Three years ago, when 28-year-olds Nick Chazy and Mathilde Vouni packed their bags for a trip around the world, they chose to do it in an unconventional way – in a Land Rover.
Mr. Chajee, who worked at a technology startup, and Mr. Vawney at the United Nations were exposed to frequent travel. But that didn’t dampen their desire to travel more.
“Whenever we had free time, we would walk around and travel, even if it was five hours away from home,” Voney said.
Their passion for travel led them to want to travel full time.
They thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could just keep driving and go to Turkey, then Central Asia, then Singapore… and then the whole world?”
travel financing
It took the couple nearly two years to save up the money to make their dream a reality. Initially, the trip was fully self-funded, Chazy said.
It wasn’t until they started documenting their travels on social media platforms that the couple was able to rely on that source of income to fund their travels.
“This life is a dream. It’s so much fun and every day is free,” Nick Chazy said.
However, the couple admitted that they initially had no intention of monetizing their social media presence.
“We’ve already made those videos, but it was for friends and family, so there was no pressure,” Vorney said.
They planned to stop traveling once they ran out of money, but “the money started coming in when we were traveling and not for the money…We were lucky,” Vowney told CNBC Travel.
Their expenses typically cover diesel and maintenance for their cars, Wi-Fi, Netflix and music subscriptions, visas, and shipping containers to transport their cars, totaling an estimated $41,000 a year.
The couple has saved money on utilities, rent, and avoided hotels, resulting in a much cheaper lifestyle than before they started traveling for a living.
The couple tries to save money by booking last-minute flights because Chajee and Voony have to ship their car every time they fly to another country.
This eliminates the need to reschedule flights if transportation plans go haywire, saving you a lot of money as transportation costs typically make up the bulk of your expenses, averaging $6,000 per year.
Travelers who book their luggage and flights in advance run the risk of having to rebook their flights at additional cost to accommodate unpredictable delivery schedules, Chajee said.
“We literally buy our tickets the same day we want to leave, so it’s probably 10% more expensive than it was two months ago, but we ended up saving a lot more.”
They continued to travel on their motorcycles, even if their car was delayed due to a package delivery.
“We don’t usually fly anywhere… except between cars and bikes,” Chazy said.
The best experiences for this couple are off-the-road trips
nick and mathilde
Managing daily operations at Land Rover
Featuring a 65-litre water tank that is refilled at fuel stations, a full-sized shower head, dual-fuel stove system and a 45-litre refrigerator, the vehicle is designed to support daily life on the road.
Laundry is done every two weeks using a public washing machine or a third-party service.
“Aside from the heat, the car’s setup is perfect in many places,” Chazy said. “I use a fan when I sleep at night…but sometimes it’s too hot and I sweat. It’s hard to sleep.”
Meanwhile, in Alaska, when temperatures dropped to -15 degrees, “we had diesel heaters (and) hot showers, so we stayed indoors in T-shirts and shorts,” he said.
He drives 45,000 kilometers a year, spending half his days driving and the other half doing activities.
nick and mathilde
bittersweet moment
During their three years of traveling in a Land Rover, the couple experienced several bad crashes on the road.
One such case occurred after the drainage process for transporting a Land Rover to Australia. The move cost about $7,000.
“Five days after we started driving in Australia, the engine completely failed… it was the worst experience imaginable,” Vonnie said.
After 10 minutes, a local came to help us.
“We ended up spending 21 days at his house. He helped us fix our car…We were cooking for them (and) they were cooking for us,” she said. “So I don’t even remember that as a bad memory, but it would amount to a completely bad moment for us.”
Apart from the mechanical issues, being far away from my family meant I had to keep my car safely parked overseas until I returned home.
“But again, we’re lucky because of the community we’ve built online. We have people from every country, and they’re always very welcoming,” Vonnie said. “Usually they take very good care of our homes because if they follow us on our journeys, they know our cars very well and care about them as much as we do.”
highlights on the road
The couple has a little tradition. “Every time I enter a country, I try to find someone local to that country to put a flag on their car,” she said.
While camping in Bolivia, Vouni recalled an interaction with an old man who was worried that a llama had come to steal him.
“That was great, because we tend to be scared of strangers. (Still) he was scared of us…and eventually talked,” she said. “For me, those little interactions… are the best memories.”
The car attracts attention with its French license plate and left-hand drive. “So when we go out to eat, we usually just have a little chat. We meet people,” she says.
One of the highlights of their 160,000km journey was the more than 300 people around the world who invited the couple into their homes. “I have saved all their names and locations, so when I get to these countries I will write to them again,” Chajee said.
They thought the constant travel would wear him out, but that wasn’t the case, Vonnie said.
The trip is scheduled to end in two years, but he said he has plans for “travels in new, bigger vehicles to continents that I really want to go back to or feel like I haven’t seen enough of yet.”
Another possible plan is to set up a home base to welcome other travelers in the future and “give back what we’ve learned from this trip,” Vonney said.
