TWO FAMILIES
ONE AMBITION
PLANNING A dream overland
vacation is one thing when you
are a couple or friends, planning
a year-long trip across half the
world by Land Rover with four
children is another. This is the
story of the beginning of two
families’ dream adventure to
cross the world from Sweden to
Australia in a pair of Defenders.
ON A map it looked quite simple
– writes RICHARD POSKITT – a long
way, but many others have done
similar routes… how hard can it be
to just get in the car and go?
We set about researching other
people’s travels and quite quickly
discovered things such as the
Carnet de Passage, the nightmare
of shipping, the equipment
needed, and also the cost. The list
of equipment other people had
taken was daunting: extreme water
purifiers, extra fuel tanks and sand
ladders.
We looked, at the cost of some
of this plus the insurance we would
need and of the Carnet itself.
Shocked and disheartened we
reconsidered the trip as a whole.
We toyed with the idea that we
could backpack – but that is not so
easy with small children. We all felt
that to make life for our children as
normal as possible we needed to
travel with our own vehicles and in
our own time with a few comforts
that would make travel lighter on
the kids – after all, it would be a
year away from home.
We felt that it was something that
48 November 2008 LAND ROVER monthly
In this new travel series we meet two amazing Swedish
families who see overlanding with children as inspiring
as well as being the adventure of a lifetime
we could do and should do, not only
by to have a vacation of a lifetime, but to
Richard Poskitt & also inspire other families to do the
Pia Harell Poznic same. ‘Adventurefamily’ was born.
We had discovered in our research
that planning and preparation was
half of the trip and, allegedly, half the
fun too. We had two vehicles already,
a 1971 Dormobile and a 1991
Discovery. We thought we were set
– a little modification to the luggage
section and a roofrack with tent and
we are there.
organising, reorganising...
Building up the vehicles started in
Above: Test camp my work’s workshop with lots of
Sweden. Trying out heated discussions on what would
the Webasto heaters in be the best solutions. Lina and Pia
-15ºC. became pregnant again and Milan
Below left: On-board and Pia decided that the Dormobile
gadgets. was not going to be quite the
Main: Beach camp in vehicle to travel in with two
Nin, Croatia. Note the children, so they replaced it with a
heating duct going into 1998 300Tdi Defender 130.
the roof tent. Next problem was exactly when
to go. We wanted to get the best
weather while we travelled and this
meant we should leave Sweden in
the late summer. Milan and Pia had
to finish their PhDs and Lina and I
had to get a year off from our jobs.
This would put the leaving date at
the beginning of 2008 and not the
summer of 2007 as originally hoped.
Knowing this would be the off-
season in most of Europe and cold
sleeping in the roof tents, we had to
think a little further.
It would not be the best weather
while we travelled but Milan had
discovered the great idea of
connecting up a Webasto heater into
the roof tent and, with the extended
thermostat option, we could have
warmth in the coldest climates.
On one of our many evening
planning meetings we started to plan
our route in more detail. We looked
at back-up plans as certain areas
were a bit volatile, such as Pakistan,
Iran, Tibet and Nepal.
With time getting shorter we split
the jobs up in a sort of military style
and this has worked well. Pia in
charge of navigation and main route
planning, Lina in control of medical
issues, Milan the mechanic and
I the communications, visas
and documents.
After a number of brief
trial camping trips
and organising
and reorganising
our packing
lists, we were
thinking all was
finally getting
under control. It was at this point the
Discovery’s engine finally died.
Irritated and in no position to find
the time to fix it, we decided we
should look for a new home! So, in
November 2007, off to the UK I went
with Milan. After two days driving
around the UK, an ex-military police
1998 300Tdi Defender 110 Station
Wagon was found and brought back
to Sweden.
ready to go?
The last few months proved to be
very busy with the last of the vehicle
fixings, getting the finance ready for
the Carnet and all the documents
we needed to copy and fill out. The
Defenders were prepared for the
trip with all of the equipment added,
fridges, convertors, extra lights and
batteries, water tanks with pump and
purifier, heavy duty suspension, BF
Goodrich tyres, compressors and so
on. Finally a bit of armour was added
along with a complete service and
timing belt change. We stuck the roof
tents back on after the winter and the
vehicles were ready.
We organised the Carnet de
Passage through the RAC in
the UK since the Swedish
equivalent did not
offer the insurance
indemnity policy,
thus saving us a
huge deposit, as
well as the fact
that the 110
still had
British
number
plates and therefore was impossible
to get issued a Swedish Carnet.
Next came the selling of our
apartment and the hunt for someone
to rent Pia and Milan’s. With this all
organised we finalised our packing
lists; the medical box and the toy box
were to be the most complicated.
What toys and what medical stuff
should we take? Toys are always
fun to buy en route but some basic
educational play things would be a
good idea to bring for older ones.
We had completed our vast
vaccination list. Lina and Pia had
undergone a course in first aid and
how to deal with emergencies.
February came, Lina and I had
finished our jobs and Milan finished
his PhD. We were as ready as we
were going to be.
On the morning of February 10,
2008 in the middle of Stockholm,
we gathered in the central park with
a little brass band playing a tune
they had written for Pia and Milan’s
wedding. Our sponsors came and
checked the equipment. There were
Above left: Exhibition tears from family members who were
in central Stockholm. only just realising that we were really
Above right: Luka going to leave.
waiting for breakfast in Lots of photos and our
northern Greece. documentary film crew pushing
Below right: Oliver cameras in people’s faces. It was
looking out from the emotional but the time had come
roof tent. to go. We drove out of Stockholm
for a while in silence, leaving our
friends and family behind, as well
as a Primus mug that had fallen off
Pia and Milan’s bonnet – finally the
trip had begun.
Pia takes up the story:
GERMANY – autobahn, grey, humid.
Anyone up for a camp? Well, maybe
not. But since it was the first night,
we felt we should.
Both vehicles have a diesel heater
that reaches up to the roof tents, so
Richard and Lina it should still be pretty comfortable.
Poskitt, Tuvalie (4), Lina and Richard have a hose simply
Oliver (2), leading from the heater through the
Milan and Pia Harell floor of the back and up into one
Poznic, Luka (4), of the tent doors. We have made a
Tanja (2), hole for the hose in the side of the
car underneath the back left door as
well as in the floor of the tent. It gets
warm and cosy in the tent.
We only stayed one more night
in Germany, south of Berlin,
before heading towards the Czech
Republic. Despite the up and downs
of the Alps and the weight of the
Defenders, both only consumed one
litre per ten kilometres.
Strangely enough, they seem to
consume almost exactly the same
at all times. Since diesel in
many of the countries we will
4
stay in is expensive, it is a relief.
LAND ROVER monthly November 2008 49
4 Handling is not that bad either. I
would expect it to be much less
stable fully loaded, but it runs
surprisingly well through the bends.
In the morning we fixed the
puncture on our Defender we had
picked-up since we balanced the
tyres in Gothenburg. The guy in
the workshop did it for free since
he liked our way of travelling with
kids (at least that is what he said,
maybe he just thought we were
strange and felt sorry for the kids
having to live in a tent).
After fixing the puncture we
headed for the Croatian coast
passing through Slovenia in a day.
We aimed for Krk, a beautiful island
we had been to before. We had
forgotten that there was a two-hour
drive to the nice part of the island.
The twisting roads might be really
nice to drive fast on if you have any
kind of sports car or, in fact, anything
but a Land Rover. So, no stress…
Very late, we arrived at a nice spot
by the sea. The thermometer was
well below zero as we stood on
the shore drinking soup under the
stars. In the morning we woke to an
astonishing place and Tanja was the
first one to take a swim.
We spent one more night on the
Croatian coast, on a beach near a
village called Nin. The feeling we
had, sitting in a warm winter jacket
with a glass of wine chatting about
the adventures to come, was hard to
beat. We would have liked it to be a
little bit warmer though.
As we entered into Montenegro
the shore changed from man-made
beaches with either concrete,
sharp stones or sand which had
been transported there, into
picturesque small beaches with
stones as smooth as silk from
being worn by the waves of the
Adriatic Sea for centuries.
The black, massive mountains
meet the shore at an almost vertical
angle and the road makes its way
along the sides. It is really beautiful
and might have been taken out of a
tourist brochure.
The impression, just looking out
of the Land Rover window, is that
people are more relaxed here;
everything is less organised. Croatia
feels a bit like Germany compared
to Montenegro. The sea is the same
but the environment makes it more
welcoming. It is less like home, but I
feel more at home.
Richard and Lina wanted to
fix an annoying ‘clonk’ from the
rear suspension while we were
in Montenegro. Even though he
speaks the language, Milan did not
manage to convince the guys in the
workshop to do the job. Too much
50 November 2008 LAND ROVER monthly
Main: Ready to set up like hard work it seemed.
a camp by a beautiful We did get the brake pads
lake in Greece. changed on both cars however,
Above left: Milan’s and that took most of the morning
uncle’s garden in including a few pauses for smoking.
Kolasin, Montenegro. And then they only changed the
Above right: rear brakes. It’s not that they are
Hard working unfriendly – they simply don’t like
Montenegroans. work. The ‘clonk’ remained to be
Below: On the way to fixed later, hopefully at a time we
Kolasin. decide and not on a dusty road in the
middle of nowhere.
family in Montenegro
Setting off to visit some of Milan’s
relatives, we took the road to
Kolašin, by far the most spectacular
road I’ve driven. Enormous
mountains rise on both sides. It
follows the river, disappearing into
tunnels built ages ago, and climbs
up the sides of the black mountain.
This part of the road is called the
road of death and many lives have
been lost on every bend – and there
are many bends.
Far up in the mountains, at the top
of a road inaccessible to an ordinary
car, the landscape opens up. A dog
was barking welcoming us and two
cows were eating grass in a small
barn. This is where the family lives,
high in the mountains and, for the
first time, we engaged low gear.
All their food comes from the
farm house. The wife milks the
cows, makes her own yoghurt and
cheese, they have their own barn
to smoke meat and, of course,
a place to produce the Slivovica
(Yugoslavian brandy).
Making your own Slivovica is
important. Plum trees, from which
they use the plums to make this
popular spirit, are the only growing
trees on the grounds.
Richard and Milan were given a
taste of this home-produced strong
drink as soon as we entered the
house. We wives and kids got given
a glass of juice each. After giving
them a hint, tasting some from
our husband’s glasses, we too got
some Slivovica.
After the welcoming we were
shown the place to camp. Their
grounds and the surroundings are
really beautiful. From our roof tent
we had an amazing view over the
mountains.
We spent two nights in the
mountains enjoying the hospitality
and the home-cooked food
before we decided to move on to
Macedonia through Albania, which
we were told was possible to cross
in a day. We wanted to pass through
Albania in one day and avoid staying
the night, since we had heard that it
is not safe for Serbs (which Milan is).
Due to the building of a tunnel we
had to start early in the morning in
order to drive the whole distance.
But the 110 would not start because
of an electrical problem draining
the batteries, so when we finally got
on the road again it was too late for
Albania. We stayed one more night
on a nice beach in Montenegro.
The fact that Albania is Europe’s
poorest country soon becomes
clear. There is rubbish everywhere.
Montenegro is dirty, but nowhere
near as dirty as Albania. You get
the impression that the people
have simply settled down on a
piece of ground, but no one has
responsibility for anything.
Richard and Lina said the villages
reminded them of the villages they
had lived in Africa. Outside the
towns the houses were built in no
order at all and often painted in
bright yellow and green colours,
mostly in combination.
Villages with room for many
people stood newly built but empty.
Almost all cars are Mercedes – the
only ones that can manage the
roads with any comfort. We spotted
no Land Rovers at all, which
probably explains the attention we
got driving through the villages.
When we left the country for
Macedonia we all agreed that,
despite the fast drive through,
it had been the biggest cultural
difference so far. It is as if we had
left Europe for a short time.
Close to the border there is a lake
called Ohridska Jezero which is
part of UNESCO World Heritage.
We stayed in Ohrid and spent a
day strolling around the city and
the next day we went to look at an
old monastery half-an-hour drive
from the city. We asked where to eat
cheap and traditional food and got
directions to a village not far away.
further East
As we entered the small picturesque
village in our Land Rovers a few
locals gathered around the cars.
After speaking with them for a while
we ended up with an old couple
in front of their brewery where the
husband made Slivovica. He was
serving us straight from the tap
while his wife was serving us pickled
peppers of different strengths (here
even me and Lina got to taste).
The fish restaurant we were
shown, lay just by the water and
without our knowledge the locals
had reserved the nicest table for
us. What a view!
It was a beautiful place. We stayed
for three nights but Turkey was
enticing us ever closer. We just had
Howling Moon Tourer roof tent
Primus BiFrost H6 Ground tent
Primus kitchen equipment
Awnings and camping lighting by Primus
Pentax K10D digital system camera
IBM Lenovo z61m Laptop with external drive.
Webasto 3500 diesel heater with roof tent
extension pipes
Optima yellow top batteries (four in each car)
Compact Honda generator
Converter: 12v to 220v
Peli cases for almost everything
Suunto watches
Zodiac hand held and fixed radio communications
Thuraya satellite phone
Waeco fridge and air-condioning
Lightforce extra lights
Vehicle traking by FYM and Info24 with online
mapping in almost real time
VDO Dayton DVD/MP3 Stereo Radio
Old Man Emu suspension kit and steering damper
Patriot roofrack
BF Goodrich 235/85 tyres
Magellan Crossover GPS and hand held GPS
Touratech mapping software with USB GPS units
Wolf boxes
Nature Pure Water purifier
Sand ladders
Mobile Storage Systems window bars and safe
Nudge bars, steering and diff guards.
HiLift jack
ViAir compressor
Many head lamps by Primus
Above left: Albanian to pass through Greece first.
balconies. We wanted to enjoy the warm
Above right: Pickled and sunny Greek weather and, after
peppers and Slivovica being in the city, it was so nice to
in Macedonia. make camp – we had all missed the
Inset: Tuvalie resting camping life. We also took the time
after a long day’s drive. to check the oil level in the axles
and gearboxes.
We asked at a petrol station where
to go next and were told to go to
Chalkidiki, the coast. Thinking of it
now, it was pretty stupid. We wanted
to get to Turkey as soon as possible
and it took us at least four hours to
drive 50 kilometres on foggy, curvy
and steep roads. The weight of the
vehicles, especially the load on the
roof, sometimes made it bit tricky.
But, everything is an experience.
The Landies have been great so far
and we have had very little problem.
One night in Alexandroupolis, then
we are off to Turkey. We had already
booked three nights in a youth hostel
in Istanbul where we need get visas
for Iran – something which we never
had time to fix in Sweden.
Next month, Adventure
Family discover Turkey – the
country where west meets east
– and the real adventure starts.
Check out their website
at www.adventurefamily.se LRM
LAND ROVER monthly November 2008 51