OverlandSphere » It’s on the Meter

The It’s on the Meter Photobook Project!

It's on the Meter — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:01:00 +0000

If you’re reading this blog then chances already know the whole It’s on the Meter story… but just in case here’s a quick recap:In 2011 three friends, Johno, Paul and Leigh drove a 20 year-old black taxi called Hannah around the world. We spent 15 months travelling through over 50 countries and set two new World Records.Along the way we…

The End!

It's on the Meter — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:54:00 +0000

By Johno Ellison After nearly fifteen months, over 43,000 miles, 8000 litres of diesel, fifty countries and four continents the moment that we’ve been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading is finally nearly here! In few short hours we will be driving Hannah off the Eurotunnel train and back onto British soil after having driven all the way around the…

Not so Spring Break and New Yoiik

It's on the Meter — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:09:00 +0000

By Paul Archer Twitter @paul_k_archer Daytona Beach, Yeaaahhgh!Sorry, we are still really behind on our blogs. Sadly we are not still in America, in fact we are in Germany and will be finishing the expedition in 5 days time, back in London. We will catch up when we can though! Orlando, the home of the shiny plastic epitome of…

The Deep, Deep South

It's on the Meter — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:57:00 +0000

By Paul Archer Twitter: @Paul_K_Archer Apologies for the delay with the blogs. We’re actually in the Ukraine at the moment, but we will catch up with the blogs in a linear manner over the next few weeks… The expedition will come to an end in London on the 12th of May. If you’re about and would like to come down,…

Driving through the Himalayas and Breaking a World Record

It's on the Meter — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:11:00 +0000

This leg of the journey involved the worst roads, the worst weather, the worst driving and the most incredible scenery! India, Nepal, Tibet, China and Laos. All of this was filmed on little flip cameras, so it is quite shaky, but it gives a good taste of what it is like to drive across the Himalayas. This also contains the…

Ten Tips for Travel after fourteen months on The Road

It's on the Meter — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:17:00 +0000

By Johno Ellison Johno Ellison has spent the last fourteen months driving a twenty year old Black Cab 40,000 miles around the world breaking World Records for both the longest ever and highest ever taxi journey. I’m not a huge fan of those list-style blogs that tell you in, in ten easy steps, how you too can quit your job,…

Rebuilding Hannah

It's on the Meter — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:23:00 +0000

Here’s a video on the work we did on Hannah when we reached The States. It also introduces our new sponsor, Get Taxi, a lot. Check them out on www.gettaxi.com to get the app.There, that should pay our bills for a bit :) …Get Taxi.…

One heart attack please…

It's on the Meter — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:26:00 +0000

Caution:If you are about to eat anything remotely unhealthy then please skip toparagraph 8, it will put you off your food, trust me. After nothing happened in Vegas theprevious night, the obvious decision the morning after was to head to the‘Heart attack grill’. The main purpose of this restaurant is to compact as manycalories as humanly possible into a burger;…

A Texan Tag-Along

It's on the Meter — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:08:00 +0000

By Drew (Woody) Wendeborn Drew is one of the two Texans joined the whole taxi trip for a short while. Here’s his take on a cab ride through the Western USA Blogger has again messed up our pictures so check out the back up complete with pictures here: http://itsonthemeter.posterous.com/a-texan-tag-along I was shaking like an epileptic when I was introduced to…

The West Coast: Stuck in San Fran, garage surfing in Morgan Hill and Dog Parties in Portland, Oregon

It's on the Meter — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 02:56:00 +0000

There’s a problem with the pictures in this blog, please see the mirrored version here: http://itsonthemeter.posterous.com/the-west-coast-stuck-in-san-fran-garage-surfi# By Johno “I’m afraid that Hefenweissen is a Premium Bottle and so isn’t available on our Happy Hour prices” the waitress solemnly told Matt. He mustered up his hammiest English accent, “Well, can you pour it into a glass for me and give me…

Where is Hannah going now???

It's on the Meter — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Things are incredibly exciting with us, we fly to the USA on Monday to carry out the next leg of the journey. This has all be enabled by Get Taxi, the company who came on board to sponsor the expedition to go the whole way around the World. Check them out here, they basically run a service which allows people…

Arriving in Sydney

It's on the Meter — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:37:00 +0000

London to London, via tip-ex We were at the end of a 10 month odyssey, only a few days drive from the finish line and we had just discovered that we were off to the USA on route to circumnavigating the globe. Avid followers of this blog may have got the impression that our final few weeks in Australia were…

Bird Murder in the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef and Women with Big Feathers

It's on the Meter — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Obama was in town, there were soldiers and police on every corner, our taxi was not technically road-legal and the windscreen was spider webbed with cracks. We tried desperately to look cool and not draw attention as the cab slowly pulled out of Darwin, catching the smallest glimpse of Air Force One in the tiny airport. It was like a…

Australian Quarantine: See You Next Tuesday’s

It's on the Meter — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:18:00 +0000

By Johno The team met up back in Australia ready to be reunited with Hannah for the final leg… “Criiiikey!” yelled the leathery old man. I had been in Australia for less than fifteen minutes and `already ticked off half of my mental list of stereotypes. There were fully-grown men wearing baggy singlets and backwards baseball…

We made it to Sydney! (but this isn’t the end…)

It's on the Meter — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 03:41:00 +0000

We made it to Sydney! But this isn’t it… We did it! We have driven a black cab from London to Sydney and broken the World Record for the longest ever taxi journey in 296 days. It has been the adventure of a lifetime, bloody hard work, scorching hot, freezing cold, thrilling, dirty, smelly, scary, funny, boring, exhilarating, and most…

When in Thailand… ping pong balls and full moon parties

It's on the Meter — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:13:00 +0000

By Johno After a sodden but stunning Ankor Wat the journey continued on to Thailand and her capital, Bangkok. Bangkok is lodged firmly in traveller folklore. The name conjures up visions of bustling, steamy backstreets where wizened old women sell fried insects on wooden skewers whilst in the smoky rooms above people of questionable gender do even more questionable things…

Gin, Tonic and Snake Wine, Minor Foot Surgery and Angkor Wat

It's on the Meter — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:58:00 +0000

By Paul Archer Angkor Wat Since we had left Europe five months previously, we hadn’t really drunk alcohol nor had much contact with Westerners. Eastern Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan were dry countries, and aside for a small handful of evenings in random places in Nepal and China we hadn’t partied much all that time. Now we were entering the…

Battling Bribery: Playing Volleyball to Enter Laos

It's on the Meter — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:27:00 +0000

By Paul Archer Don’t forget, you can subscribe to get this blog straight into your inbox by putting your email address into the ‘Join It’s on the Meter’ box at the right hand side of our website. You can pretend you’re checking important work mails and actually read about Hannah’s adventures! It’s sods law. If you fill all the fuel…

Terracotta warriors, giant pandas and girls with big eyes, like whales

It's on the Meter — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:58:00 +0000

By Johno It was raining as we approached the ancient and historic city of Xi’an after two hundred days on the road. It had been raining heavily for most of the day and the factors of good roads, bad drivers and water had combined with deadly consequences meaning we had seen more car accidents in this single day than in…

Breaking World Records, Chinese lock-ins and Missile Testing Zones.

It's on the Meter — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:32:00 +0000

By Leigh. When people ask how we felt when we broke the world record, we give the usual ‘it was amazing’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘a great personal achievement’ but when we crossed the line in Qinghai province I felt a sense of anticlimax. We had been working to this moment for three years but when we reached this magic mileage there…

中國駕駛考試！or the Chinese Driving Test!

It's on the Meter — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:46:00 +0000

By Johno Following a bone-shaking all-dayer to Mount Everest Base Camp the team pushed further into Tibet to face the horror of the Chinese driving test.~ Capitalist Communism We had heard mixed things about the Chinese driving test, ranging from, “Don’t bother with it, just bribe your way out of any document checks” to “It’s a two-hour written test with…

"How much to Mount Everest mate?" – Driving up the world’s highest mountain

It's on the Meter — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:27:00 +0000

By Johno After a short break in Pokhara to recharge our batteries and fuses the team regrouped in Kathmandu ready to brave the Tibetan Plateau ~ I’ve always been skinny. Even six months of intense military training when I was eighteen left me with the arms of a stick insect and the legs of a chicken. Now, after two months…

Craig’s List

It's on the Meter — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:09:00 +0000

Nepal really is rather lovely. Once we reached Pokara, and after gorging ourselves on Buffalo Steaks to celebrate leaving India, we went our separate ways for a week. We had been stuck in that cab together for 5 months and this break was well over due! Johno climbed a hill Leigh rode a motorbike around for a bit and got…

Drowning in Bombay, Starring in Bollywood and the Worst Road in the World

It's on the Meter — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:07:00 +0000

By Paul Archer Bombay Mix I outlined in my last blog (in rather embarrassing and graphic detail) the events of one of the worst days of my life, but the next morning, as it always is with the expedition, we had to move on. So I curled up in a ball in the back of the cab underneath my…

Drowning in Bombay, Starring in Bollywood and the Worst Road in the World

It's on the Meter — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:48:00 +0000

…covered in poo!

It's on the Meter — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:08:00 +0000

By Paul Archer Kids in Jaipur I’m sitting in Singapore airport as a I write this, and the city’s clinical atmosphere bears stark contrast to the contents of this blog. Although muggy outside, my feet are cold thanks to the over zealous air-conditioning; next to me, a ‘Harrods’ mini-store sells over priced cookies and handbags and an attractive and well…

The Ministry of Bad Stomachs

It's on the Meter — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:44:00 +0000

By Johno Following the trials of Southern Iran and Pakistan the team were looking forward to entering India and relaxing a bit… In the car we tend to read trashy Andy McNabb novels found at hostel book exchanges or old copies of The Economist brought out by visiting friends. They sound pretty dull but they actually provide a really good…

Bike Bombs, Massages, and ‘the’ Muslim Gym, our last leg of Pakistan.

It's on the Meter — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:13:00 +0000

By Leigh Meeting Johno and Craig in the hotel room was a huge relief; the Iran/Pakistan visa problems that had been dogging the whole expedition since we had left in February and were finally resolved. We wouldn’t have to worry about the paperwork for the next country until China and its bureaucratic nightmare. Within a few minutes a detective from…

Johno’s Eulogy

It's on the Meter — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Whilst Johno was battling border guards, the last blog from Paul ended as he was being deported from Dubai… I was sat alone in my holding cell, with nothing but 400 bribery cigarettes for company, which is of little comfort to a non smoker. I had to wait five hours until my deportation flight back to Dubai, my phone had…

If you’ve been kidnapped the World Record is f**ked" and other tales of concerned friends

It's on the Meter — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:07:00 +0000

By Johno Apologies for spelling mistakes etc – this was written after a a very long stint without sleep [Now only two, Craig and Johno were left waiting to cross the Iran-Pakistan border after two days of trying...] We were woken at 6am by the blazing sun and the usual ear-splitting call to prayer from the mosque less than a…