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Principles of Overlanding: 30 Insights on Traveling the World by Vehicle · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: your host Scott Brady, and I've joined today by my
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: co host Matt Scott. For today's episode, we go into
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the principles of overlandings. Now, this was a list of
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  Speaker 1: thirty principles that I put together and posted to my
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  Speaker 1: Twitter account Scott Underscore Brady. This was a list of
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  Speaker 1: insights and attributes of overlanding that I've been gathering over
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  Speaker 1: the last couple decades. I would write them down in
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  Speaker 1: a notebook, and I finally had the time during the
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  Speaker 1: COVID lockdown to assemble all of these thoughts into thirty principles.
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  Speaker 1: Actually wrote these principles when I was crossing the Pacific
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  Speaker 1: Ocean in a sailboat. I had a lot of time
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  Speaker 1: on my hands to really think about the fundamentals of
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  Speaker 1: this pursuit that we're all so passionate about. We talk
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  Speaker 1: about in the podcast. The fact that this is not
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  Speaker 1: an end all be all. These are not rules, These
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: are not regulations of overlanding. These are just the things
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  Speaker 1: that I've learned the hard way, through a lot of
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  Speaker 1: mistakes and through a lot of blunders and getting stuck.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm hopeful that those insights might help you in
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  Speaker 1: your own travel, So please enjoy my conversation with Matt
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  Speaker 1: Scott on the principles of overlanding. This content is brought
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to you by Overland Journal, our premium quality print publication.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: The magazine was founded in two thousand and six with
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the goal of providing independent equipment and vehicle reviews, along
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: with the most stunning adventures and photography. We care deeply
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: about the countries and cultures we visit and share our
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: experiences freely with our readers. We also have zero averatorial
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: policy and do not accept any advertiser compensation for our reviews.
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  Speaker 1: By subscribing to Overland Journal, you're helping to support our
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  Speaker 1: employee owned and veteran owned publication. Your support also provides
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  Speaker 1: resources and funding for content like you are watching or
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: listening to right now. You can subscribe directly on our
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: website at Overland Journal dot com. So welcome to the podcast.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk through literally the principles of overlanding
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  Speaker 1: and as the most basic it's intentionally at its most basic,
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  Speaker 1: and a little bit of backstory. So I was traveling
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  Speaker 1: with Brian mcvickers across the Pacific Ocean. We were on
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  Speaker 1: an Expedition class sailboat. This was during COVID, when the
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  Speaker 1: overlanding things were not possible, but the cross ocean things were.
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  Speaker 1: I had a lot of time on the boat to
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  Speaker 1: think about the craft that I've this my profession for
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  Speaker 1: the last twenty years, and it allowed me to kind
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  Speaker 1: of distill down the things that I've learned along the way,
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  Speaker 1: and I wrote these principles primarily on the sailboat. I
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  Speaker 1: did a lot of editing afterwards. The team was involved
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  Speaker 1: with providing a lot of feedback, including Graham Bell and
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Steffan Edwards. Others provided some really Ashley Giordano provided some
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  Speaker 1: great feedback that allowed me to refine the list. But
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  Speaker 1: the goal was to create what's called tweet storm. So
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  Speaker 1: on Twitter now x there's a way to do a
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  Speaker 1: stream of tweets where there's thirty of them. So you
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  Speaker 1: can find them at Scott underscore Brady on Twitter or
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  Speaker 1: in threads if you are one of the last three
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  Speaker 1: people on the planet still use threads. There's a there's
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  Speaker 1: a Scott dot Ay dot Brady account that I only
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  Speaker 1: put the tweet storm on. I've not done any other
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  Speaker 1: posts other than that, but you can find those things there.
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  Speaker 1: So Matt and I are going to kind of work
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  Speaker 1: back and forth on it. Matt's got some good insights.
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  Speaker 1: There might be sarcasm and sarcasm sarcasm, those kinds of things.
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  Speaker 2: Scott Brady Expedition Leader back to Scotty. Yes, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: That has been the process of my life is just
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  Speaker 2: stay Scotty. I just imagine you, like forging and time
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  Speaker 2: extend on a sailboat in the middle of in the
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  Speaker 2: middle of the ocean and a hammock like writing these things.
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  Speaker 1: That's pretty much what happened. That's that's a great Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's exactly what happened. Yeah, yeah, between trying to not
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  Speaker 1: trying to throw up and everything else like that when
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  Speaker 1: the c state changed.
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  Speaker 2: But the most.
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  Speaker 1: Important one from my perspective, given the Scotty Expedition Leader
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  Speaker 1: versus Scotty, is that the majority of these insights just
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  Speaker 1: came from a lot of failures. So my all of
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  Speaker 1: my own mistakes, my learnings that have come the hard way.
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  Speaker 1: So the goal is really to share insights that might
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  Speaker 1: help others to avoid some of the pitfalls that I've encountered.
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  Speaker 1: It's really important that I didn't I wasn't like birthed
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  Speaker 1: an overlander. I learned these things by screwing up a lot,
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  Speaker 1: getting stuck, breaking down, you know, not doing a good
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  Speaker 1: job with teams or whatever. Just lots of mistakes. So
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  Speaker 1: that's really what the first one says is, I've arrived
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  Speaker 1: at these principles mostly through countless failures, mistakes, mishaps, and blunders.
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  Speaker 1: While these principles present a practical and measured approach towards overlanding,
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  Speaker 1: they should be modified or completely ignored based upon individual
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  Speaker 1: needs and tendencies. The goal is just to go as
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  Speaker 1: travel will teach us the rest along the journey. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: travel is a great teacher.
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  Speaker 2: When I see new travelers, they will oftentimes kind of
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  Speaker 2: get mired down in their mistakes. They don't just take
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  Speaker 2: it as an opportunity to learn. You know, you're going
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  Speaker 2: to make mistakes, don't let it ruin your trip. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: you know, because or the relationship mind you're with. You know,
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  Speaker 2: if you walk into something with that kind of mindset
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  Speaker 2: of oh I just failed at this, you're going to
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  Speaker 2: continue doing that, So brush it off. Like things go
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  Speaker 2: wrong when you travel. Yeah, you know, it's important to
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  Speaker 2: recognize that, and it's.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and the most successful travelers that are far more,
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  Speaker 1: far more successful than me, they'll all admit to many
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  Speaker 1: failures along the journey. And that's how we get a
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  Speaker 1: little bit better at it is by when we work out,
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  Speaker 1: we are muscles hurt because we've a little bit of damage,
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  Speaker 1: but we come away stronger from that. So it's the
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  Speaker 1: same thing with our travels.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Number two is and this is the intent of number
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  Speaker 1: two is to kind of define what overlanding is. So
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  Speaker 1: overlanding is vehicle based adventure travel. Adventure is an undertaking
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  Speaker 1: with an unknown outcome, and travel is a journey, especially
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  Speaker 1: to a distant or unfamiliar place. By saying overlanding is
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  Speaker 1: vehicle based adventure travel, it's the most concise yet most
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  Speaker 1: constructive definition of that. That definition was came to many
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  Speaker 1: years ago a combination of Graham Jackson and Jonathan Hanson
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  Speaker 1: and myself. We sat down and we kind of put
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  Speaker 1: together what we thought was a reasonable definition. We've stuck
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  Speaker 1: with it even twenty years later. That kind of helps framework.
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  Speaker 1: And the next one is because there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: feedback that we get a lot of feedback that Matt
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  Speaker 1: and I both get that overlanding is too expensive, and
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  Speaker 1: I think that the public facing version of overlanding is
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  Speaker 1: too expensive. But there's lots of people traveling around the
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  Speaker 1: world that aren't spending a lot of money on fancy gear.
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  Speaker 1: There's lots of people who don't travel that spend money
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  Speaker 1: on fancy gear.
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  Speaker 2: And we're also not always the best representation of that. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think to call ourselves out, we always try and
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  Speaker 2: say that is, you know, some of the things that
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  Speaker 2: Scott and I do do not reflect what you should
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  Speaker 2: do and do not reflect what the majority of real
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  Speaker 2: travelers do. We get access to things that we're privileged
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  Speaker 2: to have access to, and they're not necessary in order
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  Speaker 2: to travel.
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  Speaker 1: Spoiled brats. I've definitely been a spoiled brat for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Overlanding doesn't need to be expensive. So the example here
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  Speaker 1: is motorcycle travelers that have explored the globe for less
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  Speaker 1: than twenty two twenty two dollars a day on average.
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  Speaker 1: That's actually a friend of mine's stuff on a Malgratti.
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  Speaker 1: That's he kept track of every expense that he had
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  Speaker 1: traveling the length of Europe, the length of Africa and
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  Speaker 1: then riding his motorcycle all the way up South America,
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  Speaker 1: Central America, and North America back to Alaska. He used
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  Speaker 1: a Yamaha two fifty. It's a very simple bike, very
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  Speaker 1: fuel efficient motorcycle. It gets almost seventy miles of the gallon.
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  Speaker 1: He camped most nights and he told me that most
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  Speaker 1: days he only had one meal. Now he looked great, like,
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  Speaker 1: he looked fit and healthy because he wasn't overeating it.
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  Speaker 1: He wasn't on the standard American diet, and he was
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  Speaker 1: incredibly happy and joyful of his experience. It's a reminder
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  Speaker 1: that dollars spent do not translate into necessarily a positive
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  Speaker 1: happiness or a positive experience. So it's about going in
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  Speaker 1: the way that you're most comfortable. So it's possible to
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  Speaker 1: get an inexpensive motorcycle travel around the world on twenty
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  Speaker 1: two bucks a day, so which is pretty amazing if
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  Speaker 1: you think about it. That's a couple years for ten
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  Speaker 1: grand I could not do that. But isn't it cool that, like,
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  Speaker 1: if you really wanted to you could. Yeah, I mean
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  Speaker 1: I think you could check out tomorrow and say, there's
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  Speaker 1: always going to go.
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  Speaker 2: There's always like the priorities in life, and we talk
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  Speaker 2: about that a lot. If You're pri already is travel,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what you want to dedicate yourself to. Like
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  Speaker 2: it can be done. If you be done, you know
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be a little uncomfortable sometimes.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he had plenty of uncomfortable nights where he
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  Speaker 1: was camped next to a road or you know, in
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  Speaker 1: a gas station parking lot.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: Number four, Overlanding is not synonymous with car camping or
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  Speaker 1: off roading. It is possible to drive around the world
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  Speaker 1: without a single mile of dirt or a night of camping.
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  Speaker 1: So we have seen a lot of positioning of overlanding
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  Speaker 1: in recent years, which is really kind of the off
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  Speaker 1: road market attempting to latch a hold of this new
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  Speaker 1: growing segment by showing that you've got to go off
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  Speaker 1: road to go overlanding, or you've got to be camping
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  Speaker 1: to go overlanding. You may choose to do those things,
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  Speaker 1: you may do them some of the time, but they
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  Speaker 1: aren't they aren't. They actually are not the definition of overlanding.
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  Speaker 2: The definition of kind of that North American overlanding and
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  Speaker 2: that global terminology are cousins, but that's right related, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, not as close as somethink.
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  Speaker 1: Some people don't want to go travel overland, or don't
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  Speaker 1: understand how to connect in with the community because maybe
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  Speaker 1: they don't camp. There's been trips that I've done where
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  Speaker 1: there's no reason to camp because accommodations are so cheap,
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  Speaker 1: or they're there isn't public land available. We're so fortunate
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  Speaker 1: in North America where we have a lot of public
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  Speaker 1: land that we can use to go camping. There are
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  Speaker 1: places in the world where everybody owns every inch of ground,
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  Speaker 1: and so you're going to be in a campground or
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  Speaker 1: in some form of accommodation, and it doesn't make it
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  Speaker 1: any less of an experience.
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  Speaker 2: Or I think again, overlanding is the experience of cultures
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  Speaker 2: and things that kind of come along with that. It's
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  Speaker 2: not It doesn't mean that it's a test of your
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  Speaker 2: driving or prowess of camping. No, it's not competitive.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah it's yeah, exactly, Overlanding isn't competitive. Because someone did
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  Speaker 1: a harder trail or they have a more capable vehicle,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't make them any more of an overlander than
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  Speaker 1: someone else.
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  Speaker 2: Or because somebody does the camping on the side of
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  Speaker 2: the road and you are in the position of stay
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  Speaker 2: in hotels, it doesn't mean that the journey of the
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  Speaker 2: experience necessarily has to be any differently. That's right. It's
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: get out there, do it. Yeah, the thing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that works for you and your family, your travel companions,
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  Speaker 1: all right. Number five, the majority of overland routes do
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  Speaker 1: not require a modified for whel drive stock for wil drive.
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  Speaker 1: Passenger cars and touring motorcycles have completed notable trips across
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  Speaker 1: continents or around the world. Think about our buddies that
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: took the London taxi yep, around the world. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: and those are some rough roads that they took it on. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I mean they got deported from Iran they did.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that again with that North
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  Speaker 2: American perspective of overlanding being four wheel driving, there's this,
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  Speaker 2: let me say, capitalist perception that you have to have
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: all of these things, you have to have the thirty
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: fives and the bypass shocks and all of this stuff. Like, no,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: like you actually do not want those things. You don't
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: want shocks that have to be rebuilt every ten fifteen
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  Speaker 2: to twenty thousand miles. Where are you going to rebuild
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: pires that you can get? Yeah, that's right, you know.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: David Prittis when we were traveling around a kind of
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: leapfrogging each other. In Australia ran a very specific michel
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  Speaker 2: entire not on xCl had pretty much a street pattern.
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  Speaker 2: Why because it got eighty thousand miles of treadware.
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  Speaker 1: And it was probably a size like two thirty five
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  Speaker 1: eighty five sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: Probably it was available everywhere for ninety five percent of
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  Speaker 2: the driving. That's did, if not more.
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  Speaker 1: And his goal was to see the world and he
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: did so makes a big difference. Every modification that you
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: don't do to the vehicle is part of the pool
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: of money that you can use to actually go and travel.
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  Speaker 1: So we talk about that a lot, and we'll talk
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  Speaker 1: about that more in this list. So number six be
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  Speaker 1: the student. And this is a place of humility for
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  Speaker 1: myself because I remember when I got started in overlanding,
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  Speaker 1: it was such a new thing and we were pushing
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  Speaker 1: so hard to try to bring this community to bear
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  Speaker 1: in the marketplace, and I just I spent years in
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: this sense of impostor syndrome, and I was an impostor.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't have enough experience, and I forced myself to
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: be in this position of authority that I wasn't really
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  Speaker 1: there yet. I hadn't gotten there yet because I wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: force myself to be the student.
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  Speaker 2: I felt like I had to be the expert.
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  Speaker 1: So if anybody can learn from me, and that is
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: it's okay to be an amateur, It's okay to not
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: know what the hell you're doing. I still don't. I'm
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  Speaker 1: still an amateur in many ways. And by changing my
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: mindset to being the student and learning from people who
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  Speaker 1: have gone before me, then my world got a lot bigger.
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  Speaker 1: It's very small when you have to try to be
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: perfect even though you don't know what you're doing. And
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know what I was Again, I say it,
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  Speaker 1: overlanding is not a competition.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the greatest one. It's a personal journey, and you're
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  Speaker 2: gonna when you put your hand up and you ask
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  Speaker 2: for help, you're probably gonna enjoy it a little more. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the ways that we can be a
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  Speaker 1: student to continue on with this this number is prepare
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: for visits it's to a foreign land by studying its history,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: its culture, and its laws. As part of being a
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: gracious guest. At a minimum, learn to say basic salutation
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: in the host country language and attempt to speak the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: native tongue is a gesture of respect. One of the
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: it's not as overlanding is an assault on other cultures.
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  Speaker 1: We have to come in from a place of humility
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and openness and understand that they may pray to a
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: different god, they may have a different set of cultural beliefs,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: they may have a word in their language may mean
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: something totally different than it does to you. So taking
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: some time to learn other cultures and being open to
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: feedback and learn is really important.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: It's so easy now, I mean literally, just google it. Yeah,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: just google it. Not not the sound a little too broad,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: but that's the world's information is quite literally so true
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: fingertips so true.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: And when when you travel to some of these countries
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: they are used to everybody speaking in English because tourists
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: that's the lingua franca of tourism. If you make the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: effort to just say hello in their language or thank
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: you in their language, their faces light up because they
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: can tell it's an effort that you've made to learn.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: And if you can't the language, make the gesture, you know,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: like like there are these kind of universally understood gestures
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: that you can make. Kindness or of appreciation. So true,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: you're not You're probably not going to be able to
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: speak Swahili. Put in your hands, but you can't speak
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: enough Swahili to say zukomo yeah, or to say asanti,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: which is thank you in Swahili.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: And those are the little things that you can learn
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: along the way. Let's move on to number seven. The
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: world is safer than it has ever been. That's per
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a Gallup poll. We can put reference to that. The
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: news media, especially the divided political situation that we have
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: right now, everything is all about capturing people's attention through
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: fear mongering, doom scrolling the world. This is a fact.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: The world is safer than it's ever been. We've never
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: had more of a period of peace, more opportunity, the
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: number of people who've been brought out of poverty, the
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: longer lives that people are living now than ever before.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: We live in a peaceful time compared to history. We
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: need to remember that the world is a safe place. Yeah,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and be really careful about getting your news from the news.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Dig a little bit deeper, a couple layers deeper to
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: find out good information. Conflicts are typically isolated to hot
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: spots within countries, not regions. As a result, be critical
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: of travel advice from mainstream media or from individuals that
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: have not recently visited the area that you intend to explore.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like when people say in Mexico isn't safe. Yeah,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: they've clearly never been there. Like there's parts of Mexico
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: and neighborhoods in Mexico, yeah that aren't safe. Yeah. Like
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I'm from Chicago, there are neighborhoods I do not go to.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: But like when you go to what about Saint Louis. Yeah,
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: it's like, you know, Wrigley Field is different than the
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: South Side of Chicago, even though they're only you know what,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: ten miles apart. That's right, trust local knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: In general, the world is incredibly open, welcoming safe. I've
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: had one bad experience in twenty years. It was a
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: really bad experience. We're not going to talk about it,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: but just one in twenty years of travel everything else.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: I also find it like the energy that you have,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say, as a first world person or
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: an American almost makes you just like feel that the
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: world is a little less dangerous, Like you're used to
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: hearing you're bombard at all of these negative things all day, sure,
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: and then you get on the ground there and the
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: guy that you know is trying to help you with
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: your bag is just generally trying to be nice and
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: help you with course, it's not trying to steal your stuff.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: He's not trying to steal your stuff. Take it down
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: a notch, Yeah, take it down a notch. Okay. Number eight.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Our responsibility is to be good stewards, leaving the places
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: we visit better than we found them. Lower tire pressures
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and engage for a drive early to limit road damage,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: pack out all trash and if possible, human waste, tag
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: and share locations responsibly, leaving little known routes wild and unadvertised.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: So this is an important one. It should be number one.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: But it's also part of, you know, getting through the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: philosophy of overlanding early with the definition some other things.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: But we really have we're recreating by our own choice.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: So that means we have a responsibility to be very
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: careful with the places we visit. Let's leave them better
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: than we found them. Let's be good stewards. Let's be
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: good ambassadors of the countries that we live in. Let's
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: be thoughtful travelers. So to emphasize the tagging of things. Yeah,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: how many places, how many campsites have been smoked?
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Smoked?
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So be really mindful of putting that thing up
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: on Instagram because the next thing, you know, your favorite
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: campsite is now going to be everybody's favorite campsites. So
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: you're not trying to be gatekeeping, you're just trying to disperse.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: The use way. Xavier has said it the best. I
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: won't tell you where it is, but I will show
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: you whenever you want. Yeah, true, Yeah, come with me,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah all right now.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Number nine, the best way to prepare for vehicle based
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: travel is to first travel by backpack, bicycle, or motorcycle.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Reality dictates that there are few essential items. The rest
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: can be done without or sourced locally. Start with being simple.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: It's amazing how I mean, people will do months across
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the John Muir Trail or across the Pacific Crest Trail
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: with everything that they can carry in their back, and
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: somehow we end up with ten thousand pounds to comas. Yeah,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: it's like, you don't need all that stuff.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Don't have to prepare for every contingent.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Because you can't. You literally can't. Yeah, you're never going
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: to be able to and all of that extra stuff
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: actually results in more likelihood of failure to begin with.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: So yeah, start with the robust vehicle and keep it simple,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: all right. Number ten. Engage with your companions to determine
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: their wants, needs, and travel goals. Make your fellow travelers
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: a part of the planning process and vehicle configuration, increasing
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: their sense of ownership and connection with the journey. Answer
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: the why before you leave. So why are you going?
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Know why you're going. Make sure it's not just to
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: check a box or to look cool on Instagram. Understand
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: why you want to travel, and understand why your partner
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: wants to travel, or why all of your family members
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: want to go. You may find out that your son
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: or your daughter loves archaeology and then you incorporate that
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: into the trip. You may found find out that your
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: husband really loves the opera, and you're going to incorporate
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: that into some of the cities that you travel through.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: So just make sure that you understand what everybody's goals
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: are before you leave.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just sure. Generally not everybody is going to be
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: on the same page. And you mentioned, you know, the
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: opera in the city thing. There's nothing wrong with when
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: you travel of spending time in a city. There there
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: are beacons of culture for a reason. For sure, enjoy them,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: don't avoid them like so many people.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I think it's a highlight. I love the cities. Yeah,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: there's just the vibrancy and the activity checking in, you know,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: and it allows you to check in with the world.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah for sure, Yeah, for sure, or see what their
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: world is all about, all right. Number eleven.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Essential travel items include the quality clothing you're wearing, a passport,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: a credit or debit card, and arguably a smartphone. An
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: experienced traveler can solve most challenges with those tools. The
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: reason why I wrote that particular tweet was because we
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: have to be able to get down to what is
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the core of what we need to travel and then
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: add as necessary, not start with the huge laundry lists
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: of things that you've got to buy. But say there's
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a traveler by the name of Rolph Potts, and he
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: did what was called a no luggage challenge, and he
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: traveled I think three continents, many countries for several months,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: and he had no luggage. He had an extra pair
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: of underwear stuff in a he used some kind of
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a jacket and an extra p underwear. He had a
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: little he had his smartphone, you know, very well traveled guy. Yeah,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: and he traveled with no luggage. Not it was a
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: bit of a stunt, but it also proved the point,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: like that, you don't have to have all of this
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: stuff to go see the world. And he had everything
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: that he needed in the jacket that he was wearing,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: you know, extra parasox, extra pair underwear. You know, I'm
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: not saying that you do.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Note that in most cultures it is weird to have
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: a pair of used underwear in your jacket exactly, especially
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: when you're going through TSA.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: What I love about that example is that it shows
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: how little you really need to go see the world.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: And the more stuff that we have, the more things
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: that we're attached to and we're afraid of losing, and
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: that continues to degrade the experience. So be prepared. Whatever
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: you bring with you just considered it a write off
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: before you even leave the car, all the gear.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, don't bring stuff with you that year and you
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: can't afford to lose yeah. Yeah.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Number twelve. Overland planning starts with coordinating required visas and
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: shipping logistics with those items defined and secure, the remaining
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: planning can be more fluid or serendipitous, including inter country
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: routing and provisioning. This is something I've really learned the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: hard way. I have spent a lot of energy trying
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to pin down a perfect plan. With Expedition seven, we
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: had to so I spent an enormous amount of energy
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: making sure that things went, that the trains ran on time,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: which took ten times more energy and ten times more
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: money than if you allow for a little bit of
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: serendipity and flexibility. There were reasons for it. It wasn't
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: anything negative. It was in fact, I learned a lot
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: from that process. But what I realize now is I've
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: got to have my visas in order, or I've got
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: to be prepared to get my visas in order, and
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I got to know where the vehicle's going to get
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: shipped to. And then after that, like for example, this
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: last trip in Africa, the vehicle got released from customs
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: three weeks late. So I made the best of the time.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I didn't like I wasn't fretting about it. I went
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: and stayed in a little airbnb next to a game
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: reserve and took pictures of lions and read books and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: it was fine.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: It was just fine. The trips that I've been the
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: most rigid with on my planning, in hindsight, are probably
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: the trips I've enjoyed the least. Sure, Like, give your
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: schedule breathing room and realize that things are going to
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: go wrong and that's okay, that's part of it. If
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: you arrive in a country and you have this campsite
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: booked and this thing and this thing booked, and you
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: have to be here for this thing, whatever that may be,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: know that it's probably not going to go that way,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: and you're just going to add stress, and then your
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: mindset for that travel is just going to be screwed.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Or it forces you to drive at night or make
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: other compromises, and also allow for things to go really well.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: You may come to this one little campsite on the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: beach and there's they bring in the fresh fish every day,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: and you may want to stay there for a week. Yeah,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: So allow yourself that flexibility to bring in the things
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: that add more joy or allow you to to have
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: some safe compromises.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Like I'm going to add one thing, like time constraints
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: are just a you know, whether you have five years
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: to do the trip or five weeks. Just don't bite
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: off to like, don't bite off more than you can
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: chew right, So you're better off seeing less and experiencing
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: more than you are seeing more and experiencing less.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and a huge number of my trips I saw
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: a lot but experience very little line too, So I've
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: learned from that. Again this is this is my own
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: learnings that have come to that realization. So number thirteen.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Travel light and in small groups of one to five vehicles,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: with one or three being optimal to avoid damage to
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: remote tracks and small capacity camp sites. Many overlanders travel solo.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of advantages to travel solo. There are downsides,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: but you learn a lot about yourself when you travel solo.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: You're more open to interactions with others. I was just recently.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: I traveled for twelve days by myself, and I just
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: found myself interacting with a lot more other travelers and
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: talk to the person that you had the similar interest
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: with because you're not really talking to anybody.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: And I'm not a loner. I'm kind of an introvert,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: introverted extrovert. I don't know whatever they call it. Yeah,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I like to have people in my life, so I
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: like to experience things others. But you can learn a
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: lot being a solo traveler. The really important thing is
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: here is to avoid the twenty thirty vehicle convoys. This
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: is not responsible for our community. It's not what we
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: want overlanding to be. Will result in.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: This particularly goes for North American overlanding. Yeah, bad news. Yeah.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: When you see twenty vans going down a road to
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: a campsite and you know, Utah or something, it's it's
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: not a good look for anybody. And who really wants
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: to do that.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Most campsites in the West are for they were set
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: up for a couple of vehicles, or they started off
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: for a couple of vehicles.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Eight vehicles, and most of the West, if you're on
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: public lands that anything more than that actually require permit.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: A group permit, Yes, and totally totally possible. The most
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: important thing is that just does a ton of damage
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: to the trail, does a bunch of damage and extend
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: extends campsites. Think of all the poop from twenty cars.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: So it just like keep it simple. One vehicle's great.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Three vehicles are great. Two is okay, but it's not
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: as good as three. So number fourteen. Keep multiple originals
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: of travel documents along with printed copies. Scan all documents
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: along with new records from each border crossing, and keep
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: copies on a thumb drive and in the cloud. I
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: like to have an original multiple printed copies I do have.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I don't use a thumb drive anymore. I actually use
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: a micro SD card because they're even smaller. They go
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: right in my wallet with all of the documents copied
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: on there. I take photographs of the documents that I
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: incur along the way with my phone and then I
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: upload those to both Google Drive and to iCloud because
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: I'm using an iPhone, so the photograph goes to iCloud,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: so I have backups of all of these documents. It's
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: a really good idea to maintain copies of all of
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: that because you never know when you might have to
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: refer back to them, or you could help a fellow traveler.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: But you really want to have those extra copies. And
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of documents that you can make a
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: copy of that look like an original. That way, you're
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: handing some of these second tier officials, maybe corrupt police
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: checkpoints you're handing them copies of your original document. I
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: always have three driver's licenses with me, two international driver's licenses.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: So that way, if you've got to let one go,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: you let it go. Yeah, get a burner, I D
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: go to the Navy. You've lost your you've lost your license,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: keep the old one. Most governments I'll speak to Americans
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: will issue a second passport. It's ten years validity on
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: your first passport. It's four years validity on your second passport.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of people that will travel with
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: two and two locations. Some individuals that.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Just as a reality, and it allows you to send
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: off one of your passports to get a NASA, to
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: get a visa done. So yeah, it's actually why I'm
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: in the US right now. It's because I've got to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: get a whole bunch of visas for the Congo and
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: everything else while I'm here in my home country.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: So it's a lot easier to do it from here,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: all right.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Number fifteen, Who we travel with is more meaningful than
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: how we travel or what we travel in venture into
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: the unknown with calm, rationally optimistic travelers eject the toxic
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: personalities as soon as possible. We're allowed to have boundaries
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: with our travel mates. We're allowed to say, you know what,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: this isn't working for me, in the same way that
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you would say that a romantic relationship isn't working. We're
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: going to go our separate ways.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Don't stay in a situation that you don't feel comfortable,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: or you don't feel safe, or you don't feel heard,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: because when things really.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Go bad, you need to be able to Your life
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: may count on those people. Travel with optimistic, well traveled, settled.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: People, and recognize that everybody has different comfort levels too.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: You know, you may be putting somebody else in an
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: environment where they're not comfortable and that's why they become negative,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: and you're just it's not a personal thing. It's just
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: different appetites for different things.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Totally exactly, all right. Number sixteen. Recognize the planning fallacy
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: when estimating travel distance and time. Plan for fewer miles
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: travel due to road closures, mechanical issues, fuel availability, driver fatigue, serendipity,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: and more. Expect that travel will not go as planned,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: and you will never be disappointed. We talked about this
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: a little bit a few minutes ago. I think that
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: stands on its own.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like the scale of travel time in your mind. Say,
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: as a North American, you look and you're like, oh cool,
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: I could drive across the state in today. It's not reality. No,
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: it might take seven days, you know. And what Google
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: Map says outside of the US, do not take that
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: as gospel.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: That's right, or even the route as gospel. Yeah, because
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: people have gotten themselves into a whole bunch of trouble.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: You end up in the wrong favella because you follow
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the Google Maps. So really, like, make sure you know
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: where you're going. Be mindful about that, Okay. Number seventeen.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Training before tools, Enhancing vehicle capability through modifications is often
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: more expensive and ultimately less effective than achieving the same
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: result through driver training. Driver training doesn't necessarily have to
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: be paid for. There's a lot of training available at
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: events like the Overland Expo. You can become part of
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: a local club World Drive Club and learn a lot.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: You can find other experienced travelers that might be willing
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: to share their information with you. Focus on getting training
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: first and then only add the modifications that you feel
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: like you really need.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Less is always going to be more. Yeah, there's people around, Like,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: there's like everywhere I always go like there's there's always
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: people that can help you, and don't be afraid to ask,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: you know, like, don't you don't have to be this
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: wild Thornberry's expedition vehicle thing right, you know, can pick
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: itself up and fly like that's never reality.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: It's kind of fun to get stuck every once in
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: a while. I mean, like, don't take it all so
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: seriously for sure. Okay, So number eighteen. The driver's primary
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: responsibility is occupant safety, followed immediately by mechanical sympathy, which
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: preserves the vehicle and equipment. All age appropriate occupants should
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: be trained on vehicle operations and systems. Those that you're
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: traveling with need to be able to drive the vehicle,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: need to be able to recover the vehicle, need to
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: be able to operate all of the systems of the vehicle.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Imagine if you're knocked unconscious, you break your leg, if
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: you need to be evacuated and they have to get
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: the vehicle to the next place or meet up with
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: you later. Everybody needs to know how to operate the vehicle.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: And when you're driving, stay off your phone, especially I
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: mean especially when you're in other countries that you have
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: a responsibility not to run kids over, and the kids
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: are running everywhere, So stay off your phone, slow down,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: it's not a competition. Keep an eye on your driver.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: If they're getting fatigued, force them to swap out, or
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: force them to stop. If they pick up their phone
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: and they start checking things, tell them to knock it off.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: It's just there's no excuse for it.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Period. People run out of talent a lot quicker than
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: you think.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: They run out of talent all the time, and we
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: see that in these trips and they're cut short and.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Be where they ego as well. You know, if you are,
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: whatever your circumstances, you get in a car with somebody,
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: you know, oftentimes people want to show off, they want
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: to drive fast, they want to do these things. You know.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: It's better to get out in the middle of nowhere, yeap,
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: than to end up severely injured in the middle of it.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just say like this isn't working for me, just
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: going to It's all good.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: You keep going, I'm going.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: To catch the next flight out because you want to
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: arrive alive and have a good experience for sure, all right.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Number nineteen.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Pinnacle vehicles and equipment are always less expensive in the
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: long term and often help support favorable travel outcomes. The
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Toyota land Cruiser is considered a pinnacle overland vehicle, if
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: not the Pinnacle overland vehicle, along with other similar Halo
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: models models from other manufacturers. So think g Wagon, you
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: think Nissan Patrol, think Toyde land Cruiser. Hopefully Grenadier, Yeah, Grenadeer.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Once we get it proven a little bit, so far,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: it's off to it.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, start, start with the right vehicle, Like we see
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: this in North America a lot. I'm going to pick
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: on the Tacoma where the guy builds the Tacoma and
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: it's overweight, so then they put a new axle under it,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: or they put brakes under it. These are all band aids.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: You're better off starting with. If you're going to put
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: a camper on it, start with a truck that's designed
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: to have camprap Get a full sized truck or whatever.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: It will be cheaper and you will have so much
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: more money for travel.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Or if you love to to start with a land cruiser.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: It's that the land cruiser is meant and.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: No, you don't always have to buy the vehicle here. Yeah,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Like that's the totaling is that you can buy vehicles
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: in other countries and it is totally fine.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you can get them registered and ensured and drive
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the vehicle of your dreams. You can drive that Classic
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Defender that you can't get here all right. Number twenty.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: If the vehicle is stolen or totaled outside of the
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: insurance coverage area, does the loss materially impact your financial
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: security as a result. Buy a vehicle you could afford
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: to lose. I think this is really important. Vehicles do
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: get they do burn down, they do get stolen, they
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: do get totaled, they get lost in a container at see.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: You don't want to start off with a thing that
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: has maxed out your credit cards and max out your
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: personal finances where you're traveling with a letter of authorization
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: from the bank because you still have a loan on
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: the thing. Be really, really careful about where you're driving
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: around in If we check our ego when we buy
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: a vehicle that we can afford to lose, we're going
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: to have so much more fun. I think about the
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: trip that I did with Charlie across the Silk Road
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: in that Suzuki Jimney. The car was so inexpensive that
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: we were able to give it away to charity at
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: the other end, And it was one of the best
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: trips I've ever done because I just it just wasn't
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: a big deal. It wasn't super expensive. Okay, Number twenty one,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Understanding the influence of Parkinson's law on vehicle selection, and
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: consider buying a smaller vehicle, which will create a physical
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: limit to the available space for stuff. So the Parkinson
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: law possets that most systems will expand to fill the
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: available space, time or budget. So amazingly enough people have
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: traveled around the world on motorcycles with a couple panniers,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: and somehow peopleles somehow, people with man trucks have extra
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: storage boxes and roof racks on the top to carry
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: more stuff or even pull a trailer with more stuff.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: So if you start off with less vehicle or less
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: space or less boxes and everything else like that, surprisingly
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: you're going to do the same trip. Put some physical
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: limitation on the space yep. And also there's nothing wrong
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: with if you want a big, giant vehicle with a
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: whole bunch of stuff strapp.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean, even like this year we went
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: through the process when we went to the Arctic and
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: the Earth Romer. Last year we thought we needed all
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: this stuff. This year we went through we took out
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: like almost five hundred pounds of just stuff. Yeah, and
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: I don't think that I had that much Like I
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: wasn't like Quarder level it was organized. There's just generally
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: don't need as much as you.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Just don't need that much stuff. Yeah, exactly, And which
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: directly relates to number twenty two. Weight is the enemy
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: of vehicle safety, durability, and performance. Know the vehicle's payload
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: and roofload limit and do not exceed those. Reduce that
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: limit by ten percent for each additional thirty millimeters of lift,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: or increase entire diameter. So we really want to keep
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: these things under gross vehicle mass. It affects their performance
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: in the mud and the sand. The heavier these vehicles get,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: even if they've got.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: All the lockers and all the cool tires and everything
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: else like that, the heavier the car is, the poorer
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: it's going to perform. Keep the vehicle light, for sure.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: There's a reason why we harp on about gross vehicle
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: That's right. It makes a big difference, all right. Number
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: twenty three This is one that I wrote to myself
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: as a as a reminder. Simple vehicle equals equals happy travels.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Overbuilt vehicle equals happy ego. So I try to remind
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: myself that keep the vehicle simple and I'm going to
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: have a great experience. The more stuff that I add,
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: the more gadgets that I include. Yeah, the moreize that
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: so many of these modifications. It's okay if you're doing
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: it for yourself, but like, no one really cares. They
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: don't care. No one cares if you have What is
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: the first thing that comes to your mind when you
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: see the F two fifty with twelve inches of lift
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: and forty four inch tires. Yeah, exactly, he's compensating for something.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Sometimes I am that guy. But all right, So.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Number twenty four, consider the eighty twenty rule. Eighty percent
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: of the overlander's budget should be spent on the travel
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: and only twenty percent should be spent on the vehicle
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: and modifications. I have found that the closer that I
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: stay to that eighty twenty rule. So that's the Pareto principle.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: It tends to play out in most human endeavors we
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: really want to focus on. If we want to be travelers,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: we need to focus eighty percent of our energy, eighty
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: percent of our time, eighty percent of our funds on
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: the experience itself, and only twenty percent of it time budget,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: et cetera, on the gear and the things.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: The only place where I would maybe disagree with that
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: respectfully is like, let's talk about it. It's good to disagree.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: The expedition vehicles and things like that. Yeah, they can
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: afford to it. Yeah, but I often find sometimes though
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: the way we travel is that you're less likely to
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: need that night in the hotel. Sometimes the investment in shelter, Yeah,
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: can actually make the trip a little bit more enjoyable,
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: and actually your day to day costs can go down,
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: no question. That's actually a no. That's a really good point.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: You're right.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I should append that with the caveat of if you
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: are not budget constrained.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: If someone is being mindful of their budget, that's where
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: this applies the most. Whereas if the man truck is
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: a rounding error in their personal wealth, then it really
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter how expensive the vehicle is or how expensive
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: the travel is. So you're right, if your budget mindful
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: of your budget, which most of us are, myself included,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: I try to really focus on spending more on the
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: trip than I do on the truck, all right. Number
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: twenty five. Complexity is the enemy of reliability. Keep the
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: vehicle as stock as possible, only modifying as conditions demand
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: or limitations are discovered. Match the vehicle selection to occupant count, payload,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: and anticipated route conditions. If the vehicle is over payload,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: it is overbuilt. I'll say that one more time. If
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: the vehicle is over payload, it is overbuilt by a
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: different car. Trade it, in sell it, get something that
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: can carry the weight.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: And there are so many things that go into what
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: that vehicle is rated for. It's not just throwing bigger
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: brakes on it. Yeah, and also recognize that when you're
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: increasing the diameter or the tire, you're actually decreasing the
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: available payload of that vehicle. Like it's more stress on everything.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: Your pointing system, breaks, your drive line, everything, all of
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: that has a factor. So we want to keep them
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: as close as stock as possible, and we just really
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: want to avoid complexity where we can. We need to
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: be able to service it in the field. Number twenty six.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: Only the most austere, remote or challenging routes require specialized vehicles.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: And modifications. Otherwise, almost any vehicle you own or enjoy
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: will work for driving around the world. That brings up
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: your example of wanting to take a Porshow around the world.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: It also reinforces like the Grenadier that I've now taken
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: through big chunk of southern Africa. It is stock I
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: like to think of, like when you guys did the
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: canning and stock crew, which yea, in my opinion is
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: the most remote, technical, overland long distance thing that you
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: can do. It's the long one. You did that on
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: two fifty five eighty five sixteens with steel wheels, Like, yeah,
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: that's that's less slightly less than a thirty three inch
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: fire Most vehicles come with that now, I mean, that's
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: that's the same overall diameter of a wrangler. These days,
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: you don't just always have to have more recognized that
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: modern vehicles are very capable, and that's a good thing.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: It's a really good thing. And there's only very rare
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: instances where I've had to have a highly modified vehicle.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: I actually enjoy the challenge of driving more of a
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: stock vehicle off road. A more simple route is actually
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: feels more challenging. But when we crossed Antarctica and when
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: we cross Greenland, you had to have a specialized vehicle.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: It had to have forty four inch tle tires, it
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: had to have all of these these mechanical attributes in
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: order to accomplish the goal.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: But that is so rare. You really don't need a
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: heavily modified vehicle for the vast majority of routes, including
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: the canning stock route. So be very careful listening to
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: pundits that say you have to do all these things
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: in order to do the canning stock. You could do
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: it in a stock highlox with a couple feel cans
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: in the back. It's the truth of it. Let's go
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: on to the next one here. Number twenty seven. Vehicle
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: modifications for overland travel can be limited to the following.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Communications should be the first thing that you look at.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: That's for your own safe so that way, if you
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: have trouble, you get stuck and you can't get out,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: you have a way to call for help and assistance.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Number two emergency medical and survival supplies just in case
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: again you get stuck or the roads closed, or you
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: run out of fuel or any of those things happen.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: Weather comes in that you can keep you and your
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: fellow travelers safe and fed and warm and dry. And
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: then the third one is navigation, so we need to
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: have multiple forms of navigation that I use a Garmin
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: GPS plus, I use my phone with maps on it,
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: and then I also always bring along paper maps and
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: a compass always because GPS systems can go down, electronic
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: devices can fail. US government can employ what's called selective
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: availability and shut all that off, so you need to
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: be able to have a way to continue on with
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: paper maps. It says tools, spares, and recovery equipment, So
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: you want to have the stuff that you need in
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: order to do basic repairs of the vehicle, spares of
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: known your points. And then you want to have good
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: recovery equipment along because that's the most likely thing that's
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: going to happen, is you're going to get stuck and
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: you need to get out. And then the last one
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: is a quality set of all terrain tires. You really
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: don't want to venture off into the unknown on p
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: metric tires. Doesn't mean you can't, but it's a good
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: idea to go out into the remote areas of the
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: world with a high quality light truck tire. Yeah, and
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: something that will actually be available. The thirty seven to
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: twelve fifty seventeen that you're going to put on your jeep.
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: Where are you going to get that? Where are you
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: going to get that? That's all exactly you really are.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: So the tire size that I'm running on on the
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: Grenadier is the same as the tire size of the
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: highlex yep seventeen inches. It's a two sixty five seventy
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: or seventeen. It's like the same size tire that's on
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: a land cruiser everything else. So number twenty eight, we've
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: got just a couple more here to go. Electronics and
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: wiring will be the most common failure mode for modifications,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: So install limited electrical systems with the highest quality components
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: in installation, Matt, you and I have both like this
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: has literally come from all of our own suffering.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, how many vehicles generally it's always jeeps.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: Have you just seen that come into a formal drive
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: shop partially burnt down? It's like everything that the OEM
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: has done within reason generally is reliable, and the less
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: that you deviate from that, the better. You don't need
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: fifty lights because you're probably not going to be driving
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: at night. You know, you don't just just be careful.
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: Like electrics, Things rattle, things chafe, things short out, They
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: can cause you know, even though it's an aftermarket system,
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: they can cause issues with the factory electronic for sure.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: And on a lot of vehicles these days, if you're
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: shipping let's say a modern North American spec vehicle, you
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: know overseas to a lot of different places, those parts
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: just aren't available. You can break a car so easy.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Yep, as simple as possible. Nothing wrong with a dual
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: battery system, Nothing wrong with a simple isolator or a
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: DC A B C D C D C DC system.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: But keep it very, very simple, and make sure that
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: it's installed properly, all right. Number twenty nine Suspension changes
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: should be should emphasize both on and off road performance,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: ensuring that the vehicle retains limit handling capability to allow
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: for emergency stopping an accident avoidance. A lot of overland
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: vehicles that I see, they are really too heavy, especially
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: on the roof rack. So if you've got to avoid
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: that kid, which your responsibility is to avoid the kid,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: you may total your vehicle in the process of not
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: hitting him. So start off with if any suspension changes
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: that you make make sure it improves the handling of
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the vehicle. So there's companies like aev arb is another one,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: but av is a great example of a company that
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: even though the vehicle, the Wrangler, is on a three
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: inch lift with thirty five inch tall tires, it exceeds
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: the performance standards of the factory stock height Wrangler. So
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: make sure that the suspension system that you fit takes
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: that into consideration. You can't do it right better, Yeah,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: just keeping at stock for sure, or just really limit
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: the height change. You really want to be careful with
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: that center of gravity.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: So now we've come to the last one, number thirty.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: There's never a perfect time to travel, there will never
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: be the ideal vehicle, and there is never enough money
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: in the bank. The rapid passage of time is the
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: only constant that we have in our lives. So toss
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: off the bat lines and go I'm fifty years old now, Matt.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: It's crazy like time flies, and it's crazy to think
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: that I've been doing this for twenty years and there's
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: so many things that I still want to see in
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: the world. Don't wait, Yeah, go with less, but also
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: make a plan yeah, a degree of a plan. Yeah,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: but if it's really important to you, find find a
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: way to do it, and if Matt or I can help.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: If there's questions that you have in preparing for your
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: own joyful trip around the world, please reach out to us.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Matt's available as Matt Explore on Instagram. I'm Scott dot
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: a dot Brady on Instagram. Please feel free to reach
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: out if you've got questions, something that we can help with,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: something that we've learned from through our travels.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: But you can't take money, and you can't take your career.
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: And that's right, Yeah, that's right. We don't know what
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: tomorrow brings.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: We really only have today, so let's try to make
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: do the things that we really want, experiences that we
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: want to have with people that we love. That's kind
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: of the cornerstone of all of it. So thanks for
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: listening to our tweet storm, to my mindful rate of
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Scott and my mindful meanderings from the middle of the
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Pacific Ocean. If there's any feedback you've got or things
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: that you think we need to add we forgot about,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: please send them over and we'll make some adjustments. So
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: we thank you all and thanks Matt for your feedback
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: to try for being as sarcast if you did scare
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: some snark so well, We thank you all for listening
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you next time.