What happens when a long‑held dream, a tiny 1.2 litre 20‑year‑old Fiat Panda, and a passion for making a difference all collide? For Indigo and Lucy, the answer is a once‑in‑a‑lifetime drive from the UK to the far reaches of East Kazakhstan.
This Summer, they’re taking on thousands of miles, border crossings, bumpy roads and the unknown for the Mongol Rally, all in the name of exploration and raising money for causes that matter to them.
Here’s the story behind their route across continents, why they chose to support Changing Lives, and how you can follow along.
What made you decide to drive from the UK to Far East Kazakhstan in a 20‑year‑old Fiat Panda?
Indigo got the idea back when he was 18 to do the Mongol Rally (where you buy a less than £1,000, less than 1.2 litre car and drive it as far as you can towards Mongolia) after watching some videos on YouTube - thinking that it'd be an incredible adventure.
Fast-forward to 2020, he was ready with the car to go, but a worldwide pandemic had other plans. When we made the decision to leave our jobs for a year to travel the world, the central Asian countries were the top of our list, and we knew we wanted to rent a car at some point, so we thought what better time than now to finally do the Mongol Rally and raise some money for some brilliant causes at the same time.
What challenges do you expect on the road?
Our lack of car mechanical skills - we don't even know how to change a tyre, will surely bring us some challenges along the way - as well as our poor language skills outside of English.
Undoubtedly 12 hours cramped together in a car every day will test our relationships - but really, this is all part of the fun.
What part of the route are you most excited to travel through?
It's hard to choose, but Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan all feel the most unknown to us so we're really excited to learn more about those countries and cultures.
From what we've seen in videos and pictures, the scenery looks incredible along this part of the route too. We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed for this part though, as the roads start to get quite bumpy and our car will be getting rather tired.
Why did you choose to support Changing Lives on this adventure?
We both went to university in the North East, and Lucy's family are from there so we wanted to support a charity that had local ties, as well as in some way helping to improve support for people with multiple, complex needs - as in recent years Lucy's work has been focussed on addressing the health inequalities faced by people experiencing multiple disadvantage.
We heard about Changing Lives from friends that had volunteered there, and after looking into their work further, we knew we wanted to try and raise more awareness and support for their work, in particular, their focus on supporting the root causes of people's challenges through trauma-informed, person-centred care.
We're thrilled to be able to support this charity's work on our journey!
How can people follow your journey and donate?
We will be posting on our journey on Instagram when we get going, and people can donate by using this link to our GoFundMe.
The funds raised will be divided between Changing Lives and a second charity listed on their page. If you’d like your donation to go specifically to Changing Lives, simply add a note when donating.
To support their fundraising, donations can be made through their GoFundMe page:
👉 Fundraiser by Indigo Brownhall : Mongol Rally 2026 for Charity: Team Custard Dreams
