Day 2: This car could be a major piece of machinery This car could be ... syst-o-matic ...hydro-matic... ...ultro-matic... Why, it could be...Greased Light'nin'!

Miles: 100
Countries: UK
Stops: Colchester -> London -> Colchester
Playlists: N/A

Upon waking up, sick as a dog, we stumbled our way out of bed, got ready, and got a ride to the train. An hour later we arrived in London and were on a mission to get them damn Russian visas.

It was interesting to travel without our phones, not using the satellite GPS, and having to rely on the maps on the walls and a compass. Makes you realize just how depended we are on our gadgets nowadays. Just a tease for what's to come, I'm sure!

Outside the visa centre we were greeted by the most stereotypical Russian guy ever (head-to-toe Adidas track suit, leaning against the wall, and chain smoking half a pack of cigarettes). When we entered we were searched, given a number, and told to wait our turn.

We were called up fairly quickly, which was awesome, but our first face-to-face interaction in this visa process wasn't exactly stellar. Let's just say the lady was not the warmest of human beings and our bones were turned to ice. I was sent to sit down because only one person is allowed at the counter at a time, and it took all of 2 minutes to find out our applications were wrong as they didn't match one of our other documents, and we were sent on our way.

We found a Starbucks and spent the following 2.5 hours rewriting the documents... 3 times. After finding a shop to print the new version, we made our way back to the visa centre, got searched again, and saw another not-so-friendly-but-super-efficient lady who took our passports, stamped our papers, and told us to be on our way. Now we wait.

We found our way back to the train station where I slept the entire way home, a nice "kip", if you will. English is rubbing off on me. I have also learned "chugger", "quaff", and that "donut" can be used as a curse! I also learned the meaning of "fluffer"... it's been an interesting 2 days.

On our hike back from the train, we stopped by a car parts shop and got a bunch of materials to get started on our steed.

While Justin gutted the back seats, broke/fixed the locked gas cap, measured everything, and continued to plan the roof rack, I got into the spray paints. It being the UK, I didn't bother waiting for the rain to stop, so it made for an interesting hack job, like everything else on this trip. I ran out a little sooner than I had hoped, but we've made some progress on No Ragrets none the less: