Wheel Travel Far

Most people drive the PanAmerican Highway in one long trip of a lifetime, but Monica and Jeff are not most people. They traversed 80,000 miles over three years, stopping in-between to check in at home, work, and rebuild their cars. Overlanding is their lifestyle and they aren't stopping until they've seen the world.  

Who traverses Africa in a Porsche? Who crosses Asia in a corvette? Who decides they must drive from the northern most pub in the world to the southern most pub in the world in a green TVR? Ben Coombs, that’s who. Download today’s episode to hear directly from the guy who completed the longest journey ever made by a sports car.  

Gabs & Sandro diligently saved for a year long trip from the United States to Patagonia in their VW Synchro. 6 months into their trip they realized they still hadn’t even left Mexico and had zero desire to return home to Switzerland. With a dwindling bank account, they decided to leverage their backgrounds and become digital nomads, launching a communication agency from the road. We dive into their tactics, their budget, and also, their life as vegans!

Melanie Cowpland has traveled the world her entire life and wanted to give her daughter, Sofie, a similar childhood.  She thought the dream was lost when Sofie suddenly became very afraid of the world around her and only agreed to leave the house for a weekly pilgrimage to McDonalds. At age 4, she was diagnosed with Autism and the answer became obvious to Mel. Buy a motorbike, attach a sidecar to it, and spend a year traversing Europe & Africa teaching her daughter real-world life skills. Does Mel prove the old saying right, a mom knows best? Listen to find out. 

The sight of an ambulance often induces a sense of anxiety or fear in most people, but Ian is not like most people. He took a $500 ambulance on ebay and turned it into a stunning modern apartment on wheels with details like subway tile back splashes, tiek floors, and a rooftop deck. We dive into his experience designing and building a luxury rig, but also his experience as a single guy on the road. How do you get a girl to come back to an…ambulance?  

Do you ever wonder what goes into creating a picture perfect Instagram account? Taisa & Ernesto share their tactics and secrets behind their visually stunning account, @overlandtheamericas. We also expose what doesn’t make it into the frame and dig into the harsh, less gorgeous realities of non-tourtist destinations.

Isaac London hit the road on his Suzuki motorbike to raise awareness on an issue likely on a lot of people's mind right now, mental illness. He jokes that his Instagram is not the picture-perfect travel journal, it's a reflection of the gritty realities of dealing with depression with a really scenic view. He’s charming, well-spoken, and offers insightful reflections on a disease so many of us just don’t understand.

Your hosts, Megan Bristol and Nick Polinko, had only been dating a few months when they decided to ditch their Silicon Valley jobs, buy a Toyota Landcruiser & Turtleback Trailer, and point their car south for a year and half surf trip along the PanAmerican Highway. This episode is dedicated to answering the most commonly asked questions about their time on the road @thelongcruise.

Sunny Eaton and Karin Balsley are a mid-30's couple from Nashville, Tennessee who decided, almost overnight, to sell everything they owned to travel the world in their 80 series Landcruiser and rooftop tent.  Before they hit the road, Sunny was a rising criminal defense attorney and Karin was a network engineer, but an unexpected health scare jolted life into perspective, forcing them to look at each other and re-evaluate their priorities. They asked themselves questions like - If we had six months to live, how would we want to spend that time?  As a couple and as individuals, what did they really WANT? Once they figured out that freedom, travel, adventure, and spending time together was all they really wanted, the decision was easy. Sell everything and fund a two-year overland journey down the PanAmerican Highway, re-branding themselves as “The Vagabroads".

Matt McDonald (@63mph) hit the road in 2013 in his 86'VW Vanagan he lovingly calls Donnie. He hit the road to jumpstart his photojournalism career and reestablish his connection to the land. His adventure took him to the remote corners of the West, going weeks without cell phone service or another person to talk to. It was in these periods of solitude Matt shaped and informed his philosophies about life. While Matt ultimately decided vanlife wasn't the final answer for him, he evangelizes the perspective it can provide anyone – if done for the right reason. At the end of this episode, we think you'll feel the same way about Matt as we do, he's just a really good guy.

Megan Bristol and Nick Polinko are co-pilots, on and off the air. In June 2017, they ditched their Silicon Valley jobs to spend a year and a half driving and surfing their way south along the PanAmerican highway. Before going on our trip, @thelongcruise, we had an idea of how and why people hit the road - mostly driven by the social media depiction of it.  A year later, we have been blown away by the variety of approaches and the diverse set of people we have seen and met. We want to help demystify "vanlife" & overlanding by sharing the stories and insights from the people actually doing it. You don't have to look like models with a large Instagram following and you don't have to be a hard core 4x4 truck guru either.  Anyone can do it! The people we meet care deeply about nature and are energized by being outdoors. Some are retaliating against a consumer driven culture and trying to reset their life by living with less. Some spent years carefully planning and saving for "a trip of a lifetime". And some are just crazy Australians who show up, buy a car, and live off rice and beans for 6 months while chasing waves. We think all of their stories should be heard.