Nobody could have predicted the year we had in 2020.
Being stuck in one location for the best part of a year wasn't exactly easy for anyone.
But adapting to life in one place is something we, in particular, are NOT very good at.
So what did we do?
We decided to use the time to complete a dream we have both shared ever since we met back in university ...
A dream to convert our very own campervan ... which we did!
But what next?
Well ... never ones to shy away from a crazy adventure, we decided to drive around the world!
Let's get stuck straight in!
Here's an (extremely rough) look at the route we are planning to do ...
Starting from the UK, the plan is now to keep heading west until we eventually find ourselves back again.
Simple right?
We wish!
Planning a route to drive around the world is always going to be tricky.
Border disputes, wars, visa issues, breakdowns.
The list of things that can (and will) go wrong on such a trip is almost endless.
Now throw Covid into the mix ....
That's why the map you see above is so rough. We have no doubts that we will struggle to get into certain countries due to the ongoing struggle with the virus.
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We are both fully vaccinated and also don’t want to put anyone else at risk.
That's why we will be taking our time with the journey, only passing through countries when safe and fully legal to do so.
We've also given ourselves a super relaxed timeline for the trip.
Without Covid, I'd say a sensible timeline for what we intend is at least 2-3 years.
With Covid ... it's anyone's guess. But at least 4 years is what we've prepared ourselves for.
What if it takes longer?
Then we get to spend even longer discovering the world, meeting new people, seeing new sites and making new friends.
It really is a win-win!
Here’s the route we currently have in mind (I will update it as we go) ...
My prophecy above ended up coming true!
Jeeze, thanks past Brad!
The new route you see discussed above is actually the other way around to our original route!
Below is what our original route looked like.
Due to the still ongoing variants of Covid as of late 2021, we made the decision to switch things around and instead spend much of 2022 exploring North America, where we knew the countries were all open.
The plan being that, once we are done there, we can then venture further south into South America and then across to Asia with (hopefully) far fewer disruptions.
That was the plan at least!
Keep scrolling to see how we got on ...
Okay, if you've been following us on YouTube (if you haven't then you should be and can do so here) then 2022 was an INCREDIBLE year!
Plenty of ups and downs (naturally). But possibly the most traveling we have ever done and the least time we have ever spent back in the UK.
We were on the road for 10 out of the 12 months, and here's what we got up to!
That is a very brief overview of 3 truly unforgettable months in Canada (and Alaska).
Really, that list doesn't even begin to do justice to what we saw here and how we fell in love with this country.
To discover more (and see some of Cazzy's incredible pics) check out these other posts we wrote:
With only a few months in USA (due to visa restrictions) we stuck to the west coast of the USA, but honestly had the most amazing time.
It was crazy how blown away we were by sites that we thought might just be too hyped (i.e. the Grand Canyon and Vegas). But instead we had the most amazing time.
Once again, there are a few great posts here to check out to see more of what we got up to in the States:
Ultimately, we had to make our way relatively quickly through Mexico in order to reach the port city of Veracruz.
Here, we had to ready our van to be shipped to Colombia to join our South American leg of the trip.
Unfortunately, due to our vehicle being right-hand drive, we were unable to drive it any further south through Central America as Nicaragua and other countries don't allow this.
Luckily we have seen much of this region before, but definitely plan to return and see more in the future.
Ultimately, Mexico was a time to drink far too many margaritas, party with locals and just all-round have an amazing time.
Mexico is a beautiful place with wonderful people, and we didn't have a single bad experience (despite numerous unfounded warnings to the contrary from people who have never properly visited Mexico).
P.S. while waiting for our van to be shipped between Mexico and Colombia, we had a few weeks to spare, so ...
We decided to make ourselves busy in some fun ways, including:
We ended 2022 by spending a week seeing the sites in Cartagena (Colombia) before collecting our van, leaving at the airport, and flying home to celebrate Christmas with our families!
Cheers to a heck of a year and see you below for a 2023 update ...
All going well, we should start 2023 in Colombia, and finish it somewhere in Patagonia (or maybe even Asia ...)
From here, the aim is to have the van shipped across to South Korea, and then from there venture in some sort of route back until we reach Turkey ...
For UK legal reasons, we will then be unable to drive our van any further into Europe.
Long story short, you need a legal MOT in order to drive a UK registered vehicle in Europe, otherwise your insurance is void.
However!
As we spent all of 2021 exploring Europe, we have already completed (more than) the route from the UK through to Turkey.
So Turkey will therefore mark our end point of the trip and we can feel pretty confident saying we have completed our drive around the world :D
Of course, the plan is to find a way to ship Helen by boat back across to England, so all 3 of us shall be returning!
In case you're new to the blog, here's a quick recap ...
We are Cazzy and Bradley. We met while at uni back in 2014 and, after graduating two years later, set off on our first adventure.
An epic 4 month journey around South America, where we drank far too many caipirinhas and realised that life back in the UK just wasn’t something we wanted to face long term.
So we spent the next 4 years working online to earn money and fund our adventures around the world.
By 2019, this site was one of the world's largest travel blogs, funding our travels around more than two dozen incredible countries. Such as Indonesia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and many ... many more.
Like all businesses in the travel industry, we really struggled through Covid, and the blog took a MAJOR hit.
But our hunger and desire to travel the world still isn’t over.
The travel itch is far from fully scratched.
We love experiencing new cultures and meeting new people. We also love road trips.
4 years spent backpacking from hostel to hostel is great fun, but it can also be exhausting.
We've found that having our own vehicle to experience a country is so much more enjoyable for the type of travel we love. So building our campervan (her name’s Helen by the way) was a logical next step in our journey.
We also have no plans to settle down any time soon.
Our drive around the world is set to be our wildest and most ambitious adventure yet, but it's by no means the end for us.
We're really not sure what the future holds ... I'll guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out.
Why drive around the world?
Why set such an outrageous goal?
Especially during a time when there is so much uncertainty?
The truth is, uncertainty and a lack of a clear path doesn’t bother us.
We thrive off the unknown and take each new challenge head on as it presents itself.
Together, we have overcome so much.
We know that, though it might take longer or be more expensive than we anticipate, we know we will make it through.
Our mission is to put everything we have learnt over the last 5 years into full use.
It's going to take all of our time, effort and luck to make it around the globe and can’t wait to see how things play out.
Also, we fully intend to vlog and blog our entire journey. In turn, we hope that we can inspire others to fulfill crazy dreams as well.
We love the idea of including as many people as possible in our journey. So be sure to ...
We are keen to meet and engage with as many people as possible on this adventure and would love for you to become a part of it.
If you have any tips or ideas on what to see and do in your home country, then reach out to us and let us know!
Are you a fellow vanlifer, keen to meet up on the road? Awesome! Drop us a message on Instagram, we would love to meet up!
As of publishing this, we are funding 100% of this journey ourselves.
Like we have been for the last 5 years, we work and travel at the same time and plan to do the same on this adventure.
That being said, we are open to the idea of partnering with like-minded brands and companies who may want to sponsor us on our journey.
If this sounds like something you're interested in then drop us an email, I'm sure we can work something out.
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