At Overland Vagabond it is our ambition to share our passions - adventures, misfortunes, and experiences - whilst on an epic journey!
Since inception, Overland Vagabond aims to give something back for the fantastic journey we’re lucky to experience:
- We share our adventures through images and videos, inviting keen spirits to embrace a similar quest
- We help people in need encountered during our journey with charity donations, thanks to our Patreon channel
- We take a leap towards becoming ‘green’, pledging to remove CO2 from our vehicle’s emissions
Welcome and enjoy the ride!
Impressions
While traveling we take thousands of pictures: It's the most spontaneous reaction when you suddenly see a beautiful panorama, encounter an interesting person, when you visit a renowned site, after having parked the vehicle at the night camp, or simply to have an image documenting an impression you want to remember, forever.
We're privileged to have the opportunity to adventure across countries and through places most will never have a chance to visit, and the following galleries are just a very tiny set of the most memorable impressions we've collected this far.
The exception is Season 0 that is the preparation and vehicle build phase, all other galleries are about our journey, for which more information is found in the Routes section.
Impressions - Season 0
Preparation and vehicle build phase.
Impressions - Season 1
Switzerland to Georgia - The maiden voyage.
Impressions - Season 2
Georgia to Kazakhstan - Through the heart of Central Asia.
Impressions - Season 3
Kazakhstan to Singapore - As far as we can drive.
Impressions - Season 4
Singapore to ? - Where next?
Season 4 is currently underway, actually we shall be... as soon as the global lockdowns due to the pandemic have been lifted. We will portray new impressions here once this season is completed! In the meantime, feel free to check our real-time updates and pictures posted through the social media channels described under the Blog - Vlog section!
Thank you for your patience.
Videos
While pictures are great to exhibit landscapes, monuments, sites or to portray people, nothing compares to the emotions that a well edited video can convey. Videos are Overland Vagabond's pinnacle for documenting our wonderful adventure - rich in images, sounds and music.
Here is an excerpt of the videos published on YouTube. These are organised in travel documentaries (Season's episodes), or specific overlanding subject matters (Center Stage episodes).
Routes
Our venture is not driven by an established schedule, and we don't have a final destination. We build-up our journey stage by stage, season by season... vagabonding through all those marvelous places that our Planet Earth has to offer.
That said, we carefully plan every upcoming stage and organise the visas, papers for the vehicle, insurance, shipping if required, or our own flights. We plan the route, research the 'must see' sites, and inform ourselves on what other Overlanders have previously experienced.
There are different ways to overland, some do it seasonally and return to their home base, other leave for good and don't return for a long time. We have chosen an unusual approach, in that we drive forth through what we call a Season, and once completed we park the vehicle and fly home for short break and to prepare the next stage.
Routes - Season 0
Season 0 has been mostly spent in engineering, design, development and construction of the vehicle, as well as the planning and preparation for our real departure.
We also did a test run of roughly 6'000 km to validate the proper running of the vehicle and all of its equipment, a short but intense journey across a few Central European countries.
Unfortunately, our GPS tracking device wasn't operational yet, hence we don't have a map that shows the exact route we took. But we drove through some of the most renown vineyards of Europe, and collected wines from Alsace, Cognac, Bordeaux, Pomerol, Saint-Émilion, and Piemont. Culturally speaking, we also visited a few UNESCO World Heritage Sites and some prestigious castles in France.
- Countries visited:
- Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, France (again), Italy
Routes - Season 1
Season 1 marks the beginning of our journey in autumn 2018, driving from our base in Switzerland to the doorsteps of Persia.
This leg is planned as an acclimatisation phase, a fairly gentle drive mostly along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts, over 10'000 km in distance and reasonably easy off-road tracks.
- Countries visited:
- Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Georgia
Routes - Season 2
Season 2 is from Georgia to Kazakhstan during the 1st half of 2019 to discover the most intrinsic sides - history, culture and people - of former Persia and Central Asia.
We're getting deeper into our journey towards east, crossing deserts, mountains over 5'500 msl, and following the footsteps of the silk-road on a route of over 15'000 km in distance and some quite challenging off-road tracks for instance through the Pamir Mountains.
- Countries visited:
- Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan
Routes - Season 3
Season 3 is undertaken during the 2nd half of 2019, deviating slightly from the main silk-road routes towards north, and then heading south to the furthest drivable point from our home base Switzerland.
We start from Almaty in the middle of the summer heat, but excited to visit Siberia and in particular the Overlander's paradise Mongolia. The crossing of China is perhaps a classic, a necessity though to eventually arrive in SE-Asia and reach our interim destination Singapore.
- Countries visited:
- Kazakhstan, Russia (Siberia), Mongolia, China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Thailand (again), Malaysia, (Singapore)
Routes - Season 4
Season 4 is currently underway, and the final map will be available once the season is completed. We however do post a planned route and our whereabouts through social media as described under the Blog - Vlog section!
Thank you for your patience.
Blog - Vlog
There are essentially three ways to get connected with Overland Vagabond and enjoy past, present and future content:
These are the channels you can subscribe to and know our immediate whereabouts. When travelling, we regularly post updates - a set of images and a quite detailed comment - about the sites we're visiting, the people we encounter, or any other experience worth mentioning. It's also the best way to interact with us, and sometimes we have lively public discussions.
The real-time updates are concurrently posted on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, so it's up to your preference to decide which media channel you wish to stay in-tune with us at all times.
Producing high-quality videos is a rather strenuous process, but it's part of our mission to share our experiences in the best way possible, and nothing can be compared to a compelling video. We document each section of our journey as travel documentaries, and specific subjects in Center Stage episodes.
All our videos are in 4K quality, and most are published on YouTube. As long as you have a YouTube account, you have full access to our YouTube channel and can opt to receive alerts whenever a new episode has been uploaded - typically on a monthly schedule.
Become a Patron of Overland Vagabond for as little as a cup of coffee per month, this as a token for the production of our content. Our Patrons enjoy early release of videos, dedicated posts and updates, meet and greet events, 'behind the scene' video episodes, real-time GPS data with actual position and route, and contribute to our charity fund.
To become a member you need to subscribe to our Patreon page, and ready you go with this set of exclusive services and benefits, only a chat away from us.
Your subscriptions matter a lot to us, it's our reward for the considerable amount of work we invest into the community. Please open the boxes above and click the social media icons therein, you're immediately redirected to the respective social media channel.
News: We've been selected by the panelist of Feedspot to the Top 100 Overlanding Youtube Channels. While we're obviously delighted and thankful to each of you supporting us, we strive to get higher in the rankings, and this can only be driven by You! Help us spread the word, share our posts and invite your friends to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Partners
What makes Overland Vagabond possible?
We are honored to partner with brands that believe in our adventure, with whom we deeply engage and work together in many different ways.
MCF Spectra is our prime partner and sponsor, the spine of the Overland Vagabond venture that made our dreams reality.
You will see on either side of the vehicle a sticker saying "Powered by MCF Spectra", and that's the true essence of this relationship. This partnership provides the financial foundation, the logistical and organisational support, as well as the moral encouragement for us to go forward.
For example, this Overland Vagabond website - fully responsive and using multimedia - has been conceived, implemented and sponsored through this partnership.
The Vegabonds band allows Overland Vagabond to publish YouTube videos featuring their songs and music - thank you so much!
The Alabama-born, Tennessee-bred Southern Rock band is a group of five musicians with myriad influences between them, fronted by lead vocalist and songwriter Daniel Allen, Richard Forehand (lead guitar/vocals), Paul Bruens (bass), Beau Cooper (keys/vocals), and Bryan Harris (drums).
Almost all intros and trailers in our YouTube videos feature their music, the most prominent hits being "The Hammer", "We'd Escape" (entire video), and "Long Haired Country Boy", or "Cruise On" and "Hard Road Home" in the most recent of our videos.
We are continually seeking partners who embody the principles of integrity, quality, and authenticity. Our relationships are based on genuine values, mutual respect, the belief in win-win opportunities, the passion for overlanding... not just about money.
Want to join us? Please contact us through the email marcel@OverlandVagabond.com, we would be delighted to get in touch and support you.
We trust and believe in genuine partnership!
About Us
There're some excellent "travel and adventure" sites and resources with awesome content on the net, and you may be rightfully asking yourself: Why another one?
The perspective Overland Vagabond attempts to convey is from a retired couple (Marcel and Chiara) that has chosen - for as long as good health keeps them going - to discover the world! We're total newbies, but full of dreams, visions and ambitions.
Our origins are from the italian speaking southern area of Switzerland, we have been living abroad for most of our lives, though.
We have never done this before, but we want to learn and get better at what we're doing... and during this process hopefully inspire our audience to embrace a similar path.
The team would not be complete without our daughter Leila who joins us for certain legs of our journey, as and when there's a compelling opportunity and her busy schedule permits. Leila is about to complete her studies in the UK, who knows where she will be next?
Our cherished vehicle has meanwhile become the most relevant asset in our journey. It's almost a "member" of our team, without which we would have no story to tell.
Last but not least, our family and friends.
Most of them support us by providing remote assistance and encouragement from home, or by welcoming and helping us whenever our route crosses their whereabouts.
We make lots of friends also while traveling, friendships that last for a lifetime. Some open their homes and welcome us for a cup of tea, a meal, or even to stay for the night. Others are fellow Overlanders, that we meet by chance and decide to travel together for awhile - just awesome.
Overland Vagabond is a true family business: We had a crazy idea, came up with a master plan, built our own vehicle, and planned our depatrure. Now we decide on our routes, shoot our images and clips, edit them into videos, post updates on the media channels, and tell our stories... with a warm heart and a big smile on our face.
That's Overlanding!