Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Luisa Bell Global adventurer and overlander

Transcript

Luisa Bell Global adventurer and overlander · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am
0:07
Speaker 1: your host, Scott Brady, and we have a special new
0:11
Speaker 1: edition of our podcast today. Matt, Scott and I have
0:14
Speaker 1: been discussing the fact that there are so many travelers
0:16
Speaker 1: around the world and their stories need to be told,
0:19
Speaker 1: and it's very difficult to always get them into the
0:21
Speaker 1: studio or meet up with them at various events. So
0:24
Speaker 1: we had a conversation with Ashley Giordano, who is one
0:27
Speaker 1: of our senior editors. She is famous for her involvement
0:31
Speaker 1: with Desta Glory and their adventure from Canada all the
0:34
Speaker 1: way down to Ushwaya. She's not only extremely accomplished as
0:37
Speaker 1: a journalist, she's also very accomplished as an overland traveler.
0:41
Speaker 1: So this is an opportunity for us to interview people
0:44
Speaker 1: that we may not encounter in our day to day work,
0:47
Speaker 1: but Ashley may encounter during her travels. You will be
0:50
Speaker 1: hearing her first interview, which is with Luisa Bell. So
0:53
Speaker 1: this is Graham Bell's wife from A to A Overland
0:56
Speaker 1: They are also famous for their travels around the world
0:59
Speaker 1: in their defense under one point thirty and now has
1:02
Speaker 1: a camper on it. But this is a great conversation
1:04
Speaker 1: between Luisa and Ashley. We're so excited to have her
1:08
Speaker 1: involved with the podcast team. If you would like to
1:11
Speaker 1: reach Ashley, you can find her on Instagram at Desk
1:14
Speaker 1: to Glory ash And then of course you're always welcome
1:16
Speaker 1: to provide feedback to me at Scott dot a dot Brady,
1:20
Speaker 1: where you can find Matt on Instagram as Matt Explore.
1:23
Speaker 1: So please enjoy the conversation between Ashley Giordano and Luisa Bell.
1:28
Speaker 1: Thanks to this week's sponsor, GCI Outdoor. Whether you're heading
1:31
Speaker 1: out for a weekend of adventure in the woods or
1:34
Speaker 1: to your backyard fire pit, GCI Outdoor Gear is ready
1:38
Speaker 1: for whatever you have planned. Gcioutdoor has been around for
1:41
Speaker 1: twenty five years, so they know what they're doing when
1:44
Speaker 1: it comes to the best and portable recreation gear. GCI
1:47
Speaker 1: has innovative products ranging from outdoor rockers to complete camp
1:52
Speaker 1: kitchens and everything in between, and with a limited lifetime warranty,
1:56
Speaker 1: you know they stand behind everything they make. GCI Outdoor
1:59
Speaker 1: Gear is comfortable, durable, and built for adventures big and small.
2:03
Speaker 1: Try them out for yourself. Head over to their website
2:05
Speaker 1: at gcioutdoor dot com and save ten percent off your
2:09
Speaker 1: first purchase when you sign up for their email list.
2:11
Speaker 2: Thanks again, GCI, Hello and welcome to the Overland Journal Podcast.
2:15
Speaker 2: I'm Ashley Dudano, senior editor at Overland Journal, and I
2:18
Speaker 2: have a really special guest here today with me at
2:20
Speaker 2: the Overland International Headquarters. I'd like to welcome Luisa Bell
2:24
Speaker 2: here and we're going to have a really good chat
2:26
Speaker 2: about life on the road. Hey, Luisa, how's it going?
2:29
Speaker 3: Hey, thank you so much for having me. This is awesome.
2:31
Speaker 3: I'm really enjoying it, just.
2:33
Speaker 2: So far awesome. So for folks that don't know who
2:36
Speaker 2: Luisa Bell is, she and her family have been traveling
2:39
Speaker 2: all over the world in the land rover for many,
2:41
Speaker 2: many years. And if you want to dissolve the listeners,
2:45
Speaker 2: maybe a little bit more about your story and who
2:47
Speaker 2: you travel with and where you've been to.
2:48
Speaker 3: Okay, So I travel with my husband and two kids.
2:51
Speaker 3: My husband's Graham Raoul. He's written five book. I'm sure
2:54
Speaker 3: some people know him. And my two kids. My son
2:56
Speaker 3: is Kielan and he's twenty two years of age Na
2:58
Speaker 3: and my daughter's now seventeen and a name's Jessica. We've
3:02
Speaker 3: been to over seventy countries and five continents for the
3:05
Speaker 3: past ten years.
3:06
Speaker 2: Amazing. Yeah, I know I've been following you guys for
3:10
Speaker 2: quite some time and this is the first time that
3:12
Speaker 2: we've met. So it was really excited at Overland Expo
3:15
Speaker 2: West recently to meet you in person and the rest
3:18
Speaker 2: of your family because we've been really inspired by your
3:20
Speaker 2: travels all over the world. Thank you. So you guys
3:24
Speaker 2: are in the US now and you did some traveling
3:27
Speaker 2: through Africa recently.
3:29
Speaker 3: Yesh, right in twenty nineteen, which I've done the west
3:32
Speaker 3: coast of Africa to South Africa and then kind of
3:34
Speaker 3: got stuck because of COVID, so we were in lockdown
3:37
Speaker 3: for good eight months before the borders opened. Yeah, we
3:39
Speaker 3: did the loop around southern Africa and then we were like,
3:41
Speaker 3: where do we go next? Because Ethiopia a civil war
3:44
Speaker 3: and we didn't know what to do next, so the
3:46
Speaker 3: US was the next option.
3:48
Speaker 2: Nice, you're touring around the US right now, and what
3:51
Speaker 2: are you driving?
3:52
Speaker 3: So we're driving in nineteen ninety four long wheelbase and
3:54
Speaker 3: arranged drover classic, so we call it a roach. We've
3:58
Speaker 3: got a quick pitch rooftop tent and warning system at
4:00
Speaker 3: which drops down with walls and graham and keel and
4:02
Speaker 3: sleep on the camping cuts downstairs, and we sleep upstairs
4:05
Speaker 3: and loft and we just have a snowmaster fridge with
4:08
Speaker 3: some crates and a wagon lithium battery and that's are
4:11
Speaker 3: set up simple and straightforward and pretty easy. So it
4:14
Speaker 3: works for us while in the US because you have
4:17
Speaker 3: availability to everything. There's always a fuel station or grocer
4:20
Speaker 3: around the corner. You don't need anything like we have
4:22
Speaker 3: at home.
4:22
Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit more about the vehicle that
4:24
Speaker 2: you have back home that you've traveled in Okay.
4:26
Speaker 3: So it's a two thousand and four land Rover Defender
4:29
Speaker 3: one fifty. So that's a longer whill base than your
4:31
Speaker 3: ninety or your one ten obviously, and it makes perfect
4:34
Speaker 3: sense because we're a family of four and South Africa,
4:37
Speaker 3: so a little larger than most. So we had it
4:39
Speaker 3: with a double cap with a canopy before, with the
4:42
Speaker 3: draw system and everything else. And then when we're in
4:44
Speaker 3: the States in Florida in twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, we
4:48
Speaker 3: convert her into a campus so now we can live
4:51
Speaker 3: out of side, live inside the vehicle, but while still
4:53
Speaker 3: enjoying being outside. Yeah, and accommodates four of us and
4:56
Speaker 3: it's large enough. And yeah, she's handled perfectly since we've
4:59
Speaker 3: built the camp, so we were really chuffed about that.
5:01
Speaker 2: Nice. Nice And what experiences led to you to decide
5:06
Speaker 2: to create that indoor living space.
5:08
Speaker 3: Well, South America was easy to travel with the rooftop tents.
5:11
Speaker 3: I'm sure you know. It's like you've seen it. Guys
5:13
Speaker 3: did it with your vehicle, So it's easy to live
5:16
Speaker 3: on with outside space, and so with the US as well.
5:20
Speaker 3: But we realized we were going to Europe and we
5:21
Speaker 3: can't do some stealth camping anymore because the rooftop tent
5:24
Speaker 3: is so obvious you're camping. So we're like, if we're
5:27
Speaker 3: going to Europe in Asia as well, it's the same thing.
5:29
Speaker 3: You want to be more indoors or more hidden from
5:32
Speaker 3: the fact that you're camping. So we could sleep in
5:34
Speaker 3: plazas and very well, so no one would be able
5:36
Speaker 3: to like, ah, you're actually physically camping. And that's and
5:39
Speaker 3: also four years in the rooftop tent with two kids,
5:41
Speaker 3: it became enough. Yeah, that was hard work. And our
5:44
Speaker 3: cooking system was we were cooking outside when we were
5:47
Speaker 3: cooking inside, and we were tired. Yeah, we went a
5:50
Speaker 3: little little bit of a luxury.
5:51
Speaker 2: So what's your setup like on the interior in terms
5:54
Speaker 2: of bed space, because you pretty much have four adult
5:57
Speaker 2: sized humans in there, so where does everybody sleep?
6:00
Speaker 3: Well, our system is really great. We've got a lot
6:03
Speaker 3: of windows, so it makes it feel a lot more
6:05
Speaker 3: open than the space that it really So from the
6:08
Speaker 3: outside it looks tiny and when you sit inside you're like,
6:10
Speaker 3: oh wow, this is huge. So we've got a couch
6:13
Speaker 3: that we can sit on, and then there's the floor.
6:16
Speaker 3: The passageway is actually a bed. Okay, nice, So we
6:20
Speaker 3: just put the mattresses down from the couch onto the
6:22
Speaker 3: floor and I used to sleep there like under the
6:25
Speaker 3: kitchen sink, but Nakilain's taken over sleeping on the floor
6:29
Speaker 3: because you know, my mother should be sleeping on the fit,
6:32
Speaker 3: as he says. And then the two so the double
6:35
Speaker 3: cab was cut and it was just now the two
6:37
Speaker 3: front seats and then you got the back seats, but
6:39
Speaker 3: with seats on our facing towards which its other, so
6:42
Speaker 3: it's inwards facing inwards and that becomes a bed. And
6:45
Speaker 3: then there's a steel frame around on there just after
6:48
Speaker 3: the cab and that is like a little like loft
6:52
Speaker 3: area and it's like a bunk bed thing. And then
6:54
Speaker 3: the mattresses up there. So when the rooftop pops up,
6:57
Speaker 3: which pops up to just over six foot, so Graham
6:59
Speaker 3: can stand in a fully. Jessica's Betty is on the
7:01
Speaker 3: top there, so she gets a little I call it
7:03
Speaker 3: a coffin area, but she loves it's such a little
7:05
Speaker 3: private little space. So we see perfectly. Fine, it's fantastic
7:09
Speaker 3: out of it.
7:10
Speaker 2: Nice. Nice. It sounds like you've utilized the space really well,
7:13
Speaker 2: which is so important for those vehicle builds.
7:16
Speaker 3: Yes, we have fun.
7:16
Speaker 2: Nice, that's great. So let's go back in time a
7:19
Speaker 2: little bit. You have all this experience overlanding all over
7:22
Speaker 2: the world. Now, at one point you and Graham didn't
7:26
Speaker 2: live this lifestyle. You're from South Africa, right, correct. Take
7:31
Speaker 2: me back to when you lived in South Africa and
7:34
Speaker 2: you were living what you guys called the American dream
7:37
Speaker 2: in South Africa and what that looked like.
7:39
Speaker 3: We moved on to Capeton and I started a migration
7:43
Speaker 3: business and it was pretty successful, and then Graham joined
7:46
Speaker 3: and a year and half later and it was we
7:49
Speaker 3: had we're living in the American dream, as we call it,
7:51
Speaker 3: because who doesn't want that, right You want the big
7:53
Speaker 3: house and the fancy cars and the brand clothing, and
7:56
Speaker 3: you know, you want the freedom to be able to
7:57
Speaker 3: travel when you once. And we had all of that,
7:59
Speaker 3: and my dad he worked all his life and when
8:04
Speaker 3: he got to the retirement age, he was just starting
8:06
Speaker 3: to go, Okay, now I'm in a travel We were
8:07
Speaker 3: planning old travel, the overland travel thing, and we were like,
8:10
Speaker 3: this is happening, and then unfortunately passed away. Suddenly he
8:13
Speaker 3: had a heart attack and that was it. And we
8:15
Speaker 3: were like, you know, all those years of hard work
8:19
Speaker 3: and dedication to do something with your life and then
8:21
Speaker 3: you're like, looking at the end goal, you don't get there.
8:24
Speaker 3: To us, it was just a kind of was a
8:26
Speaker 3: waste and that was a motivation. I was like, let's
8:28
Speaker 3: go travel. So we did a six month trip up
8:30
Speaker 3: to Killie Manjarro. It was great, we loved it. We
8:33
Speaker 3: had to return because I was still running the business
8:35
Speaker 3: at the time and I had staff, but they needed
8:37
Speaker 3: me around. So we went back to South Africa and
8:39
Speaker 3: we were living in a small seaside town. Literally the
8:42
Speaker 3: ocean was across the house from us. We were really
8:44
Speaker 3: having great time, and they were like something was missing.
8:46
Speaker 3: So we were like, okay, let's go and move to
8:49
Speaker 3: plettenbog Bay, which is on the garden room gorgeous. Let's
8:51
Speaker 3: go move there, got a big house, got more births,
8:55
Speaker 3: got full the house for things, and we were like, oh, okay,
8:58
Speaker 3: something still missing. We were working hard and then we
9:00
Speaker 3: went up for three months up to Malawi. We could obviously,
9:03
Speaker 3: we took the kids out of school and because we
9:05
Speaker 3: were self employed we could do that. And we drive
9:07
Speaker 3: up to Malawi. It was three four months and I'm like,
9:09
Speaker 3: this is what's missing. We were singing Bob O Moran,
9:13
Speaker 3: you know by the Beatles, and we were like having
9:14
Speaker 3: such a great time, and we realized that's the void
9:16
Speaker 3: that's missing is this is travel. So we returned home
9:19
Speaker 3: and then that was it. It all was sealed and
9:22
Speaker 3: we you know, sold up everything. And there's a story
9:25
Speaker 3: is we knew we could do it without even realizing
9:27
Speaker 3: we were able to do long term travel when Graham
9:31
Speaker 3: drove When we drove up to Mozambak and Graham got
9:33
Speaker 3: exceptionally like he got really sick. He lost like fifteen
9:36
Speaker 3: cages in ten days, which is what twenty thirty pounds
9:39
Speaker 3: and ten days. He was very sick. I would throw
9:41
Speaker 3: the tablets and him like, come on, man, get better.
9:44
Speaker 3: And you know, I'm I'm like the motherly type, but
9:46
Speaker 3: you know when men get sick, so you assume it
9:49
Speaker 3: wasn't Nat sick. But it was pretty bad and it was,
9:51
Speaker 3: you know, semi conscious or he could control himself. Threw
9:55
Speaker 3: him in the car and we drove up to Doris
9:56
Speaker 3: alarm and that was it. And we didn't even think
9:58
Speaker 3: of like a lot of people would proba say I
10:00
Speaker 3: can let's go back home. It's time to return home.
10:03
Speaker 3: We can't do this, it's too difficult, and we just
10:05
Speaker 3: sold it on. So I think that was like a
10:07
Speaker 3: point for us where we realized that realizing we can
10:09
Speaker 3: do this, and with the trip was only supposed to
10:11
Speaker 3: be a year and a half and that's why A
10:13
Speaker 3: to a expedition Argentina to Alaska and then obviously I didn't.
10:17
Speaker 2: Turn out that way, right, Yeah, yeah, So did you
10:21
Speaker 2: have any travel experience prior to that?
10:24
Speaker 3: Yes, So Graham and I both traveled well. When I
10:27
Speaker 3: was younger, I went to thirteen schools, so we were
10:31
Speaker 3: kind of like I lived in a caravan with my parents.
10:34
Speaker 3: My dad was a traveling salesman at one point, so
10:36
Speaker 3: we traveled the lights. And then when I was younger,
10:39
Speaker 3: I was in school and I said, well, this is
10:41
Speaker 3: nonsense and I'm not doing pretty good. This is like
10:45
Speaker 3: not for me. And I went to technical college and
10:47
Speaker 3: did business and then left school pretty early and put
10:51
Speaker 3: it back back on and went to travel Israel and
10:53
Speaker 3: took aberts and am a shav and then went to
10:56
Speaker 3: Egypt and traveled there, and then went to the UK
10:58
Speaker 3: and France and Cyprus. I did a bit of backpacking
11:01
Speaker 3: before I met Graham. Graham also did a bit of travel,
11:03
Speaker 3: so when we met each other, we we kind of
11:05
Speaker 3: just like it was we knew that we were going
11:07
Speaker 3: to do this, it was just at what points, right,
11:09
Speaker 3: So yeah.
11:10
Speaker 2: Do you remember how you decided to go to those
11:13
Speaker 2: places at that time to.
11:14
Speaker 3: Backpack when I was that age. Yeah, Well, I think
11:17
Speaker 3: Israel was easiest because South Africans didn't need visas back
11:20
Speaker 3: then for Israel, okay, And it was a very thin
11:23
Speaker 3: thing to do. The kibbutz was the easiest way for
11:25
Speaker 3: a person to be able to travel without putting themselves
11:28
Speaker 3: out there too quickly. So it was like you had
11:30
Speaker 3: a base and you could earn money while doing a voo.
11:33
Speaker 3: It was just a steppen, but you know, you could
11:34
Speaker 3: do something, meet new travelers and that kind of thing.
11:37
Speaker 3: Egypt was rught by Israel, and Egypt's always been an
11:40
Speaker 3: amazing just in terms of touristic attractions. It was always great.
11:44
Speaker 3: And then the UK, when you're in the area, you
11:46
Speaker 3: might as well fly to the UK. It was it
11:49
Speaker 3: wasn't like I decided that that's where I should go.
11:51
Speaker 3: It was just like on a bit of a woman.
11:53
Speaker 3: I suppose that's what our travels are now as well.
11:55
Speaker 3: We just decide on the women we wishould go.
11:56
Speaker 2: So that travel you did before you met Graham, Yeah,
12:00
Speaker 2: how did you guys meet? And when did that happen?
12:02
Speaker 3: Great mutual friends, all right, and we went to his
12:05
Speaker 3: friend's farewell party and we kind of met and Grandma
12:08
Speaker 3: always says I met him, get him over the head
12:11
Speaker 3: with Mike and I'm a battle acc and then dragging
12:13
Speaker 3: Wolf to a cage because once we met, there was
12:17
Speaker 3: it and we haven't really been a part since then.
12:20
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was what in those initial conversations drew
12:23
Speaker 2: you together. Do you remember at all.
12:25
Speaker 3: He said it was my laugh. Do I have a
12:29
Speaker 3: distinct cackle when I laugh? So you said that was
12:34
Speaker 3: the the lave We attracted him. And then when we
12:36
Speaker 3: started speaking, and then I had traveled and he had
12:38
Speaker 3: just come back from Israel, and we just had a
12:40
Speaker 3: had something in common. And in South Africa at that time,
12:44
Speaker 3: people were traveling, but not as often as like Americans
12:47
Speaker 3: or Europeans would travel. You know, it wasn't a thing.
12:50
Speaker 3: So it was I think that was exactly what just
12:52
Speaker 3: brought us closer together because we were tracted to each
12:55
Speaker 3: other obviously, and then that was just an added bonus.
12:58
Speaker 2: Nice. That's so awesome. So when you guys decided to leave,
13:01
Speaker 2: how old were your kids.
13:03
Speaker 3: Jessica was just just turned eight and Kilan was twelve.
13:08
Speaker 3: They were still young enough to be able to do it.
13:10
Speaker 3: We had always kempt, you know, we had always traveled,
13:13
Speaker 3: so that was great. They'd already because they were comfortable
13:15
Speaker 3: with camping or traveling, so it wasn't difficult for them.
13:18
Speaker 3: And like I always say, kids are debt so easily.
13:20
Speaker 3: We're the ones that are the ones that are We
13:22
Speaker 3: shouldn't do it because of this, you know, kids are
13:24
Speaker 3: like taking out of school and go traveling. What are
13:26
Speaker 3: you talking about? This is exactly what I want to do.
13:28
Speaker 3: And Kielan was shame. He was a bit of a
13:31
Speaker 3: little chebbykin and was bullied at school, so he was like,
13:34
Speaker 3: I'm right there, let's do this. Jessica was still young.
13:36
Speaker 3: She didn't obviously, she had a few friends at school.
13:39
Speaker 3: She loved school. You know, she was eighty years old,
13:41
Speaker 3: so she had a bit of a saying whether we
13:44
Speaker 3: could go, but it wasn't that much obviously, But so, yeah,
13:46
Speaker 3: they were young and to travel with I think, and
13:49
Speaker 3: that's why I say when people say, oh, my kids
13:51
Speaker 3: are too young, and I'm like, that's the best time
13:52
Speaker 3: to take them, right. Yeah.
13:54
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people too are intimidated or
13:57
Speaker 2: afraid to bring kids with them on their travels, which
14:00
Speaker 2: I mean, in some ways I can totally totally understand. Yeah,
14:03
Speaker 2: their hesitations. Yeah, you guys took the leap with your kids,
14:08
Speaker 2: and what have you seen in them that's changed over
14:11
Speaker 2: the years since you left.
14:13
Speaker 3: Kielan, you know, this weekend at the expo we were
14:15
Speaker 3: selling books and he could He's fantastic. You can see
14:18
Speaker 3: he can talk to anyone and he will stand there
14:21
Speaker 3: and chat to them for like a half an hour,
14:23
Speaker 3: and the person will be just like, what the heck,
14:25
Speaker 3: he's twenty two years old. Most twenty two year olds wouldn't,
14:27
Speaker 3: you know, they don't want to talk to anybody, or
14:29
Speaker 3: they got some issues or the shy. He is fantastic.
14:32
Speaker 3: He has completely transformed into this amazing man who's highly intelligent,
14:36
Speaker 3: who's so friendly, is a big giant, who's just he
14:39
Speaker 3: just wants to hug everybody. That kind of I love
14:41
Speaker 3: intibits obviously.
14:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:43
Speaker 3: And then Jessica, she has got this personality on her
14:46
Speaker 3: and this humor. Oh man, she yeah, she gets me
14:49
Speaker 3: every time. She is so she's so quick, and she
14:52
Speaker 3: is she's smart, you know. And I think the thing
14:55
Speaker 3: is like a lot of people are so worried about
14:57
Speaker 3: the kids not getting the education sitting in the classroom.
15:00
Speaker 3: They'll be fine, actually turn out better than I think
15:03
Speaker 3: they ever would have been if we had still stayed
15:05
Speaker 3: at home. I think there are yeah, ten times people
15:07
Speaker 3: there would have been, yeah.
15:08
Speaker 2: Did you do homeschooling on the road, Yes, yeah, we
15:11
Speaker 2: did so.
15:12
Speaker 3: In the beginning, we were like, let's make this, you know,
15:15
Speaker 3: do it properly. You know, the education. Kids got to
15:17
Speaker 3: get a your education. So we did school books this high,
15:21
Speaker 3: a pile of school books that high. And I was
15:23
Speaker 3: just like, oh, every time we stopped somewhere, we'd dedicate
15:26
Speaker 3: that time to do the schooling. We'd be on the
15:28
Speaker 3: beach in Brazil and the kids would have to do schooling.
15:30
Speaker 3: And eventually I realized it was like two years in
15:33
Speaker 3: and I realized this isn't working, and we're unhappy. The
15:35
Speaker 3: kids aren't happy. You know this. That was such a
15:38
Speaker 3: strain on our travel, and there was so much already
15:40
Speaker 3: going on that the last thing you wanted to do is
15:41
Speaker 3: add more difficulties to you to that stress already, because
15:45
Speaker 3: it is stressful to travel. You know, it's a vacation,
15:47
Speaker 3: but it's not that kind of vacation. And I said, turfeit.
15:50
Speaker 3: Let's just do English and maths and that was it,
15:53
Speaker 3: because that's a foundation for anything and everything. Right, So
15:55
Speaker 3: language and maths and everything else they learned. Then you know,
15:59
Speaker 3: they they're not stupid kids. You know they know what
16:02
Speaker 3: they're talking about. They learned culture and society, like okay,
16:05
Speaker 3: sign symbology is a different story. I mean, that's a
16:07
Speaker 3: bit difficult to learn on the road, but everything else
16:10
Speaker 3: that they need to be kids growing up in this world,
16:12
Speaker 3: they've got it done. So yeah, English and maths and
16:15
Speaker 3: then Kieland did his American GDS in South Africa when
16:18
Speaker 3: we returned home, and Jessica's about to do hers in
16:21
Speaker 3: the next two three months, so and then they'll be
16:23
Speaker 3: educated in terms of what we call a metric certification
16:27
Speaker 3: and Keilan will go over to the UK and then
16:30
Speaker 3: do it based studies and Jessica will do a vet's
16:33
Speaker 3: Assistant course with the Australian University Online.
16:36
Speaker 2: So oh great, that's so exciting. Yeah, what drew them
16:40
Speaker 2: to those areas to study?
16:42
Speaker 3: Now, Klan's a nerde so it was progressively that or
16:47
Speaker 3: you can either be a salesman because he sells. He
16:49
Speaker 3: can solve ice to a esc if I can confirm.
16:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, we had a great chat around the campfire
16:55
Speaker 2: the other night, and yeah, he could bes a salesman.
16:58
Speaker 2: It's pretty wonderful to watch.
16:59
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was so surprised because I mean he's always
17:02
Speaker 3: been very talkative, but the fact that he can be so,
17:04
Speaker 3: I don't know, he's just great. So he's a nerd
17:07
Speaker 3: and he loves computers, so he wanted to do something
17:09
Speaker 3: in terms of that, but he's also really good mechanically,
17:12
Speaker 3: so he's got so his idea is to do the
17:15
Speaker 3: icy thing and then maybe do a plumber's course, a
17:17
Speaker 3: electricians course, So he has multiple trades behind his back.
17:21
Speaker 3: So when he does travel, which he wants to do
17:24
Speaker 3: in the next five years, build his own rig and
17:26
Speaker 3: then go, he can work anywhere because he's got that
17:29
Speaker 3: behind his back. Jessica, she's also with animals. She can
17:32
Speaker 3: find an animal, the dog or the cat or whatever.
17:34
Speaker 3: We'll just roll over backwards. It's sorted. She's she's fantastic
17:37
Speaker 3: with animals, So it was progressed, like it made sense
17:40
Speaker 3: word to do that. Whether she chooses that path, it's
17:43
Speaker 3: entirely up to her. But I wanted to actually have
17:44
Speaker 3: something behind her back before she goes and leaves us,
17:47
Speaker 3: which will probably be in the next two years, which
17:49
Speaker 3: is fine. She'll join Kielan and I'll you know, they'll
17:51
Speaker 3: do it together.
17:52
Speaker 2: So you're spending a lot of time together as a family.
17:55
Speaker 2: Are there any instances where you guys have to go
17:58
Speaker 2: your like separate ways and how some quiet time or yes?
18:03
Speaker 3: If not, it would be weird. No, Yeah, we do.
18:07
Speaker 3: So when it gets to that point, we book an
18:09
Speaker 3: airbnb or a hostel or something where we can have
18:13
Speaker 3: our own separate rooms and then that's it. We just
18:15
Speaker 3: branch from each other. Jessica locks herself in the room
18:18
Speaker 3: and that that's it. We don't see you for days.
18:20
Speaker 3: You know, Kilan will still want to talk to it
18:22
Speaker 3: to you the whole time and I'm like, do you
18:24
Speaker 3: just give me that bit of space and he's like, no,
18:25
Speaker 3: he's there. He's got to talk about an idea or something.
18:28
Speaker 3: But yeah, we do have those moments, but we actually
18:31
Speaker 3: pretty well knitted together and it's and it's really weird
18:34
Speaker 3: because when we not together, there's always like it feels
18:37
Speaker 3: like there's a limb missing, you know, it doesn't feel complete.
18:41
Speaker 3: And I know when Keenan leaves us in the new year,
18:45
Speaker 3: I'm going to be sobbing like crazy, and I'm going
18:48
Speaker 3: to be like phoning him every day of every hour
18:51
Speaker 3: just to make sure he's fine. And it's going to
18:54
Speaker 3: be so hard because we've lived together for so many years.
18:58
Speaker 3: There's such a small space that we're like the same person,
19:02
Speaker 3: but with so many different personalities, like you know, multiple
19:05
Speaker 3: personality disorder in one individual, because we're so such a
19:09
Speaker 3: good family unit. We're really gel well obviously, otherwise we
19:12
Speaker 3: still wouldn't be doing this.
19:13
Speaker 2: Yet, when you think about overland travel, you think about
19:15
Speaker 2: the places you're going to or I fay camp spots
19:18
Speaker 2: with nobody else around and experiencing different cultures. But there
19:22
Speaker 2: is the day to day function of the family unit
19:26
Speaker 2: and the relationships between all of you, and then your
19:29
Speaker 2: marriage as well, and so how do you spend that
19:33
Speaker 2: much time together and make it work? But also how
19:38
Speaker 2: has the relationship changed between you and Graham over time?
19:42
Speaker 3: When I sat of the business, I was in twenty fifteen.
19:45
Speaker 3: I'm live because it's twenty twenty one now, possible, right, what.
19:49
Speaker 2: Is time, Luisa? What is time?
19:52
Speaker 3: For European?
19:54
Speaker 2: That's fair?
19:55
Speaker 3: It's fair, Yeah, two thousand and five. Sorry, it was
19:57
Speaker 3: when we started the business, and I sorted the business
20:00
Speaker 3: in two thousand and six, so Graham joined me, and
20:03
Speaker 3: since that time we've been together twenty four hours a day.
20:06
Speaker 3: So I think it was good for us to transition
20:09
Speaker 3: from being together with the business into that kind of
20:12
Speaker 3: life because it was easier. I know a lot of
20:14
Speaker 3: people that have traveled and then returned home and got
20:17
Speaker 3: divorced or they separated and then they needed some time apart.
20:20
Speaker 3: Because it's just a very strenuous thing on a relationship,
20:24
Speaker 3: because you get to know people so well. Those little things,
20:28
Speaker 3: those little tippets that you like, oh, can you live
20:31
Speaker 3: with someone? Now it's compounded because you're constantly with them
20:34
Speaker 3: and you can't get away from them. It's like, oh
20:36
Speaker 3: my god, this is actually annoying, and you're annoying, but
20:39
Speaker 3: you know, you work through that. I think everyone has
20:42
Speaker 3: a job and everyone does a chore, and you need
20:45
Speaker 3: to do that so we can all gel together. So
20:47
Speaker 3: Jessica does dishes and breakfasts and lunch dishes and kiland
20:51
Speaker 3: does dinner dashes. I do the planning, navigating and everything else.
20:54
Speaker 3: And Graham does the driving and he keeps like his
20:57
Speaker 3: peace maker kind of thing, so he makes everyone just
20:59
Speaker 3: do what he does. Well, Jessica's a peace maker. Grams
21:02
Speaker 3: like the captain a couple ton. But yeah, that's exactly it.
21:05
Speaker 3: We live in such a small space. No one can
21:07
Speaker 3: have an attitude, no one can be obnoxious, potentious, and
21:11
Speaker 3: that is exactly what it is. I think that's why
21:13
Speaker 3: it does work for us. So we have arguments we
21:16
Speaker 3: do fights. We don't fight. Fights is a terrible I
21:19
Speaker 3: don't like that we disagree. The older Kiellan gets, the
21:22
Speaker 3: more it becomes our Graham, so that I've got two
21:24
Speaker 3: Grahams that I have to deal with, which is difficult.
21:27
Speaker 3: So Quila and our bash bash heads, but we love
21:30
Speaker 3: each other intendsity. I think Graham and Jessica are great together,
21:32
Speaker 3: and jess A Quillan and I are great together. So
21:34
Speaker 3: you know, the mother mother and son and daughter and
21:37
Speaker 3: by the kind of relationship that normal families have. But
21:39
Speaker 3: we also you know, we get along with each other
21:42
Speaker 3: perfectly fine. And there's like a quick tell you a
21:45
Speaker 3: quick story. There was we were at a campsite in
21:47
Speaker 3: Columbia and oh it was dry and dusting and waiting
21:51
Speaker 3: for times to be delivered and it was just this
21:53
Speaker 3: saga that was just never ending. And Keelan turned to
21:56
Speaker 3: me and he said, he says, he said, you're like
21:58
Speaker 3: the devil. I say, he said, you are the devil,
22:00
Speaker 3: because I was just it was hot, and I was like,
22:02
Speaker 3: just do this, scoot and get this done, do this
22:04
Speaker 3: and then just let's move on with the lines, you know,
22:05
Speaker 3: And he was like, you said that. I just turned
22:07
Speaker 3: around and I looked at him and he ran, but
22:10
Speaker 3: he ran, he ran, but he fell over a log
22:14
Speaker 3: and he did a summersault and he ran to the
22:16
Speaker 3: wall and he was just sitting there bleeding. And I
22:18
Speaker 3: was like, and since then I didn't need to say,
22:20
Speaker 3: like everyone knows how to you know, just be better.
22:23
Speaker 3: You know, I think that's just be better.
22:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think to you, being on the road and
22:27
Speaker 2: being around each other all the time is another aspect
22:30
Speaker 2: of adapting. Yes, and we've talked about that before. How
22:34
Speaker 2: adapting is probably one of the most important either skill
22:38
Speaker 2: sets or abilities that you can have on the road.
22:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, Yeah, And I think this is it.
22:43
Speaker 3: I mean, these things change. Your travel plans change. I
22:46
Speaker 3: mean if you look and you go, oh, well, I'm
22:48
Speaker 3: going to do this, I'm going to do this country,
22:50
Speaker 3: I'm going to do that, and you run out of
22:52
Speaker 3: money like we did. We were broke five times, you know,
22:55
Speaker 3: like we had literally no money. You can't foresee what's
22:58
Speaker 3: going to happen, so us I take it easy and
23:01
Speaker 3: just relax and things will work out eventually. You know,
23:04
Speaker 3: either roadcarm or it's the road gods, whichever one you
23:06
Speaker 3: want to lean to. It it'll sort itself out. Yeah.
23:09
Speaker 2: So what did you guys do in those situations where
23:13
Speaker 2: you needed to that? Yeah? Exactly.
23:16
Speaker 3: One time was in Ecuador and the taxman had sent
23:19
Speaker 3: my mother a letter. It was in terms of a
23:21
Speaker 3: business that I still had, and it was it was silly,
23:24
Speaker 3: but anyway, the tax man said, you have so many
23:25
Speaker 3: days to fix the problem. She never told me and
23:27
Speaker 3: the taxman to call her money so emptied our bank
23:29
Speaker 3: account and they were like, oh, this is awesome. Well
23:32
Speaker 3: obviously I didn't react like that, but I had a
23:34
Speaker 3: bit of a fit and we then borrowed money. And
23:37
Speaker 3: obviously that was paid back a year later by the
23:39
Speaker 3: tax man, but we had to borrow some money. What
23:42
Speaker 3: Graham did then and exactly, I think this is what
23:44
Speaker 3: that moment was, the moment for us to travel further,
23:47
Speaker 3: or the stepping stone. He decided, well, I'm going to
23:48
Speaker 3: write a book because he's always been very he was
23:51
Speaker 3: always poetic and he always loved to write poems and stuff.
23:54
Speaker 3: And that's where the book writing started. He was like, no,
23:57
Speaker 3: I'm going to sort this out. I'm going to write
23:58
Speaker 3: a book, which he did, and I believe it's pretty successful.
24:01
Speaker 3: I think people love it. So, so that was that instance.
24:04
Speaker 3: And then another instance was when we were Alaska and
24:07
Speaker 3: we were it was just the US was crazy expensive,
24:10
Speaker 3: and you know, we had this deal with a mobile
24:13
Speaker 3: network that was supposed to go through and never did.
24:16
Speaker 3: But there was like the one guy said, oh, i'll
24:18
Speaker 3: meet you. You have some books. We had some books
24:20
Speaker 3: on stock and he bought three books and he didn't
24:23
Speaker 3: I don't know if he still knows to this day.
24:25
Speaker 3: Those three books got us enough fuel money to get
24:27
Speaker 3: to Canada, to get money that was from book sells
24:30
Speaker 3: that his mother had sent to Canada instead of Alaska.
24:32
Speaker 3: Not sure anyway, that guy saved us, you know, from
24:35
Speaker 3: sitting stranded in the middle of Homer, Alaska. So it's
24:38
Speaker 3: little things just happen, and it's the hospitality of people
24:42
Speaker 3: without them realizing you're really helping me out right now,
24:45
Speaker 3: That's how it happens. So yeah, the other instance is, yeah,
24:47
Speaker 3: same thing, people just helping out. It's been fantastic.
24:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do. I think it requires a little bit
24:52
Speaker 2: of bravery sometimes to Austrianity. One of the Yeah, totally totally.
25:00
Speaker 2: All the travels that you've done, how have they changed you?
25:03
Speaker 3: I think? Okay, So I was very stressed and very
25:07
Speaker 3: anxious when we're in South Africa. I have had a
25:10
Speaker 3: serious motor vehicle accent when I was younger, so I
25:13
Speaker 3: had a lot of panic attacks. Now I don't get
25:15
Speaker 3: panic attacks anymore. I'm still stressed as one is, you know,
25:19
Speaker 3: being on the road it is stressful, but it's a
25:21
Speaker 3: different kind of stress. I think it's made me more badass.
25:24
Speaker 3: You know, I'm open to change. You know, I'm not
25:27
Speaker 3: like militant, so it's got to be this way. I'm
25:29
Speaker 3: more supportive, probably more kind, more understanding.
25:33
Speaker 2: So you say it's made you more badass?
25:35
Speaker 3: How How so I think I'm not afraid as much
25:38
Speaker 3: as what I used to be. You know, I still
25:40
Speaker 3: have like my biggest phobia, and it's not even if
25:42
Speaker 3: it's a phobia a hed it'll be a little bit
25:44
Speaker 3: more challenged to do something that that phobia I'm like
25:47
Speaker 3: really terrified of. I think that as a parent, you
25:50
Speaker 3: always put yourself in such a situation where you're like, well,
25:52
Speaker 3: I can't do this because you know it's not right
25:55
Speaker 3: or it's like people because society dictates how you should
25:58
Speaker 3: act as a woman and as mother, and those if
26:01
Speaker 3: you don't fall into those two records. Oh you know
26:03
Speaker 3: that's wrong. Like someone will listen and go, oh, you
26:05
Speaker 3: were broke five times with kids, irresponsible of you, and
26:08
Speaker 3: you're like, well, no, because it worked out.
26:10
Speaker 2: Right.
26:10
Speaker 3: If it didn't work out, there's always something that helps
26:13
Speaker 3: you out. So for me, it was the fact that
26:15
Speaker 3: I can do things without thinking about it too much,
26:18
Speaker 3: like just do it, you know, have a bottle of
26:20
Speaker 3: wine and go oh, well, I'm getting to French Guiana
26:22
Speaker 3: and Surinam and British Guiana and cross the Amazon without
26:25
Speaker 3: thinking about it. It's just like, yeah, I'm going to
26:27
Speaker 3: do that. Yeah. I think that's that's the difference between
26:29
Speaker 3: me and the real that levies are back those years. Well,
26:32
Speaker 3: I wouldn't have done it that way. I would have
26:34
Speaker 3: been like that, Kay, it's planned.
26:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's an interesting balance. I think when you're on
26:40
Speaker 2: the road of it gives you an increased sense of confidence,
26:43
Speaker 2: but at the same time you're more worried about simple
26:47
Speaker 2: things like where am I going to find food? Where
26:49
Speaker 2: am I going to camp? Where are we going to
26:50
Speaker 2: find water? Where are we going next?
26:52
Speaker 3: Yeah?
26:52
Speaker 2: And those are very basic survival exact skills, I guess,
26:57
Speaker 2: whereas at home you're worried more about all of these
27:00
Speaker 2: other things, and so you have the confidence to move forward,
27:03
Speaker 2: but also different stressors.
27:05
Speaker 3: I guess, yes, exactly that when we came back to
27:09
Speaker 3: South Africa and litle friends and they like, I want
27:12
Speaker 3: to know your story, but they don't want to know
27:13
Speaker 3: your story because you know what it's like, you know,
27:15
Speaker 3: and you're like the mona bat things that really shouldn't
27:20
Speaker 3: be important but really are, and you kind of go, damn, yeah,
27:24
Speaker 3: you know, I'm dropping my kidslf school of people, the
27:27
Speaker 3: mothers and stuff like that, and you kind of go,
27:29
Speaker 3: that was me, damn yeah, and I'm out of it.
27:32
Speaker 2: Yes. I remember. Richard, my husband was when we went home.
27:37
Speaker 2: He was working for a heating geothermal heating company. He
27:42
Speaker 2: had a call from a client and they were like
27:44
Speaker 2: upset that their towel warmer wasn't heating up quickly enough.
27:48
Speaker 2: And this was after we came home, and we were
27:50
Speaker 2: coming home is really really hard. It's like a reverse
27:53
Speaker 2: culture shock, and you've seen so much, right, and he
27:55
Speaker 2: was just like, I can't do this job anymore. And
27:58
Speaker 2: I you know, I don't want to criticize somebody about
28:01
Speaker 2: a towelwarmer. You know what I mean. But I think
28:03
Speaker 2: it's just having that perspective of yeah, what do you
28:05
Speaker 2: really want? I guess yeah, But.
28:08
Speaker 3: It's for different folks. Example, we'll do like two three
28:10
Speaker 3: months trips. As to me, as long as you're traveling
28:13
Speaker 3: and experiencing different cultures and putting yourself out there, that's enough. Yeah.
28:18
Speaker 2: If that's what you want to do exactly, Or if
28:21
Speaker 2: you want to ride horses, do that, or if you
28:23
Speaker 2: want to go hiking, do that. You know, this is
28:26
Speaker 2: just one facet of living your dream, so to.
28:28
Speaker 3: Speak, exactly. Yeah, being out there, that's the most important thing,
28:31
Speaker 3: actually being out there, appreciating nature in life.
28:34
Speaker 2: So you were talking about society's prescribed roles for women.
28:38
Speaker 2: What do you think the benefits are of being a
28:40
Speaker 2: woman on the road.
28:40
Speaker 3: I think it's check of all chades. I mean I
28:43
Speaker 3: was always that way. I was business orientated, make the
28:46
Speaker 3: money because you know, I grew up relatively poor, can
28:49
Speaker 3: I say in American standards anyway, So for me, it
28:52
Speaker 3: was all about making the money the American dream. And
28:54
Speaker 3: now it's like I do the electrics on the vehicle,
28:58
Speaker 3: and you know I do all of their I am
29:00
Speaker 3: the mechanics assistant. I do navigating, I do editing of
29:05
Speaker 3: the books, I do graphic design of the books. I'm
29:07
Speaker 3: like and all the things that don't make me money obviously,
29:10
Speaker 3: But it's just become different. You change in that sense
29:14
Speaker 3: that you're willing to explore different avenues that I would
29:18
Speaker 3: never have done before. I would never have seen myself
29:20
Speaker 3: in this role. I can do so much more than
29:22
Speaker 3: I was before I left, you know. So yeah, I
29:25
Speaker 3: can change wheelbearings or I can, you know, change the
29:28
Speaker 3: CPS on my vehicle.
29:30
Speaker 2: You know.
29:30
Speaker 3: I'll tell you a quick story. There was like we
29:32
Speaker 3: were in the Congo and we had issues with a vehicle.
29:34
Speaker 3: It was stuttering, and it was late on a Sunday
29:36
Speaker 3: night and the guys we all drinking palm one the
29:38
Speaker 3: locals and smacking the vehicle and blocking the roads. We
29:41
Speaker 3: were like, oh my gosh, this is like the worst
29:42
Speaker 3: place to get stuck on light night was coming and
29:44
Speaker 3: found this a little place where we could park, and
29:47
Speaker 3: you know, got in there and sold it. The CPS
29:50
Speaker 3: together and fixed that, and obviously Graham assisted, and then
29:53
Speaker 3: Kielan was making a fire with a piece of filet
29:56
Speaker 3: that we had kept from Cameroon and all of that,
29:59
Speaker 3: you know, like change and what you can do. Don't
30:02
Speaker 3: realize how bad is you until you should get into
30:04
Speaker 3: the situation. Go well, I did that KOs to me
30:07
Speaker 3: kind of thing, you know. So yes, women, that whole
30:09
Speaker 3: situation where you have to be the cook or you
30:11
Speaker 3: have to be this change is completely when you're on
30:13
Speaker 3: the road. I love it.
30:15
Speaker 2: Do You were there certain circumstances where you and Jessica
30:18
Speaker 2: got an insight into I don't know, the insider look
30:22
Speaker 2: at another world because your women, Like were you invaded anywhere?
30:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think traditionally women are the cooks
30:30
Speaker 3: and the cleaners and that kind of thing. In Africa
30:32
Speaker 3: it's a bit different because the women do also work
30:34
Speaker 3: the fields. But we were in a We were in Turkey,
30:38
Speaker 3: So I love Turkey. Guys, been too Turkey.
30:40
Speaker 2: We went backpacking there, but we haven't been there by
30:42
Speaker 2: vehicle yet, but I hope.
30:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's awesome, you know, Yeah, just the people hospitable,
30:46
Speaker 3: and you know, because culture, you look at the cultural
30:49
Speaker 3: religion or whatever, and you al really have that reconceived
30:52
Speaker 3: idea of how women are treated within the culture. And
30:56
Speaker 3: we were parked. One of the times that we were
30:59
Speaker 3: broken was we were parked alongside the Hilton in this
31:02
Speaker 3: very small seaside tan in Turkey. We were waiting for
31:06
Speaker 3: one of our articles to be paid and it was holidays,
31:09
Speaker 3: so we were like stuck. We were like stuck. Okay,
31:11
Speaker 3: what are we gonna do? We can't go anyway, all right,
31:13
Speaker 3: so let's stay alongside the Hilton. Graham was washing dishes
31:16
Speaker 3: and this old lady came out, you know, with a
31:18
Speaker 3: head god and everything, and she bought this cake and
31:22
Speaker 3: a cold steaming hot cake and a two liter bottle
31:25
Speaker 3: of coke and she was like, yeah, you go, you know,
31:28
Speaker 3: and it was just amazing the way that she just
31:30
Speaker 3: came out, because you know, women aren't And we went there, Jessica,
31:35
Speaker 3: I went there. She just brought it out to Graham
31:36
Speaker 3: and Keenan and you know that culture she shouldn't be
31:40
Speaker 3: talking to just random guys on the street kind of thing.
31:42
Speaker 3: And then we went into a house and sat and
31:44
Speaker 3: chatted for three hours via Google contrants, saycause she wouldn't
31:47
Speaker 3: speak a word of English and I didn't speak a
31:48
Speaker 3: word of Turkish. Women are women are strong individuals and
31:53
Speaker 3: across the world, and we've got a saying like as
31:55
Speaker 3: strong as a Bolivian woman, because wow, you know those
31:58
Speaker 3: Bolivian women only sixty years older, they look like the
32:01
Speaker 3: one hundred because they're dragging the pieces of wood or
32:04
Speaker 3: the rocks or whatever on their backs. There's there's no
32:07
Speaker 3: woman that's not got empowered in some way without you know,
32:11
Speaker 3: you need to like look deep inside. I think within
32:14
Speaker 3: different cultures women are respected more than a lot of
32:17
Speaker 3: people realize for sure.
32:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, what was the conversation on Google Translate? Like it was?
32:23
Speaker 3: It was just weird. We spoke about so many things
32:25
Speaker 3: like why do we travel, what we travel? And then
32:28
Speaker 3: we spoke about a family. And her daughter was actually
32:30
Speaker 3: a TV diitician, so she was Yeah, so she was
32:33
Speaker 3: on TV talking about diets and stuff, and she phoned
32:37
Speaker 3: her and she was like, hey, I got these people. Yeah,
32:39
Speaker 3: and she was like, hey, if you're there for the
32:41
Speaker 3: next weekend, I'll fly and I'll show you around. And
32:43
Speaker 3: we're like, oh, shure, no, we don't have money to
32:45
Speaker 3: be entertained. Firstly, and once we get our cashier out here,
32:48
Speaker 3: you know, it wasn't like good. Yeah, so it was
32:50
Speaker 3: random stuff and she just wanted to give us stuff
32:52
Speaker 3: the whole time. So she made more food while we
32:53
Speaker 3: were sitting there waiting and the guys and Grandma's like,
32:55
Speaker 3: what the heck is going on? And I'm like, well,
32:57
Speaker 3: we're just chatting and like you say, what do you
32:58
Speaker 3: chatting about? For three hours? But you'll be surprise. It
33:00
Speaker 3: was just an insight into how she lives. And before
33:03
Speaker 3: we left, you open the kitchen covereds and once to
33:05
Speaker 3: give me pot scars and spaghetti and I'm like, what,
33:08
Speaker 3: so random? But it was awesome.
33:12
Speaker 2: I love it. Those experiences. Yeah, they're why we do
33:15
Speaker 2: what we do exactly. That's great. Yeah, Which countries would
33:19
Speaker 2: you go back to if you could?
33:21
Speaker 3: Definitely Turkey, Morocco, Argentina, Brazil. I'll be back in the US,
33:26
Speaker 3: So that's that. Yeah, I think those those countries. Europe's great,
33:31
Speaker 3: so I think the whole of Europe. Yeah, those those Morocco, Turkey, definitely, Argentina,
33:35
Speaker 3: Brazilt result was amazing because of it's so diverse between
33:39
Speaker 3: the north and the south. Its gorgeous, easy to travel
33:42
Speaker 3: in Argentina. You know, Argentina, it's just it's Argentina, great meat,
33:46
Speaker 3: great wine. We South African side, it's the first thing
33:48
Speaker 3: we go for. And Turkey, the people are fantastic. It
33:51
Speaker 3: is so easy to travel in and Morocco is just gorgeous. Yeah,
33:56
Speaker 3: there's no beating those four countries for me personally, and
33:59
Speaker 3: obviously the US because there's the ease of travel and
34:01
Speaker 3: you guys have got such amazing parks and trails and
34:04
Speaker 3: it's just it's fantastic. Yeah, people should travel more and
34:08
Speaker 3: they're back one and a little bit more because it's
34:10
Speaker 3: definitely worth it.
34:11
Speaker 2: While a lot of people ask about security and the
34:14
Speaker 2: feeling of safety, did you ever have an experience or
34:17
Speaker 2: experiences where you felt like you were unsafe?
34:20
Speaker 3: Yes, unfortunately two occasions. Well not two countries, different countries.
34:26
Speaker 3: The first one was Nigeria, and you know you're not
34:29
Speaker 3: because most people, Yes, Nigeria, it was a beautiful country
34:33
Speaker 3: and the people in the beginning. I think perhaps that's
34:36
Speaker 3: the thing. It's different regions of Nigeria that we experienced
34:39
Speaker 3: different hospitality or feelings. The first part of Nigeria was
34:44
Speaker 3: amazing and really like everyone was like, oh, you're welcome,
34:47
Speaker 3: you know, it was that kind of just amazing hospitality.
34:51
Speaker 3: And then we hit to a certain region and I
34:53
Speaker 3: think that's where it just went to hell. You know,
34:55
Speaker 3: we saw a dead body lying on the side of
34:57
Speaker 3: the road. And then there was a shoot outside a compound,
35:01
Speaker 3: or were shot outside the compound where we were parked at.
35:04
Speaker 3: And then the guy let me a convoyed with. He
35:06
Speaker 3: caused some issues and had a chap called aka cock
35:09
Speaker 3: the ak forty seven at him and so that I
35:12
Speaker 3: think just made it worse. But then you got into
35:14
Speaker 3: the highlands and it was gorgeous and it was full
35:17
Speaker 3: drive for four days and then it was just like
35:19
Speaker 3: Scottish Islands. It's amazing, it was gorgeous. So every like Nigeria,
35:23
Speaker 3: was felt unsafe. But I think it was also the
35:26
Speaker 3: circumstances were putting ourselves in like so if we didn't
35:28
Speaker 3: convey with that chap, we probably would have felt a
35:30
Speaker 3: lot safer. So it's like how you travel and we
35:33
Speaker 3: don't use your convoy because we don't like being at
35:35
Speaker 3: the hands and the mercy of someone else. And then
35:37
Speaker 3: South Africa is obviously a little bit more difficult. We
35:40
Speaker 3: were robbed three times and that made us feel unsafe.
35:44
Speaker 3: I mean we were in a municipal campground and the
35:47
Speaker 3: guy was got outsand a ladder and was standing staring
35:50
Speaker 3: at me or the window opening while we were sleeping
35:53
Speaker 3: in the camp at like three in the morning, so
35:54
Speaker 3: it was just random stuff like that. I would suggest
35:57
Speaker 3: just travel to South Africa. I'm saying, it's not that,
35:59
Speaker 3: not that it's so maybe just choose your spots. Was
36:02
Speaker 3: a sleep thing for us to have camp there that night,
36:04
Speaker 3: So yeah, do you travel to South Africa because it
36:06
Speaker 3: is gorgeous.
36:07
Speaker 2: I think that's the thing is that in experience, you
36:09
Speaker 2: can have experiences like those anywhere in the world, you know,
36:13
Speaker 2: like Vancouver in Canada. Things can happen like that there too.
36:17
Speaker 3: Exactly.
36:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just about taking listening to your intuition. That's
36:21
Speaker 2: not the majority of the time traveling our experiences like those.
36:25
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. I
36:26
Speaker 2: don't Yeah, yeah, I agree with you.
36:28
Speaker 3: It's like we, like I say, if we didn't convoy
36:30
Speaker 3: with them, we probably wouldn't have felt that unsafe, and
36:33
Speaker 3: the shooting outside the hotel would have been not okay
36:36
Speaker 3: then at no point was okay, But we would have
36:38
Speaker 3: felt safer because we were also convoying with the same
36:41
Speaker 3: guy and he was stating there talking madly, and we
36:44
Speaker 3: were like the local start running and hushing up that's
36:47
Speaker 3: what you should be doing. So I think it's just
36:49
Speaker 3: being more aware of your surroundings and then you won't
36:52
Speaker 3: have that situation.
36:53
Speaker 2: It's important to realize both sides of it, and I
36:56
Speaker 2: think be prepared but also have an open mind. Are
36:59
Speaker 2: there instances how you feel afraid when you're on the
37:01
Speaker 2: road or does that not happen very often?
37:04
Speaker 3: I think maybe like when you stay at a place
37:06
Speaker 3: like well, we're into airbnb or something for a week
37:09
Speaker 3: or so, and then you always have a little bit
37:11
Speaker 3: of a nervousness when you get back on the road.
37:13
Speaker 3: I don't know why. It's just like ah, damn, you know,
37:16
Speaker 3: you want to get back, but you're like, what's going
37:18
Speaker 3: to be around the corner? Because you had that like
37:19
Speaker 3: little piece of heaven. Everything was fine and it wasn't
37:22
Speaker 3: your place you needed to worry about. You didn't need
37:24
Speaker 3: to go to work, but you were working, but you
37:26
Speaker 3: didn't have to physically go, and you know, put yourself
37:28
Speaker 3: there into the community kind of thing. And then you're like, ah,
37:30
Speaker 3: I'm leaving, I've got to go back on the road.
37:32
Speaker 3: What's around the corner? But that's about the owning. Yeah,
37:35
Speaker 3: besides that, there's nothing really else to fear and fear
37:39
Speaker 3: itself not true.
37:40
Speaker 2: That's good. Yeah, sometimes I think going through border crossings
37:44
Speaker 2: can be like that. It's not fear necessarily an anticipation
37:47
Speaker 2: because you understood how that the previous country works to
37:51
Speaker 2: a certain extent, and you know what to anticipate or expect,
37:54
Speaker 2: and then you get to the border and you're like excited,
37:57
Speaker 2: but you're also like, oh my gosh, everything might be
38:00
Speaker 2: about to change and how are we going to adapt
38:02
Speaker 2: and fit in.
38:02
Speaker 3: I do all the border crossings, and Graham does it
38:05
Speaker 3: on purpose because I'm kind of like, eh, I can
38:07
Speaker 3: I say. I'm quite a grud not aggressive, but I'm like,
38:10
Speaker 3: you know, I know what I'm doing. Just like move
38:12
Speaker 3: all away. I'm like, I'm going to get this done
38:14
Speaker 3: and then I'm finished, you know, so you know, you'll
38:16
Speaker 3: be at me retain your border crossing and like they
38:19
Speaker 3: don't allow women to be in the same q as men,
38:21
Speaker 3: and I'll be standing. Then I'm gonna go, well, Drame's
38:24
Speaker 3: not going to stand. He's got to look after the vehicle.
38:26
Speaker 3: I actually enjoy it.
38:27
Speaker 2: I don't mind it nice. You probably have had to
38:30
Speaker 2: put quite a bit of time into researching for carnes
38:33
Speaker 2: and visas and all that stuff. Do you have any
38:36
Speaker 2: tipso tricks?
38:37
Speaker 3: I find out if if the country really needs a
38:40
Speaker 3: kannae because it's an expense. So we got a kane
38:43
Speaker 3: back and before we left, and you have to put
38:45
Speaker 3: a security composit down so it can be a lot
38:48
Speaker 3: or it could be a little. So if it's a lot,
38:50
Speaker 3: then I out if the country really needs the kanak
38:52
Speaker 3: because otherwise you're going to be stuck like we've been
38:54
Speaker 3: had ten years and that money has been lying there.
38:57
Speaker 3: So you know that kind of thing. Forums, what's up? Groups?
39:00
Speaker 3: You know, chat to people that are coming from the
39:02
Speaker 3: other direction or going the same direction. Do it together.
39:04
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's easier. Don't be arrogant. Yes soon, no sir, yes, ma'am.
39:09
Speaker 3: That kind of that kind of thing. I hate to
39:11
Speaker 3: do it, but they love it. They love the power.
39:13
Speaker 3: And then the fact that they have the power to
39:15
Speaker 3: deny you entry. You just got to put up with it,
39:17
Speaker 3: you know. And paperwork, keep all their paperwork. Someone we
39:21
Speaker 3: were crossing to Peru, and you know, you do the
39:23
Speaker 3: crossing Argentina Chili Alaska, Oh my god, wrong, consonants actually
39:31
Speaker 3: and Argentina back and forth, and we got to Peru
39:34
Speaker 3: and they were like, oh, yeah, you'd been here before,
39:36
Speaker 3: and like it was like a few years ago, and
39:38
Speaker 3: they were like, well, we want to see the exit
39:40
Speaker 3: stamp on that passport that you have, and but then
39:42
Speaker 3: we had already been through like three passports and so
39:45
Speaker 3: we had to drag out those passport. I was a livid,
39:47
Speaker 3: but I'd kept those passports. I hadn't sent it home,
39:50
Speaker 3: and I didn't chuck them. You know, So keep that
39:52
Speaker 3: paperwork because some way down the line, they're going to
39:54
Speaker 3: naby on it, and then you know there's going to
39:56
Speaker 3: be a fine of some kind, because it's just another
39:58
Speaker 3: way to try and rib you right.
40:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, were there any circumstances where you couldn't get through
40:03
Speaker 2: a border or they had to they turned you it
40:05
Speaker 2: around for some reason?
40:06
Speaker 3: Nokause I'm quite persistent. Sometimes you have to be yeah, exactly,
40:11
Speaker 3: I'm not turning around. There was one instance recently actually
40:14
Speaker 3: during the COVID times, and we were we were traveling
40:18
Speaker 3: from Mozambique up to take corridor. We had been back
40:21
Speaker 3: and forth in the roads were terrible up there for
40:23
Speaker 3: for now for some reason, it was rainy season. But anyway,
40:26
Speaker 3: they we were supposed to get a litter of permission
40:29
Speaker 3: to cross into Yeah, it was Zambia from the Minister
40:32
Speaker 3: of Health for to confirm that our COVID tests were
40:35
Speaker 3: a right. And I'm like, dude, no one says this
40:37
Speaker 3: doesn't even show this on your finger. And he was
40:39
Speaker 3: carrying on. He was like, now you've got to go back.
40:41
Speaker 3: And our visas for Mozambiqua actually had expired, so we
40:43
Speaker 3: had to pay a fine to leave Mozambique, so we
40:46
Speaker 3: knew we couldn't get a new one going in anyway.
40:48
Speaker 3: Long Rigmarole, I was so liberd and when I get cross,
40:51
Speaker 3: when I get really angry, I start tearing up and
40:54
Speaker 3: I just like, it's so frustrated. I want to just
40:56
Speaker 3: do something physical. So my reaction is just cry, Like
41:01
Speaker 3: just cry, because that's the best way. I just go
41:03
Speaker 3: and I'm like and the guy was like he thought
41:05
Speaker 3: this was hysterical. He made me cry, and Graham was like,
41:08
Speaker 3: I'm going to kick yours.
41:10
Speaker 2: So eventually we.
41:11
Speaker 3: Got through it. And that was the only time that
41:13
Speaker 3: the guy wanted to turn me back because I was
41:15
Speaker 3: refusing to pay the bribe. Eventually we paid the bribe.
41:17
Speaker 3: We got in, but There's point is that you shouldn't
41:19
Speaker 3: pay a bribe to get into a country that you
41:21
Speaker 3: needuly permitted to be.
41:22
Speaker 2: And so yeah, sometimes the rules you just throw them
41:25
Speaker 2: out the window, and sometimes you need to adhere. Yeah exactly,
41:28
Speaker 2: you know.
41:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a guy. We crossed into the Peru
41:31
Speaker 3: and border eventually, and then cops pulled us over that
41:33
Speaker 3: I don't know why we had so much trouble in Peru.
41:36
Speaker 3: They wanted to find us for everything. Multa Malta, you know,
41:38
Speaker 3: I think a Brian bribe the all time. Yeah. And
41:41
Speaker 3: he pulls us over and our windows were tinted and
41:43
Speaker 3: he was like Malta. I'm like for what. He's like,
41:45
Speaker 3: your windows are tinted and I'm like yeah, ok. And
41:48
Speaker 3: We're carried on back and forth as bantering, and eventually
41:50
Speaker 3: I went to got out and he said, come come,
41:52
Speaker 3: I'll show you the book which shows you have to
41:54
Speaker 3: pay this amount of money. It was ludicrous, shows me
41:57
Speaker 3: in the book. And I'm like okay. And then his
42:00
Speaker 3: co windows were ten to some. I'm like Walter, and
42:04
Speaker 3: I was like, okay, you got a point, all right,
42:06
Speaker 3: got so if it works for me, it's you should
42:10
Speaker 3: be getting fine as well you know you can't.
42:12
Speaker 2: So yeah, humor is good, Yeah, exact. Yeah. Do you
42:16
Speaker 2: guys travel with music?
42:18
Speaker 3: We do also travel with TV shows. So like you've
42:23
Speaker 3: got kids, they want to watch a bit of TV
42:24
Speaker 3: kind of thing. So great story. We got to this
42:26
Speaker 3: one video and it's all the YouTube channel. I thinks
42:29
Speaker 3: to all of us driving through the Amazon Yeah, calls forth.
42:32
Speaker 3: You can't even see through the windows on the Science
42:34
Speaker 3: because it's just mud everywhere, and there's us listening to
42:37
Speaker 3: either Cheers or Seinfeld because it's the easiest one. You
42:41
Speaker 3: recognize all the characters. They're not leaving the space that
42:44
Speaker 3: they're in, so they're not exploring or doing anything. It's
42:47
Speaker 3: always the pub for Cheers, and there's always the apartment
42:50
Speaker 3: for Seinfeld. You know, all the characters. So you can
42:52
Speaker 3: drive and you can listen to it, you know, on
42:54
Speaker 3: the laptop. So yeah, we listen to music, but Seinfeld
42:57
Speaker 3: and Cheers, and then we listen to like MPR as
42:59
Speaker 3: a car talk. Man. I love those guys. It's a tradition.
43:04
Speaker 3: Every time I make flapjacks on a Sunday, we can't
43:08
Speaker 3: do the tradition that we listen to NPR car talk
43:10
Speaker 3: or wait wait, don't tell me, so we'll be anywhere
43:13
Speaker 3: in the world listening to car talk. Don't tell.
43:17
Speaker 2: Oh my god, do you guys have like an album
43:20
Speaker 2: on repeat right now at all? Music wise?
43:23
Speaker 3: No, Jessica's DJ, she's got all the poppy stuff, and
43:26
Speaker 3: then when Keelan gets in the front, then it's like
43:28
Speaker 3: all the Pixies and it's all like the heavy surf
43:31
Speaker 3: what she can do for a bit, and then I guess,
43:32
Speaker 3: like a little you know too much. So Jessica's like
43:34
Speaker 3: music DJ. She loves it.
43:36
Speaker 2: Nice, nice, Yeah, music is awesome on the road. Yeah,
43:40
Speaker 2: you love it.
43:41
Speaker 3: If you can hear it right, Oh my gosh.
43:44
Speaker 2: Yes, do you guys have that thing too where it's
43:46
Speaker 2: so loud? Just why I'm assuming so nad? Yeah.
43:51
Speaker 3: He shout at each other like it's like, yeah, no,
43:54
Speaker 3: we have the same problem. And this ranger is great,
43:56
Speaker 3: but it's got this per per means nothing because it
43:58
Speaker 3: goes so I was damn slow. But yeah, you can't
44:01
Speaker 3: hear the music most of the time. So yeah, yeah, truth. Yeah.
44:05
Speaker 2: So I ask every podcast guest that I interview if
44:08
Speaker 2: you could travel to a country right now, what would
44:11
Speaker 2: it be and why you can listen more than one, Okay,
44:13
Speaker 2: of course.
44:14
Speaker 3: So I'd like to travel to any country in Scandinavia
44:18
Speaker 3: right now. If I had the money, I'd love to
44:21
Speaker 3: do that because wow, you know, different culture, society, the
44:25
Speaker 3: scenery is just insane. Yeah, any country in Scandinavia would
44:29
Speaker 3: be amazing. And we've got so many friends up there.
44:31
Speaker 3: Maybe one day, yes, one day it will happen. Actually
44:34
Speaker 3: not maybe. Besides that, I think, yeah, that's that's the
44:37
Speaker 3: top of my list right now. And then obviously Russia,
44:39
Speaker 3: which we'll get to on the border, is opening.
44:41
Speaker 2: And yeah, why drives you to Russia?
44:43
Speaker 3: Well you got to do it, right, We've done that,
44:46
Speaker 3: and that's so we've got to do that. And it's yeah,
44:49
Speaker 3: bloody of us stock here, and so we've done a
44:52
Speaker 3: lot already. So we've got all the little badg has
44:54
Speaker 3: been blood of us stocks, like the final antier kind
44:58
Speaker 3: of thing. Yes, Donald tripped and who've done that. Then
45:00
Speaker 3: we'll have to figure out what animal Versucandinavian. Then there's
45:03
Speaker 3: so many other lands, countries or unexplored. I suppose absolutely
45:07
Speaker 3: New Zealand. Actually there I wouldn't mind going to New Zealand.
45:11
Speaker 2: Now, so there's one question that Scarbury asks in every
45:14
Speaker 2: single podcast episode, and I'm going to piggyback on to
45:17
Speaker 2: it because I love books and reading as well. But well,
45:21
Speaker 2: it's your favorite book.
45:22
Speaker 3: So when I have time to read, which is not often,
45:26
Speaker 3: but the one book that really stood out to me
45:29
Speaker 3: and resonates throughout the whole what we Do is The
45:33
Speaker 3: Tribe by Sebastian Younger, and he's it explains exactly. It's
45:38
Speaker 3: a short book, it's not very big, but it carries
45:41
Speaker 3: the message of what we do. It's about the tribe
45:43
Speaker 3: overlanding or a tribe of people that share the same
45:46
Speaker 3: common goal or knowledge or aspire to do the same thing. So, yeah,
45:51
Speaker 3: it's really good, and he's got a few more that's
45:53
Speaker 3: come out, but yeah, the Tribe was his best one.
45:55
Speaker 2: Were there some specific things in there that resonated with you?
45:58
Speaker 3: Well, no, just the everything, Yeah, just everything it was.
46:02
Speaker 3: You read it and you go, oh, that's me. It's fantastic.
46:04
Speaker 3: That's a great recommendation. Yeah, thank you.
46:07
Speaker 2: So where can people find you online if they want
46:09
Speaker 2: to learn more about you and the Bell family.
46:12
Speaker 3: Well, we have got a website which is a to
46:15
Speaker 3: a Expedition dot com and it's a and then number
46:18
Speaker 3: two a expedition dot com Big story went through South America,
46:21
Speaker 3: and we're like trying to tell everyone like Argentina to Alaska.
46:24
Speaker 3: But you try and tell the Spanish person our doors are,
46:27
Speaker 3: They're like what the hell is others? So yes, it
46:29
Speaker 3: works on any English unfortunately, but a to a expedition
46:32
Speaker 3: dot com. And then we've got a Patreon account, a
46:34
Speaker 3: YouTube account, a Facebook account, and they're all basically at
46:37
Speaker 3: a expedition dot com. Rayham runs all the social media.
46:40
Speaker 3: So the Instagram is in his name is Graham, which
46:43
Speaker 3: is g R A E M E H dot R
46:48
Speaker 3: dot bell and that's and you can find our books.
46:50
Speaker 2: There and how many both emotions? Yeah, how many books
46:54
Speaker 2: are there? And what are the titles?
46:55
Speaker 3: Okay, so we have five. The first one was We
46:58
Speaker 3: Will Be Free, which is the most popular because it's
47:00
Speaker 3: us extracting ourselves out of normal life and living and
47:03
Speaker 3: heading South America for the two and a half, well
47:06
Speaker 3: three years. And then there's Lalucha, which is the fight,
47:10
Speaker 3: you know, doing getting up and having the money to
47:13
Speaker 3: tour North America and then rebuilding the vehicle from the
47:16
Speaker 3: double cabin to the camper. And there's Europe Overland which
47:20
Speaker 3: is then traveling Europe from UK to Turkey and across
47:23
Speaker 3: down to Portugal. And then there's mud Mallari, Guns and Miracles,
47:27
Speaker 3: which is the West Coast trip down the West coast
47:30
Speaker 3: of Africa down to South Africa. And then the second
47:32
Speaker 3: book was actually Traveled the Planet Overland, which is a
47:34
Speaker 3: how to guide to do what we do. So it
47:36
Speaker 3: tells you how to choose an over landreg how to
47:39
Speaker 3: motivate your significant other, how to educate your kids on
47:43
Speaker 3: nine resources recipes, how to tow mechanical experien like work.
47:48
Speaker 3: And then we're actually rebooting that one or rewriting it
47:52
Speaker 3: into a bigger version because there was after what's three
47:54
Speaker 3: and a half four years of experience, now it's ten
47:56
Speaker 3: years of experience. So it's going to be a massive
47:58
Speaker 3: hardcover color book and that is going on to Kickstarter
48:02
Speaker 3: in the next week or so.
48:03
Speaker 2: Awesome, awesome, that's such your wealth of knowledge and where
48:07
Speaker 2: can people find those books?
48:09
Speaker 3: Also on atoa expedition dot com. It's better to buy
48:12
Speaker 3: from us than to borrow from Amazon because we get
48:14
Speaker 3: the cash perfect. Jeff doesn't get it.
48:18
Speaker 2: Well. I want to say thank you so so much
48:21
Speaker 2: Luisa for coming on the podcast. It's been an absolute
48:24
Speaker 2: pleasure to interview you, and it's wonderful to hear your
48:27
Speaker 2: side of the story too.
48:28
Speaker 3: Thank you very much for having me. I really enjoyed it.