The World Trip
Let’s travel the world! – a short text message, a simple sentence, a spontaneous suggestion. But the beginning of a new chapter in our lives, our overland world trip. Sounds pretty cheesy, doesn’t it? Well, but it is true. Find out how it all began, why, how and where we want to travel!
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The Idea for an overland world trip
The original idea of long time overland traveling dates back to 2012. Heiner had just returned from his motorcycle trip through the US, which lit the flame of traveling this way in him. He was looking forward to working on his first job and settling in Germany. But he also knew that some day, he would set off for another big trip. Looking at a world map, the choice was easy. Germany to Australia would be the way to go for two reasons:
- It is the longest distance on earth, that you can cover almost entirely overland.
- We have never been to this side of our planet.
At that time, this was nothing but a crude dream. But one day in winter 2014, when Anna was at home in Dusseldorf and Heiner in a hotel room in Stuttgart, a decision developed from this dream. Anna was watching old pictures from passed vacations, when it suddenly hit her. “Let’s travel the world!” – she sent to Heiner. It was not because she was bored of her job or because she was tired of her life in Dusseldorf. It was just the idea of getting rid of that spatial distance between us that we have had been living with for such a long time. For Anna, the idea of making Heiner’s dream come true appeared to be the perfect next building block in our common future. One text message and a phone call later, Heiner was convinced that overland could be fun in a car, as well. That’s it. That was the small beginning of something big. In fact it was pretty easy and we felt really good about it!
And if you want to see our route how it really is up to date and where we are right now, have a look in our Travel Guide!
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao Tzu
Do you like to travel? Have you ever asked yourself why you travel and which way would be the best for you? Planning a multiple month long trip, we have discussed those topics several times. We want to let you know how we have answered those questions for ourselves.
Why travel at all?
As a starting point it is important to realize that being able to travel is a privilege on this planet. Most humans are bound by financial, time or governmental constraints that make leaving their homes impossible.
Other people just don’t want to leave their homes and love their daily routines. But most people need a break from their everyday’s lives every once in a while. The word “to travel” contains an action, a movement, overcoming distances in all possible meanings, no matter how much time you have, whether it’s a long or short time travel. Sometimes it’s a way of living, sometimes a way of getting your mind free and collecting memories. Traveling offers you new experiences, maybe it changes the perspectives, the priorities. It makes you richer without a fat purse.
What to expect from traveling?
When you go on a trip, what are you looking for? Nature? Sports? Party? Cultural history? Convenience? Exploring other cultures? We are clearly looking for all of it but convenience. On one hand, our motivation in life is to see as much of this beautiful planet as possible. Get to know all the different kinds of people, landscapes, climates etc. On the other hand, we just love the right balance between outdoor activities, sightseeing and deep dives into local street food and night life.
Our mode of transportation
For Heiner it was clear that this was going to be an overland trip from the second, he received that text message. He had fallen in love with this way of traveling on his previous motorcycle trips. Initially the motorcycle was just a way to save some money and proof his badassery. But as the miles went by, he started loving the upsides.
Slowness
Once, during an internship in Switzerland, Anna had a conversation with her colleagues about traveling. One of them had just returned from a business trip and said that she always feels like flying is too complicated for her brain. It cannot cope with that sudden change of climate, culture and just lags behind that airplane’s speed. We noticed that she was right! We prefer noticing the small changes, granting our brains the time they need to adapt.
Speed and comfort
Although we like it slow, there is a lower limit as well. We were shortly thinking about doing this trip on bikes, but since it is not mainly the challenge that motivates us, we gladly go with that extra convenience a motorized vehicle has to offer. Since Anna is not the biggest fan of motorcycles and we are both not into sailing, we went for a car, our Landcruiser. In our new little home we have everything we need. Bed, living room, kitchen, bathroom – plus it has wheels!
Money
Compared to the combined use of planes, trains, buses and rental cars, driving your own car is inexpensive. Diesel is pretty cheap in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The other big items on a traveler’s list of expenses are food an accommodation. Outside of Europe we plan to sleep on the back roads and mostly cook our meals with local products. Which is pretty straightforward when you carry your own bed and kitchen. Of course, sometimes there will be days when we need a fresh shower and a cold beer!
Freedom
We do not have to rely on routes and timetables. We can just drive anywhere, anytime (as long there is something like a back road and open borders).
Spontaneity
This is one big factor of this whole trip. We do not want to commit ourselves to bookings we have made months ago. We want to be able to make day by day decisions, stay in a place as long as we like it there and leave when we feel like going somewhere else. Only the visa related maximum length of stay will force us to keep a time table in mind from time to time.
Adventure
The romance of sitting by the campfire beneath a million stars just warms our hearts. We are looking forward to exploring all those back roads, always in search for the perfect campsite. We will struggle with bad roads, border crossings, organizing spare parts and filterable water – adventures, we are ready for!
Authenticity
The back roads are the places where you see authenticity in people and landscape. This is where people are happy to meet travelers coming down that lonesome road, invite you to their homes and make you part of their families. We are looking forward to living a vagrant life on the back roads of this world.
The Way of Traveling
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