Driving from Dublin to Beijing...

Mr. Loverman

Hi all

This is just an idea I have bouncing around my head at the moment. I'd say I'm only about 30% likely to do it.

The route would be:

Ireland
Wales
England
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany
Poland
Lithuania
Latvia
Russia (I have a visa for Russia)
China (I have a visa for China)
(I've spent a month in Mongolia and roads are non-existent, so it doesn't make sense to go Russia -> Mongolia -> China).

There is no major time limit, so I would do a bit of exploring along the way.

I would sleep in the car sometimes, possibly frequently.

What car would you recommend? I'm thinking a Mercedes E Class as parts would probably be readily available.

But I don't know what to do about insurance. I'm guessing this could be a nightmare.

Do any of you have an experience doing anything like this, or have any advice or comments?

Cheers

tossy

Old Land cruiser/G wagon.

goz83

Insurance would only be an issue if you're outside of Ireland for more than 3 months (i think its 3 months now anyway, used to be 6). You'd be mad doing it in a car, especially if you're sleepping in it. I would be hoing along the strong 4x4 jeep route, as you don't know what roads you'll come across past Poland and Lithuania. In fact, I was in Poland 2 years ago and some of the roads were seriously bad. I can only imagine what some of the russian and chinese roads will offer.

I've done Ireland to Sweden in less than two days, so you're probably safe with 3 months to China and back unless you really snail it.

mullingar

If it was me, a LWB Land Cruiser Commercial.

Should be enough space in the back for a proper kip.

leonidas83

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Hi all

This is just an idea I have bouncing around my head at the moment. I'd say I'm only about 30% likely to do it.

The route would be:

Ireland
Wales
England
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany
Poland
Lithuania
Latvia
Russia (I have a visa for Russia)
China (I have a visa for China)
(I've spent a month in Mongolia and roads are non-existent, so it doesn't make sense to go Russia -> Mongolia -> China).

There is no major time limit, so I would do a bit of exploring along the way.

I would sleep in the car sometimes, possibly frequently.

What car would you recommend? I'm thinking a Mercedes E Class as parts would probably be readily available.

But I don't know what to do about insurance. I'm guessing this could be a nightmare.

Do any of you have an experience doing anything like this, or have any advice or comments?

Cheers

Another thing u need to be wary about is roadside crime especially in Russia, everything is rosy until you breakdown, you leave yourself very vulnerable in this regard. A lack of of local knowledge, languages & culture.

This type of trip should only really be attempted by a group of people who have a good knowledge of the cars & countries they're travelling in

halkar

You need LHD car as after UK everyone will be driving on the wrong side of the road And insurance may be difficult and\or expensive depending on how long you want to spend abroad.

I wouldn't sleep in Mercedes E Class in Russia

Mr. Loverman

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Russia is actually fine, I've spent a lot of time there. I would argue we have more skangers in Ireland!

listermint

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Russia is actually fine, I've spent a lot of time there. I would argue we have more skangers in Ireland!

Your arguement would be entirely incorrect. solely on the basis of population and historical poverty.

Mac 3

Check out these guys. They did a pretty epic trip.

http://www.dublintosydney.com/

Mr. Loverman

listermint wrote: »

Your arguement would be entirely incorrect. solely on the basis of population and historical poverty.

Ah yeah of course, there are more people in Russia, but Russians are a lot softer than us. I know movies and western media want us to think otherwise, but when you spend time in places like Russia and China you realise we are bombarded with a lot of propaganda in the west.

Regardless, this is way off topic...

fasttalkerchat

Stash some money to pay off police and anyone who comes out onto the road to greet you once you leave Poland. Plan around the weather. Take a look at the survival forum. And my final tip, reconsider!

tossy

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

And my final tip, reconsider!

That's a dreadful attitude - so little adventure in the world today,i say go for it dude,plan it well and take care and the best of luck.

kuro2k

check out www.horizonsunlimited.com loads of usefull information on visa requirements and carnets

AFAIK China will not allow a foreign registered car to cross the border unless you are accompanied with a chinese "travel agent"

Gael23

A 4WD Diesel would be my choice, not that I would ever consider doing such a thing in the first place.

Mr. Loverman

kuro2k wrote: »

AFAIK China will not allow a foreign registered car to cross the border unless you are accompanied with a chinese "travel agent"

$50 in the passport... just kidding.

MadYaker

Definitely a LWB land cruiser commercial. They are reliable, can handle rough terrain and are big enough for you to live in if you have to. Driving through russia could be quite boring. There is a lot of empty space.

fasttalkerchat

tossy wrote: »

That's a dreadful attitude - so little adventure in the world today,i say go for it dude,plan it well and take care and the best of luck.

I'm not saying don't do it. Just don't jump into something that could be very costly and dangerous.

Outkast_IRE

Wouldnt Russia - China requiring going the road of bones route ?
If so i wouldnt attempt this without a serious vehicle 4x4 real jeep and a mechanic with you.

Best of luck.
did you ever watch the long way round with ewan mcgregor, i would consider it essential watching and they had a whole support team with them

JBokeh

Have a look on website called expedition portal,very good forum,full of people that have traveled all around everywhere,in just about every vehicle imaginable. Some very good write ups on there too

Yakuza

As mentioned above, check out "The Long Way 'Round" - Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman did most of that journey on bikes (with a two support jeeps and a cameraman on another bike) Once they got beyond Ukraine, all bets were off - mud tracks for roads, bridges gone (at one stage, they had to ford a river on the back of some large military truck if memory serves). There's no way in hell a saloon car would be guaranteed to make that journey, a 4*4 would be needed.

The lads also had local fixers to smoothen over any border crossings, source parts etc, I don't think a regular joe could do this without some serious backup lined up, just in case. I think you need separate visas for the various parts of the old USSR as well, "Russia" won't cover it. They had to organise lots of stuff before they left the UK, not the least of which was off-road driving courses etc. (I may be confusing it with their Long Way Down follow up, now that I think of it) but at any rate such a journey requires serious prep and deep pockets.

Best of luck to you, if you do go ahead with it

dingding

Another Epic Trip.

http://www.tfordworldtour.org/total-route/

neaideabh

Yakuza wrote: »

They had to organise lots of stuff before they left the UK, not the least of which was off-road driving courses etc. (I may be confusing it with their Long Way Down follow up, now that I think of it) but at any rate such a journey requires serious prep and deep pockets.

Best of luck to you, if you do go ahead with it

They didn't HAVE to. They just had the luxury of being able to afford these options!

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

antodeco

Well seeing as the OP is now in China, I don't think the route is an issue anymore! :pac:

CiniO

goz83 wrote: »

In fact, I was in Poland 2 years ago and some of the roads were seriously bad.

Where exactly have you been?

Ronnie Beck

A lad I know is doing this in july with two of his mates for temple street, on a Honda 90 :eek:.

http://limerick2mongolia2013.com/

taking a more southern route through the 'stans AFAIK. There getting some sort of tracker that hooks up to the website so you can follow them.

arleitiss

Mac 3 wrote: »

Check out these guys. They did a pretty epic trip.

http://www.dublintosydney.com/

Just read all that, great story. But..... 2000$ for petrol? are you kidding me? I thought it costs around 10'000 Euro for petrol from Dublin to Russia?
Also what car did they use? I couldn't find a make?

snaps

arleitiss wrote: »

Just read all that, great story. But..... 2000$ for petrol? are you kidding me? I thought it costs around 10'000 Euro for petrol from Dublin to Russia?
Also what car did they use? I couldn't find a make?

10,000€? I'm just back from a fairly big road trip. Mayo, France, Belgium, Germany, south east Poland near ukraine/slovakian border. In total I drove 6200kms (outgoing was from Cherbourg, incoming was via calais/uk). Done it in a Citroen c5 diesel. Spent no more than 500€ on fuel.

CiniO

arleitiss wrote: »

Just read all that, great story. But..... 2000$ for petrol? are you kidding me? I thought it costs around 10'000 Euro for petrol from Dublin to Russia?
Also what car did they use? I couldn't find a make?

:eek:

Dublin to Moscow is only around 3500km, so even at 10l/100km (28MPG) you still need only 350 litres of petrol, so in Irish prices it's about 560 euro.
Obviously the further east the cheaper the petrol, so it would come even less than that.

And Moscow is nearly half of the way to Beijing. (or at least more than 1/3).

arleitiss

snaps wrote: »

10,000€? I'm just back from a fairly big road trip. Mayo, France, Belgium, Germany, south east Poland near ukraine/slovakian border. In total I drove 6200kms (outgoing was from Cherbourg, incoming was via calais/uk). Done it in a Citroen c5 diesel. Spent no more than 500€ on fuel.

oh god, I might actually move my plans to drive to Ukraine (my home) to much quicker
I thought I will do it when I get 10'000 euro saved up.

goz83

CiniO wrote: »

Where exactly have you been?

Krakow. Auschwitz.

The place where the roads were bad was in Katowice. There had been flooding and lots of the roads were in bad shape.

goz83

arleitiss wrote: »

Just read all that, great story. But..... 2000$ for petrol? are you kidding me? I thought it costs around 10'000 Euro for petrol from Dublin to Russia?
Also what car did they use? I couldn't find a make?

Maybe if there was a hole in the fuel tank.

snaps

goz83 wrote: »

Krakow. Auschwitz.

The place where the roads were bad was in Katowice. There had been flooding and lots of the roads were in bad shape.

we've a house 60kms south of Krakow, near nowy targ. The roads used to be in a sorry state, but the last 3 years they have been vastly improved. Even the small roads have been relaid. Poland now also has a half decent motorway network, but was very annoyed to sit at a toll both for 40minutes near Katowice last week. The toll booth couldn't cope with the amount of traffic. I made it quite clear to the attendent about the matter. They were trying to increase the number of booths they had.

snaps

goz83 wrote: »

Krakow. Auschwitz.

The place where the roads were bad was in Katowice. There had been flooding and lots of the roads were in bad shape.

was that 2010? We had a bridge and a road washed away that year in our village. The bridge has only just been rebuilt, a fine job though.

arleitiss

I wonder how hard it is to get used to Right hand lane and reversed everything once you enter France from UK? I wonder were there any cases when someone forgot they are in different country and went onto oncoming lane.

Terrontress

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

A lad I know is doing this in july with two of his mates for temple street, on a c90 :eek:.

http://limerick2mongolia2013.com/

taking a more southern route through the 'stans AFAIK. There getting some sort of tracker that hooks up to the website so you can follow them.

I had never heard of those bikes referred to as a c90 before. I thought they are called Honda Cub.

I was fairly shocked to open the site and see what they are travelling on.

kuro2k

arleitiss wrote: »

Also what car did they use? I couldn't find a make?

3 series BMW

Guy:Incognito

snaps wrote: »

The toll booth couldn't cope with the amount of traffic. I made it quite clear to the attendent about the matter. They were trying to increase the number of booths they had.

Im sure in his roll as ceo of the toll company he'll implement changes based on your information as soon as possible.

randy hickey

Get yourself one of these OP.
You won't have to worry about washed away bridges, breakdowns or cramped sleeping conditions.
It will easily take all your back-up spare parts,tools and supplies for such a long journey.






http://www.containerworkshops.com/custom-container-workshops.php

ironclaw

goz83 wrote: »

Maybe if there was a hole in the fuel tank.

While €10,000 is off the wall, you would be burning fuel for generators etc when your out in the wilds (If you were using one) And longer sections in a 4x4 would drop the MPG. Personally I would have put a guess in around the €5k mark.

Cool route, something I'd probably consider but I'd want 4 people split in 2 jeeps. There's no point in doing it unless your going to do it properly. Adopt the Dakar approach of a lead vehicle and a support team.

twowheelsonly

Terrontress wrote: »

I had never heard of those bikes referred to as a c90 before. I thought they are called Honda Cub.

I was fairly shocked to open the site and see what they are travelling on.

Going off topic here but this guy, Sean Dillon from Wexford, has recently completed a trip from Alaska To Argentina, Tierra del Fuego, on a C90 (Cub). He's back in Buenos Aires now but following his blog for the last year and a half or so was fascinating.

http://hondavstheworld.com/about-me/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Honda-Vs-The-World/137995892949475

goz83

snaps wrote: »

was that 2010? We had a bridge and a road washed away that year in our village. The bridge has only just been rebuilt, a fine job though.

Sounds about right. We stayed with friends in Katowice. Lovely place and killer kebabs.

ironclaw wrote: »

While €10,000 is off the wall, you would be burning fuel for generators etc when your out in the wilds (If you were using one) And longer sections in a 4x4 would drop the MPG. Personally I would have put a guess in around the €5k mark.

In 2010 we took the route from Dublin via the uk to france, heading north through Germany and cutting through Denmark to get to a town near Malmo. We did this in Diesel Mazda Bongo, or Ford Freda as they are known here. It was just myself and a friend driving and we only stopped for fuel and food and stayed on the motorway. On the return journey, the Van was literally stuffed to the roof with things (brother was moving home). We fit 2 quads in the back, plus a heap load of other crap jammed into every nook and cranny.

In total the trip cost €1006 which included an oil change, ferry return and tunnel return and all tolls. It also included the cost of my friend getting the train from Sweden to Denmark and a one way flight home. Fuel cost around €400-500. Cant remember the exact break down.

ironclaw

goz83 wrote: »

In total the trip cost €1006 which included an oil change, ferry return and tunnel return and all tolls. It also included the cost of my friend getting the train from Sweden to Denmark and a one way flight home. Fuel cost around €400-500. Cant remember the exact break down.

Granted. In the States I was getting good MPG for well over 3k road miles. But not really comparable once you leave the paved roads of modernized Europe, where you can hit a high gear and cruise in a good MPG range. We're also neglecting hills and altitude depending on your route. You could not compare a car journey around central Europe to a Europe to Asia drive.

CiniO

goz83 wrote: »

Krakow. Auschwitz.

The place where the roads were bad was in Katowice. There had been flooding and lots of the roads were in bad shape.

When I first came to Ireland (from Poland) in 2004, I thought that road here in Mayo were great comparing to Polish roads, maybe with exception that they were too narrow.

But now in the last few years, when I go to Poland for holidays, I actually find roads there better than in Ireland.
That just reflects that roads in Poland have improved greatly, while in Ireland they deteriorated.
Obviously I know around Dublin roads are better than in Mayo, but still...

snaps wrote: »

Poland now also has a half decent motorway network, but was very annoyed to sit at a toll both for 40minutes near Katowice last week. The toll booth couldn't cope with the amount of traffic. I made it quite clear to the attendent about the matter. They were trying to increase the number of booths they had.

Probably soon they will open autmatic tolls through viatoll system, so all you'll need is a little device sticked to your windscreen and this will charge you for all the tolls.
This is in operations for trucks and buses alread, but when they introduce it for cars, long queue on toll boths should become thing of the past.

goz83

ironclaw wrote: »

Granted. In the States I was getting good MPG for well over 3k road miles. But not really comparable once you leave the paved roads of modernized Europe, where you can hit a high gear and cruise in a good MPG range. We're also neglecting hills and altitude depending on your route. You could not compare a car journey around central Europe to a Europe to Asia drive.

The price will of course increase, depending on the roads and the vehicle being driven, but 10 grand is way over the top for juice estimate. I would say 3k would get pretty much any suitable vehicle there and back, fuel wise, because the roads can start to get rough after the half-way mark.....not speaking from personal experience, as I only got to the half-way mark, which was my destination.

snaps

CiniO wrote: »

When I first came to Ireland (from Poland) in 2004, I thought that road here in Mayo were great comparing to Polish roads, maybe with exception that they were too narrow.

But now in the last few years, when I go to Poland for holidays, I actually find roads there better than in Ireland.
That just reflects that roads in Poland have improved greatly, while in Ireland they deteriorated.
Obviously I know around Dublin roads are better than in Mayo, but still....

I agree. Roads locally here in mayo have got very bad, with roads even in rual malapolska have improved with the odd exception.

Ronnie Beck

Terrontress wrote: »

I had never heard of those bikes referred to as a c90 before. I thought they are called Honda Cub.

I was fairly shocked to open the site and see what they are travelling on.

Just a slightly more powerful Honda 50/c50. Fair play to them if they make it. ye a Honda 90 or a c90 you call them ones. Honda cub is all them style of honda bikes.

aaronosiochain

twowheelsonly wrote: »

Going off topic here but this guy, Sean Dillon from Wexford, has recently completed a trip from Alaska To Argentina, Tierra del Fuego, on a C90 (Cub). He's back in Buenos Aires now but following his blog for the last year and a half or so was fascinating.

http://hondavstheworld.com/about-me/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Honda-Vs-The-World/137995892949475

Sean is one of the inspiring reasons we are taking the c90 (or cub 90). Been following him since the start also.

aaronosiochain

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

A lad I know is doing this in july with two of his mates for temple street, on a Honda 90 :eek:.

http://limerick2mongolia2013.com/

taking a more southern route through the 'stans AFAIK. There getting some sort of tracker that hooks up to the website so you can follow them.

SPOT GPS...thanks for the reminder, I need to order this