I bought myself a copy of Chris Scott’s offroad book “Sahara Overland” as a Christmas gift, but couldn’t wait and started reading already. It’s a pity it is not available as e-book, it’s too heavy to hold it above your head in bed. But the content compensates for the weight.

Very capable navigator able of getting lost and consequently regain the right way in every life situation.
He got first driving experience at very young age (he does not remember) in Polski Fiat 125 turning the steering wheel while sitting on his fathers lap. First racing experience was in Fiat again. This time it was original Italian Fiat 850 with very sophisticated sport tuning: by far too small metal steering wheel.
After a couple of encounters with various objects around the roads he relatively quickly realized that the best way to go forward is to keep the car on the road. In recent years he gained capability of driving the car upside down on the continent called “Downunder”.

How did all that come? Two months ago I did not know about the Budapest-Bamako at all. I came across it by pure accident in November, when I was sitting in a hotel room somewhere in Eastern Europe (probably in Bucharest), and, tired of the slow connection to my company’s VPN, started browsing a used car page on the internet. There I found it, a Nissan Patrol “which made it to Bamako and back, and badly needed repair”.
Bamako? I have to admit I didn’t even know Bamako was the capital of Mali (at that time I would have bet it was Timbuktu), but thanks to Google I quickly found the Budapest-Bamako story (see e.g. http://www.thelifeofadventure.com/budapest-bamako-rally/#more-3807) and was irresistibly captivated.
I spent the night watching videos and reading stories of the previous races and can’t remember the business meeting the day after (I assume my customers don’t remember it either, it was definitely not my best performance).
After that night it was clear: I had to do it!
Back at home I started to develop a strategy how to convince my wife. It took several weeks and all the knowledge I had from various sales strategy and negotiation trainings to get her approval, but finally, just in time before the Christmas holidays, I have it!
The next step, finding a companion, was much easier. My colleague Michal was quickly identified as the preferred victim, and, surprisingly, didn’t even had to be persuaded.