They are a motley crew of globe trotters. Well, not exactly! They are a team of motorists driving around the world in their worn down tin-metal World War Two rickety cars. They were a merry sight to behold as the nine-member team vroomed around Kochi in three bright yellow junk heaps and on a motorcycle. This is their mode of transport. It’s these junkers that take them all over the globe.
The members are from the Czech and Slovak republics with Dan Priban leading the team which includes a professional photographer and a fireman as well.
The team got hold of the cheapest cars on the market to take off on their adventure trip. The first leg of the trip was from Australia to Thailand, with Kochi being the second major stop-over. From then on to shores unknown.
Though the members reached Kochi on April 2, they had to hang around as their jalopies landed quite late. Priban said his experience with the state’s officialdom was in stark contrast to what he had been apprised of. He was beset with all sorts of apprehensions before the vehicles were cleared by the customs. If the team had to wait for a month in Australia to get their vehicles okayed out, it took only just about a week in Kochi to get customs clearance.
The hardy team is up to the game and all hazards they are likely to run into. Nothing can scare them away, neither man nor animal, nor quakes or road mishaps. But what scares the guts out of them is the tedium involved in getting travel documents cleared and on time, says Priban.
The rattling vehicles run on a mix of petrol and oil. The men are always in action mode video graphing their trips, moments and experiences. They then edit the footage to make short films. While in Kochi, they screened what was taken of their Australia-Bangkok jaunts at the Uru Art Harbor. The 95-minute-long video, humorously titled “Nine Idiots With Old Cars Travelling The World”, was shot and directed by Priban.
The Kochi stop-over done, the team will drive up to Munnar and from then to Humpi, Varanasi, Agra, New Delhi and Kashmir to touch base in Pakistan.
It’s our brains that keep us going, not the jingle of coins alone, says Dan Priban. Money matters, but how you use your brain is what defines you, says the team head, determined to send this message across to all. Obviously, the “fix it” philosophy is what fuels his “around the world in run-down rattletraps,” panache.
