In Transit

<p>Take a Transit Minibus, a full-sized roof-rack loaded with camping equipment, 14 passengers, plus a driver armed with road maps of Europe, Asia and Africa and you have a phenomenon that was to be a character-forming and life-changing experience for a generation of travellers. That phenomenon was "overland". For the first time, young people had an affordable way to travel in the relative safety of a group to what, for many, had previously been inaccessible, and possibly dangerous, places. Overland brought together larger-than-life characters, involved some epic journeys and created unforgettable memories. The late 60s and early 70s was a period of Woodstock, peace, love and flower power - and a feeling of freedom was in the air. The fruits of the post-war baby boom were discovering and celebrating this new-found freedom and the time was ripe for this travel phenomenon to take off.</p><p>This is a story of how a broken relationship and the urge to break out led the author, in his early twenties and raised on an Essex council estate in the 50s/60s, to take his first trip abroad as a passenger on an overland trip to Morocco in September 1969, (he admits to being so na��ve at the time that he thought Morocco was somewhere in the South of France), encountering an individual who happened to be a master at concocting a cock-and-bull story which eventually landed him a job as an overland driver.</p><p>He suddenly found himself inducted into the University of Life, spending the next four years on a hectic, challenging and adventurous journey across three continents, travelling extensively through Europe, Asia, India and Africa; watching the sunrise over Mount Everest, driving overnight through winter blizzards in the Anatolian mountains of Eastern Turkey and waking in the Sahara just before dawn in a complete sound vacuum. Along the way, he met some amazing, interesting and colourful characters and made lifelong friendships - and went ten-pin bowling with the Prince of Afghanistan!</p>