Throwback Thursday: The Brazilians Who Undertook an Olympic-Worthy Expedition to London

Eight years ago this month, three Brazilians set off for an "Olympic Expedition" from Beijing to London to attend the 2012 Summer Olympics. They planned to take their car, Thunder Love, on an epic road trip across the continents, but instead ended up taking just about every mode of ground transportation you could think of.

On Jun 2 of 2012, journalist Richard Armante, minor expat celebrity Edgar Scherer, and his brother and entrepreneur Paulo Scherer met at the Bird's Nest and piled into Thunder Love armed with nothing more than an Olympic torch and enough clothes to see them through.

Armant logged a diary of their travels on their blog, parts of which can still be accessed through the Wayback Machine web archive, but a more complete summary can be found in a series of blogs on the Beijinger by Lauren McCarthey or by watching their documentary of the trip, titled Highway to Hell (they were big AC/DC fans).

The 10-day journey through China was marked by a lost hubcap, a torn kite, and the death of two birds (no explanation given). But once they reached the border to cross into Kazakhstan, the first major complication arose – the border guards did not know how to process the crossing of their vehicle.

The officers actually told the intrepid travelers that there was no law preventing them from taking a car across the border, but after a day of waiting and no progress on the paperwork, they decided to go it afoot, bidding adieu to Thunder Love.

Now carless, they ended up passing through the following six countries all the way to Turkey by hitching rides in cars, vans, buses, a backhoe, and a donkey cart. The sights they saw in Turkey made it all worthwhile though, from the historic beaches of Antalya to the stunning hot air balloon show in Cappadocia.

From Bodrum, they took a boat to Marathon, Greece, before heading to Olympia (both must-sees on an Olympic Expedition). With the clock ticking down to the opening ceremony in London, they were delayed in Croatia, but they had a good reason – "the beaches were paradise on earth."

At another beach in Montenegro, they went scuba diving with the torch, then picked up two more travelers and rented a van, which they fittingly dubbed Thunder Love II.

The rest of the trip through Europe was smooth riding, apart from a run-in with the cops in Budapest, which was quickly resolved with the signing of some papers. The crew of five managed to ferry the van from the Netherlands to England, and then drove to London to light the torch that they had carried the entire way. Their Olympic Expedition was complete.

READ: Throwback Thursday: The Disturbing Story of a Rogue Expat Criminal Doctor in Beijing

Images: Olympic Expedition