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Welcome to episode one of our biggest adventure ever. Every year around a 100 teams set off to drive over 5,000 miles from Europe to Asia in tiny cars that were never designed to make it that far. But we needed something a little bigger for our team of nine. Meet Big Bertha. We bought this retired school bus off a government auction website in Colorado. We're just bus owners now. Roadtpped it all the way across the US. Shipped it across the Atlantic to Germany. then finally drove it to the start line in Prague. Now the real adventure begins.
I cannot believe this moment is finally here. It might not turn on again. But so there's no official route for the Mongol Rally. And it's not a race. I don't know where we're going. I don't know when we're going to get there. I don't know what country we're going to today. Just a massive challenge to make it to the finish line party in 6 weeks and have as much fun as possible along the way. But it's completely unsupported, which means once we leave the start line, we're on our own to navigate unpredictable border crossings.
We just got denied at the Muldoven border. Fix anything that breaks and whatever else that will definitely go wrong along the way. You have been thrown into one of the most stressful driving situations in the entire track. The crazy people who decided to join us on this adventure are Nate's brother Dusty and his wife Sarah. the whole Notch family who we've done some of our craziest adventures with, including riding this ridiculous three-seater bike all the way across the US a couple years ago, and our best friend Charlie from Australia, who we've already traveled to 14 countries with.
Okay, so wait, I'm driving on the right hand side of the road. In this episode, we kick off the rally at the start party located in an old Soviet era missile base that's been converted into a postapocalyptic off-grid community. And the party was just as interesting as the location. Also, if you're wondering where we are, so am I. And in the first 72 hours, we drove through four different countries, made some much needed modifications to the bus, tested out our camping gear for the first time, and partied at a ruin bar in Budapest. So, sit back, relax, and join us for the official start of the Mongol Rally. Just along for the ride, aren't we, Frankie? It only gets crazier from here. back. Come back here.
Welcome to the RALLY. FRANKIE CARA, [screaming] are you the second shortest? Yep. Back. Here we go. Yeah, we're just missing one final team member who we're heading to the airport to pick up shortly. I don't know if we've even gone through the uh effort of making sure we have enough seats for the number of people that are on this trip. Honestly, I'll lay back there. All right. Does it start? YEAH, that Kazakhstan. and we probably should have spent some of that time like planning the route, getting stuff we needed for the bus, but instead we ended up at an arcade all
night. Now, we have 2 hours until the party and uh we're basically shopping for a bunch of stuff we still need. We need everything still. But we did win a stuffed animal with 20,000 game tickets. WE GOT YOU TOMORROW. CARA, cute outfit. Thank you. I This is exactly the type of productive stuff that I thought we would buy on this trip. I'm feeling the unicorn. How are we going to power this? Let's do You're like just stressed about things that are irrelevant.
I'll sacrifice my power bank for this. We got a toilet. It's going to be critical. Someone has a camp emergency bag. I thought this was the morning poop toilet. Got some essentials. Body wipes for when we're not showering and a disco ball. I can't believe we've had a disco ball at the hardware store. I know. She's going to banging against us the window the whole time. This is our breakdown plan. No idea if we'll ever need any of these, but I'd hate to get stuck in a situation where just a screwdriver could get us out of it and we don't have one. These
are all the tools we have for the entire journey. And then if we don't use them, we can trade them in Kazakhstan for beer or something. I cannot emphasize enough how underprepared we are mechanically for this adventure. None of us know anything about working on a diesel engine, and we have no spare parts. So we got a bunch of random everything we have to prepare for this whole journey is in that cart right now which is not a lot of stuff. All right to the airport. What's up buddy? Welcome to the bus.
This is my stuff. Yeah, this is it. We're going to Kazakhstan. WOW. LOOK AT YOU GUYS. OH, you got kids in there as well. I mean, it is a school bus. Are you going to drive? No. No, she's this one. This was without a doubt the best entrance to any event I've ever been to in my life. I think this is like the entrance where every single car comes through all day long. It's like a fashion show for the Rally car. So, everyone like has a different car that's beat up or dressed up in some way. And I think we were one of the last ones. And then the guy hosting said, "We are the spirit of the Mongol Rally."
It was totally worth it. It was all worth it. We questioned it for a while there. So, basically the way the rally works is there's a huge party at the start line, which is where we are now, and then we're basically on our own for 6 weeks, and there's a huge party at the end. There's no help in between. So, we have a big party tonight, and then the rally officially starts in the morning. Also, if you're wondering where we are, SO AM I. WELCOME TO THE COMMUNITY. EVERYONE AFTER ME. WE ARE THE ADVENTURERS. WE ARE THE ADVENTUROUS. WE ARE FIGHTING TO MAKE THE WORLD LESS BORING.
The rest of the party was, let's just say, interesting. Strongest man in check. The strong man had a guy smash concrete on his stomach with a sledgehammer. Thought I was about to watch somebody die. There was a mud wrestling competition where you only won if you got the opponent's socks off. I think that might be all we need to see of that. What is it? There was this car pushing competition where the losing team almost got run over. Three two seconds from Decathlon.
Whoa. [screaming] Then they showed us where to sleep and we set up our tents for the first time. Another strap on the other side. That was more than two seconds. 10 of 10. It's not even fully inflated. We've got a full bed. Yay. And then I end it with [screaming] what was without a doubt the coolest fire show I've ever seen. So, I'm watching the whole fire show. I mean, there definitely are safety standards here. Anything could happen. [groaning] What time did you go to sleep? I went to sleep about 1:15, 1:30 and then I think at 6:00. What time is it now? I have no idea. There was a drum and then people singing and dancing and
I'm pretty sure the drummer was hitting my head with the drum in my tent. It is now official. We got the sticker. Don't worry about centering it. It's only going to get worse. I think that actually came out pretty good. Look how straight it is. That's actually pretty good. Come on! [screaming] we go. [screaming] Get out of the way. We're going to have
[screaming] The bongo rally has officially began. I cannot believe this moment is finally here. We bought this bus in Colorado in February. It's made the journey all the way across the US, across Germany into the Czech Republic, and we're officially going to Kazakhstan. I'm going to get my foot run over. Woo! Yeah! Oh, who's got the hand sanitizer? We officially have the largest vehicle on the rally. We can fit four of these tiny cars inside the bus. Peace and love. SEE YOU IN KAZAKHSTAN. What a start. We have a rough plan to be in Tesli, Georgia in 19 days. And the current idea is to head over to Malddova because we think that sounds like one of the most interesting countries in
Eastern Europe. Even though it's a little out of the way. Today we're heading in the direction of Budapest. Will we make it? It's already 11:00 and it says it's a 6-hour drive. Basically, what I'm trying to say is we have a very rough plan. Hey, Dusty, look handsome. Hey, Dusty, sit up straight. That's it. Put your jaw forward. Put your tongue to the top of your mouth. That's better. Wow. I think we've finally come down from that start. That was wild. Now we're lying on all of the comfy camping stuff in the back. I don't know where we're going. I don't know when we're going to get there. I don't know what country we're going to today.
Do you? Oh, I think we might be staying. I have a feeling this is going to be me for a majority of the trip. Just along for the ride, aren't we, Frankie? Yep. Real quick, we want to say a huge thank you to the sponsor of today's video, Incogn. Some of you might think we're a little crazy for taking on this huge challenge. But what you might not realize is that even as you're sitting in the comfort of your own home, there is an invisible risk that affects millions of people every year. According to the FTC, in 2024, there were over three and a half million reports of fraud and identity theft. And that's
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have to do is grab that link and they will help you get your data removed for you. So, keep yourself safer by signing up for Incogn. And when you do, be sure to use code Cara and Nate at the link below to get 60% off an annual plan. We don't know where we are. How many miles have we gone in the Czech Republic? I feel like we did not What have you been doing back there? I was nearly asleep. I love the bongo rally. This is going to be relaxing. We've been 60 miles. Is that what everybody's stopping for? And we've lost our headlight already.
It might not turn on again, but why don't I've got some black tape. I can just tape it on the side. First stop, food. Frankie, what are you eating for lunch? Five. For some reason, everyone's just staring everywhere we go. Whether we're in the bus, walking down the street, I forget that we're wearing these shirts and then we're turning a bunch of heads. I'm like, what's everybody looking at all aboard? We're always first time behind the wheel. Come on. All right, you're in. Bye, holy moly. It feels quite scary. Okay, so wait, I'm driving on the right hand side of the road. on the road again. I just can't wait to get on that road again.
Is this appropriate clothing for a church? Does feel better. So, our goal on this trip is to find some weird, wacky, and like undiscovered places along the way because I feel like that fits the vibe of the Mongol Rally. And this first stop, this church behind me that we couldn't film inside was one of the weirdest places I've ever been. Apparently, this church was being built and they discovered a mass grave underneath it. It's estimated to have held up to 40,000 people that died during the black plague. And when they found all the bones, they put them down in the basement of the church and then organized them into all of these super ornate designs. There's skulls and femurss hanging like party streamers
from the ceiling. There's a whole chandelier made out of human bones. All kinds of crazy stuff. And in all four corners of the basement, there is probably a 30ft tall by 30 foot wide just pile of bones and skulls. I've never seen anything like it in my life. We're going to put a sticker from every country we go to here. No crooked. That's crooked. You deal. Who cares? I think it's perfect, right? Rick, we uh never explained the team uniforms. Yeah, we should have done that a long time. Or the name of the bus for that matter.
I mean, Grateful Dead's obviously a classic iconic American band. It's one of my favorite bands. They have a song called Bertha. It's just, you know, one of many great songs of theirs. We were thinking about bus names. Big Bertha was a name Beck actually suggested without knowing anything about Bertha or the Grateful Dead song. consciously grateful dead while I'm dreaming as I'm like yeah I mean it is kind of like the background music to like anywhere you go in Colorado and a lot of people in that area love it I love it there's also a lot of just association between the hippies and buses and the grateful dead actually spent some time at these sort of uh gatherings with this bus called
further bus that kind of brings in the beat generation and kin key and this whole other scene bus became big bertha is sort of the theme song an official theme song of the bus and then we got the hippie shirts these are the uh dancing bears that are synonymous with the Grateful Dead. Tough day on the road. Yeah. Do you have space for four tents tonight? Uh they're not too big. Like each one fits two or three people. We officially have our first campsite of the trip. This is going to be interesting. You're doing great, Charlie. Oh, I don't know how high this is. Yeah, you're great. I love the thumbs up.
Nice work, driver. What a vibe. Just going to leave those lights on. Yeah. You like that? Yeah. You love that. I love it, man. That was like a mouse's ear hole. 3 2 1 GO. [screaming] YEAH. GO FOR IT. GO, GO, GO, GO. WINNER. SO, normally we pride ourselves on finding free camping, but apparently it's illegal in Chetchia, Slovakia, and Hungary, which will be the next three countries we drive through. So, um, we're staying at our first paid campsite of the trip. So, we don't know how anything on the bus works, but we do know that we need to charge our phones.
We're running this wire to try to figure out how to uh run. I guess it's like a battery, right? There is still a lot of stuff that needs to get done as we drive. You know how there's that saying like you're building the plane while you're flying it? We are literally building the bus while we're driving it. The plan for everybody to power all their devices and the Starlink that we got is we bought this massive battery bank and then the cord that Rick is currently trying to run to the engine is an alternator charger. So, this battery will charge directly off of the engine and if we're driving 3 hours a day, we should have unlimited power or a dead bus battery or we're going to be stuck on the side of the road with a dead bus. I'm glad we
have you. I feel like I'll never be able to put stuff back together the way it was. Well, I haven't put it back together yet, but So, we've ripped the front panel off the bus here, and hopefully that's how we're going to feed the wire to the engine. It is a very sad state when I'm the most mechanically inclined in the group. Well, it's true because I don't even know how to change the oil on this. Me and Desus act like we don't know how to do things, so Rick does it all for us. I don't see it yet. Oh, I see it. Okay, perfect. Yeah, that was surprisingly easy. All right, moment of truth. We should see this charging if it's going to work.
this in reverse. Charlie just left it in reverse. [clears throat] Oh, there. Oh, it's going up. It's going There it goes. Look at that. Let's go. We have power. Good work, man. That is exactly how I thought it was going to work in theory, but rarely do things work out that well, especially anything electric or mechanical with me. Got to have the team name on the bus. No pressure. Dusty's the best artist in the group. I'm nervous for this next one. Nice. And your bandana and your tie-dye shirt. You look like an artist.
Dusty is actually an incredible artist. The bus is in good hands. How's it look? I brought Dusty. That looks so good. Wow. We're just really going for it tonight. Yeah, we're getting it all done. Well, I'm just trying to put a net across the back kind of up here. We have nine people and all their luggage and basically completely unmodified school bus, which is the seats. So, at the very least, if we can put a net here, we can stick bags and get maybe half the stuff off the ground. Tonight is just full of winds. I've got the Starlink set up. It's charging off the power bank. I realize that's not exactly like the spirit of the rally,
but the majority of us have remote jobs, and so we need internet, and I think it's going to be a lot harder to come by the further into the rally we get. We got this. We have had Thank you, Frankie. You want to show me what you've been working on? Happy birthday. Got glasses, a necklace, a bandana, and little pants. Massive upgrade to the team mascot. Yes. And she's gone. What? HOW DID YOU DO IT? We got the LED lights working. This was like my one contribution to the bus and we got here and it didn't work.
It was great. It turns it into way. Yeah, way better. Oh, I'm so happy. Good morning. It is day two of the Mongol Rally. Rick got the cargo net hung up last night, so we've got some extra space in the back. And then last night, the only place that was walkable to eat ended up being a truck stop. hotel, truck stop, only restaurant in town. But the food ended up being surprisingly good. And this morning, we are going to continue heading south to country number two and uh probably grab lunch there because it's already almost 10:00 and uh we haven't left yet. It's only day two. We're just having fun right now. We'll get serious eventually.
I mean, just based off all the other adventures we've ever done, like the bike across America, we're gonna take our sweet old time for the whole thing and then at the end be rushing and doing all nighter driving. That's my prediction. That's what I think is going to happen. I agree. Not true. Everything's going to go perfect. We're going to be there early. Mhm. All right. Roll call this morning class. Uh, bus drivers number one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
We got them all. That's a good start. I was willing to uh accept losing one. Bye-bye. Thank you. We just got away from everyone that works here. That's incredible. TREASURE [screaming] country number two. So we just found out that the Rally has a tracker so we can see where all of the other cars are. And unsurprisingly we are in dead blast.
Everyone has made it so much further than we have and I don't think that's going to change for a while because we don't plan to go very far today. People are in Bosnia, Serbia. It looks like someone went the opposite way and they're in France. Okay, so we're not last. We made it. We were here in 2016. Baby Karen Nate. Oh my gosh. Um, Nate was very ill. Um, but we rallied and we went on a food tour and I don't think Nate ate a single thing. So, I ate everything on our entire food tour and that's all I remember. So, I'm glad we're back. Where are we? I remember we came here on our food tour back in 2016, but none of this looks familiar.
The whole book of the menu. I'm about halfway through. I found the salads and vegetarian dishes section and there's three options and one of them is Caesar salad with chicken. So now you're down to two options. And then fried cheese is another option. It's just going to get worse as we go. Are you driving the group of surely? Am I? I mean, we're at a beer hall. [screaming] Wow. Might be touristic, but it's good. Be d something. A potato pancake the size of your head. Frankie, what did you order and what did you get?
I ordered chicken. This is Bob from Chicken Nuggets. And now we have about 15 minutes to explore the city. Look at our next to each other. What' you wish for? I can't tell you. That's just for good luck. We did all the luck we can get with that bus. I don't know if that's actually a thing, but there are a few theories about what he's doing. Some jokingly say he's looking at people's skirts, though that's more of a
tourist legend than the official explanation. Oh crap. They could just be pulling up. You know what happened there, Charlie? The policeman pulled up behind the car and he was taking photos with his little ticket camera and I was like, "Oh, that's our like bus. Is that okay?" Like, "We just parked there." He's like, "Move now." I was like, "Yeah, of course. Of course, perfect timing. We're going to a place called Pluto. There's a song you can listen to if you'd like." Oh, I'd like that song queue up, please. And then if someone can find my oils. I just need to like take a deep breath. Are you ready to go over
the UFO bridge? Let's hear it. Yay. I'm going to pass around. Wave to the tourist. Doing great care. Thank you. I feel pretty good. Everybody can relax. We're going over the bridge. Wow. All right. 2 and 1 half hours to Budapest. Slovakia. Yay. I don't think I've ever driven over a border before. So, we're all heading in a similar direction, but you can choose any route. So, like teams are going to totally different countries, but that's the first car we've seen.
Well, we've only been in Hungary for about five minutes, so I have no idea what 55,000 Hungarian dollars is, but it sounds expensive. We have officially made it to Budapest. All right, Carrot, you're driving in the big city for the first time. How do you feel? So far so good. Being with the trams is kind of crazy. I haven't had to make a turn yet. Um, I just counted at the red light. We have four turns to get to our Airbnb. Um, and these side streets look a little skinny. Why does that scare you?
Well, when I was leaving the gas station and I turned out of the pump, I hit a button. And then when I was coming off of the highway, there was a big turn and I hit the curb. But other than that, everything's gone really smoothly. They're letting me go. Thank you. Tight. Yeah. Nice. Good work. You've been thrown into one of the most stressful driving situations of the entire trip. Okay. Are we in? You did it. I was stressed out for you. That was awesome. I was locked in. I wasn't even scared. I was ready to bribe the guy at the last parking lot with a €50 just to let us stay.
Slovakia first right there and then Hungary during the day. I am so glad that we aren't stuck in one of those tiny cars with three or four people. But we do pay for it a bit when we have to figure out how to park or want to go into a city. The lot we parked in is almost a mile away from where we're staying tonight. Perfect. What is that? What a spot. We drive a big car. We stay in big places. All right. Home sweet home. So, uh, we've come out for a very traditional meal in Hungary. Got something on my hand. Just Are we uh are we proud of this?
Yes. What was crazy about today? Uh, we went to three countries today. In the morning, we had breakfast in the Czech Republic and we had lunch in Slovakia and we had dinner in Hungary. So apparently our Airbnb is like five doors down from the most popular ruin bar in all of Prague. We're in Budapest. That's what happens when you move so quickly. During the fall of communism, there were a lot of empty buildings in Budapest and people just started moving in and putting like furniture and art and then people started selling drinks out of them and now it's just become one of those things that the city's known for. Where are we? mag.
Everybody's tie-dye shirts look really good right now. Uh, I don't know. The shirts just kind of gave it away. A few moments later. I just got offered drugs, which to be expected wearing these shirts, I think. But yeah, he seemed quite offended when I said, "No, I'm good. This place is wild. It just goes on forever. There's tons of different rooms. All of them are different themes. There's different bars. I can't believe this is night two of the Rally. It already feels like we've been doing this for a lifetime. Like
who got offered drugs in there? Yeah, I made it in the cool club. I raised my hand. Asking me. Yeah, he was asking. It can't have anything to do with the tie-dye shirts. Prime targets. Good morning. Thank you. Oh, this is cool. After staying out until 1:00 a.m. last night, a 9mi run this morning was very unexpected, but it was a great way to see the city with the very little amount of time we have here. And now we are heading back to the bus to drive to Romania. Hungry, HUNGRY, HUNGRY, HUNGRY, HUNGRY, [screaming and cheering] now we are 3 and 1/2 hours into the drive. I think five out of nine people have napped and I think we're really getting a feel for just uh how hot this journey
is going to be. It's probably 85° right now, but it feels hotter than that in the bus somehow. Max. Oh, but we got to put in a long day of driving. We are 3 and 1/2 hours in to our 7 and 1/2 hour drive today and it's already 4:45. Nice driving. That felt long. And this seat is like a hot box. It's like I'm wet from about here down. We survived and we made it to somewhere in Romania. We're staying at a campground that's about 20 minutes up the road. And they suggested we eat at this restaurant. H Romania is just the best place we've been this whole time. As soon as we crossed in, it's just gorgeous everywhere. There's mountains,
the little towns, there's little farms. Even the gas station we went to, the people were amazing. The toilets are free. And that's the first toilet we haven't had to pay for in the whole trip. What country is this? This will be number six. Thanks for taking care of that for us. I feel like we've already done so much and it's only the end of day three. So, we added the US cuz that's where the bus came from. We got it shipped to Germany. And then these are the four countries that we've driven through since the rally started. Yes. Yum. I've never seen anything like it. Looks fantastic. An entire loaf of bread for you. You can put the top back on the bread.
I put a lot of onion in there as well. Nice. I assume smashed beans would be good. Like how bad can they age? But these are exceptional. We tried. They're so creamy. Romanian food. It's very exciting. Unlike last night, we actually ordered the most traditional things on the menu. This soup specifically was a local dish. It's like Panera on steroids. By the end of this, it's going to be a little shell of bread and I'm going to jam that in my face. This is Rick's first bread bowl. He's never had Panera. Where are the keys?
Oh, where are the keys, Charlie? Where are the keys? I've lost him. Get in the car. Okay, boys and girls, we've arrived. Field trip's over. You drove the roaming rave all the way. The roaming rain. Wow, that's I'm pretty sure this is the end of the first official Mongol Rally video. Tomorrow we are driving the most iconic road in all of Romania. Maybe the most iconic road in all of Europe. Like if you Google best road in Europe, this is what comes up. It's an epic mountain road with crazy twists and turns. It
takes you up to some like absolutely beautiful alpine lakes and we're almost guaranteed to see bears because Romania has the largest brown bear population in all of Europe. This adventure is going to continue to be incredible and we will see you in the next one. We just got denied at the Maldoven border. This is the only real servicing we've done. I think this is the oil. It is windy and deep and bumpy. There's a bear. They're so cute. Feels kind of weird that we were just looking at a bear. Now we're on a hike.
The rest of the crew is walking to the grocery store because I'm driving. I think everybody was a little scared. Is this how I do the gear? Ah, this is terrifying. I can't see anything behind me. That mirror is sticking out. Am I going to hit this car with my mirror? Oh gosh. What is that? Why? Are you sure? Be really careful with those mirrors on your left. Take it wide here. Wide turn to the right. Yeah. Hi. That is scary. I didn't see that at all. No rock. Good luck, actually. What's it doing in there? You know what they say? If the tents are rocking, don't come and knock it.
I know. Oh, well, these postcards are great. Enjoy work tomorrow. We don't rally, baby. We should be planning doing stuff to the bus.
