- What is Overlanddiaries????
When I started overlanddiaries, our present website, it was just a personal diary of my travel notes that I wanted to share. During these 7-8 years it developed itself and then it turned out to be “Two people’s dream of a lifetime”. When I first started talking with Rochelle about a long term vehicle based life, it was a defiantly distant dream. A dream that we would have loved to be a part of but we were not sure if we would ever be.
I still remember my first overland trip when I crossed, by myself back then, the borders between Greece and Turkey. The thought in my mind was: “Ok, and now what?” Don’t get me wrong. Even the last time we headed out in our year long trip, and although we had both done it in the past, we had our questions. How would it work out? What if we didn’t like it out there? What if something went wrong? What would we do in case our car broke down? All this and much more was circling in our minds. Also a little special question that you’re all thinking. What if we didn’t get on with each other traveling in a car?
Time has gone by and now that all this belongs to the past, we still have people asking us the same questions. What if? Well, I can tell you this. In a road trip that long surely things will go wrong. Surely you will be stuck in difficult situations with no way out. These ifs will surely become a reality but guess what. It is these ifs and the actual moments that come with them that make us want to go back. If you ask me “Do I want to get out of my comfort zone and take so many risks?” My answer is YES, because only then you appreciate what is actually around you. Only then you are not afraid to look the unknown straight in the eyes. Only then you are REALLY FREE!!!
Through these last 345 days on the road, nothing was planned and nothing was standardized. Most of the days we would wake up in the morning in our tent, look 
around us, look at each other and ask: “Do we really want to move today?” We never made any plans and if when we did, they were fast forgotten or changed. That is what gave us some of the best memories. We met people that we would not have even imagined meeting. We did things that till that day made us shiver when we thought about them. When they did happen though, we didn’t give it a second thought, we just did them. I can guarantee you that 99.9 % we acted with our instincts and 98.9999 % we were right. All the “ifs” became a reality but all of them were solved, overcome and added to our long book of memories. Overlanddiaries.com is not just our dream. It represents everybody’s dream. What dream is that? It is up to you to decide. It is a dream that becomes a reality through your decision to step out to the unknown and take things in your hands. We can tell you endless stories. About a 5000-year old cave in Iran that we slept in, about the truck stop that we were forced to make and spent the night in Azerbaijan, the lovely family that hosted us in Tbilisi, Georgia, a rock that stuck in our car, the earthquake that made us almost lose our car-home and almost canceled our entire trip, a caravanserai in the Silk 
Road where we sat around the table with people that we didn’t know and together we had one of the best meals and many, many more. We can actually talk to you about all that for days but it is nothing compared to experiencing it yourself. No matter how good someone is in telling a story, it is nothing compared to the reality. You have to live it to get that thrill that will make you love it. Overlandiaries.com is the way to everybody’s unknown destination that makes the process to get there worth much more than the destination itself. Financial and moral issues, career, job related drawbacks are all excuses that we create. Yes, we also faced all of the above but out there, on the road, they all seemed pointless. We too had some fund limitations but throughout our travel we felt the richest people on the planet. We left our career and good jobs back only to catch up with them as soon as we were back. We managed to overcome meaningless issues and open up. Small things made us happy, filled up our hopes and gave us unforgettable memories.
After being back in the ‘game’ and whenever Rochelle or I feel down, tired or just a little flat, we talk about it and we have one feeling in common. We both cannot wait to be back on the road. And yes, we are ready to go back and experience new adventures anytime, in the blink of an eye. Some people call us adrenaline junkies, some call us crazy, others call us desperados, thoughtless, irresponsible and many more.You know what? As a conclusion, we love what we do. A passion we cannot control is under our skin. We feel lost in normality, alive in the uncertainty of being on the road and FREE. Whether we are all of the above or not, one thing is for sure: WE ARE OVERLANDERS AND THESE ARE OUR DIARIES!!!
- About Yianni
My name is Yiannis. I come from Greece and I live on the small island of Mykonos. I started travelling when I was 11 with my family. At the age of 21, I started making my dream come true, that is to travel and get to know our beautiful planet . As a child, my family always took me travelling, mostly to the nearby Europe. I don’t know if that got me started but anyway, since then I’ve somehow always managed to travel every year in some destination until now. In my early years, when my finances were in a poor condition, I was travelling with a backpack and I was using all means of transport, always on the budget side.
During my trip to East Africa, I met a couple of other Greek travellers, Akis and Voula (check their site www.theworldoffroad.com) that go around the world with their own car and they got me thinking. So here I am,travelling around the world and leaving the overland dream with my own private car, Pretty soon I realized that travelling with your own car isn’t a luxury as I thought until then but it gives you a sense of freedom which you never have when you’re on a plane or a bus.
In this site I write my stories for all the people that are about to visit or have already visited a country or for those who just want to know about any of the countries that I’ve been to. I won’t go into any details so that you don’t get bored.
Through the years the team got bigger and now I am traveling with my partner Rochelle , the two of us are the crew of overlanddiaries and our task is to visit every country of the world with our vehicle Voukefalas.
If you want to make a comment or ask me for any kind of tip or advice, please feel free to contact me through our blog or direct .
Yianni’s Clobal Mobile : +447700021642
- About Rochelle
Born on the road and lived in a converted school bus as a home for 8 years started me off as a free spirited traveling gypsy… I am the oldest child of four and we were all born in different cities around Australia. As my fathers band successfully moved from gig to gig.
Yep that’s me on the left hand side in my Dads arms with mum in his other arm…. And our bus home behind.
I was actually born in Kalgoorlie a Western Australian Gold mining town… So some times I get called ‘precious’ but its normal said in jest as I have now lived in 5 star resorts 12 years on stunning beaches. Bali , Oman, Maldives and Koh Saumi Thailand .
Generous fun loving hospitality is inbred in our family and extended family. Its known that we cant have fun unless everyone else is falling over giggling, or a litte tipsy or full of great food. So its only natural that I ended up in Resorts. However these adventures have always been foot loose and fancy free .. So the 300+ staff I have managed always become my immediate family away from home.
So as Karma would have it … I finaly found someone that i love spending every waking moment with who actually has traveled more than me ….. We have already done some spectacular trips to Maldives, Sri Lanka , South Korea and lots in Indonesia…. But now is the start of our lives together on the road…..
Would you believe I am excited about doing my own laundry… its been a while…
Contact me at my Global Mobile : +447700021632
- Our Biggest Target
Overlanddiaries is more than just an informative travel blog . We wanted to put a blog together that can get people exited about traveling around our incredible world , we want people to seek out the adventure of their lifetime. Step out of their comfort zones and live their dream, find out that there is much more out there than just a new mobile phone or a better job.There is life in a beautiful planet ,”Our Planet”.
We are willing to stand side by side and collaborate with any none profitable organisation that needs our help . Need informations ,photos or video about a place or a culture we have traveled through? We are here for you.
We are looking forward in building ongoing relationships with youth or other organisations to develop ways to get young people interested in traveling in other cultures or different environments. Need one or both of us to assist you by being part of the action ? Drop us an email and we will respond to you as soon as possible.
