London to Beijing - Summer 2007

The family (John, Ingrid, Jake, Hannah, Noah and Eden) will set out to drive from London to Beijing (Trafalgar Square to Tiananmen Square). The route (current plan though politics may change it) will take us through France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan then across the Caspian sea to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and into China where we are planning to take the Southern silk road through the Taklamakan desert then north east to ultimately reach Beijing at the end of August.

The trip is planned for 3 months which is possible (we hope!) but a bit tight, especially as we have to fly home for a week in the middle (from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan).

The trip is an enormous logistics effort. John will start out with the family who will return home to finish off the school term. Ingrid will rejoin (probably in Trabzon on the Black Sea coast of Turkey) and then the children will rejoin in Tashkent for the wildest part of the trip.

Along the way we will pass the Iranian border, the Afghan border and some parts of the world where few people have been - at least not as a family in a 78 series Toyota.

Reactions to the trip from friends and family has of course been mixed ("mad" has been said more than once). Some people have wished they could come, some people have said that they have not even the faintest desire to sit in a car for 3 months. But the family has been well trained - we have done adventure trips since the children were born and have already driven around Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia and the Cotswolds! Top-tip: IPODs with downloaded novels. Often, after 8 hours of driving the children don't want to get out of the car because they are at a good bit!

So what are we trying to achieve?
- Getting there - Without major issues
- Calmness under stress
- Self-reliance by the children
- they are fully involved from training to helping choose the toilet (Jimmy's Thunderbox from www.2daloo.com!)
- Raising money for charity.