Alan Partridge

Hello, hello...

So the hours are running out before departure.... and firstly I would like to say thank you so much to everyone.

I am close now really close to making the donation targets I had hoped to meet.

My leaving party is tomorrow at the Ace Cafe and I have a stack of cards to hand out about the trip and some tins to rattle at people to get some last pennies for the charities.

If you can come down that would be great! If not well maybe you can come to India.... I have been offered a job in Mumbai so it looks like I maybe there for a least a year.


On a completely different matter I had my first 5 mins of fame this week... well it wasn't the first and I hope not the last but it was small fame with a very little f.

I was interviewed for the widely listened to Radio Norfolk Breakfast Show... Hurrah! It wasn't Alan Partridge that would have been amazing and surely been big time fame.

Anyway all very exciting, but not really had time to think about it as I have so many bits and bobs still to get like maps... might come in handy.


Looks like my actually leaving day, which was to be the Wednesday is now going to be the Thursday so if your desperate to catch me, restrain me or lock me in padded cell, please do it before then...

But what would be even better is to come tomorrow to the Ace Cafe... I will be there from about 4pm, there will be beer, cars, bikes, girls and blokes and probably some leather so something for all the family...

Hope to see you then Adam....

Cafe Racer

Firstly I thought you might enjoy the terrible photo below.

As you will notice at this stage aesthetics have gone out of the window, I am now just thinking about survival.

Secondly for those who definitely plan to come to the Ace Cafe on Saturday the 30th, I plan on getting there around 5pm. There is an all American Drive in from 4pm and things are pretty lively in the afternoon.

If you want to get a cab from Bloomsbury I will be organising Addison Lee pick ups at 4.30pm to the Ace Cafe a cab can take 6 and its £30, so £5 each is not too bad. If you would like to go by cab let me know and I will book enough. Alternatively the Bakerloo line runs up to Stonebridge Park right next to the Ace Cafe.

see: http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/default.aspx

The band keeps everything going till 11pm, then I figured we could head to Paradise Way To Kensel Green, which is open to 2 am but I am open to suggestions.

And finally I know some friends may have other commitments on Saturday the 30th, so if you can't make it or north west London just seems far to foreign, I am going to go for a drink next Thursday 28th at The Three Kings on Clerkenwell Close. So it would be great to see you and who knows maybe we will end up having a party that night too!

I look forward to your sarky comments on my biking outfit and hopefully will see some of you next week.

10 week count down.

So as we fast approach the 10 week count down till the leaving date of the Vanvan Voyage, the enormity of the challenge becomes clearer but less daunting.

Over the last couple of weeks, post the initial drive, progress has slowly trundelled on. My Iranian Visa is ready to pick-up, hurah, a big tick off the list, I just hope that the region will be stable when I plan to arrive in October. This for me will be one of the most exciting legs of the journey.

Other good news, the trip made it on to the front page of the Switchback website. Please see: http://switchbackproject.blogspot.com/

This was very exciting and I hope will be the first of many little bits of publicity.

I also completed a practise run of 600 miles on the bike last weekend, bar a numb bum, all went well. I think that around 300 miles will be the max I will be able to achieve in a day, but I am happy to report the bike seems happy coping with these long journey's on good roads! Who knows what the roads will hold for the little Vanvan in Iran, Pakistan and India?

Fundraising has been slow (actually non existent) over the last two weeks, but my Mother seems to have found a new cause and has been pursing friends and family with many promises of donations so it is only a matter of time.

There will be a leaving drinks day to be confirmed, the last weekend clashes with a Norwegian wedding that know one would want to miss.

Please leave any comments or messages. The next update will be sooner.

Donation T-shirts

It seemed a good idea to make up a limited number of t-shirts with the Vanvan Voyage logo on the front and names of everyone who has donated to either cause on the back. These will then be given out at my leaving party to "winners" who will be picked from the list of donars randomly. I will also take one on the trip and wear it along the way, so that I can better explain this ridiculous voyage east. Obviously I will let people know where they can get them, if they want one for themselves.

The first day of many

Today the blog was launched. I wonder how many other bloggers have written that sentence.

So the long count down to departure day, 1st September 2008 commences.

The Just Giving pages are up and running and starting to get donations.

The visa's are being obtained, idea's for a leaving party are being formulated and yet I still haven't passed my bike test.

Arse before tit, surprise, surprise.

But still the machine keeps rolling forward, sometimes I feel on top of it, sometimes I feel under its crushing wheels.

Fancy moving to India, without ever being there before.

The strange thing is I have more conviction now than I have had in all the years since I left art college in Norwich, eight years ago....

Let the days roll on...