GHT Overland - The Overlanding, Adventure Travel Podcast

#118 Funny thing; one of the advantages of consistently talking with other full-time overland travelers is learning from their experiences. Case in point, this week's guests Phil and Izzy of The Gap Decaders. Teaching us the value of being intentional, doing the planning and research.

We found a lot of similarities with this week's guests and enjoyed jumping back to Overlanding in Europe. Phil and Izzy spent years in the normal rat-race of life, pursuing careers and financial stability. They’ve renovated properties in their spare time, while dreaming of a different way of life. In 2018, they said goodbye to their old lives, making their dreams of full time travel a reality. They sold their house and most of their stuff, quit their jobs and bought a motorhome to road trip Europe.

Although they thought they knew they might need to return to ‘real life’ after a couple of years, it was at 6 months in they realized that going back to their old lives was not what they wanted. In 2021, they swapped their motorhome for a proper overland truck so they could travel further off the paved roads and explore more.

Phil is ex-military with bags of common sense and a real can-do attitude. He’s happiest when being active and making new friends (he’s Irish!).

Izzy is a multi-tasker and works well under pressure. She loves reading, learning new things, chocolate and a glass of red.

For more details on Phil and Izzy see their show notes page at www.GHTOVERLAND.com

#117 - The “Panamericana” explored with a little minivan through 17 countries and 70,000 Kms from Alaska to Patagonia.

Bérangère and Jorge of Destino Ushuaia are two marketing professionals that traveled the west side of the Americas (aka the Panamericana) for 18 months beginning in June 2018 through Dec. 2019. Bérangère (French) and Jorge (Peruvian/Italian) are two really easy going humans that met in New Zealand in 2015 during their Working Holiday visa experience after having traveled in South East Asia for a few months on their own. Their life as soulmates started there, and all related adventures. First, doing a road trip in the South island of New Zealand, then backpacking between Peru and Bolivia for three months in 2016. Subsequently, they relocated to Vancouver (Canada) where they started a new life.

Jorge had a dream of pursuing the Panamericana and to his delight Bérangère supported his dream as they started planning and preparing themselves for overlanding the Pan-American. After about a year of research while working two jobs to save enough money, they executed a plan that would send most people back to the safety of a comfortable couch.

They sold their beloved “Torito” in Santiago de Chile after completing around 60,000 km of the Panam together, and continued their adventure backpacking! All in all, they finally reached their ultimate destination of Ushuaia in December of 2019 via a blend of their little mini van, by bus, hitchhiking, and a quick plane ride to Buenos Aires.

More Details Available at: www.GHTOVERLAND.com

Episode #116 / Logistics - Full time overland travel has all its amazing views and experiences after you’ve accomplished some kind of planning and preparation. In this case you’re most likely far beyond the dreaming, the packing and all the preliminary stuff. At this point in your overlanding trip you’ve probably spent months on the road becoming a “seasoned overland traveler”. Or you may be like us doing your final planning for what’s sure to be a Darién Gap sized logistical challenge that’s a little unsettling to leave for last minute “figuring out”.

How on earth are you going to find the right people, at the right time, and not be hosed on the expense of shipping your overland vehicle from Panama to Colombia? Do you know all the little tips and tricks to making sure your precious home on wheels arrives on the other side in the same condition you left it in? Do you need a full container, a shipping buddy, roll on roll off, a crate built for your bike, are all your valuables that are too big to carry with you properly secured…? The list goes on and the list includes things only the most experienced overland travelers think of.

The first thing to keep in mind is you will eventually figure it out, so remain calm :)
Although we don’t plan to hire, or pay for many services or “fixers” this is one of the few services we will unquestionably be using. There’s just too many details to know and shipping people to work with without a trusted middleman who has your best interest as his only interest. With a Five Star rating on Google, and with several of our past guests using his services, Alejandro of The Overland Embassy is the man to hire for your logistical and shipping needs from, or to Panama.

In this episode we talk with Alejandro about The Overland Embassy, all the details on shipping and the services The Overland Embassy provides (which is a lot!). We also learn about he and Ana’s overland trip from Panama to Alaska that includes great stories of adventure, and overcoming many challenges of getting bogged down, however always coming out the other side stronger and more resilient (much like you will).

#115 - Our number one necessity as overland travelers is unquestionably water. We can only survive approximately three days without water, so for us it’s at the top of the list. One of the challenges on water was the weight of carrying larger volumes, along with the space requirements. At 8.3 lbs per gallon, and the approximate need of roughly one gallon drinking water per person, per day; not considering the estimated 10.9 gallons per day the average person uses just from their household faucet, this gets out of hand quickly!

Thankfully there’s a plethora of options available. Therefore, being able to store and purify water had lots of potential solutions. Our hangup was the weight of carrying large amounts of water (20 gal. +), the required space, along with being able to pump water from numerous sources, while not pumping potentially harmful water into a container, relying purely on filtering it later. Something about contaminated water from every source we ever pull from being added into a container to continually grow who knows what, relying on filtering after the fact, was bothersome (to us).

Full Show Notes at: https://ghtoverland.com/guzzle-h20

Episode #114 - An unquenchable thirst for adventure clearly runs through the veins of so many of us. Emily and Danny are no exception! After 3 ½ years of Full-Time Overland Living and 11 Countries, there’s a lot to learn from Emily and Danny, popularly known as The Vandersons.

After building out their 2015 Promaster 2500 they took a similar approach to launching their overland travel adventures as we plan on. Getting warmed up and working out the bugs in the comforts of your home country. Then embarking into the Alaskan wild frontier driving the Dalton highway to the Arctic Circle.

Following a chilly dip in the Arctic Ocean it’s a bone chilling u-turn, heaters on high and locked in on a somewhat permanent southernish bearing. After many challenges doused with countless epic views and adventures, we finally caught up with these two as they crossed the border from Colombia to Ecuador.

In this episode Emily and Danny openly share their experiences through stories chock-full of overland travel knowledge gained from thousands of miles traveled as overland explorers, van life enthusiasts and as we say; salt of the earth good people.

Website: https://vandersons.com
Instagram: @the.vandersons
YouTube at: The Vandersons

Vehicle: 2015 RAM Promaster 2500 / High Roof / 159”
Van Name: Appa
Fuel Capacity: 22 Gallons at 14 mps
Range: Roughly 300 Miles
Water & Filtration: 21 Gallons / no onboard filtration
Solar: 200 Watts
Batteries: Sealed Lead Acid with 310 Ah
Fridge: 50 Liter Dometic
A/C: 2 Rooftop Fans with 7 additional axillary fans
Heater: Webasto Gas Heater
Favorite Meal: Tortilla Pockets
Cell & Internet: SIM Card per Country / Google Voice parked number / WhatsApp + Google Fi
Navigation: iOverlander / Waze / Maps.me
Shower Situation: Gyms in the USA / Rivers, Waterfalls, Hostels…
Toilet Situation: Gas Stations, Hostels and Campgrounds with an emergency bucket and a shovel…

www.GHTOVERLAND.com

Episode #113 The Cummins Camper vs. Baja

Baja Mexico over Christmas sounds warm and delightful. Baja over the winter months of the Pacific NW sounds even better! Eric and Marisa of “The Cummins Camper” have discovered the warm weather, warm beaches, and the warm hearted nature of the people who call Baja home.

The amazing pictures Eric and Marisa were posting on their instagram page had us intrigued for several reasons, however the unending sun and sand had us hooked as we kept looking outside at gray clouds and rain for way too long.

We have a fun conversation with Eric in this episode after a night of binge watching their YouTube channel. It’s full of good overland travel tips and stories from their experiences in Baja. Experiences you probably only get after being broken down on the side of the road for two months.

We encourage you to transport yourself to Baja as you listen to this week's episode as Eric gives us all the details on their Lance camper, his experiences with fixing their truck, finances and business. Of course there's a lot more we discuss, so get to downloading, we hope you enjoy!

Follow Eric & Marisa
Instagram @thecumminscamper
YouTube at: The Cummins Camper

Episode #112 Monkeys On The Road / A Family Overland Adventure

Imagine this: You’re on the overlanding trip you’ve dreamt of for years. You're roughly two and half years into your epic overland adventure when you start to hear about corona-virus. The country you're in closes its borders, and sets stringent rules and a curfew. Now what! What do you do? How do you react? Do you book a flight home during the small available window of time, for $1,000 plus per seat, as everyone goes into panic mode? Or do you hunker down and make the best of where you're at?

As life presents its unending challenges with required decision points; It’s your turn to decide. You now need to decide what to do, and decide how to roll with the punches. It’s all part of life, and it’s surely all part of overland travel.

This week's guest on the GHT Overland Podcast is author Mary Hollendoner. Mary wrote a book about their Pan American experience with her husband John and their daughter Lilly. Mary’s style of writing draws you into their trip as if you’re right there with them. Holding your breath as John is ripping hissing batteries from the van. Frustrated alongside her as she explains border crossing tribulations. Laughing as she describes preparing for border crossings, and in Lisa’s case, crying within the first two chapters.

We encourage you to order Monkeys On The Road as a must have book on adventure and a gem of a book to reference for your overland trip.

As an extra awesome treat, Mary’s husband John Stanfield wrote and produced a song inspired by their trip. Actually he wrote a few songs! At the end of this episode we are treated to a song by Mary's husband. A song inspired a couple years into their Pan American trip around Peru. It's magical to hear a song specifically inspired by overland travel on the Pan American route!

*Closing song credits to: John Stanfield

Episode #111 - Meeting Tim and Kelsey in person is like reuniting with old friends, even when it's for the first time. It's not often such awesome people cross paths with you, and although it seems to happen more often in the Overland world, Tim and Kelsey are clearly extra awesome. Humble yet bubbling over with an energy for life, you know overlanding is good for the soul.

After meeting up at the NW Overland Rally in 2019, they soon returned to South America to finish their overland adventure to Ushuaia. In this episode we talk about what it was like to reach such an epic destination, their return home as COVID set into our lives, along with their drive North to Prudhoe Bay Alaska. Of course we cover their decision to sell Goose, along with some great insights on their new rig, Dusty.

Enjoy this episode packed with positive energy, insights and stories from one of our favorite overlanding couples in the universe!

Dusty: 1990 Toyota 80 Series - HDJ80 with a Maltec rear living quarters
Holds 65 gallons of diesel getting 18-24 MPG
Water Capacity: 20 gallons
Fridge: 45 liter
Laundry: mostly doing it by hand
Cell Service: primarily Google Fi

A few Favorite Places
Baja
Argentina
Bolivia

Finance Insights / Thoughts
$800 a month being conservative and not driving much.
$3000+ a month when shipping.
Total Pan American historical average cost is known to be around $25,000

Fun Fact: Route Dependent the Pan American Highway is 18,640 - 30,000 miles. Explorers like Tim and Kelsey put on over 100,000.

Safety Recommendation:
Have Paper and Digital duplicates of Everything
Have a second hard drive backup of everything kept in a separate place

Episode #110 - Overland Expo 2022 and Eva Rupert

Overland Expo has been at the top of our list for many years. Constantly hearing from so many overlanders how valuable the classes are and how amazing the experience is meeting so many amazing, like-minded people. Meeting up with old friends, while forging new, possibly life-long friendships at Overland Expo seems to be the recurring theme. Being introduced to Eva was one of those moments! Like a shot of espresso with a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers.
From her outlook on life to her contagious energy, Eva Rupert is everything we imagined about Expo with a double shot of awesomeness!

This episode is a real treat as she shares her experiences of overlanding, along with her love for moto, good food and all the greatness you can look forward to at Overland Expo 2022.

Overland Expo West in Flagstaff Arizona May 20 - 22, 2022
Overland Expo PNW in Redmond Oregon July 8 - 10, 2022
Overland Expo Mtn West in Loveland Colorado August 26 - 28, 2022
Overland Expo East in Arrington Virginia October 7 - 9, 2022

In this episode you will learn about Eva’s experiences (x3) on Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid, to her inside tips on Moto Adventure Travel, along with a few tips on “Gas Station Gourmet''.

We hope you thoroughly enjoy this one! Be sure to share the episode with those who enjoy adventurous overlanding travel, along with those who need to break away from city life and too much “screen time”.

Key Takeaways:
Zero Degree Sleeping Bag
Therm-a-Rest Z Rest
Have a good Tool Kit with the Knowledge to use it!
Gourmet without dehydration - Listen at 21:38
Always have a rock solid knife!
Carry a Large Scarf (example 6’ x 4’)
Fear is mitigated by knowledge and experience
Favorite Places: Southern Arizona & Baja
Invest the full weekend at Expo, taking the available classes!

Episode #109 When asked "what advice would you give your five year younger selves" Courtney and Tyler nailed it with perspective and an appreciation for life that's always refreshing; "Enjoy your Life".

As many of us do, we fall into the status quo, following the footsteps of our parents or those we look up to. Getting a "Good Job", marriage, a dog or two, then children; generation after generation. For some of us it takes years, sometimes decades before we come to the realization Courtney and Tyler have, early in their marriage and early in life. To Enjoy Life your way, go do all those things you spend hours thinking and dreaming about, but do it now.

This week's episode is a perfect example of what can happen when you build on your strengths, remove the unnecessary clutter, along with all your other treasures that no longer serve you in pursuing your dreams. As Tyler points out; be smart with a budget and stick to it long term, it will payoff. This is so very true, and probably beyond what most people are willing to get truly serious about. A cruise through all our past guest will reveal a dirty reality; almost every guest has explored their chosen parts of the world in an older, dirty, not perfectly equipped vehicle. Additionally; when asked "what would you change about your current setup, not one guest has said they wanted to swap their vehicle out. Instead, they're out enjoying life with Tenacity and Love.

This episode is a fantastic look into how Courtney and Tyler became Outdoors Bae, creating opportunities for themselves that laid the foundation to "Live a Good Story". Another great quote from this interview as we dive deep into how anyone can start planning and creating a nomadic lifestyle. From downsizing all their belongings, running their business on the road, and recently setting roots with a new land purchase in Arizona, it’s a fun episode we think you will get a lot of value from.

Be sure to follow Courtney & Tyler on Instagram at @outdoorsbae