Ual747 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (8 years 7 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2592 times:
I was wondering if there have been any drives this far? Here in the US, in the south we get a few people from Mexico, and a few people from Canada in the north, but I've never seen anything from, let's say, Argentina driving the streets of the US, even though I think it would be technically possible. How long would such a drive take from Western Europe to the far eastern reaches of china?
L410Turbolet From Czech Republic, joined May 2004, 5394 posts, RR: 19 Reply 2, posted (8 years 7 months 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 2480 times:
I drove from Cologne to Tehran. A special delivery of an old E-class Mercedes for a Iranian friend of mine, who studies in Germany. Individual imports of cars are prohibited to Iran so this is the only way for them to get a car there is through a foreigner. The tricky part is:
a) get an individual visa to Iran - but these Iranians know how to arrange it.
b) you have to pay a deposit for "carnet" with German ADAC as a leverage for you to bring the car back - the moment you cross the Iranian border any Mercedes triples in value so it's worth it even with losing the deposit.
c) at Turkish-Iranian border you ge that you get this annoying stamp with little picture of a car on it, which means you entered by car and you are also expected to leave by car (same one) as well. Trying to leave by other means of transport might cause you big trouble since the authorities will go after what happened with the car.
d) Between Istanbul and Tehran there are almost no gas stations with unleaded fuel so we had to take leaded one which the engine did not like at all. I haven't driven through most of Turkey and Iran (my Iranian friends did) since it's kinda crazy out there.
Despite crashing the car slightly enroute and required repair of teh engine it was still worth it (financially for them and experience-wise for me). Even anticipated difficulties getting out of the country by air did not happen, with the help of my friend I virtually breezed through the numerous customs, security and other checks at the airport. Judging by frequency of German license plates you see in Iran (to be cool in Iran you need a Mercedes, to be really cool you need a Mercedes with German license plates) I wasn't the only one.
Three years ago I've met these 4 adventurous German guys down in Pucon, Chile on their 12 month round-the-world trip with Unimog truck. They had turned the truck into a self-sufficient caravan with great off-road capabilities. If I had the money I'd spend them for some sort of adventure like Paris-Dakar rally (don't need to win just make it to the beach in Dakar) or some sort of round the world trip by car or boat.
N228ua From Japan, joined May 2004, 109 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (8 years 7 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2436 times:
I saw something on TV a few months ago about a guy who cycled from London to Beijing. While the show was only 1 hour, he was on roads all of the time.
I also saw another TV program about a Japanese taxi driver who drove his taxi from the bottom of Argentina to New York to raise money for a charity here. Took him a few weeks and a lot of gas. Kinda funny see a Japanese taxi in NYC.
Rjpieces From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (8 years 7 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2431 times:
I also saw another TV program about a Japanese taxi driver who drove his taxi from the bottom of Argentina to New York to raise money for a charity here. Took him a few weeks and a lot of gas. Kinda funny see a Japanese taxi in NYC.
How did they get the Japanese taxi from Japan to Argentina?
USAFHummer From United States of America, joined May 2000, 10685 posts, RR: 54 Reply 5, posted (8 years 7 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2427 times:
"...Argentina driving the streets of the US, even though I think it would betechnically possible."
Not strictly by road, as there is no road through the Darien Gap region of Panama on the Colombian border...you'd have to boat around that section and then from the north side of the gap, you could drive all the way to Alaska...
Greg
Chief A.net college football stadium self-pic guru
Levent From France, joined Sep 2004, 1718 posts, RR: 5 Reply 6, posted (8 years 7 months 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 2382 times:
My longest car trip was from Rotterdam in Holland to Adana in Turkey. Done the trip from Holland to Turkey a few times. Not very special, apart from the last time, not long after the Kosovo war, when the Yugoslavians were really pissed off and made us wait about four hours for nothing at the border with Bulgaria.
Mighluss From Spain, joined Oct 2001, 928 posts, RR: 9 Reply 7, posted (8 years 7 months 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 2376 times:
We met a guy in Nepal who drove a motorbike (KTM) from germany to there... don't remember all the routing he explained but he stayed in Tehran for a while, and had to take a ferry to India...
Was shocking to see a a KTM with german plates parked outside a restaurant, we was wondering what was it doing there... and then we met the rider!
IFLYMCO From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 482 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (8 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 2286 times:
but I've never seen anything from, let's say, Argentina driving the streets of the US, even though I think it would be technically possible
Here in Florida I've seen cars from Costa Rica, Mexico, Bahamas, UK, and Germany. I'm not sure if all of them were legally here (driving with foreign tags etc.)
There is a story somewhere on the internet of 2 Norwegians that drove from North Cape, Norway to New Zealand (using ferries from Singapore to Australia and Australia to New Zealand I believe). It can be done, but these two guys had corporate sponsors etc. If I remeber correctly the two problem spots they encountered were the border crossings between Pakistan/India and China/Vietnam. I can't seem to find the webpages about it now, but it took them months to complete.
MD11Engineer From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 13336 posts, RR: 64 Reply 11, posted (8 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2281 times:
I had a classmate in college who bought himself a Royal Enfield motorbike while he was visiting India. He rode it back all the way to Germany, and a year later he went to India again and back on it!
OYRJA From Denmark, joined Feb 2007, 77 posts, RR: 16 Reply 12, posted (8 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2279 times:
There was a young danish guy from an adventure travelagency here in Denmark who bought a brand new TukTuk in Thailand, and drove it from Thailand home to Denmark.
The trip was approximatly18.000km. Its about 11.000 miles or something like that. It took him 7 months to complete that tour.
These are the countries he drove thru:
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Nepal,Pakistan, Iran,Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Germany and Danmark.
Iakobos From Belgium, joined Aug 2003, 3304 posts, RR: 38 Reply 13, posted (8 years 6 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 2259 times:
A couple of friends (man and wife to be) made a Hong Kong - Brussels trip (with unexpected detour to N Africa) a couple of years ago in their second-hand LandCruiser.
60,000km - 14 months
It is fully documented (great pics) and narrated at http://www.destoop.com
Worth a visit.
B-707 From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 494 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (8 years 6 months 4 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 2227 times:
I have driven from London to Athens in Greece 4 times. On two occasions I continued via ferry to Limassol in Cyprus. I did it twice in a Mercedes once in a Toyota and once in a Fiat Uno (that was a real struggle) I have returned the same way on all occasions except the last time when I flew back and left the car in Greece.
Since Yugoslavia broke up I have not done the journey. I could do it via Brindisi in Italy and take a ferry to Greece, but it doesn't appeal to me that much. Yugoslavia was an experience all on its own I can tell you.
Yazoo From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 486 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (8 years 6 months 4 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 2213 times:
while in Malaysia almost two years ago, I recall meeting a couple fronm England, they were riding motorbikes, all the way from england, they had quite a lot of Sticker flags on their bikes ( reprensting all the countries they've been to ) they told me they were headed to OZ and New Zealand after singapore.
Sponsor Message: 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Czech Republic, joined May 2004, 5394 posts, 
From Japan, joined May 2004, 109 posts, 
From France, joined Sep 2004, 1718 posts, 
From Spain, joined Oct 2001, 928 posts, 
From New Zealand, joined May 2004, 6937 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2001, 14752 posts, 
From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 13336 posts, 
From Denmark, joined Feb 2007, 77 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Aug 2003, 3304 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
