Spontaneous dance parties on the Afghanistan border

Remind yourself of a horrible situation you’ve been in. This will put yourself in the right frame of mind to set yourself up for a great weekend. We know that sounds crazy, but just bare with us… Story Time We were in the middle of the dangerous GBAO region of Tajikistan. The US State Department […]

Happy 1 Year Anniversary of Finishing the Mongol Rally, Global Goulets!

Woh. We’re buggin a bit. One year ago we finished the Mongol Rally, had a huge celebration, and then went back to the “real world.” The adventure was over. Today we’re writing this post from an organic farm on an island that is made from two volcanoes in the middle of one of the biggest […]

The Mongol Rally: What We Learned

We’ve had some time to think since getting back from Ulaanbaatar. We’re always being asked about our best experiences, and more importantly, what we learned out there. So here are some thoughts, in no particular order, for those who feel inspired to embark on their next adventure: This was no vacation. The Rally was a […]

The Communist Gouletfesto

Underlying our adventures is the basic fact that the 3 Global Goulets share everything. I will now attempt to list all things we’ve communized: – Sleeping Quarters: whether in our shithole discounted tent, inside of the cramped Auto Goulet, or in dorm-style hostels, we spend not a night more than a foot apart. – All […]

An Ode to the Auto Goulet

She went through a lot. For any of us involved, it was probably the most volatile relationship we’d ever had. There were moods, there were rough patches, even for days at a time. But our baby got us there. She got us to Mongolia. An oral history of the Auto Goulet’s epic 10,000 mile death […]

Chapter XV: All Roads Lead to Ulaanbaatar

In the morning we awoke to wonderfully warming sunlight, nestled in the Mongolian mountainside along a charmingly fresh flowing stream, beside a family of peacefully grazing yaks. Just your typical start to a Mongol Rally day. After our unconventional contribution to the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon, we packed up the tent, changed our torn tires […]

Chapter XIV: The Joys and Joy of Mongolia

Mongolia. We made it. Yet this by no means meant we’d arrived at the finish line. On the contrary, the weeklong battle that ensued with this ferocious final battleground provided a test of our wills and to our hopes of making it to the red tape on the other side. You see, the distance from […]

Chapter XIII: A Ride Through Russia

We approached Russia timidly. This would be the 18th country on our pilgrimage and only the second to last to our destination. We were border warriors at this point. But Russia – all summer we’d been hearing about tensions between our kind and their kind at an all-time post-Cold War high. Each Internet check-in we’d […]

Has anyone seen our postcards??

We sent over 65 postcards from Mongolia more than 3.5 months ago…. We crossed all our i’s and dotted all our t’s, and used our best and biggest handwriting to plaster those things with “USA!” No really, here’s proof. Thanks to the ol’ reliable Mongolian pony express, we haven’t heard of anyone receiving one of […]

Chapter XII: A Kazakh Quest

Where’s Alex? This was always the question haunting Brian and Eric when they’d tasted freedom on the other side of a border. You see, Alex was technically the owner of our precious Auto Goulet according to the holy V5 car registration, so he would always take the car through daunting border crossings, while Brian and […]

Chapter XI: Horsing Around in Kyrgyzstan

With a sigh of relief we passed into the no-mans land between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and with a bellow of excitement we took in the incredible scenery that was this no-mans land. No men, just mountains. And gophers. Between the two countries lies 20 miles of gorgeous mountain scenery. Behind you tower the snow-capped peaks […]

Chapter X: Pamir, There, and Everywhere

We made it to Khorog in the late morning, the official launching spot of the Pamir Highway. Hearing rumors of the impossibility of finding resources essential for survival in the desolate GBAO region, we stocked up on water and gasoline… and baby wipes and nutella. What we were most excited for in Khorog was the […]

Chapter IX: Hospitality Between A Mountain And A Hard Place (And The Hard Place is Afghanistan)

Sometimes goodbyes are harder than hellos. After driving through the night in shifts on our detour to find an open border crossing, we arrived at the Uzbekistan exit around 8 am, first in line and ready to go. The guards, however, were not – we were told to wait because the crew had “sport”. The […]

Chapter VIII: Uzbekistan (Un)limited

Thought the Global Goulets just stopped their blog posts after Turkmenistan? Thought wrong! Come cop a taste of the legendary Uzbeki delicacy, plov. And for a refresher on where we last left off, check out Chapter VII.   We woke up with the worst hangovers to date on our adventure. Eric was so massively dehydrated […]

Memories with Mend-Ooyo

Led by his assistant Munkhnaran, we eagerly tip-toed into the studio of Mend-Ooyo. We were incredibly lucky to earn this opportunity we knew, introduced to him by our friend Gabby’s mother Elaine, who’d met him while working for the New York Times. Hearing high praise from Mongolian friends we’d made in Ulaanbaatar, we knew we […]

Thank You!: A Job Well Dunn

Thanks entirely to your support, we just hand-delivered a check for $4,500 to the Well Dunn Foundation over dinner last night with Chris, Deborah, and Amanda Dunn in Atlanta! What a moving way to finish up our 3 months of world travel!   We also learned some truly inspiring stats about the Well Dunn Foundation’s […]