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The Zapp family has been traveling all over the world for 14 years now. They’ve gone from Argentina to Alaska, traveled all over Africa, Australia, and several Asian countries. What was their vehicle of choice for such an adventure? Some reliable, commonly available 4x4 which would be easy to find spare parts for? Nope, its a 1928 Detroit-made Graham Paige (Model 610). Truth be told, they’ve manage to do some impressive things with this car.
Hernan Zapp learned to repair the car to a great extent, but once you listen what he has to say you notice that their true asset to achieve all this is an incredible positive attitude.
They also have a book called "Spark your Dream", wich I haven't read but I bet is full of interesting stories and more than a few survival tips and food for thought.
So, what do you think? Are they crazy or are they some of the most sane people you’ve seen in some time? What vehicle would you take on such a trip?
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.
2 comments:
"What vehicle would you take on such a trip?"
A commercial airliner. :)
A new SUV is less likely to break down than one with several years of wear and tear. Toyota seems to have a global sales network, so probably a Toyota Land Cruiser
(2-3 people plus gear, with the intent of picking up money at frequent waypoints and living off the country by buying native food,etc.)
But such a trip seems dangerous --even for a foreigner in the USA -- without local knowledge of where people are decent and where predators lurk in high crime areas.
I live in a middle class area which sees maybe one homicide every 4-6 years. Yet there are areas 17 miles away that have some of the highest homicide rates on earth -- almost as bad as El Salvador, Honduras, some towns in Mexico,etc.
Nonetheless I thought I was safe -- but I just read in the local news that our state's Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty for a local serial killer. The killer killed a young woman in her 20s with a knife (because she rejected him) plus killed her sister and her 3 year old daughter to eliminate witnesses. Police subsequently discovered that he had killed another woman --with the same hunting knife -- about 15 years ago. The killer was a clerk in the local supermarket about 3 miles away.
Local knowledge is no guarantee of safety -- and the vast majority of people everywhere are good. Nonetheless, it seems idiotic to take young children into strange areas with the delusion that everyone is singing Kumbaya.
We all live a life of our own "crazy." The Zapps chose a really nice car (if you can get the parts it will "live" nearly "forever." It is a simple car compared to today's vehicles.) Dick Proenneke chose solitude in Alaska, there are many people who live and travel in their RV's (as well as their own converted van) full time, as well those who circumvent the globe in a boat, be it a trawler, catamaran, or other sail boat.
I prefer bugging in, and appreciate that, upon occasion, I am able to hunker down and "hibernate!"
I guess it depends on what "floats your boat," or your individual "crazy."
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