Decisions of where and when
 

Hi Folks,

Im not even sure why I am writing this here,probably simply to assert something to myself,even if its flawed.

Over 2020 I put togther a vehicle with the purpose of heading off towards Morocco sometime in 2021, well that has mostly come and gone by now, and with the continual issues between spain and Morocco, as well as other counties within North Africa, it looks like 2022 is going to go the same way at least to start with.

There are millions of miles to explore within North America I could do, but a lot of that I have done (by car and plane) and honestly ,a lot of it is the same, not in terms of vista's and places to see, but the people are quite similar,I personally dont feel (and I emphasise personally) that holds a ton of appeal to me, at least right now. At least in terms of "going places".

I could get to Mexico and further south, but thats a ton of miles from Montreal to slog through,and I dont have months of time at this point in my life (working desperately to achieve this, but not quite there yet) to get to and from the places I want to see, my way.

So I figured,why wait for the perfect window of all things to happen as I would like them to.

I have decided that (corona virus issues permitting) this spring the car will be shipped to Europe. this will be the start.

Comparing the distance from Montreal to Baja and applying this to the European continent,really shows I will be able to visit quite a few countries and places,and well planned, I can circle areas without having to pass the same places twice.Lots of countries,lots of places,lots of different cultures I know very little about.

If the situation with Spain and Morocco happen to change for the better while I am there, perfect, if not , no problem. I cant solve the worlds problems everywhere, so I will deal with what I can and not concern myself with what I can't.

With every passing day I feel time slipping, this pandemic and the issues it has brought to the surface shows us that this is a very fragile world and our time is limited.So balls out! time to go and do something epic.

So do I need my 4WD equipped with muddies for any of this?, very likely not and will be a complete waste of money, but you cant take it with you!, and I really dont want to leave many piles of it behind for others! so :censored: it!!

Maybe ill put it on A/T's before I ship it and keep the muddies for my cruiser here,but I think thats the extent of my planning for now.

I just want to go!

Paulo

I have no experience of travelling with my own 4x4, I have never even owned a car but have travelled in convoy with a few and some or even most of the ones who have commented find BF Goodrich All Terrain work well in just about all situations. I have no idea how these compare with your muddies but many people seem to get on well with them on full RTW trips.
If heading south through Africa does not work out you could always look at heading east through Central Asia if conditions allow.

How much time do you have?

What sort of things do you want to see / do?

Because you can see Europe in a rental Ford Fiesta comfortably (and just walk to enjoy the countryside), meanwhile I've lived in my current house for a couple of years and despite exploring the area loads I still haven't covered half the trails in this (small) mountain range.

I'm in a similar position, very much wanting to do *something* rather than sitting around waiting for things to stabilize. I've spent a lot of my life wandering around North America, and although I continue to do so I really don't want to be limited to this sort of quote adventure unquote for the remainder of my life. This morning's news--a new variant in South Africa, tightening restrictions in Europe and Morocco, riots in Martinique, etc. etc. etc.--deprived me of some of my optimism about where the world is headed.

Europe is great fun and quite interesting, and even after a total of a year or so traveling there I've got much left to do and see. But the prospect of doing so in a North American-style 4x4 with giant mud-capable tires doesn't appeal at all: what's there to see does not, for the most part, involve muddy wilderness tracks or desert wastes, and I really don't want to make a spectacle of myself without any obvious gain. Besides, I travel to see and experience, not to conquer isolated bits of difficult terrain (at not-insignificant cost to the planet). Make of that what you will, allowing for other perspectives if you're hoping to eventually head for West Africa.

I could, and often do, go on and on about this, but I'll end with wondering how much time you really do have. Shipping to Europe becomes worthwhile only with lots of time and energy for wandering there (and farther afield). You're put off by the long "slog" to Mexico and Central America, but I find this far easier to justify despite the distances to the southern US border--a couple of days for me, double that for you. If desperate, I'm guessing that one of those RV-shipping agencies I keep hearing about could make this quite convenient from Montreal, and at far less expense than the container to Europe you're apparently thinking of.

Aside: don't forget that Mexico is part of North America, and don't discount what it offers without first trying it out.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Hi Mark and all

I get it,but its not a North American 4x4 (most of these are really quite useless for anything more than the Home Depot run, or trailering my race car), rather a small diesel Toyota, the muddies I refer to are not those stupid giant things we see on F350's, but regular Mud Terrains that I purchased for the strength of the carcass(the strongest I could compare for use on the rocky terrain of Morocco,not sticking it in the mud ), available in Europe as well as Africa (size as well as brand).

Shipping from Halifax to Southampton is cheap by RORO, there is nothing of value to steal on the truck ,and im not concerned with dents and scratches (though I have shipped RORO from Japan multiple times and never had anything at all to comment about in that respect either, on quite high end stuff)

Checking other options I find that it is less than half of the shipping cost compared to sending the vehicle from New York to LA by truck.( I checked this out recently since parts of Europe appears to be headed for another covid storm this winter),flight times/costs are the same,so that becomes a mute point.

I have tons to explore even here in Quebec, lots of wilderness with easy or hard ways to get there,and I have done so,I just want something different.

So Europe it is, time is whatever time I can get, my only statement was the fact that I would have many thousands of Kms simply to get through the USA and back, I have done MTL to LA(no big deal),and last year did Calgary to MTL in 3 days because I had to,I have a place on PEI,I do the 1300kms in a 12 hour drive,i was recently back and forth in a 48 hour period,distance is not the problem.at least not yet.

If you're talking about a Land Cruiser, here that would count as about the largest 4x4 you would want to try and use in the off-piste parts of Europe and it would be too big for some of the best trails near me ... and some streets in the towns, too.

If you're doing 1300km in a day then you're not seeing Europe, just passing it by.

Of course, with the new Covid variant this might become academic if all the borders close again, lol

Never said any of that , but thats not important. I was simply mentioning I have no issue's driving distances to get to where I want to be.

The UK to Portugal leg I hope to take somewhere between 1 and 2 weeks to get there,nice and slow, no autoroutes (the Hilux is happier at 90KPH Max) only secondary roads and hug the coastal roads where possible or interesting.

If I wanted to visit Europe in a rental Fiesta,its likely because ive had a stroke! doh
For normal byway travels in Europe, I would prefer my 1974 FIAT 128 that is already there,cheap to own,old enough to pay no road taxes:) , 50 Euro's a year to insure as vintage and at least has charm and is interesting(great conversation starter,.....lots of folks tell me about their Father or Grand father who had one ect),seating for 4,as well as vintage enough to be welcome anywhere (just about).:welcome:

Again its not about making any sort of statement with the vehicle(there are plenty of folks and many many forums dedicated to that sort of thing already),I built it for a purpose, I don't need it here ( i have others),and it may as well get used.

Cheers,

Paulo

In that case I'd recommend you get summer street tyres, the coastal back roads are usually in good condition 'cause they don't get any lorries on them ... and yes, a Fiat 128 would be ideal for them 'cause they're twisty so good fun in a car that handles :)