Table of Contents

Preface – Fifty years later Prologue – Thumbing your way through Africa An idea comes to life A curtain opens 1: Hiccups and rumbles 2: Into the Soviet fastness 3: Summer in Moscow 4: How to get out of Russia 5: Balkan obstacles From Asia’s edge 6: Anatolian fastness 7: A bit too far east 8: Iranian Dynasties 9: Children of Abraham To Asia’s heartland 10: Turkish connections 11: Testing Afghan patience 12: Kabul before the winter 13: The Oxus – how Mehmed pushed his luck South to Serendipity 14: Flavours of India 15: Nepalese fastness 16: A would be paradise - Ceylon Tasting independence 17: Into Africa 18: North to the Nile 19: Stand-off in Cyprus Epilogue Appendix: Distances travelled by each Kombi

Promotional Information

Cambridge, 1961. A group of students set off on the trip of a lifetime. Against the backdrop of the Cold War they travel through the Soviet Union to the Middle East, South Asia and on to Africa. Their mode of transport? The iconic VW Kombi. This book tells the story of that trip and the many experiences that they encountered along the way.

About the Author

Robert Cox is a former journalist and 'Eurocrat', with a professional profile ranging from diplomacy to management of EU humanitarian affairs. He is currently active with a policy think-tank in Brussels and divides his time between there, South-West France and travel. Roger Sherwin spent his working life holding senior executive positions in a wide variety of engineering sectors, ranging from power stations to hospitals, and prisons to the mining industry. Now retired, he is pursuing his interests in photography, golf and wood carving, and continues to enjoy tastes and cultures around the world. Tony Thompson is a former director of International House - an international chain of English as a Foreign Language schools - in London and Rome and subsequently set up his own EFL organization. Whilst at Cambridge University, he ran against Oxford University and played rugby for Middlesex. He enjoys walking and travel.