This is the Mongol Rally. And we will be part of it this summer! How it all started?
2 vagabonds and a yak met in a bar to have some hot su te tse. They were missing the feeling of sleeping in a ger and decided that it was time to go back to the land of the blue sky that they visited all before. Especially, as after 2012, life might take them to different places from where it might be difficult t
o take time off to drive across ¼ of the globe for charity. They thought a little, talked a bit more and registered for the Mongol Rally 2012. And this is where the journey starts. I’m Renata (Ren for friends), Italian, lived up and down the continent but settled (uhm…settled?!?!) in Brussels for the past 9 years. I’m an engineer (it happens…), working on improving processes here and there. And I have a passion, a reason for living…traveling! I can’t stand still, I need to be on the go, I need to discover new places, new people, new cultures. Why the MongolRal? I heard about it in Ulanbataar in the summer, it sticked on my mind, and in a period with little challenges…well, I thought about doing it. I choose a job that gives me the freedom to take lots of time off, I found Vagabond2 and Yak, and here we are! Vagabond 2. I am Sandy, German, and am in Brussels now for about one year to do a PhD inSocial Psychology. Just like Ren, I heard about the Mongol Rally in UB; that was in 2007 when I spent the summer in Mongolia. Since then, doing the rally myself was maybe a wish but I never did more about it than just admire people that actually went on the adventure. So now it’s time to make wishes come true! The timing couldn’t be better as 2012 will be my last summer as a PhD student, where I can make enough time free to fully enjoy not just the trip itself but also all the prep work!! It’s part of the fun right?! I am an active advocate for open access education for everyone, so I am very glad that this year’s official charity that we support is the Lotus Children’s Center! I was able to meet the great people working for this NGO in 2007 and can assure you that funding their work with a donation has a definite impact on the lives of the street children in Ulaanbaatar. The yak. I am Tomek, Polish, and I am actually not sure how I came to be the yak of the team. Together with one crazy Italian (Ren) and a German planning guru (Sandy), I decided to join the Mongol Rally, after I also saw it finish in UB a few years ago. I have to say I thought about it ever since. I am in my early 30s, getting old and busy with work, so I thought now or never is the chance to do it myself. So here I am, ready to go!
