RE: 5 road trips to inspire you to just keep driving

[fivetenben]

BobSaunders said:

Hi Ben, impressive. I am somewhat intrigued tho - as a mid-30's male who followed the standard job, house, family trend and now having what can only be considered a early mid-life crisis regarding "what have i actually achieved with my life so far" thoughts.. How old are you? and where do you obtain the time? and the funding to take these trips? and do you have aspirations longer term to carry this on? I know a guy who's brother runs the annual Australian Sh*tbox rally full time and that is his job.

I have very much considered a number of times to pack up shop onto a boat and sail the world.

Hi Bob

I'm in my mid-30s, the same as you. I started doing these trips when I was 26, when I did the Mongol Rally, so I've been hitting the road for about ten years now. Being self-employed, time has been easier to find than if I was working full-time with a rigid holiday allowance....

I don't have any kids, and I own a fairly modest property in bargain-basement Plymouth, so my outgoings are pretty small, all in all. Saying that, these sorts of trips are surprisingly cheap if you're not dependent on posh hotels to survive. I seem to remember that the Africa trip, for instance, cost me around £8k for the full 3 month journey, including spare parts, and even fitting a new (second hand) engine to the car when it self-combusted 17 days before we left - good value in a world of 10 day, £3000 Kenyan safaris! Of that £8k, I've made over half of it back since the trip through book sales, etc, so if you approach these trips right, they're not as financially painful as they first appear. Basically, I reckon all the trips I've done still haven't cost me as much as, say, a new BMW 1M, so I guess to some degree it comes down to what I value more - travel memories or a shiny car on the drive...

Saying that, with Pub2Pub (www.pub2pubexpedition.com), we're taking a more sustainable approach to roadtripping, as it's the first trip we'll have done which we consider groundbreaking enough to justify actually seeking sponsorship. This is a whole new area for us; fingers crossed it'll all come off! And after Pub2Pub... who knows what'll be next, though I'm aware I'm starting to approach the age where being a bit more settled would make sense, so the big, multi-month trips may get put on hold for a bit once the Americas have been driven...

That's probably enough random whaffling for now. I guess the moral of it is, get that boat and go sail the world ;-)

[BobSaunders]

fivetenben said:

BobSaunders said:

Hi Ben, impressive. I am somewhat intrigued tho - as a mid-30's male who followed the standard job, house, family trend and now having what can only be considered a early mid-life crisis regarding "what have i actually achieved with my life so far" thoughts.. How old are you? and where do you obtain the time? and the funding to take these trips? and do you have aspirations longer term to carry this on? I know a guy who's brother runs the annual Australian Sh*tbox rally full time and that is his job.

I have very much considered a number of times to pack up shop onto a boat and sail the world.

Hi Bob

I'm in my mid-30s, the same as you. I started doing these trips when I was 26, when I did the Mongol Rally, so I've been hitting the road for about ten years now. Being self-employed, time has been easier to find than if I was working full-time with a rigid holiday allowance....

I don't have any kids, and I own a fairly modest property in bargain-basement Plymouth, so my outgoings are pretty small, all in all. Saying that, these sorts of trips are surprisingly cheap if you're not dependent on posh hotels to survive. I seem to remember that the Africa trip, for instance, cost me around £8k for the full 3 month journey, including spare parts, and even fitting a new (second hand) engine to the car when it self-combusted 17 days before we left - good value in a world of 10 day, £3000 Kenyan safaris! Of that £8k, I've made over half of it back since the trip through book sales, etc, so if you approach these trips right, they're not as financially painful as they first appear. Basically, I reckon all the trips I've done still haven't cost me as much as, say, a new BMW 1M, so I guess to some degree it comes down to what I value more - travel memories or a shiny car on the drive...

Saying that, with Pub2Pub (www.pub2pubexpedition.com), we're taking a more sustainable approach to roadtripping, as it's the first trip we'll have done which we consider groundbreaking enough to justify actually seeking sponsorship. This is a whole new area for us; fingers crossed it'll all come off! And after Pub2Pub... who knows what'll be next, though I'm aware I'm starting to approach the age where being a bit more settled would make sense, so the big, multi-month trips may get put on hold for a bit once the Americas have been driven...

That's probably enough random whaffling for now. I guess the moral of it is, get that boat and go sail the world ;-)

Thanks Ben. Good luck with your trip!