 568 km”.
I am not a beach person and don’t drink so what other tourists like about Australia, I didn’t see. My travel is very much orientated to seeing destinations.
The main danger is kangaroos. I was hit twice and the bond of A$3500 was cashed even though my only damage cost A$115 to repair. If one has 3 run-ins with roos, you are down A$11,500 that you don’t get back for a month after you leave.
Driving without a seatbelt (there are many cameras) costs an unusual A$1,362.
· Iraq September 2022, – Rent a car and travel independently
Hertz is the only car rental company in South Iraq and has an office at the Babylon Rotana Hotel. Cost $38/day.
I drove from Baghdad to Basra using the “eastern route”, returned to Baghdad on the “western” route, to Mosul on the west and returned on the east. I went to all four Nomad Mania regions and saw all the WHSs and Tentative WHS. The heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad cannot be entered.
Checkpoints. Manned by both the army and police, the number and difficulty varies with area. They are not used to tourists unaccompanied by guides or drivers and there are many questions. Most were pleasant. I was offered water and food at a few long ones. Occasionally there was a “captain” who spoke English or they called someone on the phone to translate, but that was uncommon. At almost all, a “captain” was consulted to make the final decision.
Download Arabic on Google Translate as at some checkpoints, phone service was not available. None of the checkpoints communicate with each other and there seems to be no record that can be checked, so each checkpoint is a new adventure.
After two days, I wrote the following letter. It answered almost all questions and made dealing with the checkpoints much easier. I left it on my computer but printing it out would have been better.
“I am a 69-year-old, retired Canadian medical doctor visiting Iraq as a tourist for 9 days to see your great country. I arrived in Baghdad on September 16 and plan on driving to Basra (Madain, Wisat), and then back to Baghdad (Nasiryah, Ur, Najaf, Babylon, Karbala). After seeing Baghdad, I will continue to Mosul (Samarra, Ashur, Hatra) and return to Baghdad. This car is a rental car from Hertz. My departure flight is from Baghdad on September 24th.
I am alone and do not have a guide or driver. I am not conducting any business in Iraq.
I have been travelling for over 16 years and have been to 151 countries. My goal is to see all 193 countries in the world. Iraq has many World Heritage Sites and I hope to see them all.”
Even with this, some checkpoints were a nightmare, especially Samarra. Think twice about driving from Mosul to Kirkuk. The approximate 200 km took six laborious hours due to the 6 checkpoints. Deny you are going to Kirkuk (I went anyway).
At the 5th checkpoint, the soldier told me “Forbidden”. I argued, was driven back a kilometre and eventually had eight officers who okayed onward travel.
Navigation. Download the necessary maps on Google Maps and Maps Me.
Google Maps loses all navigational ability (just as in Kosovo and south Turkey near the Iraq border). It gives the route on Preview but has no voice, and does not indicate turns, scale change, rerouting, or distance remaining. The map must be moved along manually and refreshed regularly.
Maps Me provides good navigation. However, Maps Me has only a quarter of my destinations and I don’t have the energy to waymark them all. I ended up using a combination of the two which ultimately worked well. I found everything I wanted to see.
Roads. The main highways generally have no shoulders and vary from 2-lane to 6-lane divided. There was a lot of road construction and paving. There are few potholes but many unmarked speed bumps in and around towns. The only way to recognize these is to watch the vehicles ahead brake.
Most roads have a center median necessitating a lot of U-turns. Baghdad was my most difficult driving anywhere. Twice I gave up trying to go where I wanted.
d. Drivers. Iraq has no road rules. The standard speed limits of 100 highways and 60 towns are meaningless. On good roads, I often drove 120-160 and cars breezed by like the autobahn. They come from behind flashing their lights and tailgating demanding you to pull over. If not, they will pass in any way possible including driving on either dirt shoulder at speed. Right-of-way has no meaning as we understand it. It is just like in India where being ahead determines right-of-way. Roundabouts are a treat of aggressive behaviour.
Lane speeds are meaningless. Slow vehicles are more common in the left lane. Red lights are ignored much of the time. They rarely signal. Vehicles often go the wrong way on one-way roads often at speed on major highways. This can be unnerving but is very handy when you have gone the wrong way. Pedestrians have no rights. There were a lot of accidents but less than what one would think.
I like to drive aggressively so after some adjustment, I was doing all this too. It was fun to see what you could get away with – and that was anything. So many of our rules (waiting for red lights when there is no traffic) don’t make common sense.
I saw few women drivers, many less than in Saudi Arabia.
• Tanzania. May 2023. It was impossible to rent a car without a driver in Tanzania. Tanzania Car Rental met me at the airport. A taxi driver with their logo wanted 50,000 to drive to the office. I refused to pay anything and he returned me to the airport saying he had never met anyone like me. At the office, a driver was required and the car per day was 350,000TZ (~$150 but the driver was free!!). First Car cost $110/day but the daily mileage was 102 km. Budget was $70 + $15 for the driver per day. Mohammed (a private rental) WA +255 688303039) wanted $100/day with no driver for a Toyota Harrier, a good AWD, and I bargained to $50/day. I could sleep comfortably in the back.
In Nogorgoro NP I stopped briefly, but then the car wouldn’t start and I assumed that there was a loose battery terminal. There was no hood latch! A Maasai guy pulled back the plastic cover where there should have been a latch, reached in, and found a small lever to open the hood. The left terminal was very loose. The terminal was already tight, a fellow cut a piece of copper wire and wedged it into the terminal – the car started.
I then made a foolish decision. After Olduvai, I decided to drive the 34 km to Serengeti. The road was an atrocious washboard and very hard on the car. I did see a lot of animals, large herds of wildebeest (the Great Migration was in full swing), often with zebra. There were also many Thomson’s gazelle and antelope.
I entered Naabi Hill Gate and paid my park fee of US$82.60 for a 24-hour pass. The road was atrocious (even worse than the road from Olduvai) and I became worried about the car. I only drove a few kilometres inside the park and saw virtually what I had seen coming from Olduvai so I turned around to go back to Ngorongoro.
Before reaching Ngorongoro, my right rear tire blew. The tire had a large shredded area. The left rear tire was also extremely low. Several vehicles stopped and helped change the tires. This was an impossible situation. Two guys in a truck arrived, and we took both tires into Kataba. A group of Maasai looked after the car for 20,000 ($8). Two new tires were 600,000 TS ($230). I gave the fellows who drove me 40,000 TS. It was 200,000TS ($77) to drive me back to the car. At the park gate, I paid 35,000 TS ($13.50) for the entry for his car. He helped me change the two tires and we were back at the park gate by 18:10, just after the official closing time. The foolish decision to see Serengeti cost me 900,000 TS ($345)
On my last day, I had a flat in the right front tire from a nail. Later in the day, the left front tire shredded. A new tire was 190,000 + 10,000 to straighten the rim (they ingeniously put charcoal in an old rim, lit it on fire with old rubber tubing, used the air hose to add air and straightened the rim with a sledgehammer and a block of wood) + 10,000 to the change the tire ($80 total)
On my last day, I drove 290 km to Dar es Salam in the dark. Supposedly one of the major highways of Tanzania, the B2 highway was terrible – potholes, endless patching, no shoulder, no shoulder or center line. Add an incredible number of pedestrians, bicycles (none with lights), motorcycles and a lot of oncoming truck traffic, all in the dark. I could only see with my brights on.
The car was delivered so empty and I wanted to leave it the same. So the worry about running out of gas only added to the stress. I survived without hitting someone or damaging the car.
I had 3 shredded tires and one flat and called the trip the “adventure of tires” I rented and paid for five days, used it for seven, and paid for three new tires. I wanted to be compensated for the 3 new tires that cost 800,000 TS ($307). He thought I should be nice and “help” Tanzanians. I threatened to remove his name as a car rental company from my website. He plead to not. After some phone calls to his brother, he finally agreed to give me 200,000 TS ($77) and not pay for the two extra days of car rental ($100). He eventually left three times to get the money, returning with less until he finally coughed up it all as I threatened to not give him the keys.
Tanzania is notorious for police corruption and bribery. One traveller paid every bribe until he ran out of money. After 8 days of driving, I was pulled over four times and avoided any tickets. Whining helps but they are very persistent. The one thing that works best is to say that you have no cash and pay for everything with a credit card.