The Times (London)
August 21, 2004, Saturday
Round the world in a caravan
by Hugh de Wet
In the Sixties, motor caravanning took off, with basic camping
equipment fitted into converted VW vans being very popular. These
days motor caravans come complete with luxury touches and the
benefits of modern engines, but few people have been as adventurous
as Alan Johnston was …
Mr Alan Johnston, aged 44, a teacher who sold his old house to buy a
new one in Wimbledon, found himself with about £5,000 to spare.
Uncertain about how the money could best be used, he bought a
motorised caravan and set off, with his wife and three small adopted
children, on a trip around the world.
The Johnstons have just returned to Britain after three years. They
covered more than 80,000 miles by road, plus about 15,000 miles by
sea, visiting 19 countries from Belgium, through Europe to Russia and
on through Iran, Afghanistan, India, Malaysia and Thailand to Japan,
then crossing to the United States and Canada, before recrossing by
sea to France and returning home.
Mr Johnston still has a substantial part of the £5,000 to spare.
In the summer of 1965 Mr Johnston, then teaching at the Bishop Bell
county primary school at Crawley, West Sussex, bought the compact
motorised caravan -a van with built-in eating and sleeping
accommodation -for £1,100, and £200 worth of spares.
“During the trip we lived for less than £50 a month,” he told me.
“Somebody has estimated that we did the trip for less than a dollar a
person a day.”
Shipping their vehicle between continents turned out to be the only
major item of expenditure. The vehicle, weighing some three and a
half tons fully loaded, and powered by a 1600cc engine, traversed
some of the world’s highest mountain passes and completed the trip
without any major overhaul. It broke down only once in the United
States when the coil failed.
When they set off, Mr Johnston was 41, his wife, Josephine Maria, 36,
and their three Anglo-Indian children, Anna, Tim and Lee, whom they
adopted through the Dr Barnardo’s organization, five, four and two
respectively.
“Some people were appalled when they heard that we intended taking
our children into places like Afghanistan and Iran,” Mr Johnston
said. “But we found the entire trip extremely pleasant. Not once was
there a dangerous incident.”
They spent about a month in Russia and then found that they could not
cross from Armenia into Iran because of a cholera epidemic.
“The border had been sealed because the Russians were afraid of the
epidemic spreading across into their country,” Mr Johnston said.
“We spent about a week waiting in Armenia. The Russians were
wonderfully hospitable. Then we were told we could cross into Iran.
“Although it was a Sunday, a Russian bank manager appeared and
changed our surplus roubles into Iranian money. Then we were given an
escort of Russian Army officers up to the border crossing-point at
Djoulfa. On the other side of the padlocked gates a group of Iranian
officers was waiting to receive us.
“The Russians were affable; they delivered speeches, shook hands with
the Iranians, and then both parties unlocked the gates
simultaneously; it appeared that the crossing-point was seldom used.”
In Iran the family weathered the cholera epidemic with the aid of
giant antibiotic capsules which they were forced to take in copious
quantities.
“We know of people who have been robbed and even murdered while
travelling in the Far East, but I think that in most cases these
people behaved imprudently,” Mr Johnston said. “In Iran and Pakistan
we slept in police stations or airport buildings and were quite safe.
In India we used the rest houses.
India is an extremely gentle country, and we spent about a year
there. “In Pakistan, after negotiating the Khyber Pass, the Johnstons
were invited to dinner at the imam’s home at Peshawar.
“The Imam’s stately home was full of animals,” Mrs Johnston said.
“They believe in keeping close to nature, and we had chickens and
goats running about and huge tame storks peering over our shoulders.
We called the place ‘the Stork club’ after that.”
After the dinner, Mr Johnston found his van crammed with women and
children from the palace, all eager to be taken for a drive. He
eventually took them on a jaunt through Peshawar, under strict
instructions that the vehicle’s curtains remained drawn and that no
lights should be used, as the women were in purdah.
The Johnstons have returned to their home at Wimbledon which they let
while on their tour. Mr Johnston takes up a teaching post at a
Wandsworth secondary school with the satisfaction of knowing that his
children -the eldest is now eight – have a flying start over their
contemporaries when it comes to geography, languages, and general
knowledge.