In 2011, we bought our first expedition vehicle, a Land Cruiser 80, and started overlanding. Since then, there have been many adventures off the beaten track. Here you can read about why we have grown so fond of travelling slowly in this particular way.
Otto and I have always had a strong urge to travel and have been adventurous and curious about foreign cultures, history, architecture and languages. When we were growing up, it was not common to vacation abroad, so we both dreamed of travelling and discovering other places and ways of life.
Road trip to Eastern Europe in 1990
For Elin, learning Russian in upper secondary school marked the beginning of a lifelong interest in Eastern Europe and Russia. Studying Russian took her to Moscow for a year in 1987, at the start of perestroika and glasnost. It was an unforgettable year that shaped her for life. Otto had the pleasure of criss-crossing Europe by Interrail when it became popular in the 1970s. He must be one of the few who travelled to Finland on his rail pass because he wanted to see the Finlandia Hall, given his keen interest in architecture.
When we became a couple and moved in together in 1990, our first head-over-heels road trip took us through a number of countries in Eastern Europe to experience the atmosphere before everything changed following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. About ten years later, we took our children on a camping holiday to Moomin Valley. Other than that, we had little camping experience before buying our first Land Cruiser with a roof tent and deciding to try overlanding. Here are a few thoughts on why we like it so much.
Traveling slowly
In a world where everything moves terribly fast and there is so much stress, travelling slowly is both wonderful and liberating. It gives you time to feel that you are actually moving from place to place, and to experience how the landscape and surroundings gradually change. It makes for a completely different travel experience than when a plane suddenly transports you from A to B before your mind has quite caught up. We often choose smaller roads over motorways when there is no rush to get there, because there is so much more to see and they are more enjoyable. Along the way, we are happy to stop whenever something fun or beautiful appears, whether it is a small church or a particularly scenic spot. On good days, you find a wonderful sense of flow where nothing feels rushed.
A feeling of freedom
Driving without having more than a rough plan and a destination gives a unique sense of freedom. The journey becomes the destination, and we can change our minds and take a different route if the weather or other circumstances call for it. Sometimes we get great tips from locals or other tourists and end up in a lovely place where we stay for a few days, even though it was never planned. And if we find ourselves somewhere dull, unpleasant, or not living up to expectations, we can simply move on. It has also happened that we completely changed our plans and skipped an important destination because chance took us somewhere entirely different.
Adventure and nature experiences
With “the bed on our backs” and everything we need in the car, we have the freedom to go wherever we want. Unlike an ordinary motorhome, the Land Cruiser can also get to places where there are no roads. This has given us many off-the-beaten-track adventures and amazing nature experiences while wild camping far away from other people.
There is something truly special about falling asleep to the sound of cowbells as cows graze around the car, and waking up to birdsong and sunrise. We love the rhythm we slip into when we go to bed and get up with the sun, and we sleep very well up in the rooftop tent to the sounds of nature. There are usually great hiking opportunities where we camp off-grid, allowing us to experience nature just as much on foot.
If you like predictability and knowing what’s going to happen on your holiday, overlanding is probably not for you. We enjoy the excitement of not knowing what awaits around the next bend, and the contrasts between the ugly, the boring, and the beautiful. And when unpleasant experiences crop up—as they inevitably do—they become good stories once you’ve had a little distance from them.
Simplicity
It is extremely cramped in a Land Cruiser converted into a camper. Minimalism is the order of the day. Over 12 years, we have learned from experience, and Otto has improved the solutions countless times, so now we have a vehicle that works well. In everyday life, we surround ourselves with an incredible number of unnecessary things. There is something liberating about rediscovering the simplicity of managing with very little.
For example, you can manage very well with one drinking cup, one set of cutlery and a combined “soup plate”, and simplifying and minimising solutions has become something of a hobby. Elin still finds it difficult to choose ONLY 4–5 dresses to take on a long trip, but has realised that that is more than enough.
Minimalism and simplicity are a nice reminder that things own us, rather than the other way around, if we have too many of them.
Encounters with people
One of the very best things about our travels is meeting people. We have been on several trips with travel companions from the Swedish Expedition Society (SWES), and greatly enjoy sharing experiences with them. We also really appreciate the contact we make with people we meet by chance, and the communication we manage despite language and cultural differences.
People in other countries live their lives, in some ways, very differently from us, but their lives are just as valuable. We learn a great deal from this, and it gives us new perspectives on our lives back home. We believe that encounters with people who live very differently from us break down prejudice and foster greater understanding of one another.
And it is truly good social glue in an increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden world.
I hope this post has inspired those of you who want to try overlanding. You don’t need advanced equipment to get started, and in the beginning, simple is often best. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to know more about overlanding.
