Four weeks ago, three Brits embarked on a trip that would take them from London to Cape Town, South Africa. What started presumably as a fun idea has since become a disaster — and wouldn’t you know it, they’re vlogging the whole journey in real time!


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Meet our heroes: Karen, James and Spence. Accompanied by their 2010 Toyota hilux D-4D, which they’ve nicknamed Edna, they set off for the south, traveling from the U.K. to France to Spain and, eventually, making their way into Africa.



However, by Day Six, things are already taking a turn for the worse. Expected or not, the group seems absolutely flummoxed by the amount of bribes they have to pay in order to just exist. In one day, they say they were stopped for three different “speeding fines,” only paying one before they realized what was going on.



They explained in a later post that these bribe requests didn’t stop during the rest of their time in Morocco. Still, the enthusiasm lingers in the narrator’s voice. That won’t be the case for long. Posts now detail vicious rains, more dealings with police and endless time spent waiting to cross the border.


To be clear, this sort of experience wouldn’t be unique to Africa. On most continents, driving from one side to the other would involve lots of border checks, inspections, waiting, and yes, a couple of bribes.


That said, watching the enthusiasm drain from the travelers as they journey through some of the less-than-stellar conditions the continent has to offer is something to behold. You’re a long way from London now, guys!




Additionally, at this point, their car began to have issues, ranging from A/C not working to flat tires to cracks in the goddamn frame. Also, everything else was bad.



This has continued on for weeks, with the account posting every few days sharing one or two positive things about how they feel at this point in the journey, followed by a series of issues that would have persuaded anyone besides this group to abandon the car and go back home.


For example, as of the last updates, their tires are still having problems, and their car has completely cracked in half. Probably not the romantic vision they had when they first planned this trip!




Will they actually make it to South Africa? At this point, who knows. I’m rooting for them — and also encouraging them to ditch the car the second they cross the final border.