Getting our priorities right

While we're on the subject of technology, we thought we'd share the importance of a particular technology on our rally. Probably the most important gadget that we carry with us is the MP3 player. We had the MP3 player set-up with the right collection of music long before we even considered a satellite phone!



People have said that it is impossible to listen to music in a 60s Land Rover and normally they would be right. The engine noise makes it near impossible to hear anything, the stiff ride (especially with military grade suspension) makes even the best anti-skip CD player fail miserably.

We decided to take on this challenge and Alex came up with the ingenious idea of mounting the speakers directly behind our heads. It sounds like it isn't such a good idea for our ears, but it isn't actually as bad as it sounds. This set-up is something we did in 2008 prior to our Saharan Rally 2009. Alex bought 2 speakers and mounted one behind the driver and passenger seat on the cage between the rear of the car and the front seats. Sound quality? Superb, we have a good sound with just the right level of bass. It keeps us going on the long nights and days of driving.

Of course the MP3 player is key to this set-up as it won't skip as we're storming through even the rockiest of terrains. Our player of choice is the Samsung YP-K5 as it has some fairly decent (for the size) stereo speakers built into it which gives us the ability to listen to our music when in the tent or away from the car. The battery life is superb (Apple users get jealous now), with over 30 hours non-stop on headphones and 6 hours when listening to the integrated speakers.