Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2022 Issue. Photography by Coen Wubbels The alarm clock sounded at 3:00 a.m. For the fifth morning in a row, Coen yawned as he threw his legs out of bed to once more get on the phone. We were in the Netherlands, visiting family while…
In Search of Solitude :: Heading into the Mountains of Uzbekistan
Photography by Coen Wubbels One Lada Niva or UAZ Hunter after another came bumping down the trail, the vehicles packed with people. What was going on? Weren’t we going to a super remote place deep in the Uzbek mountains, a place that “everybody” told us to visit? “You have to go to Urungach; it’s the…
Across the Deserts in Kazakhstan
The world was gray without any visible contours of clouds, making it impossible to see where the horizon separated the earth and the sky. It was a depressing start to our off-road journey across the Aralkum Desert and the Mangystau Plateau to the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. Driving Around and Across the Aral Sea Our…
Why Add the Pamir Highway to your Overland Adventures?
Crossing high-altitude deserts with snow-capped mountains rising on the horizon, meandering through gorges along vertical rock walls. And that for 766 miles! How can that not be attractive to any overland traveler? The largely unpaved road alternates with smooth asphalt and paved stretches that have turned into washboards and potholes, so you never know what…
Crossing the Gobi Desert to Camp at the Flaming Cliffs of Mongolia
We have seen our share of empty landscapes in South America: Patagonia, the Atacama Desert, Bolivia’s Altiplano—but all of them pale when compared with the Gobi Desert in Southern Mongolia (and stretching into northern China). The Gobi is intimidating—so immense and seemingly boundless, driving here was claustrophobic at times, making me wonder, worry even, if…
Five Reasons To Make Siberia Your Next Overland Destination
Geographically speaking, Siberia comprises some 77 percent of Russian territory stretching from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. Vast and wild, largely consisting of taiga and tundra, it is sparsely populated. Looking at a map, you will see that no roads traverse northern Siberia; road trips are limited…
A Search for Petroglyphs in the Gobi Desert
“Okay, the big question is how to approach this point. From the north? The south?” Coen was zooming in on his iPhone, enlarging the area mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook. It’s the first guidebook we’ve ever had that includes a list of GPS Waypoints for certain sites. For overlanders, who typically travel without a…
How to Prepare for an Overland Journey in the Depth of Winter
A sound made us look up from our screens. “What’s happening? Did you turn the heater off?” Coen asked me, since I was sitting next to the control panel. “No, I didn’t, but it is shutting down, isn’t it?” It was 11:00 p.m and we were quietly camped in a parking lot. To maximize the…
Five Reasons to Visit Brazil
Brazil has much to offer and those who have followed our adventures know we spent more than two years driving to the country’s remotest corners, getting to know the very best of it all: The Amazon Rainforest, the largest tropical wetlands of the Pantanal, endless beaches, fabulous food, and the kindest of people (among many…
What’s the charm of traveling with a battered Land Cruiser?
On a chilly morning in January, Coen and I drove 430 miles to Germany. There in a driveway stood a dirty, dilapidated truck. It radiated pride as well as loneliness and coldness, like a house that has stood empty for too long. The Land Cruiser was covered in rust and the interior was damp, caused by…
Tips on Keeping your Overland Vehicle safe, low-budget style
What if you want to keep your vehicle burglarproof for an overland journey without spending a fortune on car alarms, GPS tracking devices, and other expensive temptations? After 15 years on the road without a break-in, we’d like to share our tricks with you. Disclaimer: No setup is foolproof, no matter how much money you…
15 Years of Overlanding the World without Killing Each Other – How Do We Do It?
“Sorry to interrupt. Coen, on the bed are clean socks, underwear, and a shirt. The shower is all yours,” I said as I walked into the living room of our friend’s home in Bolivia. Coen and our host Willy were having a discussion while I had been doing chores and had just finished taking a…
The Mosquito Battle Plan When Overlanding
Summer has started: great weather, blue skies, sunshine, long evenings before it gets dark. Life is wonderful. If only those clouds of mosquitoes would stay away. Over the years we’ve searched for solutions to sleep without our bodies being drained of blood. If you have a car with properly closing doors and windows and have…
Overlanding as a Digital Nomad: Combining Travel with Online Work
How can you combine your travels with online work? What kinds of jobs work, how do you organize it, what equipment do you need, and what challenges do you face? Ten overlanders share their experiences.
The Beauty of the Rupununi Savannah
We undressed for a swim. That is, Coen changed into swimming trunks but I, conforming to the Amerindian female swimming suit, donned shorts and a T-shirt. Wading into the clear water, our feet didn’t sink into a sandy bottom but felt laterite. According to our GPS, the Rupununi River ran more than a mile from here…
Ghost Towns of Chile
The thermal water mainly felt warm because my head sticking out above the bath was almost freezing. With the wind howling among the hills, not much was needed to get an ear infection or pneumonia I figured while getting out of the concrete tank filled with water flowing down from a natural spring higher up…
When Bridges Collapse
“Forget about it. We just came from there. The bridge is gone. Repairs are going to take weeks.” Two Dutch motorcyclists, Bart and Renate, on their way from Ecuador to Ushuaia, gave us the news. We met them in Huanchaco, a beach town in Peru, one of those places where travelers intend to stay for…
Overlanding in the Snows of Japan
It took Coen 10 minutes to clear the roof, hood, and winch of a thick layer of snow. It had become part of a ritual now that we were on Hokkaido, the northernmost and coldest island of Japan, in the middle of the winter. Meanwhile, I packed everything away inside the Land Cruiser. The engine…
Hiking in the snow: Miyanouradake Mountain
“Maybe you shouldn’t go. It has just snowed for the first time this year. Samui!” our hosts said. “Ah, a bit of snow. It can’t be that bad,” I answered, not wanting to be discouraged from my plan. I wanted to go on a hike in Shiratani Unsuikyo National Park on Yakushima Island. It would be…
Landcruising Adventure: Getting Lost in Digital Advancement
On our arrival in Japan, on the southern island of Kyushu, we needed to plot a general route for the coming months. We skimmed our two guidebooks and marked the possible-of-interest places on our Reise Know-How roadmap. Local information is always a welcome addition and Japan, we quickly learned, has a super-organized system of tourist…