Last I left off, my and my two friends’ roadtrip through Eastern and Southern Africa was a bit stalled. Our vehicle had completely died. It was 4 a.m.-ish. We had a cohort of African truckers surrounding our Isuzu. And just figured out that our alternator was broken (Translation for non-engine-buffs: We were not going to be driving away).

Our original trucker friend, the first one to stop and help us, was the last to stay around as the rest of the would-be-rescuers dispersed as it became clear our situation was hopeless. There was an uncertain and awkward feeling in the air as we stood outside with our lone friend. We had no options; we were even out of cash at this moment (a long story…). There was no buying our way out of this. We plain and simply required some good ol’ human good will.

After a bit of dancing around the topic, I mentioned to Joe the Trucker (his real name is written down in my journal, which is conveniently hiding somewhere at the moment…and “Joe” seems to be a trendy brand these days) that maybe he would consider towing us for a few miles until we found a mechanic. “Few” in this context really meant, say, one to two hundred miles, as the next dots on the map were the border towns with Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Joe hesitated, walked over to his cab, climbed in, and re-emerged with a thick rope. After knotting on, we had about ten yards between our Isuzu and the back of the truck. This was a problem. Without power brakes, we had to maintain enough slack behind the truck to not accidentally slam into its back upon a slowing down. Mark, since it was more or less his vehicle, was dubbed the one to stay awake and keep this from happening.

At this moment we were in one of the those giddily resigned states, a mix between “WTF” and “whatever.” The immediate moment was strange enough, and thinking a few steps further ahead caused a psychedelic effect upon the three of us.

As light began to crack and we took an obligatory stop to relieve ourselves, Joe told Mike that a driving force between his sudden pity on our situation was that he was terrified for our sakes that if we had stayed parked overnight where we were originally stranded, chances were that an elephant might have decided to try our Isuzu out as a new plaything.

Basically, Joe was our savior.

We finally pulled up to the border town with Zimbabwe, Pandamatenga, with our vehicle still in one piece. It was the first dot on the map we had arrived at since we began the tow, 100 km before (at about a 40 km/hr pace). Normally, this was where Joe would go north through Zimbabwe, but not during the mess the country has been in lately. Now he had to keep going north to the Zambian border.

Our more or less tacit agreement was that Joe would let us off here, at this first point of civilization. However, Pandamatenga was not really a town. It was not really anything. We did find a “mechanic”—a couple who lived in the middle of a junk yard with scattered bush vehicles lying around. They saw our white skin and began to noticeable salivate. Rule number one in negotiating prices is to be able to walk out, and we had no such option; we would have been at their mercy. Plus, we still had no cash. We would have to find a place that accepted credit card.

We needed Joe to take us another 100 kilometres north to the Zambian border, or else things were going to go from bad to worse very quickly.

And so the tale continues…

I was about to write about how Richard Branson, as highlighted by his current attempt to break the trans-Atlantic sailing record, is a great adventurer. After all, he’s done some crazy stuff and National Geographic Adventure Magazine has given him their lifetime achievement award. But I thought about all the caveats I would have to make about his adventures all being publicity stunts and his opposition to net neutrality proving that he is fueled more by greed than entrepreneurial spirit.

I decided to skip the caveats, and point out a pure adventurer: Mark Beaumont. Earlier this year, Beaumont broke the world record for cycling around the world, moving the mark from 276 days to 194 days. And he did it without the massive funding that Branson brings to his attempts. Sure he had some sponsors and he has since done and ad campaign for Orange (including the clip above), but he didn’t have a team of people – he rode the world solo. Also, if you watch the show BBC put together – largely using clips he shot himself from the road – he seems like a genuinely cool and simple guy.

Beaumont has provided some inspiration to me of late, and I’ve started taking longer bike rides for my weekend jaunts rather than taking the train or bus. And that’s what being a great adventurer is all about, doing what you love with such abandon that others can’t help but follow in your footsteps – not just breaking records for the sake of fame. To get that inspiration, check out some of his pictures, and these BBC videos.

I got an email today from Icelantic Boards (a small Colorado ski company that I really dig) today letting me know about their new 08-09 lineup. So after salivating over their new designs, I went to the site of my closet Icelantic dealer – Junki Gear – and found that not only did they have the sweet new skis, but they have left over 07-08 models marked down from £369.00 to £225.00. Hells yeah.

So if you are looking for winter gear for the coming season, it might well be worth checking now to see if any of the shops still have stock from last season. The equip is likely still just as good as it was last year, and if this is any indicator then the deals look pretty sweet.

Photo: Icelantic gallery.

If you asked me a month ago, I would tell you I had no love for Lonely Planet. On my last two trips I’ve taken Moon and Rough Guide. But LP has been producing some damn good stuff lately, including this series “Natural Born Traveller” – the first installment of which is above.

You can watch the other episodes here.

I love backpacks. I’ve have 9 at the moment, and I still find myself eyeing new ones all the time. Yet, somehow there are haters out there. Gab Nancarrow at Travel Blog put up a post yesterday calling into question the supremacy of the backpack as the supreme container for backpacking – or indeed any travel – and I feel a need to defend my beloved satchels.  So 5 reasons backpacks are better than wheely bags:

1. Backpacks are all terrain. You’ll notice in the picture above I can’t even ride my POS rented bike on this back country trail in Senegal. How was I supposed to make it down the trail with a wheely bag? This isn’t just limited to back country. Stairs, curbs, and narrow passages are much easier when your bag is on your back.
2. Backpacks have many pockets and places to clip things. I’ve never seen a piece of luggage have the type of compartmentalization that backpacks offer. Not only can you stash your camera, book, water bottle, etc in a convenient pocket, but you can put the stash your laundry that got rained on in a different place from that sacred last clean pair of underwear. Also, you can tie or clip some of that wet laundry to the outside of your bag to let it dry.
3. Backpacks get smaller. Sometimes you’re in a place for a while and need to stash your backpack, or you have two backpacks, and you need to flatten one to be stored inside the other. No problem. Other luggage doesn’t do that.



4. You can take two backpacks. Have you ever tried to take two wheely bags through the airport? It sucks. They bump into everything, fall over, etc. but, as you can see in this picture, there I am with two backpacks on enjoying myself in the Ho Chi Minh City airport.
5. Backpacks are comfortable. I can’t count the number of times I’ve ridden in a packed car with my soft backpack in my lap, that would have sucked if my backpack and wheels and hard edges that dug into my legs. I’ve even used my backpack as a pillow in a pinch. Wheely bags just won’t do that for you.

I’m sure that there are situations where wheely bags are better, I’ve just never been in one. I took a backpack with wheels to Japan back when I was just learning how to travel, and I wore it as a backpack the whole time. Backpacks are just more utilitarian, and that’s what counts.