The Next Adventure – Over-landing from Iceland to South Africa

Earlier this year an amazing adventure presented itself to me – an email landed in my over flowing inbox. How easy it would have been for me to miss it. Within was an invitation to join a private expedition from 66 degrees North in Reykjavik, Iceland, to 33 degrees south in Cape Town, South Africa – the most northerly capital city to one of the most southerly. The journey will take six months or there about, and cross 20 countries, give or take – depending on visa or border issues.

The journey officially begins on 2^nd January in Iceland. Our transportation is a converted ex-army Bedford 4×4 truck who will be with us from start to finish. In Iceland we will visit Vik I Mydral, Hofn and Esturstadi. On the 6^th January we set sail for 19 hours to the Faroe Islands, stopping for 6 hours, and then a further 36 hours to reach Denmark. Unfortunately for my friends in the next countries we will be flying through Germany, France, and Spain (as it is the middle of winter) camping in Malaga for a few days to buy supplies and make a trip to see Gibraltar.

Then we set sail for Morocco and heading south through western Africa visiting Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana where we will rest on the beaches. Once recuperated we will go east through Togo, Benin, to Nigeria where we only stay in walled compounds. Last time they stayed in some interesting places including camping in the gardens of 5 star hotels!

Moving on and heading further south exploring central Africa including Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Dominican Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, and finally arriving in South Africa if all goes to plan.

Surprisingly I have managed to memorise all 15 African countries! I used to play a game (click here) to learn all the 54 countries, dreaming of visiting them all. If you would like a more detailed itinerary for these countries please visit vikingsacrossafrica.com/route or follow my blog for updates. We hope to get connected at least once every two weeks if not more.

I had never thought about joining a tour group before, as the majority of my travels have been solo. This time, however, I figured there’s safety going with experienced people, there’s the shared cost of living and the fact that it’s such a long trip, the people joining me will be open minded and easy going like me.

It took me a couple of months to mull it over and some forecasting to see if my office job would provide me with enough income. I could have saved myself the energy pondering whether to go, as this trip has my name all over it. Friends I talked to about it must have thought “why is she even questioning it? I know she’s going to go!” I’ve always wanted to see Africa – the people, the wildlife, the nature, the cuisine, the dancing, the colourful textiles and music.

I will be joining 13 other people plus three crew members’ age ranging 20’s to 40’s from many different nationalities and backgrounds. It’s a get out and push kind of tour and apparently we are all allowed to drive the truck, at least for a kilometre, when we get to Mauritania – as long as there are no camels about! There’s a built in kitchen, sound system, and plenty of tents to house us all. Our tour leader is a fellow Scot who has spent over 30 years in Africa working in humanitarian aid and expeditions like this one.

Here’s an example of what my luggage includes:

• Sleeping bag and artificial silk liner, travel pillow
• Pen knife (handed down to me from my Dad) which includes a mini saw (I’m a bit too excited about this feature!)
• Travel washing line which is two ropes wrapped around each other so it doesn’t need pegs, with hooks and suckers
• Travel laundry soap flakes in a tiny box where 2-3 flakes will do one wash (!)
• Clothes, walking boots, socks, flip flops
• Swimming costume, travel towel, sunscreen
• Eco-friendly soap so I can wash in rivers and waterfalls and try not to harm nature
• Mosquito net, repellent, scarf for covering up against the weather/mosquitoes/idiot men folk
• Nail clippers, tweezers, toothbrush and paste
• Salt rock deodorant, hairbrush, hairbands
• Sunglasses, camera, ipad loaded with music, books and recipes
• Water bottle with a uv water purifier (my friend Jeannie had one and they really help reduce the amount of plastic consumed buying disposable water bottles)
• Notebook and pens

And once I’ve put all this stuff in my backpack and seen how much it weighs, I will invariably chuck some of it out and aim to keep the pack under 15 kilos! I’ve travelled with fewer kilos before but seeing as we are on a truck the whole way and I don’t plan to be walking for miles with it, I can afford to take some luxuries.

My medical practise advised me to get yellow fever vaccine and a booster for Hepatitis A & Typhoid. I’ve already been immunised against Hepatitis B, Rabies, Meningitis, Tetanus, Polio, and Diphtheria and our trip organiser recommends Larium for Malaria protection, although my Doctor recommends Malerone.

My French is getting brushed up on Duolingo, an app which lets you practise important phrases such as “I am a dolphin” and “The shark is eating a turtle.” I can’t wait to talk a bit of Arabic and see how different Egyptian Bedouin Arabic is to other strains.

The trip starts on 2^nd January but like a lot of my fellow passengers we will be meeting in Iceland on New Year’s Eve. A time to see in the new year with the people I will be spending the next six months with. Apparently there is a firework display at the Bells and as I’m an hour behind the UK I might just have to celebrate twice!

Friends have already started giving me tips of things to see and I welcome any more. I’ve caught up on all of David Attenborough’s wildlife documentaries on the BBC (except for the fighting one on at the moment). The countdown is on with just over three weeks till departure. Excitement is an understatement!

Never say never and admin jobs

Itchy feet syndrome is not the worst thing to have in your life. Granted you might not have invested in bricks and mortar, a car or a family but I’ve achieved some pretty awesome things. Diving with sharks, watching volcanoes erupt, meeting giant leatherback turtles bigger than me, zip lining through rainforest canopies, and camel racing to name but a few.

But when the cash flow dries up and the prospect of being paid pennies an hour creeps in, returning to the UK to earn some “proper” money always sounds good. I’m 33 years old and have had five temp admin jobs now. Bluearrow are the best employment agency by the way. Ranging from a year and a half to three months. I’ve just finished a nine month contract for a lovely small office on George Street in Edinburgh. It was a good job and part of me is sad I couldn’t embrace the life there, but I know that I have dreams bigger than spending 35 hours a week in a box 5 days a week. I’ve said it before, but I hope that will be the last administrative role I do. Never say never though!

The kindness of strangers

Commuting on the train into Edinburgh everyday can be tiresome. Delays, cancelations, overcrowding can start your day off in a frustrating way. We get into a routine of reading a book, listening to music or daydreaming. Anyone familiar with commuting in the UK knows that making eye contact with fellow commuters is not the norm so I made an effort to smile at a few regulars to feel less like an insignificant ant running from one place to another twice a day and more like a part of human existence.

It’s funny the people you meet on the train, a couple of people would smile back at me, nod, some have manners and let you on first or thank you for letting them go first. Some would look away in horror if you smiled at them. Some are so focused on getting on the train first they block out the other passengers existence all together. I used to get annoyed at one old guy who would stand in the same spot in an attempt to get on the train first everyday. He would bypass the queue and stand at the edge of the platform if he had too. If he was later than usual and you were in his spot he would stand so close to you it was worrying, I tried to say hello a few times to deaf ears. Other passengers would celebrate when the train stopped short and he wasn’t able to get on first. Now I look at him and wonder what his home life must be like for him to act the way he does. We all want the same thing at the end of the day – happiness, no suffering and a seat on the train (as long as it’s not next to the guy with hygiene issues, the lady with the past-it’s-best perfume or the deaf guy who needs his music up on full).

One night there’d been a fault on the track and trains weren’t getting in to Edinburgh Waverley Station. Unfortunately for people on the Edinburgh to Glasgow Central route our line is bottom of priority and it got canceled for most of the evening. I decided to risk it and go to Livingston North, it’s £10 in a taxi from Livingston North to Livingston South or two buses or worst case scenario an hours walk. I decided to go out of my comfort zone and ask around at the taxi rank if anyone wanted to share a taxi and while doing so one of the people I smile at on my commute and his wife stopped their car and they offered me a lift! So I guess it pays to be nice and if you think positive good things happen to you.

Turns out my new friends are from Venezuela and I got to chat on the train now the ice had been broken. Much more interesting to hear about the tallest waterfall in the world than having my head in a book, and when I make it over to South America I now have some contacts for Venezuela! Thanks to the kindness of strangers.