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!!!