Heidi and Jens, full-time overlanders for 15 years, are the real deal. They’ve crossed rivers in Mongolia, the Canning Stock in Australia, and the salt flats of Bolivia. Jens boasts a Unimog tattoo from a parlor in Shanghai; Heidi cooks Kashmiri curry and speaks five languages. We met in Oaxaca, Mexico, in one of those…
Children of the Road, A Life of Unconventional Norms
Heidi and Jens, full-time overlanders for 15 years, are the real deal. They’ve crossed rivers in Mongolia, the Canning Stock in Australia, and the salt flats of Bolivia. Jens boasts a Unimog tattoo from a parlor in Shanghai; Heidi cooks Kashmiri curry and speaks five languages. We met in Oaxaca, Mexico, in one of those…
Overlanding in a Language Vacuum
No ticket is more revered in international travel than competency in local languages. Speak Spanish or Hindi or French? You’ll trade jokes with border officials in Tijuana or easily pick your way through Varanasi, India’s holiest and most chaotic of cities. You’ll exchange numbers with the attractive barista at that café in Saint Germain, Paris….
How to Bring Your Kids Onboard for the Journey: Overlanding Parent Styles
For all the usual reasons—long work hours, lack of time together, a love of the open road—our family plans to overland for a full year, from Canada to Panama, starting this summer, if the pandemic permits. Our kids take issue with this plan. Both enjoy weekend trips into the wild but are not sold on…
The Shakedown Trip
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Christian M. Simon and Phoebe P. Simon Are you planning to overland? Will you cover significant distances and camp in remote places, maybe accompanied by kids, pets, kayaks? Have you invested in a rig with still-unfamiliar anatomical parts such as recovery points, solar controllers, and onboard air?…