Always on the move, always at home. That’s how it works in a campervan, four wheels under your feet and the horizon in view. They do it for that feeling of freedom that rushes through their veins like gasoline through the engine, the people in “Hit the Road” who leave their four walls behind and live in their cars from now on. Forwards, further and longer, away from everyday life and into a life called adventure.
Michael Fuehrer – When the campervan is bigger than the apartment
There was enough room in the dormitory, so why should Michael Fuehrer move into an apartment? The solution: a mobile base. The recently graduated anthropologist buys a yellow school bus, a 2004 Thomas Freightliner Campervan, ten meters long and weighing eight tons. With his father’s help, Fuehrer works until the bus becomes a mobile home. Tiled bathroom, banquet dining table, movable roof terrace and beds for up to six guests: that costs a whole year’s rent. But it was worth it.
Travis Burke
Away with the Toyota Tacoma, here with the Mercedes? Wishful thinking for Travis Burke, with his annual salary of 18,000 dollars to shell out 100,000 dollars for the deluxe vehicle. The Texan grandma takes pity and offers the old Dodge Ram Campervan – no love at first sight. But the adventure photographer flies there and drives the monster home through the Californian desert, then puts every penny he has into the four-wheeler and transforms the staid mobile into a hot ride.
Cali Laffranconi & Connan Schilling
Cupid’s arrow had only just struck Cali and Connan when the two Argentinians set off. Three months in Australia and that by hitchhiking. I liked it, the wanderlust called again, and so it went on. Next stop: Patagonia. The 15 days turned into ten months, the VW bus into a Toyota Hilux.
Karissa Hosek & Linhbergh Nguyen: into the wilderness with the campervan
Cars, nature and photography are Karissa and Linhbergh’s passions – the order varies. The idea: get out of L.A. and into the wilderness. Together they buy a 1999 Mitsubishi Pajero, refurbish it and fit it with a tent on the roof, which serves as their bed as they drive through the Sierra Nevada.
Lilli Gramberg-Danielsen & Lukas Beustera
Geography degree in their pockets, freedom in sight and a Jeep under their rumps: Lilli and Lukas set off for Africa and cover 25,000 kilometers in their 1983 Land Rover Series III. South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia – in between, they treat themselves to a roof tent and awning to escape the 35 to 40 degrees that sometimes prevail inside.
The Bell family – Family Life in a campervan
Sometimes it really does get a bit cramped in the 2003 Land Rover Defender 130 Td5: then mom, dad and the two children snuggle up even closer together. The reward for the cramped home: adventure, because the Bell family has no fixed home, but first travels briskly from South Africa to the north, then crosses over to South America and finally to Europe. The four bikes have 200,000 kilometers behind them and Luisa, Graeme, Keenan and Jessica have even more of the world ahead of them.
Cécile Bertrand & Simon Doreau-Deléris
The dream of becoming a chef was shattered in the French ski-ski kitchens: Cécile and Simon wanted everything to be simpler – circumstances, food, life. In a 1997 VW T4 bus, they set off into the wide world, to Spain, Portugal and Great Britain, where they learned what it means to treat living space and food with respect.
Rob Heran & Sebastian Doerk
The nuns at the orphanage gave Rob a taste for it: they took the kids on vacation to Italy in two white T3s. Rob’s first T3 cost 900 euros, followed by a 1990 T3 Syncro, which he drove for so long that it literally fell apart. After its complete overhaul, Rob’s wife and children also joined him – and in September 2017 his friend Sebastian, with whom he rode for ten days through Switzerland down to Italy and through Piedmont to France.
Hit The Road
Whether in a VW bus or a Porsche: “Hit the Road” collects the stories behind the vehicles that are now home to new nomads. Whether they are newly in love from Spain to Scotland, across the globe with their children or 20,000 kilometers from England to Cape Town – as different as the routes may be and as different as the travelers’ stories may sound, they are all looking for a way to satisfy their wanderlust while traveling on four wheels. There’s also all sorts of fun, interesting facts and important information for your own journey.
design, “Hit the Road”, 272 pages, approx. 35.-
Fancy a wanderlust booster? Here you’ll find the best films to prepare you for your next road trip or journey.
Teaser photo & photos: from “Hit the Road”, design
