Category
Trip Diaries
First-hand accounts from the road — where the gear on this site got tested.
- 75Articles
Most recently updated
Everything in Trip Diaries
75 articles, newest first.
Trip diaryA Day OffOur rest day in Dakhla: rooftop breakfast over the Atlantic, the local tea ritual poured back and forth, and why finding a beer here is pot luck.
Trip diaryBrushing Teeth With Salt Water – And The Camel TagineA night at Camp Bedouin beside a salt lake in Western Sahara: tap water salty enough to notice when brushing your teeth, and a camel tagine for dinner.
Trip diaryCatching the Ferry from AlmeriaDriving overnight from Munich to Almeria, swapping drivers every hour, and binning a ferry ticket to catch the midnight crossing to Melilla instead.
Trip diaryDakar and North KoreaLooking round Dakar: the 27 million dollar African Renaissance statue built by a North Korean company, the Soumbedioune market, and the US Embassy.
Trip diaryWe Drifted Down The Gambia River On A FerryGetting lost on a dead-end track by the Gambia River, scratching the Toyota down one side, and the tiny village we only found because of it.
Trip diaryFinding The Perfect CampsiteWhat a perfect camp actually means on the road - when to start looking, what to look for, and how we decide where to stop each night.
Trip diaryGet Sponsored To TravelHow travel sponsorship works, what a sponsor will and will not cover, and what you need to offer before anyone funds a trip.
Trip diaryHeading Back to MauritaniaDriving 350 miles north from Dakar back into Mauritania: stamps and barrier fees at Diama, warthogs in Diawling, then the potholes into Nouakchott.
Trip diaryIs this Off-Roading?Where a non-paved road stops being a road, a walk round the Atlas film studios, and airing the tires down to 32 psi for a day of Moroccan back country.
Trip diaryIveco TurboDaily 4x4 ReviewIs the Iveco TurboDaily the best 4x4 van for overlanding? Our verdict after living in one - starting with a brake hose that let go in the Rockies.
Trip diaryDriving East To MhamidDriving east to Mhamid at the edge of the Sahara to book an Erg Chigaga tour, and the trick the guest house touts try on you in the narrow streets.
Trip diaryMore Kazakhstan, and Solving The Engine Overheating Issue!Arriving in Astana after the southern route fell through, and how we finally solved the engine overheating that had been following us across Kazakhstan.
Trip diaryMoroccon AlpsA quiet day in Imlil, after hauling our bags up a muddy, donkey-churned trail to the guest house at one in the morning. Evelin was still recovering.
Trip diaryMauritania and the Dirtiest Town in AfricaSix passport checks to leave Western Sahara, a lawless no man's land strewn with abandoned cars, then Mauritanian visas issued from a tent in the desert.
Trip diaryOperation Desert StormA sandstorm swallowing the road north through Western Sahara, a border helper who took our passports before we asked, and back into Morocco for Dakhla.
Trip diaryOur Plans For The Rest Of 2018Our next trip: driving from Budapest to Singapore through China, the countries on the list, and the visa juggling that has to be sorted out first.
Trip diaryOur Notes: a Journal, a Diary, Thoughts, Tips and StoriesWhy we started Our Notes rather than a blog, written on a 48-hour ferry home from Tangier after five weeks in Africa, and what we planned to publish.
Trip diaryBook Recommendations For OverlandersBook recommendations for overlanders - what is worth reading when you are starting out and the amount left to learn feels overwhelming.
Trip diaryOverland Trip Eventually Turning Into A Moroccon HolidayAfter Imlil the trip stopped being overlanding and turned into a holiday, so the last week in Morocco is a photo report rather than daily notes.
Trip diaryThe Real Start of our Overlanding Trip in AfricaWith the rally over, our own trip began: three days in Banjul, the Albert Market and its guides, and a plan to get back north through Mauritania fast.
Trip diaryWe Made It Into The Six o’clock News In CanadaDriving from Canada to Argentina got us onto the six o'clock news - a hectic start to the Pan-American journey, in the best sense.
Trip diaryDriving The Americas: How Can We Afford It?The question most overlanders avoid: how do you afford 18 months on the road? What the Pan-American actually costs us and how we fund it.
Trip diaryDriving The Pan-American Highway in 2022We are driving the Pan-American Highway in our Iveco TurboDaily 4x4 van - the plan, the route, and why we decided to take it on.
Trip diaryA Porsche is Not an Easy Sale in The GambiaThe 28-year-old Discovery sold in a morning; the Porsche Cayenne found no buyer at all, which is how we ended up with company all the way to Dakhla.
Trip diaryPreparing For The Pan-AmericanWe reached Canada in April 2022 and the Pan-American began - except the van was still at sea. What preparing for it really looked like.
Trip diaryThe Road to Dakhla on the Atlantic CoastWhy you do not leave the road in Western Sahara, the abandoned shipwrecks on the Atlantic coast, and the one restaurant in Dakhla we knew served beer.
Trip diaryOur African Adventure Starts: the Budapest-Bamako RallyDay one of the Budapest-Bamako Rally, a trip we decided on in the truck on a Czech motorway, and a first push to Munich on the northern route.
Trip diaryTafraoute – The Oil ChangeA rest day in Tafraoute: an entirely unnecessary rug from Maison du Troc, and an oil change done in a car park by a mechanic who fought the filter.
Trip diaryThe Engine Keeps OverheatingLeaving Cappadocia early and driving east, with the engine overheating again - working out what was causing it, and what it meant for the route.
Trip diaryOverlanding Travel Plans - Survey Results 2020What overlanders told us about their travel plans in 2020 - how the pandemic changed where people intended to go, and how they planned to get there.
Trip diaryWhy Do We Have To Drive That Long All The Time?Why our days kept running long in Morocco, and the Valley of the Vans near Tafraoute, which was empty and still too cold to camp when we got there.
Trip diaryEssential Overland Gear or What We Use – Part III: LightsPart three of the gear we actually use - the lights on our overland vehicle, written from the Kazakh Steppe while waiting on a lunar eclipse.
Trip diaryEssential Overland Gear or What We Use – Part II: NavigationPart two of the gear we actually use - how we navigate, the road-book behind it, and the rough Budapest to Singapore route the whole thing is built on.
Trip diaryEssential Overland Gear or What We Use – Part I: SafetyPart one of the gear we actually use - the safety kit we carry, and the ins and outs of overlanding from our own perspective rather than a catalogue.
Trip diaryField-tested Gear that we use on our Pan-American AdventureThe gear we are field-testing on a 20-month drive from Alaska to Argentina, and what the preparation for a trip that long actually involves.
Trip diaryTraxxas TRX-4 ReviewThe Traxxas TRX-4 is a scale Land Rover Defender 110 that crawls like the real thing. What it does well, and why it caught our attention.
Trip diary12 Reasons Why Mongolia is Perfect for OverlandingWhy Mongolia suits overlanding better than almost anywhere: the 18th largest country on earth, barely three million people, and remote driving without end.
Trip diaryAn Incredible 4x4 Trip Across MoroccoA first-hand account of a 4x4 overland trip across Morocco.
Trip diaryApproaching the Gobi DesertDriving towards Dalanzagdad and the Gobi with the automatic transmission starting to misbehave - dropping into third and refusing to shift back up.
Trip diaryThe Austrian RoadDriving the Austrian Road through Kazakhstan's Altai, from Ust-Kamenogorsk towards Urunkhaika - what the track is like and where we camped on the way.
Trip diaryThe Finish LineCrossing the rally's finish line at Serrekunda in The Gambia, where dealers turned up to buy the cars and our friends watched their Discovery drive away.
Trip diaryBorder Crossing into MoroccoCrossing from Melilla into Morocco: the hustlers working the queue, the two forms you actually need, and why you must not lose your D16 copies.
Trip diaryDriving from Budapest to Singapore - The Last EpisodeThe last episode of the drive from Budapest to Singapore - entering Malaysia, and what it felt like to reach the finish line after months on the road.
Trip diaryThe Buzludzha MonumentStopping at Bulgaria's abandoned Buzludzha Monument on the way to the Turkish border, partway through an overland drive from Budapest towards China.
Trip diaryOverlanding In Canada – The Cabot TrailOverlanding Canada's Cabot Trail - what the route is like to drive, and the setback that came with it when our Instagram account was disabled.
Trip diaryCappadocia - A Great Stop in Turkey for OverlandersThree nights camped in Cappadocia on the drive from Hattusa - the campsite we used, the hot air balloons, and why it is worth a stop for overlanders.
Trip diaryOverlanding through the Chechen RepublicDriving through the Chechen Republic on the way to the Caspian, and how we planned a route through a region that needs its planning done in advance.
Trip diaryThe Dangerous Roads of Mauritania – A Terrible DayWe skipped the off-road stage for the paved road into Nouakchott, and over dinner heard about the crash outside town that a rally driver did not survive.
Trip diaryEntering Senegal – Seeing Cultivated Land AgainNouakchott into Senegal: hunting petrol for a Porsche in a diesel country, ten euros a stamp at the border, and pelicans and flamingos on the way in.
Trip diaryDifficulties with Entering Thailand and how to Tackle ThemThailand's 2016 rules block most foreign vehicles. It took us four attempts to get our car across the border - what the rules require and how we got through.
Trip diaryErg Chigaga: Getting Stuck on the Smallest Sand DuneBogged for 40 minutes on a sand patch we could not call a dune, then a camel ride at sunset and the coldest night of the whole trip at Erg Chigaga.
Trip diaryThe Horizons Unlimited Meeting at River PointThe Horizons Unlimited meeting at River Point - meeting the team we would cross China with, and the workshop that welded our roof rack.
Trip diaryInto KazakhstanDriving from Abkhazia to Astrakhan and on into Kazakhstan. The roads through North Ossetia and Chechnya were far better than expected - how the run went.
Trip diaryMidelt to Ouarzazate: Great People and an F-16 Fighter JetSharp rocks, snow and dry riverbeds from Midelt to Ouarzazate, the convoy of five that formed that day, and the first real test of our Land Cruiser.
Trip diaryOur Roof-Rack Has CrackedThe roof rack cracked, and finding someone to weld it became the next few days. Meeting Lotte and Niels for the first time along the way.
Trip diaryOverlanding in Senegal – Baobab Trees and Remote VillagesDusty savanna tracks and tricky navigation in Senegal, baobabs and villages of a few huts, and people getting friendlier the further inland we drove.
Trip diaryOverlanding in The Gambia – Roadblocks EverywhereA hundred miles across The Gambia in a day of roadblocks, a policewoman who took my drying towel as her gift, and a village well the rally funded.
Trip diaryOverlanding in the RainA day of rain that would not stop, and why we would still rather be driving in it than sitting out a wet day in camp.
Trip diaryOverlanding in the Sahara Desert – A Challenging DayThe hardest stage of the rally: a Discovery lost its driveshaft in the sand until a stranger found it, then we drove on Mauritania's iron rail sleepers.
Trip diaryOverlanding in the Tusheti National ParkThe Abano Pass up to Omalo in Tusheti National Park: a road open about five months a year, landslides and meltwater, and a cooling system struggling.
Trip diaryDiscovering TurkeyDiscovering Turkey by road - arriving at Istanbul in the heat and the traffic after the rain finally stopped following us across Europe.
Trip diaryOverlanding Plans for South-East AsiaWe're in China and still absorbing it. Here is the plan for the last leg of the trip - overlanding on through Laos, Cambodia and the rest of South-East Asia.
Trip diaryOverlanding in Senegal II. – Taking it EasyWaking to a hundred people walking through camp under the baobabs, losing a used air filter to them, and blowing Senegalese dust back out of the truck.
Trip diaryOverlanding through ChinaTravelling through China from an overlander's perspective rather than a tourist's - the parts of it that only matter when you bring your own vehicle.
Trip diaryManfred And The Fam - Overlanding with a FamilyThe van der Burg family live on the road full time with their children. An interview about how overlanding works when it is a family of five.
Trip diaryRent Camping Gear in California – TopoterraRenting camping and overlanding gear in California through Topoterra - a way to get out on a trip without buying expensive kit first.
Trip diaryThe Sahara Desert Used To Be An OceanAhmed drew us a map out of the desert, and an hour later we stopped on ground where every rock held a fossil, because the Sahara used to be an ocean.
Trip diarySingapore, Here We ComeDay four of our biggest overland trip yet, and the hectic last days before departure. The drive from Budapest towards Singapore begins.
Trip diaryTop 5 Places to See in GeorgiaOur five favourite places in Georgia: Mount Kazbegi and Gergeti Trinity Church, the 12th-century cave settlement at Vardzia, Svaneti and Tusheti.
Trip diaryWestern-SaharaDriving on Plage Blanche, the 40-mile beach between the Atlantic and the Sahara, until the tide came in and pushed us back up to the road to Laayoune.
Trip diaryWhen The Starter Motor Got FixedA clicking starter motor in Mongolia, a 300-mile detour to Bayankonghor to find a mechanic who could fix it, and 900 miles still left to drive.
Trip diaryWhere To Go in Laos as an OverlanderWhere to go in Laos when you have your own vehicle - written for overlanders crossing between Europe and Singapore, not for backpackers.
Trip diaryWhy is it called The Gambia and not just Gambia?The two reasons The Gambia keeps its The: the Portuguese named it after the river, and at independence it did not want to be mistaken for Zambia.
Trip diaryA Lot of Wild Camping and Some ManureLeaving River Point after nine days, and a stretch of wild camping that did not go entirely to plan.

