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Britons on road trip

BANGKOK: Two British women left Bangkok on Sunday for their long journey home — a 19,000-km road trip in a noisy, open-air, three-wheeled motorised rickshaw.

Childhood best friends Jo Huxster and Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent, both 27, bought their bright pink "tuk-tuk" trishaw, a common sight in Thailand, then souped it up with raised suspension and roll bars to make their trip safer. On Sunday they set off on a three-month, 12-country drive to Brighton in south England.

The idea came to Ms. Huxter four years ago on a previous trip to Thailand, where tuk-tuks are popular means of transport among tourists. "I was just driving around Bangkok with two friends, and the tuk-tuk driver let me sit in the front to pretend I was driving, and I thought, `One day, I will drive one of these back to England.' " They are making the trip to raise £50,000 for Mind, a British mental health charity.

"I feel very passionate about supporting [Mind] because I suffered from depression in my adolescence, and I was helped by Mind when I was unwell," said Ms. Huxter, a recent psychology graduate.

Ms. Bolingbroke-Kent, a television producer from Norfolk, decided to join Ms. Huxter after recently losing a friend to suicide.

Their tuk-tuk ride will take them from Thailand through Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Belgium, France, and then home to England. — AP

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