Trans World Expedition

Hi all,
Since there is not much travel going on these days, and because I feel bad I didn’t interact enough with people posting comments on this blog, I thought I would try to round up recent questions I received and answer them the best I could:

• Did the issues with the Cruiser work themselves out after the salt incident?

No, I still have problem with indication of low oil pressure. I tried to clean all the electrical connectors under the truck with no success. In the north of Argentina, I stopped in a Toyota leadership, but they could not find a solution. The A/T TEMP indicator also comes up once in a while. I think the truck is OK mechanically, and it is just sensors problems, so I am not too worry.

• I’m curious to know…why did you decide to drive & ship your car? Wouldn’t it have been easier & cheaper to stay in cheap hotels/hostels & rent cars? The expense of your car has got to be extreme now, yes?
This question comes up a lot. In my mind, driving is better because you can choose the route you want. You also see more of how people are living than if you were just flying to tourist hotspots. You travel at your own rhythm, and can choose where you want to stay few days, or keep driving if you don’t like a place.
Yes, this is way more expensive to drive yourself around the world. But it makes the trip more of a challenge. I like the fact that this travel is not a vacation, but more like a daily job. When I get to places, I feel I really deserved it, after all the problems solving skills and efforts that were involved.
The truth is I could not have done it by flying, because it will not have kept me busy enough. I am kind of a work addict, and I will have miss getting things done if I was not traveling this way.

• Have you had anyone offer to travel with you through Africa?
Yes, people contacted me to come along. I may have visitors. In general, there were more people interested in easier parts, like Asia. There are currently not too much people interested in the Pakistan or Yemen leg of my journey!

• Should we try to contact Toyota to have them help you?
We can try. The land Cruiser could use a bit of TLC.
Send them a letter at
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
19001 South Western Ave.
Torrance, CA 90501
Email: toyota_cares@toyota.com
Twitter: @Toyota

• Nick, just another thought (on the Egypt issue) in case you didn’t know yet… Did you look into getting a Carnet de Passage?
Yes, I have a Carnet de passage, which doesn’t allow me to cross Egypt. I did let a guaranty to AAA of about $20,000, and should have given the double if I wanted to cross Egypt. So now, my only option is to ship from the east coast of Africa to Saudi Arabia or Yemen. I will probably get more information about available options as I travel in Africa and meet people on the road.

• Hey Nick, while you have time, could you post why the West Africa route does not appear to be a good option to you. I would be curious to read what information you found about this route.

There are several reasons. The weather pattern, the visa situation, the deteriorating situation in Nigeria, and the cost factor.
It took me too long to go across the Americas, and now, by the time I get to Cameroon, for example, it will be the rainy season, during which you can find yourself stuck in the mud all the time. It is especially hard if you do it alone, with no other vehicles to help you out. I remember reading the blog of a couple for who it took 10 days to do 10 kilometers.
The visa for Angola is as always very hard to obtain, and I read this week about one more expedition who had to change their routes after spending a long time and a lot of money trying to secure the visa. On the west side of Africa, you have to cross many more countries than on the east side, and each time you spend time and money getting these damn visas.
Also, skipping Europe and the high cost of gasoline up there will save me money.

• How is your budget doing with the car?
It is not too bad I guess, especially if nothing bad happens in the future (unlikely) I don’t have the figures with me, as the accounting books are in the truck sailing to Africa, but I am still under the $4,000 maintenance figure I budgeted at the beginning of the trip.

• By the way why didn’t you include Australia in you trip?
I would have like to include Australia. Unfortunately the high cost of shipping to and from Australia makes it difficult. If I find a treasure somewhere, I’ll do it.

• Have a question: you speak English & French (presumably) do you speak any other languages…Spanish?…??
The only languages I speak are English and French. Unfortunately, I didn’t speak Spanish, which made the communication harder for the first leg of the trip. You definitely experience way more as you can spend more time discussiong with the locals. English is widely spoken on the east side of Africa, which will make it easier for me.

• Can you give us details about the equipment you took with you and what you did on the truck before you left?
I plan to add a link at the top of this page with more details on the prep work. This is long overdue and will help out people who want to do a similar trip.

• What will you do at the end of the trip?
Try to find a job in New York City, and secure a work visa. Hopefully the economy will be in better shape. And more I travel, more I know that I want to live in NY when I am back, if I can.

• How often are you changing your oil? Are you sticking to a 3,000 mile routine or if you are changing it more often due to the harsh conditions you are encountering.

Since I left NY, I use synthetic oil and just change it every 6 to 8,000 miles. I may have to switch to regular oil when I will not be able to find better.

• How are you doing compared to the budget you had at the beginning of the trip?
So far, I think I spent less on lodging/camping that I thought, even if costlt Buenos Aires will change that. I probably spent a bit less on food and more on gasoline. On the top part of the website, there’s a link to the expenses I had. Whenever I will have time, I will put more details into it.

• Aren’t you tired yet of traveling?
Surprisingly not. I was thinking I would get very tired of sleeping in different places every night, but so far, I like this life, and can continue like that for a while.

• Which countries did you like more?
The countries I preferred, I guess are Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Guatemala. But of course I had good time in every country.

• What do you miss the most?

I miss my friends in NY and working down there. Even the NY winter, can you believe that? I miss work and the people I used to see daily. I miss people from Lefferts Place in Brooklyn and Jay and Rosie who owns the house I lived. I miss friends in France, which I did not see much then, but even less now. I miss my bird. I also miss people at BK who helped me out setting up my truck and fix the multiple crappy cars I own in the past. But most of these things will be there when I come back, and New York will always be New York, right?

• Does every country have all-you-can-eat specials? Imagine a Latin American Caribbean smorgasbord with a never ending desert tray at the end. Good stuff.

I didn’t see much of all-you-can-eat buffets, but I guess you can order a Parilla (barbecue) menu in Argentina, and there are few chances you will finish it.

Statue in the Recoleta neighborhood, Buenos Aires

As you probably thought in the long time I did not update my blog, I made it to Buenos Aires. The two last weeks have been kind of busy, with days not always filled with the most exciting things to do, and I didn’t get much time to fill you in, so many apologies.
But let’s start from the beginning. It took Nadia and I two days from Mendoza to arrive to Buenos Aires. Straight lines as always, for a thousand kilometers.

Classic European architecture in Buenos Aires. Here, an embassy.

As soon as we arrived, we began to search an apartment, to avoid the costly option of having to take a hotel. In less than two hours, we got one. After sending few emails, we spoke to the owner of an internet café, and she knew someone who knew someone…

So we got ourselves a one bedroom apartment in the Collegiales neighborhood starting the following day. At US$250 a week, it was a little bit more money I wanted to spend, but Argentina had become more and more expensive.

However, for our first night in the city, we met with Diego, an Argentinean photograph who contacted us after finding the website. He invited us for supper, and offered us to sleep at his apartment. He took a shot with us, and I encourage you to check out his photo feed here.
The following day, we moved in our new home, and tried to adapt and live again like normal peoples. Difficult task for the gypsies we became. Staying indoor was depressing after spending so much time camping and cooking in the great outdoors. And I am still restless. I just can’t wait to continue this expedition.

I had the hope to get an earlier boat, but in these days of economic slowdown, there is much less traffic on the world oceans.
For those who are interested in practical detail about the shipping, please find info and some contact information at the end of this post. For the others, just know it will cost me US$2,000 for the shipment, not including the port fees in Durban, South Africa, which I don’t know about yet.

In the meantime, my parents flew down to see me, and few days later, Nadia left to go to Brazil and my brother arrived in the city as well to join us.
I spent time with my parents when I was not busy with paperwork and fixing details on the truck.

We spent time in the center of the city, and went out for diner a lot. The meat, as always in Argentina, was great. But I was longing for more, and hoped to find big markets in the city to try a diversity of food.

Maybe I spent too long thinking Buenos Aires, my last destination in South America, would be welcoming me with French-like food, as all travelers going north were enthusiastic about it. Regardless, my evenings are synonyms of sausages and steaks.

I also spent much time researching the next leg of my trip. I mentioned last time that I was going to follow the east coast rather than the west coast of Africa. Now, the problem I have to solve is the missing link between Africa and the Middle East. The one problematic country is Egypt. To cross it by car, you need to let a guaranty equivalent to 800% of the value of the vehicle.

My truck, according to AAA is worth US$6,800 which means I would have to hand down $50k just to cross the country. So I have to find another solution, and there are not many.
– The first one is to go up to Sudan, and try to take a ferry in Port Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. From there, go up to Jordan. The problem with this route? Getting the Saudi Arabia visa. Valid for three days, the transit visa let you just enough time to go through. If you can get it which seams pretty difficult.
– The other solution would be to sail from Djibouti or Eritrea to Yemen, and drive to Oman and the United Arab Emirates, where I could sail directly to Iran. The problem here is crossing Yemen, which the U.S. State Department just issued a travel warning for, due to a high level of terrorist activities.
The important thing is to have some options, and I am confident there will be a way of getting out of Africa…

Today, I finally went to the port, and loaded the truck in the container. I will miss driving and see new places every day, and still have three weeks before being back on the road. I got a flight ticket to Johannesburg for April 15 and will take the bus to Durban to get the truck.

The next few weeks may not see much activity on this website, but please stick with me as there will be new adventures here soon, and not the least exciting: Africa!

Notes for those of you who are interested in shipping a truck out of Buenos Aires:

This is pretty straight forward. For my destination, two companies were less expensive. Hamburg Sud, and MOL. Here are the contact info:

Federico J. Boettner
Hamburg – Süd / Aliança
Phone: ++54 11 5789-9900 – ext 366
E.mail: federico.boettner [AT] ar.hamburgsud.com

and

Luisina V. Abruzzese
Agencia Maritima Sudocean c/o MOL
labruzzese [AT] ocean.com.ar

A big part of the cost is the port fees. My quote to go to Africa is app. US$2,000 and of that, $1,000 go to the port here in Agentina. Not sure yet about the fees in Africa. The container stuffing cost depends a lot of the terminal. On T4, I paid US$450, but on another terminal, I may have paid US$900. When you have you company nailed down, you need to make a copy of every page of your passport, and go to a notary to certify the copy. You also need a certified copy of your outbound flight ticket. Everything should cost you US$60. Then you go to the custom office located at the port, where the cruise ships leave. There, you should give them a copy of the vehicle title, the copies of passport and ticket, and sometimes they can ask you for a copy of the content of the vehicle. You also need to bring them the paper the Aduana gave you when you entered the country.

If you go there at 9:30, you should be done by noon.

Then, you can go the the port. You first need the gate permit to enter. Just bring the Aduana papers in the building at the entrance. They will take care of you there, and dispatch a custom officer to check your vehicle and seal the container. You can be done there in just three hours after several back and forth between the warehouse where you are stuffing and the aduana. Not bad at all.

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Waiting and waiting in Buenos Aires