Photo credits: Alejandro Huerta Franco The Darién Gap crossing between Panama and Colombia is many overlanders’ first exposure to the red tape of transcontinental vehicle shipping. Some travelers are so overwhelmed by the paperwork and costs involved they turn around and return the way they came. Others take a deep breath and plunge in, embracing…
Zapp Family Completes 22 Years of Worldwide Travel in 1928 Graham-Paige
Herman and Candelaria Zapp grew up together, dreaming of adventure since they were kids. Six years after marrying, they set a firm date for the backpacking trip they’d put off for so long. But at the last minute, they decided to drive instead. The vehicle was sitting in their garage and in need of refurbishment….
Overlander Mexico
When you face the unknown—whether people, places, or concepts—the talons of fear have a way of gripping down relentlessly. The year was 2018, and my husband and I were facing doubts before overlanding into an unfamiliar country for the first time. We would have experienced less of a mental rollercoaster were it not for our…
Marking the 10-Year Anniversary of Expeditions 7
“First is forever,” reverberated through the air on the night the Expeditions 7 team celebrated becoming the first to drive a 4×4 vehicle on all seven continents. The moment Expedition Leader Scott Brady congratulated his team, those in attendance simultaneously played a personal reel, mental images flashing in quick succession: narrowly avoiding jail in Russia;…
Avoidable Missteps Teach a Serious Lesson About Carelessness
As we look back at nearly eight years of full-time, vehicle-based travel, we consider ourselves fairly experienced travelers. So it’s embarrassing to admit we make rookie mistakes from time to time. We should know better. Over the past weekend, we completed a whirlwind but magical tour of La Huasteca Potosina, a tropical region in interior…
How to Sustain the Overlander’s Lifestyle
Not as a complete definition, but as an often-overlooked component, I’ve started describing overlanding as “intentional self-deprivation.” This is the part you rarely see on Instagram. Those who use the activity to escape the city and trials of work-life could probably care less. Even when the weather doesn’t cooperate, disappointing for sure, it’s all part…
Fear Is an Accessory You Can Take Off: An Interview With Vibes of Panama
The lowest point, figuratively speaking, between Panama and Alaska was the floor of a Land Rover shop, where Alejandro “Alex” Huerta Franco and Ana Victoria Viera spent a torturous night. It was mid-March on the West Coast of the United States, and the pandemic panic was closing in as campgrounds and even Airbnbs closed down….
Four Years Circumnavigating the Globe: An Interview with the Alveto Expedition
The Miami sun collided with the asphalt in the Walmart parking lot. Interpersonal conflict came to a boil, and litter was tossed by the breeze, as desperate people gathered to make an unlikely home. Their close proximity ran dangerously counter to the pandemic threat hanging in the humid Florida air. When Aldo Giaquinto and Vera…
What I’ve Learned About Full-time Travel From Shelter-in-Place
Lead image by Amber Baldwin Perspective through being forced off the road for the first time in over six years. Cliché as it may be, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” certainly applies to this period of sheltering in place, the longest my husband, Eric, and I have stayed anywhere in more…