While overlanding is rapidly growing in notoriety, and more families than ever are equipping themselves for overland travel, the number of full-time overlanding families continues to be a small subset.
Since we plan to be among the group of full-time overlanding families traveling internationally within the next two years, I’m always interested to learn more about those who have found the bravery to make this move.
But despite my constant search, I’ve found it difficult to find these full-time overlanding families. They’re more dedicated to adventure than Instagram fame, so often I can’t even tell from their social media profiles that they’re overlanding full-time.
For my part, I don’t understand why everyone isn’t talking about international overlanders. Forget what’s on the nightly news; forget Hollywood celebrities; these people are the real deal. And talk about upping the ante by taking your children along for the challenge of a lifetime.
For these reasons–the extraordinary nature of these families AND the difficulty of finding many of them–I decided to compile this list. I hope you’ll find inspiration and instruction in what they share, like we have.
One final note on definitions. For the purposes of this list, I’m only including full-time overlanding families, those who live out of their vehicle and travel continuously. I’m also focusing on those who overland internationally, crossing multiple borders over the course of their travels.
1/ 8 Years Global
Meet the family: Bronson, Vanessa, Kaden (12), and Roxy (11-year-old dog)
Meet the vehicle: 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser (100 series) with iKamper roof top tent, ARB front bumper with Come Up winch, Slee rear bumper/tire carrier and rock sliders, OME suspension, Goal Zero 1400 for power and solar, Dobinson’s drawers, Dometic fridge, etc.
When did your family begin overlanding full-time? August 2018
Places visited: Prior to starting full-time, they had been to 22 states in the U.S. and 20 countries throughout Europe and Southeast Asia. Since starting full-time, they’ve been to another 21 states in the U.S. and 23 states in Mexico, before traveling around Belize and now Guatemala.
Bucket list: All of the countries. Their plan is to spend the next two years traveling Central America and South America, then shipping from Brazil to South Africa and taking five more years to explore Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Follow the adventure: Follow them on Instagram at @8yearsglobal and 8yearsglobal.com.
2/ Expedition Family Happiness
Meet the family: Inge, Alex, and their 5-year-old twins
Meet the vehicle: 36-year-old Mercedes 613 van named Jacky. Though not a 4×4 vehicle, it’s a great home on wheels that takes the family everywhere, even off-road sometimes.
When did your family begin overlanding full-time? April 2018
What country do you consider home? Originally, they’re from The Netherlands. And they really like to be in Spain, so that feels like home, too. But currently, home is where they are with their campervan!
Places visited: They drove off from The Netherlands and have explored Europe, and a tiny bit of Africa and Asia. Europe is very diverse and made up of a lot of smaller and bigger countries that have their own charms (cultural and natural). So far, they’ve visited Belgium, France, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Morocco, Italy, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia Herzogowina, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Transnistria, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece.
Bucket list: The plan for this year is to explore the more eastern and northern part of Europe, a bit of Russia, and the Nordic countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. After that they want to make their way to southern Europe again via England and Ireland to Spain (ferry). For
the years after that they have no plans yet, but plenty of ideas! Shipping to the U.S. or South America sounds great to them, as well as driving eastward to Iran and other Asian countries. And they would love to overland in Africa. There is simply too much to explore!
Follow the adventure: Find them on Instagram at @expeditionfamilyhappiness, Facebook, and
expeditionfamilyhappiness.com.
3/ Longue Piste
Meet the family: Béatrice, David, Faustine (13), Pétronille (12), Martin (9), Pélagie (7) and Eugénie (3)
Meet the vehicle: 2006 Land Rover Defender 110 with an off-road trailer (kitchen inside, fridge, 200W solar panel) and two roof-top tents.
When did your family begin overlanding full-time? April 2018
What country do you consider home? France
Places visited: Departed from France, visited Europe (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece), Middle Orient (Turkey, Iran, Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Palestine) and East Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe).
Bucket list: Botswana, Namibia, Angola, South Africa, Mozambique. Maybe come back to France by West Africa.
Follow the adventure: Find them on Instagram at @longuepiste!
4/ Mali Mish
Meet the family: Dan, Marlene, Ava (13), Mila (10), and Luka (7)
Meet the vehicle: Self-built Sprinter 4×4 Van 170, outfitted with 350 watts of solar, propane cooktop, top-loading fridge, sink, portable toilet, diesel heater, roof fans, awning, rooftop shower, and permanent bunk beds (pictured at the top of this article).
When did your family begin overlanding full-time? 2008 (with breaks for pregnancies and children)
What country do you consider home? United States
Places visited: As a family, all the drivable states in the U.S., all the provinces in Canada, plus some territories, more than half of the states in Mexico, and 28 European countries including Turkey.
Bucket list: They’ll continue to travel as a family as long as everyone is happy and on the same page. So far, so good.
Follow the adventure: Find them on Instagram at @mali.mish, YouTube, and their blog, malimish.com.
5/ Overland Pathfinders
Meet the family: Sean, Marie, Samuel (9), and Avalyn (7)
Meet the vehicle: 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road, running a CVT Mt. Rainier roof top tent, Alucab Expedition Canopy, and OME BP-51s soon.
When did your family begin overlanding full-time? September 2017
What country do you consider home? United States
Places visited: All over the East Coast, and up and down the entire Rocky Mountains.
Bucket list: Next big trip is the California Segment of the Pacific Crest Overland Route. They’ll use the PCOR to access many of the California national parks. Their big bucket list item is the Trans-American Trail, and also going from Alaska to Mexico.
Follow the adventure: Find them on Instagram at @overlandpathfinders. They love to network with other overlanders and meet up!
6/ Rules of the Road
Meet the family: Michael, Margie, and Sebastian (2)
Meet the vehicle: 1996 Landrover Defender TDI110. Fitted out so they can sleep in it. They’re planning to get a roof top tent soon.
When did your family begin overlanding full-time? December 2018
Places visited: Departed from Australia. Visited Timor Leste and Indonesia so far. Had an accident in Indonesia, so they’re stuck there for a while.
Bucket list: India, Nepal, and Mongolia. Ultimate goal is to get all the way to England.
Follow the adventure: Blog at rulesoftheroad.com.au. Follow them on Instagram at @rules_ofthe_road and Facebook.
Other Overlanding Families to Follow
There are several other overlanding families we eagerly follow. Some are full-time, some are on a trip with a definite end in sight, some are on hiatus, and others have finished their trip (but have amazing stories and photos to inspire).
We’d love to do profiles on all of these families, as well. So if you see yourself on this list or know someone here, then let’s connect!
- @300dayssouth
- @6inavan
- @baraka_travels
- @bodes.well
- @bohemiansontheroad
- @elmundoesellimite
- @epicfamilyroadtrip
- @expeditionfamilyhappiness
- @familiasinfronteras
- @familytravelnomads
- @lifestyleoverland
- @graeme.r.bell (A2A Expedition)
- @nestaautourdumonde
- @nomadishones
- @onelifelive.it
- @ourworldsafari
- @overland_wanderlust
- @oxoverland
- @thebarnsleysbigadventure
- @the_trip_starts_and_goes_on
- @theunpluggedfamily
- @thewildwilsfamily
- @travelbug.family
- @youri.kirsten.sebbe
Thanks to you all for blazing the trail for the full-time overlanding families coming behind you.
First of all, I love the content you have! Thanks for sharing!
My family and I are long time lovers of camping and traveling, and recently started dabbling in off-roading when we bought our Jeep Wrangler earlier this year. So your site has so much great content that we can really relate to.
A few questions for you. Were both your husband and you completely bought into the idea of full time travel? Or did one have to convince the other?
Also, how do you earn your income while full time traveling and overlanding?
Thanks, and I’ll definitely be following your new content! 🙂
Hi Phil! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. You are actually the very first person to do so on our new website!
Congrats on the purchase (and use) of your Wrangler. They are incredibly fun aren’t they?
As far as your questions, let me answer as best as I can:
Q. Were we both bought into the idea of full time travel?
A. Kind of. The idea of traveling fulltime was mine (Eric), but the idea of driving around the world was Brittany’s. There was really no convincing one another of either. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of discussion, but no convincing. We are both dreamers, but we’re also the types of people who pursue our dreams relentlessly. Throughout our years of fulltime travel, we’ve mutually discovered what is truly important to us, and what we want to experience with this one wild and precious life we’ve been given.
Q. How do we earn our income while fulltime traveling and overlanding?
A. So it’s been a VERY long road to get to where we are. No pun intended. I served in the US Military for 20 years and retired. So I have a small pension that helps us keep the wheels turning. Then I worked for the King County Sheriffs Office (Seattle) and Texas Department of Public Safety (Austin) before fully “retiring.” In 2011 we started our own company. We intentionally started a company from which we could could earn an income from home. Through a lot of hard work and hustle, we grew it from nothing to modestly successful. After years of building our businesses we decided that what we really wanted to do was drive the world. So, we sold parts of what we had created, hired folks to outsource what we needed and reduced clients in order to be completely free from having to be online at a specific time. It has been about a 10 year intentional journey to get to the point where we’ll be able to drive around the world. Brittany is actually in the process of writing an article that explains all of this in much greater detail as we get asked this question a lot. Suffice it to say that it was a lot of work to get here, but we’re finally on the cusp of making our dream a reality. Hope that makes sense, and happy to answer any follow up questions. Bottom line is that it is possible to live this lifestyle, but you have to want it and pursue it intentionally (just like anything else in life.) Glad you are joining us virtually for the ride of a lifetime. ~ Eric
Excellent reply Eric – thanks for sharing !