Traveling by air to Ulaanbaatar is generally considered as one of the most comfortable and fastest options available. The network of airlines and destinations is growing year after year with destinations such as London, Milan and Shanghai rumored to be in planning. The airlines flying in and out of UB vary in quality and reliability with Aeroflot very much at the bottom end of the scale and with ANA or Korean Air offering excellent flights, although flights to Mongolia from Europe with Korean Air go via Seoul, and therefore take longer than the more standard Aeroflot Service which goes via Moscow, and the same applies the other way round. The International airport of Mongolia is the Chinggis Khan International Airport of Ulaanbaatar. The airport is often subject to strong winds. While Mongolian pilots are renowned for being fearless and landing the plane in any conditions, other airlines will sometimes turn back to their original point instead.

Travel ¼ of the way around the earth, from London to Mongolia in any crap car that has an engine with no more than 1 ltr of power.

The rally is between 8 and 10 000 miles depending on the route you choose to throw your crapmobile at. We start from London and finish near the Mongolian capital Ulaan Bataar about three weeks and a whole lot of adventure later. Basically the world is your oyster, teams have gone as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Afghanistan. What happens to you as you try to get to the end between the deserts, mountains, bandits and wilderness is anyone's guess. In a normal year just over half the teams make the finish line in one piece. This year's rally starts on the 21st July from Hyde Park, London.

 

Mongolia is a vast country with a very small road network, little in terms of railway and few airports. To travel around Mongolia is an adventure itself. A traveller can expect to spend many days travelling on bumpy tracks on roads and cross country before reaching their destination.  The most common way of travelling is by jeep, generally speaking the old russian jeeps (called Gaz) they are very fun and look good in Mongolia but the air conditioning generally consists of rolling down the windows while the musical entertainment very much depends on the skills of your driver. 

Taxis are very loosely defined in Mongolia, you have the city taxies which are painted yellow or white and have taxi signs. They generally operate on a meter but some meters seem to work faster then others. The starting price of the meter should read 250 but you are also often confronted with unknown and sudden supplements for being white or clueless. They are never the less the safer option late at night. Ulaanbaatar is also criss crossed by little japanese mini buses, they follow a straight route, are often packed to the roof with people and lifestock but can be a very fun (if slightly unomfortable) way of discovering the city.