What We Wish We’d Known Before Overlanding Full-time (Part 2)

Welcome back, as I blog my in-progress ebook. This is Part 2. As a quick introduction, I’m Brittany Highland, and I’ve been traveling full-time by vehicle with my husband Eric since February 2014. We’re now driving around the world with our five-year-old son, Caspian. We originally spoke about what we wish we’d known before overlanding full-time at several events in 2021, including Overland Expo.

I have so much to share that I decided to turn our presentation into my first ebook. Once the ebook is complete, I’ll be emailing it to all our subscribers for free. That way, you can download the PDF file and refer to it whenever you want to.

If you need to go back and catch up, you can do so here:

• Part 1: Stuff is a sad substitute for experience

Now let’s continue on to the next lesson!

2/ Stuff is a sad substitute for hands-on training

Why is it we’re so quick to add items to our Amazon cart, but so slow to sign up for hands-on training? For some reason, we trick ourselves into believing that if we have all the right gear, then we’ll be prepared when things turn upside down.

But that isn’t true.

Without proper training, we won’t know how to use the gear we have. In fact, when we’re stressed or scared, we can actually make the situation worse.

Let’s look at two specific examples.

First, vehicle recovery. It is easy to load up on a ton of recovery gear that takes up room and is very heavy. I’m talking recovery boards, a jack, a winch, winch lines, shackles, the whole nine yards.

Psychologically, it makes sense. The last thing we want is to be stuck on the trail with no way to get ourselves out. So we buy every gadget that sounds like a good idea–just in case.

One of those things is often a hi-lift jack. Did you know that, without proper training, a hi-lift jack can be one of the most dangerous items you carry with you? And without proper training, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to figure out how to use it when you need it, anyway.

All that to say: if you’re going to carry a piece of recovery gear, make sure you have the hands-on training to use it. And the beauty of training is you can do more with less. So you won’t even need to carry so much heavy, bulky gear because your training will teach you how to improvise.

A second example to drive the point home: first aid. In my case, there was a family dynamic going on that you may be able to relate to. Through his 20 years of military service, Eric has extensive first aid training. For years I relied on his training, thinking he could take care of any medical issue that came up.

But as we prepared to drive around the world, I wondered what would happen if it was Eric who got hurt. I realized I needed to have training myself, so I became Wilderness First Aid certified.

Armed with my new-found knowledge, I gained confidence I didn’t have before. I can open our first aid kit and actually know what I’m looking at! And, like I mentioned above about recovery gear, my knowledge helps me improvise with the items I have on hand.

There is NO substitute for hands-on training. So whatever the area where you lack knowledge, go spend your money on training first. It is a much wiser investment than buying more stuff.

Resources

• Vehicle recovery training: 7P
• Wilderness First Aid certification: NOLS

COMING UP: Payload capacity doesn’t go away if you ignore it

Stay tuned for the third lesson I share, as I blog my in-progress ebook. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to sign up for a copy of my complete ebook, which I’ll email you for free as soon as it’s finished.

Thanks for participating in my blogging experiment. We’ll see you soon for the next lesson we’ve learned–the hard way!

-B