You’re going to make an adventure film, you say? In a small van, you say? An all-chick team traversing across Europe and into Asia towards Mongolia? Why that sounds preposterous! Absurd! You’d have to be crazy to undertake such an impossible venture!
Well, we are. And fortunately for us, there are plenty others out there who have equally questionable sanity. This year marks 10 years of people removing themselves from the ordinary and into 1.2L cars in the spirit of adventure, and charity. Forming their own (but often times, shared) routes from Goodwood, UK to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, we’re going to document the inspiring journey of small cars doing grand things!
We’ve officially been prepping since March 2012. For me though, prep started around the end of 2011 when I first heard about the Mongol Rally. I saw photos of wee cars beat up, and muddy; bumpers MacGyvered back into place. Ambulances traversing across rivers. Dusty smilin’ faces shaking with triumph at the finish line in Ulaanbataar. I was hooked. This was an adventure I needed to do. Not just do, but find out what it was that led people to come to the same conclusion. And film it all. From start to finish, with all the drama, hijinx and donkey carts in-between.
On a drive back from a location scout at a local fish market, I told Steph about it. Stinkin’ ever so slightly of the fresh catch of the day, that undeniable underlying aroma that lets every cat within a 25mile radius know you’ve been near a market of fish, she too came to the conclusion that it was the best freakin’ idea ever.
And so, it all began.
It’s now February. The panic has not set in…yet. We’ve managed to convince a couple more people that this is indeed the best freakin’ idea ever, and we’re in the middle of convincing a few more people that not only is it the best idea, but to sponsor us in making it happen. We’ve drafted up budgets; cried all over them; then re-written them. At least twenty times. We’ve made equipment lists, checked them, unchecked them. And we’ve drafted the scripts for our first ever crowdfunding video.
Over the coming days we’ll share some of the crazy that goes into prepping and making our first documentary film together. You’ll get to meet the crazy behind the scenes. We’ll tweet obscene messages about how we’re driving each other bananas over the littlest thing. We’ll show-off our car. We’ll parade our disasters alongside our triumphs. And we’ll Facebook all the glorious news as it happens. But most importantly, we’ll take you along our insane adventure so maybe when we roll into the finish line, dusty and full of smiles, you too will be convinced that it is indeed the best idea ever.
And maybe, just maybe, you will start making your own plans for a grand adventure.
Armchair Adventurists do the Mongol Rally 