Are you in for helping me plan an around the world overlanding trip? While travel isn’t an option for most of us right now, that doesn’t mean we can’t at least imagine ourselves out on the road (or however you like to travel), heading off for exotic locations. And that’s exactly what I’m looking for!
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that my wife and I love traveling in the RV. The happiest I’ve ever been in terms of where I’ve lived was when we were able to take long RV summer trips while I was writing full time (2011-2016). While we’ve been going a bit stir-crazy in lock-down during the pandemic, I really, really miss being out in the RV, which has been one of the biggest downsides to moving to Hawaii back in late 2018.
We really miss being out in the RV…Before COVID-19 hit, we were just about to make a permanent change of station (PCS) back to the mainland, to San Antonio. In addition to looking forward to taking the RV out, we had also decided to prepare for post-retirement (February 2023!) overland travel across as much of the world as we can.
If you’re not familiar with overlanding, I think the definition from Overland Journal says it best: overlanding describes self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations where the journey is the primary goal.
While we have no intention of giving up our “glamping” in the RV (which we intend to go full-time in after I leave work), we decided that we want to be able to get farther off the beaten track than The Beast could manage. To that end, we decided that – when we’re through the pandemic – we’re going to upgrade the Jeep a bit and buy an Opus OP2 adventure trailer (which is pricey, but awesome as heck) to be our overlanding home when we’re out on our overlanding trip(s).
I don’t want to dive into all the hardware here (although if you want to talk about it, please feel free to comment!), but want to instead focus on destination ideas for travel planning. And that’s where I’d like your help:
What are the coolest, most interesting places you’ve been or would have loved to see in your travels – on or off the beaten track – that you think should be on a “must see” list?
I know the list of places worth seeing is probably endless (we already have the U.S. National Parks on our list, of course), but that’s part of the fun! And it doesn’t matter what country or locale: everywhere is fair game! Seriously, I hope to work as many amazing places into our future travel plans as I possibly can. If things work out like I hope, I’ll see if I can actually plot out an itinerary of what we come up with that I can share with you.
So please post a comment with your ideas – my wife and I would love to see them!
Try Ireland, Causeway Coast and Glens have some beautiful sites and just happens to be where a fair bit of Game of Thrones was filmed, the grey and rainy bits anyway 🙂
https://www.visitcausewaycoastandglens.com/
There’s the Mournes and Donegal for touring, I live in the North and still admire the scenery , Also Scottish Highlands and Lake District in Cumbria, England.
Awesome! Thanks for that – will add it to the list!
There is so much to see on the island of Ireland, Giants Causeway, The Glens of Antrim and of course you can visit loads of sites where Game of Thrones was filmed. Anyway visit Tourism NI https://tourismni.com/ and plan to stay for a while. The Emerald Isle awaits you 🙂
A second vote for Ireland – twist my arm! 😁
walk on a glacier which is easy enough to do at the Columbia Ice-field. https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/attractions/columbia-icefield/
Just have your camera(s) ready the entire time you are in that park system, and watch out for the wildlife traffic jams. Elk crossing blocked our departure from town of Jasper
and there Middle earth such as Hobbit Town to visit in New Zealand
The Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. Having read James Herriot’s books and watch All Creatures Great & Small on PBS. I made that statement of someday I’ll go there, and I did. Was the best thing I ever did. It’s rugged, rural, and breathtaking beautiful.
Dear Michael
How about taking a drive in the strangely magical Finnish Lapland
https://saariselka.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwncT1BRDhARIsAOQF9LlXfmfVL4EeMkgkFT03Yvg5-bGM7TyfbEACIVpaXE4oQvdktqv9x28aAktwEALw_wcB
Addictively quiet and beatiful plenty of reindeers around to bump into with your camper van, clean, safe and friedly. You can even dig some gold in some of the villages that are open for tourists.
Best Risto
Risto – That would be AWESOME! I was in Finland, albeit briefly, on my way in and out of the Soviet Union back in 1983 when I went to study at Leningrad State University. We stayed at the Korpilampi Hotel before heading in, and stayed in Helsinki coming back out. Finland is definitely on our to-visit list!
Best road trip I’ve done is New Zealand. The country is beautiful. I would have loved doing an overland trip there. Sadly, we just did it by car and used Airbnb. Australia is another good one if you are down in that part of the world. Just finished a month in Australia at the end of 2019. However, if you must pick one, New Zealand is better.