TIA definitely applies to this blog. We were told that in Africa things go differently than most other places, this certainly was true on our first day overlanding – hopefully it isn’t a sign for things to come. We were told that our departure would be at 8.30am, make that 9.30am before we were on the road. We had the opportunity to chat with our group and everyone is getting on really well. We stopped at a shopping centre, Chris and I stocked up on some snacks as well as shampoo and conditioner. Their toiletries are really expensive over here. The truck then took off again and all was fine until we reached a hill, not a very big one mind. The clutch had gone on the truck and it took about 30 minutes before we ... read more

As an early anniversary present Mum and Dad bought us a night in the Sarova Stanley, a five star luxury hotel in Nairobi, just what was needed before we start the overland adventure. We checked in as early as possible on 31st July and went for some lunch in one of the four available restaurants in the hotel. Following this, we went for a swim in the outdoor heated pool, and when they say heated they mean it - it was almost at jacuzzi heat. We spent ages in the pool before getting ready for dinner, once again spent some time relaxing, relaxing and even more relaxing. The next morning we got up for our included buffet breakfast and treated ourselves to croissants, sausages, bacon, beans, waffles and pancakes!!! Yummy. We are now spending the last ... read more

Our flights to Nairobi were changed at the last minute, thankfully I had checked before going to bed on Thursday evening and seen that we had to be at Heathrow earlier than we had thought. Our flight was a direct flight which meant that we now arrived in Nairobi a day earlier, I didn't realise this until we were at Heathrow and realised that we had no accommodation booked for Friday night in Nairobi, slightly concerning. We arrived in Nairobi around 9.00pm on Friday evening and had to queue for AGESSS to get our visas. We didn't get them until around 10.30pm, by the time we got down to the baggage area our bags had been left to the side and it took some time trying to find them. When we got outside we were bombarded ... read more

We got up early to head to Thorpe Park, we got the tube to Waterloo where we got a train for £12.30 return to Staines, followed by a shuttle to Thorpe Park which is £3.50 return. We arrived soon after the park opened and made our way straight to the rides, the queue times weren't too bad. Most were shorter than ten minutes, with Stealth being the longest taking 40 minutes. We managed to get on all the rides we wanted, apart from a couple which were closed for techinal reasons. We all really enjoyed Nemesis, Stealth and Swarm. The heat was incredible with some reports that it was almost at 30oC. We were all roasting waiting for the rides and drank so much water throughout the day - we also made the most of the ... read more

Scott, Chris and I left Ibis getting the Hoppa back to Heathrow where we got the Underground to our stop in Central London, South Kensington. We had arranged to meet Gillian there so went and checked out our hostel, it's...fine....Mum you wouldn't be impressed! However, it does have all the basics i.e. 4 beds, a lock on the door and a random sink in the corner. Chris went and met Gillian and brought her back to the hostel. We decided we would eat lunch at Hyde Park (a 10 minute walk away) so went to Tescos and set off in search of Hyde Park. One hour later we finally got there, turns out we took the wrong turn as soon as we left our hostel which resulted in lots of wrong turns. Hyde Park was really ... read more