Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Shipping a Tundra Camper to Europe: Full-Time Overland Work & Travel Update with Ashley Giordano

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Shipping a Tundra Camper to Europe: Full-Time Overland Work & Travel Update with Ashley Giordano · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your
0:03
Speaker 1: host Scott Brady, and for today's guest, we actually have
0:07
Speaker 1: my co host Ashley Giordano, who is going to give
0:10
Speaker 1: us an update on Richard and her travels through Europe.
0:14
Speaker 1: They ship their tundra and pop top camper over to Europe.
0:20
Speaker 1: They shipped it over to England, and they spent a
0:22
Speaker 1: bunch of time up in Scotland and they have been
0:25
Speaker 1: slowly moving their way down through Europe and they're currently
0:29
Speaker 1: in Spain. So we get a good update on the truck,
0:32
Speaker 1: we get a good update on the camper, the things
0:34
Speaker 1: that they're learning about working and traveling full time out
0:39
Speaker 1: of the vehicle. They actually have no end date to
0:41
Speaker 1: this trip, so they really are fully embracing what could
0:45
Speaker 1: be a lifelong adventure of travel and work as a couple.
0:50
Speaker 1: And then we also go into some of their experiences
0:54
Speaker 1: traveling with X Overland when they just recently went to
0:58
Speaker 1: South Africa, but Tswana and Namibia. So a great conversation
1:03
Speaker 1: with Ashley. Of course, we dig deep into some books
1:05
Speaker 1: that she's been reading and some of the other adventures
1:08
Speaker 1: that she's been having on her travels through Europe. To
1:11
Speaker 1: please enjoy my conversation with Ashley Giordano and a special
1:17
Speaker 1: thanks to kuwat Racks for their support of this week's podcast.
1:23
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1:29
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1:33
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1:38
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1:42
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1:45
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1:49
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1:54
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1:58
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2:02
Speaker 1: For more details, please visit woot dot com. Who ought
2:06
Speaker 1: because you will absolutely love this bedrock. Ashley, thank you
2:11
Speaker 1: so much for taking the time today to be on
2:15
Speaker 1: the podcast. Whether you like it or not, I think
2:18
Speaker 1: this might be called the Amazing Ashley Episode, So we'll see,
2:23
Speaker 1: we'll see.
2:24
Speaker 2: It'll be fun to have the tables turned. I am
2:26
Speaker 2: now in which is fun.
2:31
Speaker 1: Well, not just me, but everyone else who listens to
2:34
Speaker 1: the podcast knows that you are the best Overland Journal
2:37
Speaker 1: podcast host. So I am just grateful to be the
2:40
Speaker 1: one that gets to do the interview.
2:42
Speaker 2: So but wuleheartedly.
2:48
Speaker 1: We will have to respectfully disagree. All right, So how
2:52
Speaker 1: fun is this? So you are in Europe I believe
2:55
Speaker 1: still yes, okay, and in space awesome? And I am
3:01
Speaker 1: in Nairobi, Kenya. I actually fly out tomorrow. So we
3:06
Speaker 1: have both been traveling a lot over this last six
3:10
Speaker 1: seven months. But I really wanted to focus in this
3:13
Speaker 1: episode about your travels, what Richard and you were experiencing,
3:19
Speaker 1: catching on how the tundra is doing, how the camper's doing,
3:24
Speaker 1: how you're enjoying traveling in Europe. But let's start with
3:29
Speaker 1: when did you leave Canada? What when was that?
3:34
Speaker 2: So it was I think right after Christmas last year,
3:38
Speaker 2: so it's.
3:38
Speaker 1: Awesome, we're almost a year. Yeah, And if I remember,
3:44
Speaker 1: you left Canada and you kind of needed to sprint
3:47
Speaker 1: down to Texas to ship the truck, is that right?
3:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, we tried to sprint and then we had a
3:55
Speaker 2: couple of hurdles to surmount, but then we eventually did
3:58
Speaker 2: get there and did.
4:01
Speaker 1: Were you able to containerize the tundra with camper?
4:05
Speaker 2: So we didn't actually look into the container option just
4:08
Speaker 2: because the roll on roll off was better in terms
4:14
Speaker 2: of financial financial.
4:16
Speaker 1: Standpoint, way cheaper.
4:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we felt okay, you know, it was going
4:21
Speaker 2: from Texas to Stuthampton in the UK, so we're like, eh,
4:25
Speaker 2: we've done roll on roll off before and we had
4:29
Speaker 2: a good contact with the agency, and so that's how
4:32
Speaker 2: we did it.
4:35
Speaker 1: Roll on roll off, especially from countries that are producing
4:38
Speaker 1: new vehicles, it tends to be really efficient. One of
4:43
Speaker 1: the times that I did that was from Panama back
4:46
Speaker 1: to Houston, and that was because we had so many
4:51
Speaker 1: roll on roll off vehicles. A bunch of vehicles that
4:53
Speaker 1: were with us just didn't fit in containers. And it
4:56
Speaker 1: was fine. I mean, we left all of our personal
4:59
Speaker 1: effects in there and you basically you hand them the
5:02
Speaker 1: keys and everything was there. On the other end, it
5:05
Speaker 1: just wasn't an issue.
5:07
Speaker 2: Same very good experience. And we could lock the camper
5:10
Speaker 2: up as well, so it was a separate unit so
5:13
Speaker 2: it didn't require They didn't require any rest to leave
5:16
Speaker 2: it open or any They.
5:18
Speaker 1: Allowed you to lock the camper even when it was
5:21
Speaker 1: on the truck. Yeah, that's impressed. That's impressive that they
5:24
Speaker 1: don't always allow that.
5:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was surprised for sure, but yeah, yeah, it
5:31
Speaker 2: really worked out well. And I think we get a
5:33
Speaker 2: little bit stressed out sometimes but roll on roll off,
5:35
Speaker 2: which I think in the past probably for the present
5:39
Speaker 2: in the present as well, is for a good reason. Yeah.
5:43
Speaker 2: It was a really easy, very straightforward procedure and we
5:48
Speaker 2: couldn't it couldn't have gone any better than it did.
5:50
Speaker 2: So we were really happy.
5:51
Speaker 1: And when did it? When did it land in Southampton?
5:54
Speaker 2: This was in I believe May, April?
6:00
Speaker 1: April April, okay, April. That's so oh that is it's
6:04
Speaker 1: so funny because we haven't really chatted about this, but
6:08
Speaker 1: so your truck would have come in to stand Southampton
6:11
Speaker 1: in April and the Grenadier left Southampton in May, but.
6:17
Speaker 2: Just like like in the night.
6:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, so oh that's so cool. And then it looked
6:24
Speaker 1: like you spent a lot of time in the northern
6:27
Speaker 1: part of the UK. What did you think of that?
6:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, we spent a ton of time in Scotland. We
6:34
Speaker 2: just flowed. I've never been ah, yeah, oh it's so beautiful,
6:38
Speaker 2: so beautiful. We would just find a spot that we liked,
6:40
Speaker 2: and I think we were we were kind of fed
6:47
Speaker 2: through England quickly, to try to beat the midges, those
6:50
Speaker 2: little tiny gnat bugs that are now in Scotland, and
6:56
Speaker 2: that was part of the reason why we kind of
6:58
Speaker 2: headed up there quickly, and then we would just find
7:00
Speaker 2: a good spot that we liked and just stay there
7:03
Speaker 2: for a long time. And I think we were also
7:05
Speaker 2: trying to figure out the balance that our new life
7:11
Speaker 2: would entail, you know, trying to keep all of these
7:15
Speaker 2: things in line. And it takes time to plan where
7:18
Speaker 2: you're going to go next, what you're going to do next,
7:20
Speaker 2: where you're going to camp, and then also have the
7:22
Speaker 2: work side as well, and then getting to know the vehicle,
7:25
Speaker 2: and there were all these things happening, so I think
7:28
Speaker 2: for us it was a good idea to slow down
7:30
Speaker 2: a little bit. And yeah, we did tons of hiking
7:33
Speaker 2: and what else did we do, I don't know, like
7:37
Speaker 2: camped on white sand beaches and in Scotland, which I
7:41
Speaker 2: didn't know existed. So yeah, now.
7:43
Speaker 1: Were you able to remote camp for some of it
7:46
Speaker 1: or was most of it in like established campgrounds?
7:51
Speaker 2: Both? So on the outer Hebrides we wild, I guess, wild,
7:58
Speaker 2: sort of wildish dealt there with no facilities, but most
8:02
Speaker 2: places there's usually what at least one other vehicle there
8:06
Speaker 2: with you, so not always, but it was rare that
8:11
Speaker 2: we were by ourselves, which I think is a yeah
8:13
Speaker 2: in Europe, that makes sense.
8:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's just a lot of a lot of people
8:18
Speaker 1: so somewhat selfishly because you have seemed to somehow manage
8:22
Speaker 1: this balance with accomplishing tasks at work. Would you have
8:27
Speaker 1: any I know it's so tough, it's so tough. Would
8:30
Speaker 1: you have any advice for those that are listening that
8:33
Speaker 1: are trying to work while traveling, because it is probably
8:38
Speaker 1: the hardest thing that I do in my life is
8:40
Speaker 1: somehow get the work done that I need to get
8:42
Speaker 1: done while I'm on the road. And if you have
8:46
Speaker 1: any advice, I'd love to hear it too.
8:48
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think it depends on what the trip
8:51
Speaker 2: is like as well. I think your trip is a
8:53
Speaker 2: little probably faster paced than ours, because I'm finding that
8:56
Speaker 2: slowing down as the key to really getting my stuff
9:01
Speaker 2: done on time. So just spending an extra day somewhere
9:06
Speaker 2: or two days, and just making sure that you know
9:09
Speaker 2: certain days are dedicated to work, and also realizing that
9:14
Speaker 2: we are here because of the work, and so that
9:18
Speaker 2: we have to have a good balance between the two. Obviously,
9:21
Speaker 2: work takes place in all the time, but then also
9:26
Speaker 2: we find that sometimes work is like a steady drip.
9:30
Speaker 2: You know, you're working a little bit seven days a week,
9:33
Speaker 2: You're not necessarily Monday to Friday. I'm sure you're familiar
9:36
Speaker 2: with that as well. But yeah, in terms of advice,
9:39
Speaker 2: I guess it depends what your job is, but slowing
9:43
Speaker 2: down a lot. And also, like the starlink has been
9:48
Speaker 2: such a game changer for us, and it's taken a
9:50
Speaker 2: huge amount of stress off even for the price, because
9:53
Speaker 2: I think it can be a bit expensive, but I
9:57
Speaker 2: think the amount of stress that it's taken off and
9:59
Speaker 2: it's reliability has been such a game changer for us here.
10:03
Speaker 1: It's just so incredible. Now are you You guys are
10:08
Speaker 1: on a Canadian plan? Is that right? So is it
10:12
Speaker 1: about two hundred dollars a month?
10:15
Speaker 2: Yeah?
10:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's the one that I'm on. Is it's
10:20
Speaker 1: two hundred dollars a month for the Mobile Global Plan.
10:25
Speaker 1: And it's it's shocking how well the starlink works even
10:31
Speaker 1: in motion. So it just provides a kind of another
10:36
Speaker 1: level of security, comfort, connectivity. On this last segment, I
10:44
Speaker 1: was able to travel with my girlfriend Tavia, and she
10:47
Speaker 1: runs a group home for medically fragile children, so she
10:51
Speaker 1: kind of needs to be connected. She can be on
10:53
Speaker 1: a trip, but she needs to be able to provide,
10:57
Speaker 1: you know, fairly quick response if there's a emergency happening
11:01
Speaker 1: with one of the kids. And just being able to
11:04
Speaker 1: do that allowed her to come along. So it just
11:06
Speaker 1: it can be a game changer, I think for people.
11:10
Speaker 2: For sure. I've actually been quite surprised that we haven't
11:13
Speaker 2: seen more Canadians out here or more Americans out here.
11:17
Speaker 2: And I think the tendency is to head south into
11:21
Speaker 2: Mexico and Central and you know that's easier because you
11:24
Speaker 2: could just start driving. But yeah, a lot of people
11:27
Speaker 2: work online now and it's getting easier and easier. So yeah,
11:32
Speaker 2: it's pretty incredible. It's incredible that we can do this
11:36
Speaker 2: right now. And I'm on starlink. Yeah, insane.
11:40
Speaker 1: And then so you're you're inside, you're now the camper.
11:46
Speaker 1: I get it. There's so many different combinations of x'es
11:49
Speaker 1: and overlands and overlands and x'es. You're in an overland
11:53
Speaker 1: ex camper?
11:54
Speaker 2: Is that right? Overland explore vehicles alpine?
11:59
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, got it? So how do you configure that
12:04
Speaker 1: when you are both trying to work? Is there enough
12:06
Speaker 1: room at the dynet?
12:09
Speaker 2: There is? Yeah. Fortunately, the dinet as a lot of space,
12:14
Speaker 2: and the way that we've configured it, we've made sure
12:17
Speaker 2: we've actually put the fridge where the shower or the
12:20
Speaker 2: toilet would go, so we just decided not to have
12:22
Speaker 2: a toilet there or the shower, and so the fridge
12:25
Speaker 2: is tucked away, and so we have quite a bit
12:28
Speaker 2: of rooming space at the dynats we can work, which
12:31
Speaker 2: is great.
12:31
Speaker 3: You got it?
12:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you have to. It has to
12:34
Speaker 1: be your kind of mobile studio. And are you in
12:38
Speaker 1: the camper now? It's kind of hard to tell. Yeah,
12:41
Speaker 1: that's so cool. That's so cool. That's so cool. I'm
12:44
Speaker 1: in my I'm in my last day, and I mean
12:47
Speaker 1: it's amazing also in Airbnb, how inexpensive it can be
12:50
Speaker 1: in places of the world. I mean, I'm in this
12:53
Speaker 1: airbnb for eleven days total because of I'm doing a
12:56
Speaker 1: bunch of different projects here in Thairobi, and it was
13:00
Speaker 1: I think three hundred and eighty dollars or something like that.
13:03
Speaker 1: So it's just incredible.
13:05
Speaker 2: It's incredible, and I do are so helpful because sometimes
13:09
Speaker 2: you just need a break from the road, you know,
13:12
Speaker 2: like there's so many tasks to keep track of all
13:14
Speaker 2: the time. You're always thinking about the shipple and you
13:18
Speaker 2: need to get grocery sometimes and do laundry and find
13:22
Speaker 2: somewhere to camp, and where are you going to go next?
13:25
Speaker 2: What are we going to do in Valencia? Oh we
13:28
Speaker 2: need to find water, Oh we need to you know,
13:31
Speaker 2: the list, the daily pask is like endless. So once
13:34
Speaker 2: in a while it's nice to just be in an
13:37
Speaker 2: airbnb and take a bit of a lok.
13:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, And I try to do that two
13:43
Speaker 1: nights out of each travel week because then that does
13:46
Speaker 1: give me a full day to really focus on work.
13:50
Speaker 1: I always have this vision that I'm going to get
13:53
Speaker 1: like eight to ten hours in, but it's very difficult
13:56
Speaker 1: because you're trying to do exactly what you're talking about.
13:58
Speaker 1: You're trying to get your laundry done, We're trying to do,
14:01
Speaker 1: you know, inspections on the vehicle. Fortunately I haven't had
14:04
Speaker 1: any repairs, but you know, I'm constantly checking on the
14:07
Speaker 1: vehicle to make sure that I'm not having any issues,
14:10
Speaker 1: you know, or just tightening rack bolts or whatever. It
14:14
Speaker 1: just takes time, and so they are lucky if you
14:17
Speaker 1: end up with six or seven hours on that day.
14:22
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, And then I find work tasks take a
14:25
Speaker 2: long time or they don't take a lot. Well, they
14:28
Speaker 2: take a while, but they take longer than I think
14:30
Speaker 2: they're going to dig as well.
14:32
Speaker 1: So totally for me, I'm eternally optimistic. So I think
14:37
Speaker 1: I estimate that things will be done in about half
14:39
Speaker 1: the time that they actually take. So the life of
14:45
Speaker 1: a creative So, so overall, what's working really well in
14:52
Speaker 1: the camper? Like, what are the things that you guys
14:54
Speaker 1: really love about the camper? And are there any things
14:57
Speaker 1: that you feel like you might want to change before
15:00
Speaker 1: you head to more remote locations or something that you
15:03
Speaker 1: would expect differently on the camper.
15:06
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, So I thought that I was going to
15:10
Speaker 2: have more things to be nitpicky about with this camper,
15:14
Speaker 2: not because of anything specifically, like the company has a
15:18
Speaker 2: really good reputation and the build quality is excellent, but
15:21
Speaker 2: I thought little little lit nitpicky things that you yourself
15:27
Speaker 2: would pick out, you know what I mean. Sure, but
15:31
Speaker 2: it's been fabulous, Like the dinette layout. We love the kitchen,
15:37
Speaker 2: I love the storage, like there's too much storage for us.
15:41
Speaker 2: It's not feel like we have to try not to
15:43
Speaker 2: fill it up. And I get a lot of books
15:46
Speaker 2: home with me when we go home for Christmas because
15:49
Speaker 2: they're heavy, and so storage is fantastic. The bed is luxurious.
15:58
Speaker 2: I would say space is really great for two people.
16:04
Speaker 2: Maybe a little. I mean, when there are two people
16:07
Speaker 2: in a camper, you're always going to be bumping into
16:10
Speaker 2: each other, I think. But yeah, we're all we're we
16:13
Speaker 2: do pretty well.
16:14
Speaker 4: So yeah, people tend to find their little corners, like
16:19
Speaker 4: I kind of find my little corner of like when
16:22
Speaker 4: I was in the Scout, I would find like my
16:24
Speaker 4: little corner, and then you know, people can be.
16:26
Speaker 1: Moving around in other other locations or whatever, so it
16:30
Speaker 1: does you do find your little spot exactly.
16:35
Speaker 2: We made a few changes going in, Like I mentioned,
16:38
Speaker 2: we opted out for the toilet addition, which we can
16:41
Speaker 2: talk about about later because we.
16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's interesting. It's interesting to do. Yeah, because
16:50
Speaker 1: it's actually one of the shower and a toilet is
16:52
Speaker 1: one of the reasons I would even have a camper.
16:55
Speaker 1: It's funny how everybody has different needs.
16:57
Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely, yeah, I'll tell you a little bit
17:02
Speaker 2: more about that after, because I think camping in Europe,
17:05
Speaker 2: it's really helpful to have a toilet inside. But yeah,
17:08
Speaker 2: no toilet, no shower. Also that's weight savings not having
17:12
Speaker 2: the big toilet. We also put in an induction cook top,
17:18
Speaker 2: which I also really love a lot. You know you're
17:22
Speaker 2: not working worrying about ventilation, right, we do have a heat.
17:31
Speaker 1: Do you have the right adapters or whatever?
17:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, So we have a heater that runs on propane,
17:37
Speaker 2: so we do have to look into adaptors. But it's
17:40
Speaker 2: not it harridly ever happens because we're not it's just
17:43
Speaker 2: sipping fuel. We're not using the heater that often yet.
17:46
Speaker 1: So yeah, you're moving south with the winner. Yeah exactly.
17:56
Speaker 2: Some things that I would maybe change, Uh, the window mesh.
18:03
Speaker 2: The holes are really large, I would say, so we
18:06
Speaker 2: have bugs coming in through there, which isn't my favorite.
18:10
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the weakest points of the camper.
18:12
Speaker 2: Actually it should be more like kind of a really
18:16
Speaker 2: fine height mesh. I'm sure there's a reason why they
18:19
Speaker 2: didn't it, because the mesh that is here is like bomber.
18:23
Speaker 2: It's you can tell it's really strong. But the holes
18:25
Speaker 2: are just too big, so.
18:27
Speaker 1: It favors airflow over because it probably doesn't keep out
18:31
Speaker 1: noseums and really small nats and stuff.
18:35
Speaker 2: Nope. But we'll see how much of an issue that
18:38
Speaker 2: will be going south. I'm not sure, but we have.
18:41
Speaker 1: Had probably probably not yeah, because even even the mosquitos
18:46
Speaker 1: in Africa are going to be too big to I.
18:50
Speaker 2: Would think, yeah, for sure. And then we just get
18:53
Speaker 2: out of our vacuum cleaner, which is my number one
18:56
Speaker 2: choice of My favorite piece of overland gear is our vack.
19:00
Speaker 2: So I just vacuum them up. It's not a huge deal.
19:06
Speaker 1: While flying around the light, you just yep, okay.
19:12
Speaker 2: Fields all you know, you're like uh. And the other
19:17
Speaker 2: thing is so in Europe we're finding I feel like
19:22
Speaker 2: this wasn't such a thing in North America with gray water.
19:26
Speaker 2: You would just kind of wash your dishes and you'd
19:28
Speaker 2: be somewhere remote and people don't necessarily bring their gray
19:32
Speaker 2: water out with them unless they're in an RV. But
19:36
Speaker 2: here it's like self containment is key, and you don't
19:39
Speaker 2: there's so many people traveling through that you don't want
19:43
Speaker 2: to dump your gray water. And so we've been hyping
19:46
Speaker 2: ours from the gray water a little exit which is
19:51
Speaker 2: quite high on the camper. So the gray water, if
19:55
Speaker 2: it's open, it's like dripping down the side of the camper,
19:58
Speaker 2: so it would be nice, great water hole that's actually
20:01
Speaker 2: further down, maybe underneath, so it's not doing that, so.
20:07
Speaker 1: Bless you, thank you. It's the same thing on the Scout,
20:12
Speaker 1: because the Scout has I mean it has no plumbing
20:15
Speaker 1: other than a single drain hose that goes from the
20:18
Speaker 1: sink to an outside faucet. So then I have a
20:24
Speaker 1: short section of hose that I can run down and
20:26
Speaker 1: into a five gallon bucket if I'm in a place
20:28
Speaker 1: where it's not appropriate to do that.
20:30
Speaker 2: So we've been doing that as well, and it's great
20:33
Speaker 2: because our hose is bright blue and it looks super attractive.
20:38
Speaker 1: No, yes, exactly. You have to get their angle just
20:45
Speaker 1: right to get the hose out of there.
20:48
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, those are very small things. I don't foresee
20:53
Speaker 2: any changes needing to be made. Going further south. We
20:59
Speaker 2: put up like a little howel rack for a bike. Uh,
21:02
Speaker 2: and we'll have to get something that covers the back
21:05
Speaker 2: door because it is you can't see into the camper.
21:09
Speaker 2: But small things.
21:12
Speaker 1: And then the lifting mechanism on the for the roof.
21:16
Speaker 1: Is that have some struts that helped lift that or
21:19
Speaker 1: is it kind of a two person job.
21:21
Speaker 2: Oh, it's a one person job. Yeah, for sure, easily.
21:25
Speaker 1: Myself, which is of them can be very heavy.
21:28
Speaker 2: Yep. Yeah, I'm getting my shoulder workout for sure. It's yeah,
21:36
Speaker 2: easy for me, which is helpful.
21:38
Speaker 1: Well, let's shift a little bit to the Tundra, because
21:42
Speaker 1: I just thought your your choice of the Tundra was
21:46
Speaker 1: so cool because it was a vehicle that you had.
21:49
Speaker 1: You didn't go out and spend a bunch of money
21:52
Speaker 1: that five seven. Even though it's not efficient at all,
21:55
Speaker 1: it's very reliable. So how is the Tundra doing and
22:00
Speaker 1: and what do you like that you modified on it?
22:02
Speaker 1: And what do you think was maybe not necessary?
22:05
Speaker 2: Hmmm, good question. So, so initially we did have quite
22:12
Speaker 2: curious reservations about the Tundra. I may have mentioned this before,
22:16
Speaker 2: just because of its size. Mainly we have these visions
22:20
Speaker 2: of these tiny little roads in Europe and we thought
22:23
Speaker 2: it was too wide. But then we talked with Dan
22:27
Speaker 2: at molly Mish and he was like, well, sprinter ans
22:29
Speaker 2: are the same. With them, they can go everywhere that
22:32
Speaker 2: beer is being delivered essentially.
22:35
Speaker 1: That's true. Yeah, it'll just keep you out of some
22:37
Speaker 1: of the small, you know, really old villages as all,
22:41
Speaker 1: but you can't really go in there with most overland
22:44
Speaker 1: vehicles anyways.
22:45
Speaker 2: No, And we're finding that because caravan culture is so
22:49
Speaker 2: prevalent here that there's always somewhere to park that's kind
22:52
Speaker 2: of on the outskirts of town or at a supermarket.
22:54
Speaker 2: And we've had no problems finding somewhere to park. Just
22:58
Speaker 2: there's so many rbs here and so many caravans that
23:01
Speaker 2: are bigger than us, and so that hasn't really been
23:05
Speaker 2: an issue yet. Maybe sometimes the height restriction in some
23:10
Speaker 2: parking lots, but it's really not been a problem at all.
23:15
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think that's the one thing that people
23:17
Speaker 2: were concerned for us with size, especially southern England, but
23:21
Speaker 2: we found.
23:22
Speaker 1: It to be fine. About what about when you park
23:27
Speaker 1: it and you want to go into the town, you
23:30
Speaker 1: guys just tend to hook it, or you have a
23:32
Speaker 1: bike that you have with you, or what's the where
23:34
Speaker 1: you use little uber trips or how do you normally
23:37
Speaker 1: handle that?
23:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, it depends on what the location is. But we've
23:40
Speaker 2: either walked or mostly walked because usually there's some sort
23:44
Speaker 2: of parking, whether it's just day parking or overnight parking
23:48
Speaker 2: available and then yeah, sometimes an uber, sometimes a city bus.
23:53
Speaker 2: We're going to be going into Valencia tomorrow, take the subway,
23:57
Speaker 2: I believe, or the train. Cool. Yeah, it just tends
24:01
Speaker 2: from the location. We don't have a bike or any
24:05
Speaker 2: form of motor transport or scooter or anything. But yeah,
24:11
Speaker 2: but overall, the truck has been really really great here,
24:14
Speaker 2: very reliable. Obviously fuel consumption is not the best, but
24:22
Speaker 2: we go slow and the distances are short, and so
24:27
Speaker 2: a sure across Texas was a haul, and uh, that's
24:33
Speaker 2: very different than being over here and we drive for
24:36
Speaker 2: an hour or less and we find something completely new,
24:39
Speaker 2: or we go into another country.
24:41
Speaker 1: So yeah, totally. Now, this trip is so different from
24:47
Speaker 1: what you guys did driving all the way down to USHAWAYA.
24:52
Speaker 1: How are you finding that you're enjoying or what do
24:55
Speaker 1: you think is the major contrast with going from at
24:59
Speaker 1: times developing countries, You know, a trip down the America's
25:05
Speaker 1: is very different than a trip down Europe like you've done.
25:09
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Yeah, we were talking about recently how
25:13
Speaker 2: this always comes up. It's like Pan America versus Europe,
25:16
Speaker 2: and it's so so, so so so different, and I
25:21
Speaker 2: would say obviously our vehicle choice is very different. We're
25:24
Speaker 2: a lot more comfortable. But we made that decision based
25:28
Speaker 2: on longevity because we wanted to be able to be
25:32
Speaker 2: doing this for a long time, so long term sustainability
25:37
Speaker 2: in terms of being out here here for a while.
25:41
Speaker 2: So that's one thing. But when we were on the
25:43
Speaker 2: Pan American Highway, it was like, we have this amount
25:46
Speaker 2: of money and we don't have that much time ish,
25:49
Speaker 2: so it was always kind of moving, moving, moving quickly ish.
25:54
Speaker 2: So that's one thing, and then I feel like, pretty
25:58
Speaker 2: it's pretty easy year so here I mean England, Scotland, Wales, uh, Spain,
26:07
Speaker 2: so far those are the countries.
26:09
Speaker 1: Did you take the ferry or did you take the tunnel?
26:13
Speaker 2: We fery got it, yeah, yeah, because it was going
26:18
Speaker 2: to be the same amount essentially, and then it just
26:21
Speaker 2: took some wear and tear off the vehicle and gave
26:25
Speaker 2: some time and energy and we're like we want to
26:28
Speaker 2: head so a sap, need that sunshine. So yeah, Pan
26:35
Speaker 2: American obviously a budget difference. I think most countries are
26:39
Speaker 2: less expensive to travel through than in Europe, although we're
26:42
Speaker 2: finding it's not as expensive over here as we thought
26:46
Speaker 2: it was going to be.
26:49
Speaker 1: Spain and Portugal, it's much less expensive.
26:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think different things are expensive, like certain
26:56
Speaker 2: campgrounds here very expensive, so we just avoid those. But
27:00
Speaker 2: then a bottle of wine is like three dollars, so
27:03
Speaker 2: it's interesting.
27:05
Speaker 1: Like those those staples of eggs, wine, bread, a cappuccino.
27:13
Speaker 1: It's all a fraction of what it costs in the US.
27:16
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. In England, like the UK was quite expensive
27:20
Speaker 2: to go for coffee, groceries were so groceries were maybe
27:26
Speaker 2: slightly less expensive than the US and Canada, I would
27:30
Speaker 2: say there, So yeah, that was very interesting. The other
27:35
Speaker 2: thing I've noticed over here is you're really traveling amongst
27:40
Speaker 2: our fans in caravans, and so you know, we stick
27:45
Speaker 2: out where it's very obvious that we're not from here.
27:49
Speaker 2: It's very qui drive. People are like what is happening
27:55
Speaker 2: because they don't see you don't see something that it
27:59
Speaker 2: looks like this over here, it's all white camper vans
28:02
Speaker 2: essentially right in Spain. Anyways, Yeah, we could have a
28:07
Speaker 2: whole podcast episode on the differences.
28:09
Speaker 1: You know, maybe we'll do that at some point in time,
28:14
Speaker 1: But I do really find that there's so much history
28:19
Speaker 1: in Europe, there's so much to learn, and I also
28:22
Speaker 1: find that the people are so thoughtful and insightful that
28:25
Speaker 1: I just really enjoy the social nature of traveling in Europe. Yeah,
28:31
Speaker 1: I really, I really like that because you're really just
28:34
Speaker 1: not finding that much off road. You guys will certainly
28:37
Speaker 1: in Spain and Andorra and Portugal, but other than that,
28:41
Speaker 1: there's not a lot.
28:42
Speaker 2: So no, we did get a bit of a taste
28:45
Speaker 2: of it in the northern section of Spain, and I
28:48
Speaker 2: think that's one thing to come prepared to Europe with
28:51
Speaker 2: the mindset that you're not necessarily going to be there
28:55
Speaker 2: to off road. That's not necessarily the whole point of things.
28:59
Speaker 2: Although I've heard, you know, there are certain routes through
29:01
Speaker 2: Spain and Portugal, course, but we're also here during winter,
29:06
Speaker 2: and so those aren't things that we're going to be
29:10
Speaker 2: doing just because like it's not possible for us, or
29:14
Speaker 2: we don't aren't interested in doing trying to do an
29:16
Speaker 2: off road route in the snow with our home on wheels.
29:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, so just Pyrenees will be dumping with.
29:24
Speaker 2: Snow now, so yeah, yeah, we already had snow. I
29:27
Speaker 2: think it was a couple of weeks ago up there,
29:29
Speaker 2: and we were like, no, thanks, So.
29:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, just like your mobile goes head south. Yeah, you're like,
29:37
Speaker 1: we left Canada for a reason.
29:40
Speaker 2: We did, Yeah, we did.
29:43
Speaker 1: Oh that's so funny. So let's talk a little bit.
29:48
Speaker 1: During your trip. You left and went to Africa and
29:53
Speaker 1: I actually got to see Richard and you briefly in
29:56
Speaker 1: South Africa with Clay and the rest of the team.
30:00
Speaker 1: So how how was how was You did a little
30:05
Speaker 1: bit of stuff in Iceland and then you did some
30:09
Speaker 1: stuff in Africa, and so you've you've also experienced some
30:13
Speaker 1: other adventures while you're on this trip. How was that
30:17
Speaker 1: working to like travel while you're traveling?
30:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, so last year I was a Nordic series that
30:25
Speaker 2: was last summer, not this previous one, so that was
30:28
Speaker 2: like more than a year ago, which was great, So
30:32
Speaker 2: we weren't traveling while we were traveling for that one.
30:34
Speaker 2: But for Southern Africa was this past summer and it
30:39
Speaker 2: was nice. It was a nice It was like a
30:44
Speaker 2: break from Scotland, which I think we needed because you know,
30:48
Speaker 2: you get very comfortable and we knew what to expected Scotland.
30:52
Speaker 2: We felt very safe there. Everybody's very friendly. We knew
30:54
Speaker 2: where to get things, so it was almost like a
30:57
Speaker 2: temporary home and so we were like, let's mix things up,
31:00
Speaker 2: you know. So with the Africa trip with expedition overland happened.
31:08
Speaker 2: Uh in so was South Africa, and then maybe at
31:11
Speaker 2: Botswana we were ready for a bit of it an
31:14
Speaker 2: exciting adventure, which it definitely was. So just switching up
31:18
Speaker 2: everything in terms of understanding the culture a little bit
31:23
Speaker 2: more and the basics of where to get water and
31:26
Speaker 2: food and all that stuff changed. So it was an
31:28
Speaker 2: amazing education that I don't think we would have had
31:32
Speaker 2: for a long time in that part of the world.
31:35
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was That was cool.
31:39
Speaker 1: And probably stretched your guys is creative muscles a little
31:46
Speaker 1: bit and driving and you know, because you know, there's
31:50
Speaker 1: it's a bigger operation than there's These are typically remote,
31:53
Speaker 1: challenging routes, so it's a good refresher on that kind
31:57
Speaker 1: of driving.
31:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really nice to be off road so much.
32:05
Speaker 2: That was really really exciting and sex, you know, really
32:08
Speaker 2: long punishing roads, uh and lots of corrugation, which was love.
32:15
Speaker 2: I loved it. I thought it was a really fun break.
32:17
Speaker 2: But in terms of the machine of expedition overland. While
32:23
Speaker 2: we were there, Richard was doing photography and videography, so
32:28
Speaker 2: he was doing most most filming, and then I was
32:33
Speaker 2: responsible for navigation and route planning and I guess activity
32:40
Speaker 2: planning and cooking along with Rochelle. So I had a
32:45
Speaker 2: wide range of responsibilities. So I was quite busy throughout
32:49
Speaker 2: the trip. But just moving a group of eight throughout
32:57
Speaker 2: that southern section of Africa for sick days was definitely challenging,
33:04
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
33:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's you know, I think back on things
33:10
Speaker 1: that we did with Expedition seven, and it was that way.
33:13
Speaker 1: It was just really you were constantly learning and growing
33:16
Speaker 1: and improving. You weren't really you didn't have as much
33:21
Speaker 1: time to sit and be in a place or in
33:24
Speaker 1: a space. It was definitely more of like a practitioner's challenge,
33:29
Speaker 1: which I in hindsight, I'm glad, so glad that I
33:32
Speaker 1: was able to do. But it allows me like now
33:36
Speaker 1: where I mean, I don't know how many months I've
33:38
Speaker 1: been in Africa, four months almost so far, just this
33:42
Speaker 1: second half of the year, and I've been able to
33:46
Speaker 1: by my pace, I have been able to slow down
33:49
Speaker 1: to a fraction of the pace that I've traveled before.
33:51
Speaker 2: So yeah, there are different trips with different goals, and
33:56
Speaker 2: for us, these expedition over line trips are of it
34:00
Speaker 2: is to work, it's a it's a job. For us,
34:04
Speaker 2: it's fun, you know, and it's with friends.
34:09
Speaker 1: I mean, Play and Rachelle are such quality human beings
34:13
Speaker 1: that just getting a chance to go through those challenges
34:16
Speaker 1: with them is joyful.
34:18
Speaker 2: So absolutely. I think the other thing that's really fascinating
34:22
Speaker 2: is that there's so much going on on those trips
34:24
Speaker 2: in terms of the learning and experiencing and your processing.
34:28
Speaker 2: But it's like the pace is fast, and so you're
34:32
Speaker 2: trying to process what's happening and what you're learning while
34:34
Speaker 2: you're doing it, which is almost like impossible. So you're
34:37
Speaker 2: kind of like, why am I feeling the way that
34:39
Speaker 2: I'm feeling time, or you don't have enough insight yet
34:43
Speaker 2: to be able to answer those questions, or how can
34:46
Speaker 2: I make this more efficient? But it's it's like tricky
34:50
Speaker 2: because you don't necessarily know the answer until you get home,
34:52
Speaker 2: and there's no way of really getting it at that
34:57
Speaker 2: time because you're just so like in it. So yeah,
35:01
Speaker 2: it's fine.
35:01
Speaker 1: A lot of a lot of objectives, but I can't
35:04
Speaker 1: wait to see the content that play in the team
35:08
Speaker 1: puts out. Just going to be awesome, so too, so
35:11
Speaker 1: fun to see to see where they traveled and you.
35:14
Speaker 2: Traveled incredible stuff, incredible stuff.
35:18
Speaker 1: Oh that's so that's so good. And then so anything
35:22
Speaker 1: that you had that was kind of a unique takeaway
35:25
Speaker 1: from that experience in Africa. Did it get you excited
35:28
Speaker 1: about traveling in Africa or yeah, for sure.
35:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was like we should come back. I would
35:34
Speaker 2: love to come back. And and I hadn't been to Africa before.
35:37
Speaker 2: That was my first time, and so yeah, it was.
35:42
Speaker 2: It was great. I think the other thing that I
35:46
Speaker 2: learned to was like working how I'm not truly sure
35:51
Speaker 2: how to explain this, but like how to be your
35:54
Speaker 2: best self while working in a team and how you
35:58
Speaker 2: react to challenges that are thrown your way in a
36:00
Speaker 2: team and all the dynamics between all the team members
36:03
Speaker 2: and all of that. And I think I it was
36:08
Speaker 2: I don't know if all the lessons have come together
36:10
Speaker 2: quite yet, but I know some of them have, so
36:12
Speaker 2: I'll take that forward into future trips. And you know,
36:15
Speaker 2: you learn a lot about yourself and when you're in
36:18
Speaker 2: a leadership role. I have really a lot, a lot,
36:23
Speaker 2: a lot, a lot to learn and improve upon in
36:26
Speaker 2: that department. So yeah, it'll be fun to see how
36:30
Speaker 2: that progresses.
36:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, you and you and me both. It's a constant
36:34
Speaker 1: learning process, and it's humbling to be around people that
36:39
Speaker 1: you genuinely care about and you're trying to make it
36:42
Speaker 1: work and everybody's doing their best, and that's pretty humbling
36:45
Speaker 1: to see everybody work so hard to have a positive outcome.
36:50
Speaker 2: So yeah, yes, and.
36:53
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Speaker 1: o dash three outdoors dot com outdoors go explore. So
38:03
Speaker 1: you are in Spain, let's talk about what's next? So,
38:08
Speaker 1: or for what you'd like to talk about what's next?
38:10
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've even if you even know
38:12
Speaker 1: what's next, but you're currently in Spain. Uh, and where
38:15
Speaker 1: are you planning to go next?
38:18
Speaker 2: So we'll be here for a few more weeks and
38:20
Speaker 2: then we are heading home to Canada. Oh no, I
38:24
Speaker 2: just get it for Christmas. So we'll probably be home
38:27
Speaker 2: about a month and then we'll come back.
38:29
Speaker 1: Same with me.
38:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm like, oh, it's going to be cold in
38:33
Speaker 2: the jet leg and I'm that's funny here. But it'll
38:38
Speaker 2: be really lovely, you know, visiting with family and seeing
38:41
Speaker 2: friends and doing North American things. Again, I guess I
38:46
Speaker 2: don't know. But after we fly back Madrid, we will
38:54
Speaker 2: run out our time, our shang in time here, so
38:57
Speaker 2: we get ninety out of one hundred and eighty days
38:59
Speaker 2: in the Shinganz like in Europe, and then we will
39:02
Speaker 2: be heading into Morocco next.
39:07
Speaker 1: That's perfect. You're gonna love it there, and it's your
39:09
Speaker 1: vehicle will be very well suited to that condition excellently.
39:14
Speaker 1: Sure you get Yeah, you guys will really enjoy it.
39:16
Speaker 1: And there's just so many not only things to see,
39:20
Speaker 1: but there's just a lot of variety to Morocco, that's surprising.
39:25
Speaker 1: So there will be a lot to do there. And
39:28
Speaker 1: are you thinking about going into the western Sahara or
39:30
Speaker 1: a little further south or just kind of Morocco at
39:33
Speaker 1: the time.
39:34
Speaker 2: I'd really like to head further south. I don't know
39:37
Speaker 2: how far yet, So I think that would be my
39:40
Speaker 2: goal over Christmas time is to look into that a
39:42
Speaker 2: bit more and see see how we want to do it.
39:45
Speaker 2: I don't think we'll we won't go all the way down.
39:49
Speaker 2: I just don't think that the timing's right, and I
39:53
Speaker 2: honestly don't I wouldn't want to do it in this view. Yeah,
39:58
Speaker 2: very capable, that's not really an issue, but I just
40:01
Speaker 2: don't think it's right vehicle for that strip.
40:07
Speaker 1: I mean, it can certainly be done it can certainly
40:10
Speaker 1: be done, but you know, Western Africa is a lot
40:14
Speaker 1: more challenging on the vehicle. It's just kilometer after kilometer
40:20
Speaker 1: of abuse, pretty much unrelenting from when you go into
40:24
Speaker 1: the western Sahara until you get into you know, into
40:30
Speaker 1: basically Namibia.
40:31
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, we'll.
40:34
Speaker 1: See, you know, it's pretty pretty unrelenting.
40:36
Speaker 2: So I think too, that's something you're changing.
40:39
Speaker 1: Things are changing so much, so you may it's possible
40:43
Speaker 1: that that Sudan will open up and then you guys
40:46
Speaker 1: can come down through Egypt and do the Eastern route,
40:51
Speaker 1: which would be very suitable to your truck.
40:53
Speaker 2: So I would love that. I would love if that
40:56
Speaker 2: was possible. But yeah, we'll see how things progress and
41:01
Speaker 2: what the research says, and I don't know.
41:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, take it one step at a time. I'm
41:09
Speaker 1: I'm happy to do the same. So I'm I'm heading
41:12
Speaker 1: back tomorrow and I'm going to be spending you know,
41:15
Speaker 1: the next two months planning a B and C to
41:20
Speaker 1: get further north. At a minimum, Ethiopia and Djibouti is
41:25
Speaker 1: going to be no problem at the moment. I've got
41:27
Speaker 1: that figured out. But I'd love to be able to
41:29
Speaker 1: continue north through Sudan, and there's some possibilities around that.
41:33
Speaker 1: We'll see how they develop over the next thirty days
41:36
Speaker 1: or so. It's a lot of changing in the world,
41:38
Speaker 1: a lot of dynamics at the moment.
41:41
Speaker 2: I think two, it depends on what the goals of
41:43
Speaker 2: the trip ultimately are. You know, I think we're going
41:46
Speaker 2: at a slow pace and we're enjoying and we're not.
41:50
Speaker 2: We're not like we want to do this expedition from
41:52
Speaker 2: point A to point B. And if we were, that
41:55
Speaker 2: would just be a change that we would make and
41:58
Speaker 2: choose different routes.
42:00
Speaker 3: So yeah, well this week you're in fact, this podcast
42:06
Speaker 3: with you will go live on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in
42:10
Speaker 3: the United States, and what is it?
42:13
Speaker 1: October ninth? Is that Thanksgiving in Canada?
42:17
Speaker 2: Yeah? Around there.
42:19
Speaker 1: I think though, do you guys really celebrate Thanksgiving in.
42:23
Speaker 2: A way we do? Yeah, I mean we haven't been
42:26
Speaker 2: home for Thanksgiving uh in many years because I think
42:30
Speaker 2: we were part of the Rebel Rally team and it
42:33
Speaker 2: always is right on the Thanksgiving weekend. But yeah, it's
42:38
Speaker 2: similar similar to the US for sure.
42:42
Speaker 1: I do find it. I find it slightly humorous that
42:45
Speaker 1: it's that much earlier, but it makes sense because summer
42:49
Speaker 1: is over in Canada by what is it, twenty seventh
42:51
Speaker 1: of June, So.
42:56
Speaker 2: That's what it's that start.
43:01
Speaker 1: The one day you get the twenty eighth of June
43:07
Speaker 1: for summer.
43:09
Speaker 2: That's usually like the last snowfall in the Rockies.
43:16
Speaker 1: But I thought it was so interesting when I looked
43:18
Speaker 1: it up, because you know, there is so much for
43:21
Speaker 1: us to be grateful for. But I was like, when
43:23
Speaker 1: is Thanksgiving in Canada? And it was just so humorous
43:26
Speaker 1: that it was almost two months earlier than in the US,
43:29
Speaker 1: which makes sense because you know, fall comes at a
43:32
Speaker 1: different time up there, so and you.
43:35
Speaker 2: Spread your turkey out a little bit so by the
43:37
Speaker 2: time you.
43:38
Speaker 1: Get that's a good idea. That's a good idea. So
43:43
Speaker 1: being Thanksgiving week, are there any things that you're finding
43:47
Speaker 1: that you're particularly grateful in your life right now? Oh?
43:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, like pretty much everything. It's great. I think Richard
43:54
Speaker 2: and I had this dream or idea that we could
44:00
Speaker 2: be self sufficient and we could do this full time
44:04
Speaker 2: for a long time period, and then we just had
44:09
Speaker 2: some roadblocks along the way, which is life, and we've
44:14
Speaker 2: gotten to the point now where we're able to do
44:17
Speaker 2: this full time and there's not really an end in sight,
44:20
Speaker 2: which is I'm very grateful for that, just being able
44:23
Speaker 2: to when people ask, they say, well, when are your
44:26
Speaker 2: spoon's your trip done, and we say, well, we don't
44:28
Speaker 2: really know, and I think that really blows people's minds.
44:30
Speaker 2: So that's a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge privilege and
44:35
Speaker 2: something that we worked hard for. But also it's part
44:40
Speaker 2: of that is definitely luck of the draw.
44:43
Speaker 1: So yeah, extremely, it's also you know, Richard and you
44:49
Speaker 1: are both really exceptional individuals in this industry. You're you've
44:55
Speaker 1: both worked very hard to be great at your jobs
44:59
Speaker 1: and to developed meaningful relationships with companies and individuals and
45:05
Speaker 1: media outlets within the industry. So because you've worked so
45:10
Speaker 1: hard and you focus so much on the quality of
45:12
Speaker 1: your craft, that you now have the ability to work
45:15
Speaker 1: from anywhere. So it's certainly a testament to Richard and you.
45:20
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you. I appreciate the compliment. But yeah, I
45:24
Speaker 2: think proving that the concept works, which we know that
45:29
Speaker 2: it does, but physically being here really proves that, I guess.
45:37
Speaker 2: So yeah, so very grateful for that, very greatfull I
45:40
Speaker 2: bet they delicious cartatos in Spain and the sunshine and
45:46
Speaker 2: all and all those things.
45:49
Speaker 1: So yeah, great food and Spain too. M yeah, I
45:54
Speaker 1: mean great food throughout Europe, but UK not so much.
45:57
Speaker 1: But the rest of Europe, although UK gets better, London
46:00
Speaker 1: always has great food. I just and you get a
46:02
Speaker 1: little bit when you get a little bit out of
46:04
Speaker 1: the city, it gets a little more challenged.
46:06
Speaker 2: They do coffee, well, I will say, yeah, that's true.
46:12
Speaker 1: Which is important. I think I could live on that.
46:16
Speaker 1: So we've talked about what you got coming next, and
46:18
Speaker 1: of course focusing a little bit on the gratitude of
46:21
Speaker 1: it being Thanksgiving when this episode drops. But because you
46:26
Speaker 1: and I are a bit of book of files, I
46:30
Speaker 1: wanted to follow up on the many dozens of books
46:34
Speaker 1: that you have read since we last chatted. But are
46:36
Speaker 1: there some that come to mind? Some favorites there are?
46:42
Speaker 2: So I read Cry of the Kalahari, which everybody breaks
46:47
Speaker 2: out about that one and we're like, you have to
46:49
Speaker 2: read this, and it was it was a really good book,
46:51
Speaker 2: Like it was very action packed and fascinating. So that's that.
46:57
Speaker 2: I believe two American biologists moved to the middle of
47:00
Speaker 2: the Kalahari, like literally in the middle of nowhere in
47:02
Speaker 2: the seventies or something to study wildlife there to get
47:08
Speaker 2: a it must have been to get grants, Like I
47:12
Speaker 2: think they were working on researching so that they could
47:14
Speaker 2: get grants to continue the research. But they're in the
47:17
Speaker 2: middle of the Kalahari where there is nothing, and they
47:21
Speaker 2: had like drums of water they got from mon and Botswana.
47:24
Speaker 2: And it was incredible to read, especially after being in
47:28
Speaker 2: that area and all the changes that they had to
47:31
Speaker 2: overcome to study all the animals and what the relationship
47:35
Speaker 2: was with them as UH scientists studying the behavior of
47:40
Speaker 2: the animals. But then while they're there, obviously their presence
47:44
Speaker 2: impacts the animals, but even though they want to make
47:47
Speaker 2: it as little as possible, So that one's really interesting.
47:50
Speaker 2: I would highly recommend that. But the one thing that
47:53
Speaker 2: was kind of crazy that came out of that book
47:56
Speaker 2: UH is the author co author Delia Owens wrote where
48:00
Speaker 2: the crawdads saying I believe and I had no clue
48:04
Speaker 2: it was the same author, So that was crazy.
48:09
Speaker 1: That's impressive. That's impressive to have that that scope of
48:13
Speaker 1: talent as a as.
48:14
Speaker 2: A writer, right, So that one was really good. And
48:19
Speaker 2: also I just read In Search of Sheba by Barbara
48:24
Speaker 2: Toy which links back to me trying to figure out
48:31
Speaker 2: a how to collect all of her eight books that
48:33
Speaker 2: are out of print and be kind of like stalk
48:37
Speaker 2: her and her history throughout England. So that book is
48:43
Speaker 2: back in print and Lois Price has written the intro,
48:47
Speaker 2: which is very special and exciting. So that's nice that
48:51
Speaker 2: you don't have to pay, you know, several hundred dollars
48:53
Speaker 2: to be able to read a Barbara Toy book now,
48:56
Speaker 2: which was the case a few months ago England.
49:00
Speaker 1: I did you find any any crazy little book finds
49:05
Speaker 1: when you were looking in bookstores in England?
49:08
Speaker 2: So I found, uh? Was it three? No? I found
49:14
Speaker 2: three of Barbara Toy's books, two originals so with photos,
49:18
Speaker 2: those are very hard to find. And then one of
49:21
Speaker 2: them was like a different edition, so it was like
49:24
Speaker 2: a reprint back in the day without photos. But those,
49:26
Speaker 2: I mean, they're very expensive. And one of them I
49:30
Speaker 2: found in the town that she lived until just before
49:33
Speaker 2: she passed away. So I went and checked out the
49:35
Speaker 2: place she lived and went to this this, uh, this
49:39
Speaker 2: restaurant she used to go to with journalists, but she
49:42
Speaker 2: used to go there all the time. And I am
49:45
Speaker 2: one of the books in that town, her like town
49:48
Speaker 2: where she it was ridiculous. And then I went and
49:51
Speaker 2: drove her land Rover, Pollyanna amazing and it is still running.
50:01
Speaker 2: And the lovely man that owns the land Rover now
50:05
Speaker 2: he's been taking care of it for a long time
50:08
Speaker 2: and his dad was given it years and years ago
50:13
Speaker 2: because he was the mechanic barbitoised mechanic anyways, So yeah,
50:19
Speaker 2: that was cool. First of all, driving a Series one
50:21
Speaker 2: land Rover. That was the first time I'd ever driven one,
50:23
Speaker 2: and specifically epic adventure lady that drove all over the
50:30
Speaker 2: world in it, so that was very special. But I
50:32
Speaker 2: was going to say that the In Search of Sheba.
50:36
Speaker 2: She goes to Ethiopia in that book in search of
50:39
Speaker 2: the Queen of Sheba and some history about her, and
50:42
Speaker 2: so that one will be a review. I reviewed it.
50:45
Speaker 2: It'll be upcoming in one of the Overland Journal issues
50:47
Speaker 2: so people can read more.
50:48
Speaker 1: But it, yeah, I should read that because Ethiopia is
50:52
Speaker 1: coming very soon for me.
50:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, And she crosses the Sahara to get there,
50:58
Speaker 2: and it's great, yeahol, And there's a very James Bond
51:02
Speaker 2: esque scene at the end that might be interesting for
51:05
Speaker 2: you to read.
51:06
Speaker 1: Also, I love it, so you and I both asked
51:12
Speaker 1: this question from a lot of our guests. But now
51:15
Speaker 1: that you have kind of had some of these new experiences,
51:19
Speaker 1: both with X overland and traveling without an end date,
51:25
Speaker 1: what would be would you revise any of your pieces
51:28
Speaker 1: of advice for someone who's getting new into overlanding and
51:32
Speaker 1: wants to have this kind of an experience. What would
51:34
Speaker 1: be your top two or three pieces of advice that
51:38
Speaker 1: you would give to a new traveler, Like if you
51:42
Speaker 1: could talk to yourself that you know, six years ago
51:46
Speaker 1: and give yourself some advice.
51:50
Speaker 2: Ooof, So, the first time we left, it was very
51:57
Speaker 2: easy to leave. We were just like peace, we're out,
52:02
Speaker 2: you know, just got everything together, didn't know anything and
52:04
Speaker 2: just left, which there's a beauty in that, like a
52:07
Speaker 2: great beauty in that. And then the second time this
52:09
Speaker 2: past year was a lot harder and I had a
52:11
Speaker 2: lot more. I had more concerns this time. I think
52:15
Speaker 2: being a little bit older, maybe you're kind of like, ooh,
52:20
Speaker 2: and the creature comforts starts sneaking in, and I was like,
52:23
Speaker 2: can we really do this? Even though we had done
52:25
Speaker 2: it before in a very in much more challenging way.
52:30
Speaker 2: And so I think maybe over time it can get
52:33
Speaker 2: more and more challenging if you've been out of it
52:35
Speaker 2: for a little while to jump into it. And so
52:38
Speaker 2: I really understand the things that people have to overcome
52:45
Speaker 2: to be able to get on the road, because it's
52:48
Speaker 2: not easy. But if you stick with it, if this
52:50
Speaker 2: is what you want to do and it's your goal
52:52
Speaker 2: and your dream, I think that you kind of just
52:56
Speaker 2: have to work through that fear and hesitation and get
53:00
Speaker 2: to the other side because it's so, so, so worth it.
53:03
Speaker 2: But I get it, You're like, where am I going
53:05
Speaker 2: to go to the bathroom? Where are I going to shower?
53:07
Speaker 2: You know, I'm so comfortable in my life right now,
53:10
Speaker 2: but yeah, discomfort is good for you.
53:15
Speaker 1: We're meant to have it. I mean, if you look
53:17
Speaker 1: at the history of humanity, it's been only very recently
53:21
Speaker 1: that we even had the option for a toilet in
53:24
Speaker 1: our camper. So yeah, most of human history was a
53:28
Speaker 1: lot of challenge and a lot of adversity, and we're well,
53:32
Speaker 1: we're well tuned to it. I think that we were
53:35
Speaker 1: meant to do that. We're meant to have challenge in
53:37
Speaker 1: our life.
53:37
Speaker 2: So yeah, I don't feel the need to be pressured
53:41
Speaker 2: into doing YouTube. I think that's another one that people
53:44
Speaker 2: feel like, oh, they're going to do this trip, well,
53:46
Speaker 2: we should probably do YouTuber people are like, are you
53:49
Speaker 2: on YouTube or are you documenting on YouTube? And I
53:52
Speaker 2: think there are a lot of different ways to share
53:54
Speaker 2: a trip if you want to share it, And I
53:56
Speaker 2: think there's a lot of power not sharing anything if
54:00
Speaker 2: you don't want to.
54:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think yeah, people feeling comfortable making whatever
54:06
Speaker 1: decision's best for them and their travel companions are just
54:09
Speaker 1: themselves if they're travel traveling solo. For sure. I do
54:13
Speaker 1: find that for me, putting a kind of a big
54:18
Speaker 1: goal out there is usually what I need because then
54:22
Speaker 1: and especially if you make it public or you tell
54:25
Speaker 1: people that you care about and respect in your life
54:28
Speaker 1: is what I'm going to do. For me, That's usually
54:30
Speaker 1: what keeps the ball moving in that direction. I find
54:35
Speaker 1: for myself is just getting or setting a date or
54:40
Speaker 1: or buying air tickets, even if it's six months out
54:43
Speaker 1: or just something like that can often be really really
54:47
Speaker 1: it'll drive you forward.
54:49
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I know I was getting really sick of talking
54:51
Speaker 2: about this trip because I feel like we were ready
54:54
Speaker 2: to go before COVID and I was like, we're going
54:55
Speaker 2: to do this trip. We're going to do this trip,
54:57
Speaker 2: and then I was like so sick of hearing myself
54:58
Speaker 2: being like we're to do it.
55:02
Speaker 1: It's like a I want to.
55:04
Speaker 2: Be doing it now, you know. Nice to be able
55:08
Speaker 2: to say when you're doing.
55:09
Speaker 1: It, well, amazing, Ashley. Is there is there anything else going? Like,
55:17
Speaker 1: speaking of YouTube and all of the things, where is
55:20
Speaker 1: it best for people to continue to follow kind of
55:23
Speaker 1: on through social media in a more active way, follow
55:26
Speaker 1: Richard and your trip? How is ay? How can they
55:29
Speaker 1: best follow you?
55:30
Speaker 2: Yeah? So I would say on Instagram at Desk to
55:34
Speaker 2: Glory under Square Ash and also at Desk to Glory.
55:39
Speaker 2: I would also say on Expedition Portal, I'm trying to
55:42
Speaker 2: weave articles in that are helpful for people that have
55:47
Speaker 2: something to do with the locations that we've been in.
55:49
Speaker 2: So Expedition Portal dot com of course, Overland Journal, and
55:54
Speaker 2: we will be having a series come out on the
55:57
Speaker 2: Overlander for Exoverland Network and January. So Richard's been working
56:02
Speaker 2: really hard to do videos, videos, videos, and that'll give
56:07
Speaker 2: people a little bit more of an idea of what
56:08
Speaker 2: we're doing. But the Africa series will be coming out
56:12
Speaker 2: as well on that network to end to see that.
56:17
Speaker 1: That's going to be so exciting. Well, and Ashley, thank
56:21
Speaker 1: you so much for all of your hard work on
56:23
Speaker 1: the podcast. You are an amazing host, and I'm so
56:27
Speaker 1: grateful that we get to share this platform together to
56:32
Speaker 1: speak to so many inspiring travelers. And thank you for
56:36
Speaker 1: being an inspiration yourself, and for Richard for being such
56:40
Speaker 1: an inspiration. It really adds a lot to this podcast,
56:44
Speaker 1: because I'm sure people get tired of hearing me talk,
56:48
Speaker 1: so I'm just so grateful that you've done such an
56:52
Speaker 1: amazing job with all of your guests.
56:54
Speaker 2: So thanks for the opportunity. It's yeah, sharing people's story
56:59
Speaker 2: from the road is one of them my favorite things,
57:00
Speaker 2: and we can learn a lot from from all those travelers.
57:04
Speaker 2: So yes, it's my my honor to be able to
57:08
Speaker 2: speak on the podcast to all sorts of amazing folks
57:11
Speaker 2: from all over the world. So thank you.
57:13
Speaker 1: That's such a fun, such a fun thing to do. Well,
57:15
Speaker 1: thank you, Ashley. Enjoy your time in Spain. It's well
57:20
Speaker 1: still early enough in the day for you for another quartato,
57:23
Speaker 1: so go for it.
57:26
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you so much for having me on, Scott,
57:29
Speaker 2: and thank you Ashley, Thank you so much.
57:33
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you and have a great time in Canada.