This is Nick Baggarly. Today we traveled from
Southampton, England to
London, England.
Today we rose pretty early and drove the Land Rovers down to the docks. Todd and I did our best to empty the trucks because we aren't container shipping them like we did going to Beijing. We're in a hurry to get home for the holidays so instead we use what they call, RORO shipping, that is, roll-on, roll-off. It is less safe for several reasons but it's the only way if we want the cars back before Christmas. There were a lot of tools and camping items, in the trucks, but we removed the expensive stuff and sent them on their way. The parking lots at the docks were full of Land Rovers, hundreds of them. Discovery, Freelander, and even a row of Defender 110 pickups, all of which are waiting no doubt to make their way to distant owners. I thought about our Rovers and wondered if they left these very docks thirty-seven and thirty years go. I wondered where all these new Land Rovers would be in thirty years. No doubt than half of them will still be in service. I read in a Rover magazine that over 65% of the Series Land Rovers are still in service. I doubt any other marquee can make such a claim.
We rode a bus to London and eventually we took the underground which dropped us at the Kings Cross station. The suspension on the bus was so bouncy that several of us felt carsick. With the Land Rovers gone I figured the bus ride would be a good time to sit and reflect on the trip, right? Wrong. Maybe it was the worn out coil suspension of the bus or my unfamiliarity with being a passenger, but the ride made several of us feel queasy so I went to sleep.
Unable to sleep, I reflected on our day past day, meeting our friends from the Ibis hotel. I think I dropped close to $100 in “local” phone charges trying to get pictures uploaded with limited success. Severine was with us on the bus. She was going to London and decided to come along with us. Delphine and Severine work at the front desk of the hotel where we stayed last night. Our meeting is no doubt explained in Todd's journal entries. The French girls (that's what I call them) were planning on seeing London as well so Severine led us to the bus station. I think we all enjoyed having her along since it was nice having someone else figure out the bus schedule.
We arrived in London and found a nice guest house near Kings Cross station. After checking in I sat down to write this journal. Since we're a bit light today on events I'll share a question that Tracy, the caretaker of the Tri-Star hotel in Solihull, asked me the other day. She asked how we were able to stay focused, driving from Beijing to England. Well, we had a couple inspirational conversations to guide us. Don Jones of the 1997 vehicle rally gave us some advice to prepare us psychologically. “You must ask youself, are you on a vacation or are you driving around the world? … Because you can't do both. It's difficult to move on day after day but that's exactly what you must do.” It helps to know people who have had similar experiences. The rally book has also helped immensely and so has Tom Sheppard's Vehicle Depended Expedition Guide. Reading and research have made all the difference in preparing for this trek. Pretty much any book where you respect the author's sincerity and true to subject approach is worth reading.
Now seems to be a good time to reflect on our schedule. For the most part we have followed it although a few unplanned deviations have occurred. But even with the delays we are a bit ahead of where I thought we would be. I think it's funny because this is probably the first time in my life that I've actually stuck to a schedule.
The day finally arrived that we would have to give up the Rovers. This fact only really started to set in yesterday, as I cherished the drive from Woodstock to South Hampton. As the countryside rolled by, I just started to realize all the stuff we had seen. We drove through mountain ranges large and small, villages large and small, deserts large and small, and countless other place, large and small. We had seen at 50mph or less the gradients for east to west, the physical features, the food, the geography. It is one thing to fly over it, but it is something totally different to see it and experience it in full scale. To visit New York from Los Angeles it is one thing to make the journey in 4 hours by plane and another thing to make the almost 48 consecutive hour journey by care. Scale is something that we often miss today. Whether it is flying, or just seeing a two-hour movie. As everyone knows, but what is not often pointed out is that fact that a major conflict is never worked out in two hours in the real world, sometimes it takes days of months to shake the hurt feelings away. This is similar to driving. Although driving is certainly not a human speed, it is much more on par with human speed than is flying.
As I have mentioned before, we spent two months driving through Kublai Khans with a direct course and at decent pace. This is perspective that isn't taught in the history books. If you really want to get a better feel for history start waking. This will show you how far things are from one another and give you real insight to what some accomplishments were.
Yesterday I only began to realize and think about some of these points, and today we had to give up the Rovers. Being the pauper of the group, I spent the last night in Alaska. Although, I really like to shower in the morning, you really cannot beat a night sleep in the Rovers.
Although my driving privileges had been suspended Nick and I figured we should close this chapter together. We saddled up and drove the Rovers to the dock. Although, Nick was an old hand at the right hand driving, I struggled but this time made it to the destination safely.
As you can see we took final chapter photos and tried to make sure everything was secure. We talked to an auto trader who was shipping a handful of Minis to the states. He explained to us the good and bad ports, in terms of theft so we tried to buckle everything down.
We caught a taxi back to the hotel had breakfast. Again we revisited the trip, things that went well and things that didn't. We were both happy to end this chapter, but then again we weren't. We were in the groove of traveling and I don't think either of us really wanted to face what was ahead of us when the trip was over.
We headed back to the hotel, showered up and prepared for departure. Earlier the rest of the crew along with Severine had gone to the bus station to purchase our fairs to London. Now all we could do was wait until our bus departed at 1:00 pm. We hung out in the lobby until the designated time. The night before I had fallen madly in love with Delphine, and was conscientious of her every move behind the hotel counter. At one point I went up to the counter and in my best French asked to come with us to London. She said she would try.
We trooped to the bus station and boarded the bus to London. I sat with Severine talking with her about France, French and anything else that came up. Soon we were in London where we were to meet Russ and Gina. Russ had slipped away in Birmingham to meet his wife, Gina, in Paris. After a whirlwind tour they both met us in London.
Doug and Jeff were anxiously awaiting Gina's arrival as they had but in orders from the States. Driving had taken its toll on Doug and as a result he consumed the entirety of his chewing tobacco collection. As a result, by India, Doug was sucking down the cigarette collection. In response Gina has promised to replenish Doug and Jeff's supply (Jeff being more moderate was able to still have stock, which he sold to Doug with inflated prices throughout the trip).
Sure enough Gina came being gifts and was immediately elevated to Goddess status.
This is Nick signing off.
