Archive for December, 2008

Wooo – so I have finally managed to tear myself away from applying for jobs, packing for my skiing holiday, trying to build a better template for this blog and my normal daily work to bring you guys all an update – see the things I do for you ey! haha!

(That was of course sarcasm, unfortunately the internet does not have a sarcasm button – I think I might invent one)

So – how are you wonderful people?

First stop is a little life lesson. Don’t worry I’m not gonna get all self help on your ass!
I have just one thing to say… Rule Number 6. This is the only rule you really ever need in this life.

This rule comes from Benjamin Zander you can watch the video here. If you are having a crap day, or just an ordinary day, or even a good day. Go and watch this video. You will feel good afterwards. That I promise you.

I shall tell you all what Rule Number 6 is in the next post – it will spoil the video other wise.

After that life afferming lesson, how is the hunt for jobs going I hear you ask?

Well – I have found out that getting an overland job is going to be a lot harder than I thought (I never thought it would be a walk in the park by any stretch) and that some of the companies that were interested in me were a little “shady” and were known about the internet as bad payers, poor on safety and a whole host of other issues.

Since then, and after some replies to my post on the Thorn Tree Forum, I have decided to focus more on starting off within Europe. First hit on this was Busabout.com

These guys offer a “Hop-on-Hop-off” service throughout Europe and pretty much looks like a bloody good job.

You can download their 2009 brochure here (click clunk)

I don’t know about pay or anything as yet, but I’ve never really been in it for the money. Which is possibly one of the biggest problems I have being a salesman as I am currently!

So – a slight change to the original plan, but I told you it was going to be a long journey. I am most probably going to start off in a non-driving job whatever path I choose. Most insurance policies start from 23 or 25… which is just a mighty pain in the rear!

I’m off now to find more of these types of companies and keep the fires burning, but before I go….

There probably won’t be anymore blog posts until after the New Year. I’m off skiing!

We shall be driving down to Garmisch Partenkirchen and staying in the Alpencamp Wank – yes you did hear that correctly. We shall be skiing on Mount Wank.

I will offer a prize of 100 Entrecard credits to the person who gets the best joke about skiing in wank by the time I return – the 8th January 2009! Post your entry in the comments section below.

Oh and below should be the daily webcam image from where we are staying in our campervan in Wank… I’m starting to wonder if the use of this word will increase the search engine statistics or just get my blog blocked by all this NSFW stop things. OOPS!

And here’s another image of the pistes we shall be on…

I am hoping that these images will keep refreshing. They are taken from the webcam’s feed and that location is put into blogger directly. So you never know. I suppose the only way to find out is to keep coming back!

Well, I’m off back to work now – and to planning the ski-trip.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Happy Travellin’

Overland Si

Argh!

Ok so first of all sorry for the lack of updates.

I will be changing to updating this blog once a week

Life at the moment is crazy busy and I found myself spending more time updating the blog than looking for jobs!

So whats changed?

Well I have hit a slightly large brick wall in the challenge to become an overland drvier – insurance!

Most companies I have spoken to have stated that their policy for drivers is over 25’s only. Being only 22 this has created a wee issue!

So where to now?

Well don’t worry readers. I will not give up at the 1st (or more likely 6th) hurdle.

At the moment I am looking for any job that will involve travel – hopefully to some bizzare country or lands, but anything will do.

If you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments box below. I will promise to check them all out.

However, first of all I must get cracking on packing for my skiing holiday!

Happy Travellin’
Overland Si

Evening all – how are ya?

Well I’ll admit to being extremely lazy and lacklustre over the weekend and you all have permission to kick one up the behind to get meself moving again!

As you may have seen from the short post (late) last night, I have had an issue with my own car, namely that 5th gear has “fallen off” – literally, no word of a lie, the nut came off in the gearbox and off it came. Unfortunately it also jammed. Leading to a death defying dash across the motorway from the fast lane to the hard shoulder. My thanks to the truck drivers who let me get out the way of the traffic quickly and easily.

So after a very long drive in a recovery truck (thanks for the conversation Mike, who should be checking out the blog soon!)I eventually got home and am now looking at a bill for a few hundred. Not what you want just before Christmas.

But I digress from the main point. You guys must be craving a new Overland link by now (hehe) so, without further ado here it is:

http://www.doyoutravel.com/blogs/tourleader/

A blog all about some guy becoming an Overland Driver. Hmmm. Well thats me out of business then. Thanks for reading. Bye…….

(oh alright then I’ll keep going, catch me again tomorrow)

Happy Travellin’
Overland Si

I spoke to Dragoman tours today…

Unfortunately for me all staff must be 25yrs or older. I have a feeling that some part of this is to do with insurance. A lot of other normal HGV driving jobs have a lower age limit of 25.

Still – ever onwards as they say.

On a happier note – hello to all my readers!
After spending a while on sites like entrecard.com and feedburner I have finally managed to attract some of you over my little corner of the blogosphere.

Long may that continue. Also, thanks to Feedburner you can now be emailed with all the updates from this page as they come. Simply fill in the form to the right at any time, or – for a limited time only here -

Recently came across a company called Overland Club – which looked quite good at first. They even had a “Dear Wannabe Crew” welcome on their jobs page.

Excellent I thought!

As with all the companies I am applying to I had a good old google of them, then checked out the Thorn Tree and a few other blogs and forums.

Then I found this http://www.overlandwarning.com/ A whole site dedicated to warning people to not travel with Overland Club, or work with them.

Now I have never had any contact with said Overland Club – Especially as they have not returned my email that was asking them a few questions about their routes and job applications etc – So I cannot add my own opinion, nor verify the opinions of others.

However, consider this a warning. You can choose to believe the opinions or not. However, this does throw up something else – ALWAYS GOOGLE YOUR TRAVEL COMPANIES.

You will be surprised at just how many people have added information to the worldwide webnet thingy.

Full Update on my other happenings later on this evening, must get back to work.

Happy Travellin‘
OverlandWannabe.co.uk

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