London to Singapore in 4.5 months: Group of men travel across 21 countries via Land Rovers for charity, raise $250k - AsiaOne

It takes about 14 hours to fly from London to Singapore. 

But what about via car? 

For one group of men, the journey took around four-and-a-half months across 14,500 miles (23,335km) and 21 countries. 

This included places like Romania, Bulgaria, China, India and Laos. 

And this was done in two Land Rover Defender 110's, fondly named Imelda and Ferdi. 

The entire expedition, called the London to Singapore Expedition 2023, was completed in mid-December, and the small team consisted of father-and-son duo Alfred Waring and Tom Waring.

Joining them was filmmaker Anton Delli-Bovi and their friend, Asfir Chowdhury. 

So, why go through all that trouble? 

For one, the men were inspired by the original overland journey, which took place in 1955 and was done by two teams from Oxford and Cambridge. 

In addition, they hoped that through the trip, they would be able to raise money for three children's charities — The Darjeeling Children's Trust, Opening Your Heart to Bhutan and The Library Project. 

According to an article by Shin Min Daily News on Dec 21, they successfully managed to raise $250,000 for not just three, but four charities, with the last being SAZZ initiative. 

The team also visited all the charities en-route. 

Covering countries like Turkey, Nepal and Azerbaijan

The group started their journey on Aug 6 from London. 

However, within days of their expedition, they already encountered some issues. 

On day four, they estimated that they would reach Budapest in Hungary. 

However, because of some issues with one of the engines, they only made it to Peterborough in the UK, Tom shared in an Instagram post on Aug 10. 

They settled this problem by changing the entire engine, and by day seven, they were back on schedule and had arrived in Istanbul. 

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Throughout their trip, they shared images of the beautiful sites they saw in places like Georgia, Cappadocia and Turkey. 

But the trip came with struggles too. 

For instance, crossing the Caspian Sea from Baku in Azerbaijan to Kuryk in Kazakhstan was a nightmare and the team called it "48 hours of hell". 

"The process was long and tedious; but we came out of the experience very much looking forward to our time in Kazahkstan," they said. 

They also encountered rough, bumpy terrains that pushed the limits of their Land Rovers.

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"The first 120kms over the border [of Uzbekistan] was a real test of our cars - the road was appalling. Ferdi suffered a blowout which was a faff to fix but the team managed! Imelda got a cracked windscreen, which we dealt with too," they documented in an Instagram post on Sept 27. 

Crossing the Chinese customs was another painful process, and when they finally did so, they gave their cars a much-needed bath. 

After a scenic time in China, they made their way to Tibet, where they finally visited the Darjeeling Children's Trust, as well as recreating an iconic photo of the 1921 British Mount Everest Expedition team. 

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However, that's also where they lost one of their cars, Imelda. 

In a post on Nov 16, the team shared that the Land Rover had gotten into a "barrel-roll accident". 

Thankfully, no one was hurt, but it did take some time to get the vehicle back on all four wheels. 

"[Imelda] suffered quite a lot of damage... Certainly not repairable in China with no parts available and no really experienced Landy specialists," they shared. 

So, they had to arrange for the car to be moved across China to Shanghai and shipped back to the UK, while they continued their journey to Singapore in Ferdi, along with a series of hire cars for Anton and the remaining crew.

One concern they had about the trip was the amount of carbon emissions they would produce along the way with their vehicles. 

"We’ve tried to be aware of the environmental impact of our project," they wrote in an Instagram post.

To achieve this, they estimated how much carbon they would use with a carbon calculator before looking for a small carbon-offset provider.

Finally, Singapore 

After another month on the road, where they covered Laos, Thailand and Malaysia, they finally reached Singapore on Dec 16. 

Their first stop? The iconic Raffles Hotel, which they described as a "historic venue fitting for the occasion". 

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There, they were reunited with their loved ones. 

"It was an emotional reunion with family and marked the end of our expedition," they wrote in an Instagram post on Dec 19. 

In the following week after the expedition, they celebrated with parties and catch-up conversations. 

They also prepared to pack Ferdi into a container to be shipped back to the UK. 

Others have done this, too 

This isn't the first time a London-to-Singapore expedition has been done. 

Back in 2019, a team of eight adventurers made a similar trip in three vehicles across 200 days. 

However, they started their journey from Singapore instead of London. 

One of them was British student Nathan George, whose grandfather had been one of the men who did the original legendary trip back in 1955. 

"My grandpa was fresh out of university when he set off, just like I am right now," Nathan had said in an interview. 

"He has always talked about his trip... so it's exciting to go off and do it myself even though I have no idea what to expect."

ALSO READ: Couple who went on 100-day road trip share highs and lows

melissateo@asiaone.com 

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