London Bombay Cebu - Acknowledgments

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our many friends all over the world, who took the time to share their information and expertise with us during the planning and preparation process.

We would like to give a special thank you to Iain Chapman, who has been involved in the London Bombay Cebu project since its inception, some 2 years ago. Managing Director of the world famous Camel Trophy event, Iain has spent a good part of his life organizing major expeditions to the most remote corners of the globe. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Iain and the team at McLean Chapman Associates for their flawless handling of our vehicle preparation and logistics. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty for us on more occasions that we can count. A special thanks also to Jenny Chapman, for welcoming us into Brook House during our stays in the UK.

Another special thank you goes to the guys at Rangers of Guildford, in the UK, for doing an absolutely splendid job preparing the Land Rover in the months leading up to our long journey. Every bit of work they did for us was top notch, and as I write this, we have completed some 45,000 trouble-free km.

Our friends, Sam Saghedi and family for thier hospitality in Iran. Sam did his usual expert job working out our logistics in Iran, made all the more difficult by the Noruz holiday.

Behzad Montazeri and Mr. Mustafa for thier outstanding guiding services in Iran. We felt bad that these guys had to be away from their families during Noruz to be with us, but they did outstanding work for us.

Christy Verghes and his team at Outdoor India went above and beyond the call of duty on numerous occasions during our 2 1/2 month stay in India. Their many small kindnesses are too numerous to list. Suffice it to say that if you ever travel to India, no other company will show you as unique an experience as Outdoor India.

Our many thanks and aloha to these friends, who have been such a great help, in alphabetical order:

Ebru Ayas (Istanbul, Turkey), Guest Relations Manager at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Istanbul, went to great lengths to assist us in organizing a major service for the Land Rover, introducing us to her personal circle of friends.

Iftekhar Aziz (London), General Consul at the Pakistan High Comission in London was kind enough to make time in his busy schedule to meet with us regarding our trip through Pakistan.

Nick Baggarly (San Diego) - Nick's firsthand experience during his "Around the World 1999" expedition was very helpful to us. He probably thought I was some kind of crackpot when I first contacted him (maybe he still does!), but he was kind enough to provide us with tons of relevant and useful information on everything from border crossings, to security in Pakistan and Land Rover tyres.

Richard Bangs (Seattle) - Widely regarded as one of the world's foremost river expeditionaries, Richard has been a great inspiration in conceiving this trip. The experience of working with Richard on Mungo Park, and later on several MSNBC Web features were a big factor prompting me to organize this journey.

Adrian Bridger-Chalker (Seattle) - For much of his adult life, a normal day's work for Adrian has involved camel trekking across deserts, tacking a dow-rigged falucca up the Nile, or cresting Himalayan ridges. Although Adrian keeps quite busy as operations director of the Seattle-based Extraordinary Places, he generously shared his time and expertise during the planning process.

Jens Bygholm (Ärhus, Denmark), for a wonderful day at Den Gamle By

Feza and Mary Buyukdura (Seattle), for help in preparing the Turkey route.

Francesco, Donato, Mariolina, and the family Fratto (Soveria, Italy) - Thank you for a warm welcome and all your assistance during our stay at your farm, Santacinnara, in Soveria, Italy.

Asad Hayauddin (Washington DC), Pakistani Press Attache to the United States, Mr. Hayauddin was our first contact with Pakistani hospitality, and spent quite a bit of his valuable time to discuss our route through Pakistan, and make a personal introduction to the Pakistani General Consul in London.

Martin Hosie (UK), managing director of www.go-overland.com, for sharing crucial information about the Iran-Pakistan section of our journey.

Andre, Hanalore and the Family Köslich, at Hotel Ambiance (Zermatt, Switzerland) - Thanks for a great Christmas and a wonderful stay at your house in Zermatt.

Karin Meier (Seattle) - Former restaurateur, diver, and environmental science researcher, Karin brings a rich and varied set of skills to spectare.com as the editor and Webmaster for this Live Expedition. I can't imagine what she was thinking when she signed up for what I expect to be a pretty tough job, but we sure are thankful to have her on the team!

Julia Papadopoulos (UK), who kindly shared information from her own overland trip to India.

Claus Petersen (Ärhus, Denmark), who gave us a truly royal welcome to Ärhus, Denmark. Claus went totally overboard by putting us up in his house, and showing us a great time in both Ärhus and Copenhagen.

Sam Saghedi (Tehran, Iran), outfitter par excellence and a good friend, who helped arrange our entry into and route through Iran.

Can Tahincioglu (Istanbul, Turkey), who set us up for the royal welcome at his hotel, the "Perissia", in Urgup, Turkey. The Perissia is a great base for exploring Cappadocia - said to be the best hotel in all of Anatolia.

Dean Warhaft (Seattle) - God forbid that anything should happen to us during the year that would require legal assistance. But if we do, I'll be glad that Dean is back home batting for us! Dean generously shared his time to help research the route and issues related to vehicle logistics.

Steve and Tracey Webb (Velez-Malaga, Spain) - our friends who guided us through the tracks and trails of Andalucia during our off-road trip in Spain. Steve and Tracey were kind enough to help us out with a whole bunch of logistics related to our month in Morocco.

Bob Watson (Seattle) - fellow tech-head, gadget-o-phile, and Land Rover nut, Bob was kind enough to meet us in Rome with a replacement for our failed Nikon 990 digital camera. Thanks to Bob, we're once again able to produce Quicktime surrounds and IPIX images for Spectare.com.

Lars-åke Weimar (Goteborg, Sweden) - for a great day and the personalized tour of the Volvo plant. Hey, how often do you get to drive a 40-ton Volvo truck around the factory test track?

Jeff and Mary Wirth (Seattle) - the best neighbors anyone could as for, thanks for keeping an eye on our house, and the periodic updates with local news from home.