Inspiration for a trip like this one comes from many angles. More than a few people have mentioned good old Charlie and Ewan’s trip of a similar route a few years ago. Anyone who has both travelled in the same areas and watched that series will know what I mean when I say we found it, well, a bit empty. Those with a longer memory will have enjoyed Michael Palin’s epic Pole to Pole, which covered much of the same ground (along with his production team of around 20). These are only two of many similar TV series which have raised the profile of travelling in remote regions in the public’s awareness. Both, like many, were watched by large numbers. Both were also very high budget affairs.

Matt Harding, on the other hand, managed to achieve the opposite. Without setting out with any great mission, he has made one of the best statements I’ve ever seen made about travel – people all over the world love, and can easily connect with, joy.

So when he says he’s in Haiti, being absolutely no help to anyone, he says it by publishing a photo showing a crowd of happy, smiling, dancing people. Not a common image to be coming from that country at the moment!

Much of our aim for the trip is to connect with the people we will meet on route, and portray them fairly. Demonstrating that there is not as much difference between our countries as we might think is perhaps not as hard as it sounds – it’s a common joke among the British and Dutch living in Tanzania, for example, that the culture shock of moving to Africa is nothing compared to working with each other.

We spent Hogmanay (New Year) 2009-2010 with a few friends in the Scottish Borders, and had the Surf along with us. This was the first time we had fitted the roof tent, in which we spent 2 nights in sub-zero temperatures. Before folding it in the mornings, we had to shake a few inches of snow off the roof.

On 1st January, we fired up our newly installed webcam and went for a drive through some snow. The clip below is sped up 3x to keep it interesting:

In contrast to the cars we spent half the morning pulling out of verges and carparks, the Surf performed superbly. At one point we passed a police van, reversing down a hill; the drivers told us they thought we’d be lucky to get up it. The wheels didn’t even spin.

Since the first section of our trip will take us through Europe in mid January, handling in cold conditions is more important than it sounds. It’s good to know the trucks are up to the job!