
I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa - lornemalvo
http://imgur.com/gallery/bSOKf
======
nathan_f77
This looks like a nice experience, but I'm realizing that I don't want to do
anything like this. I thought I did, but I guess not. That includes driving an
RV around America or New Zealand, hiking the Appalachian trail, or any other
kind of journey where you travel from A to B and see a few things along the
way. I do want to visit Africa, but all of this driving and getting stuck
doesn't really appeal to me. I do want to visit places like Ethiopia and South
Africa, but I think I'll take a plane.

I've traveled quite a bit, but I feel like up until this point I've just been
consuming experiences and meeting people. It's nice, but ultimately not very
fulfilling. I would like to experience some real adventure and end up with
some interesting stories, but I'm starting to realize that you can't just be a
spectator, you have to be a part of something bigger. Maybe by trying to solve
a problem, investigating an issue and creating a documentary, or fighting for
something important.

The reason I'm writing all of this is because I also want to quit my job and
go off on some kind of new adventure, but I'm not really sure what I should
do. As Rep. John Lewis says, maybe I need to get into some "good trouble".

~~~
Msurrow
I don't care that this is a late and buried reply and most likely only you
will read it. I even created an account just to reply to you. I did this
because I was you about a year ago and your post is exactly something I could
hear myself say or think. I had a good friend that had lived part of their
life out in the big world and I was talking to her about it, explaining how I
felt, which is just about what you write in your post. It ended up changing my
perspective a bit and I actually finally just did it: I quit my very nice job,
girlfriend quit her nice job, we sold the car and left to travel the world. We
are still travelling, and are going to continue doing so for at least another
couple of month.

Reread your first paragraph, then reread your second paragraph. To paraphrase
them both a bit: "You would like to experience some real adventure, but
getting stuck in the mud doesn't really appeal to you". Hmm?

The only way you will experience something that is really fulfilling to you in
this way, is if you go do something that you are not really all that
comfortable with. Go do it and feel how you are not only a better version of
yourself, because you know that you can now "do this too", but it also changed
your view on the world just a little bit. It broadened you character and your
perspectives a bit and THAT is fulfilling.

It doesn't have to be mud in Africa, but it does have to be one of those
things where some part of it doesn't really appeal to you. The only fulfilling
adventures are the ones that change you, and an experience can't change you if
it is designed to only give you what you already know and like.

You don't have to do that one big thing. You can do a series of smaller things
instead. As long as they challenge you it will be fulfilling overcoming that
challenge.

~~~
nickthemagicman
Westerners version of traveling treats the world like Disneyland.

Rich westerners save a bunch of money then go see the sights then come back
and tell their friends!

These experiences are purchased, the equivalent of visiting China world at
Epcot.

It treats travel, people, culture like an amusement park or even worse a
status symbol...have YOU been to Africa?

The OP wants something more meaningful I think.

~~~
Msurrow
Yes, I have. About two month in South Africa. Amongst other things spending 21
days volunteering and another 16 days-ish driving around the country.

~~~
ambientdark
Congrats, that sounds very exciting and it sounds like you helped people as
well. I'm not sure you need it, but just in case, I would like to validate you
and your decision to go off the beaten track. Ultimately it's important to do
what makes you happy and fulfilled and traveling seems to make you happy and
fulfilled, which is great to hear.

------
grecy
I also quit my Software Engineering job, and I'm driving around Africa right
now!

I decided I didn't want to sit at a desk for 30 years to pay off a mortgage,
so I'm not going to. Dumping my life savings into this likely means I'll never
have a new car, big screen TV or new iPhone, but I'd rather have this
experience than those things.

In 2009 I spent two years driving from Alaska to Argentina too.

The details on the Jeep I built into my house are here:
[http://imgur.com/a/OLK3o](http://imgur.com/a/OLK3o)

I'm filming a YouTube series as I go:

[http://youtube.com/c/theroadchoseme](http://youtube.com/c/theroadchoseme)

And you can follow the adventure in real time across social media:

Facebook:
[https://facebook.com/theroadchoseme](https://facebook.com/theroadchoseme)

Instagram:
[https://www.instagram.com/theroadchoseme](https://www.instagram.com/theroadchoseme)

Twitter: [https://twitter.com/dangrec](https://twitter.com/dangrec)

And my website: [http://theroadchoseme.com](http://theroadchoseme.com)

~~~
pmarreck
Software engineers make pretty decent money, and can work from anywhere. If
you want an affordable mortgage, all you have to do is move out of range of
the big cities. I'm also a software engineer and I am fully aware that we have
a job that has one of the highest satisfaction rates AND pay in the world
right now. I have no sympathy for you lol

But enjoy your time away, the creature comforts will still be there when you
tire of not having them, and anyway, you will appreciate them more. ;)

~~~
beachstartup
uh, who are you trying to convince, him or yourself?

i think he's already made up his mind.

~~~
pmarreck
I wasn't really trying to convince him, I just think making drastic life
decisions based on what sounds in essence to me like "whining" is possibly
less than ideal, he had many other choices available to him if simply paying a
long mortgage was the prime motivating factor. I may also be showing an anti-
millennial bias /sigh

I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-
country bike rides for similar reasons and getting run over and killed, and
that upsets me.

~~~
grecy
> _I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-
> country bike rides for similar reasons and getting run over and killed, and
> that upsets me._

Do you propose they sit at a desk instead, and be scared to actually _live_?

~~~
pmarreck
It's cool to bash on desk jobs but for most it's low-risk high-income work,
and there are surely _plenty_ of guys doing very manual risky jobs who would
be only so happy to trade up to a cushy air conditioned office job for the
same or better pay.

But some folks will figure out what works for them eventually. And admittedly
it's probably not for everyone.

~~~
grecy
> _it 's low-risk high-income work_

Is that the goal of life?

> _And admittedly it 's probably not for everyone._

Of course, that's the point. If someone wants to quit so they can ride a bike
across a country, that's as valid a choice as yours is to keep going to work.
Nobody is wrong, everyone is just making their own choices.

~~~
beachstartup
he's bothered by the fact that his goals may not be the ones he thinks he
wants, hence the projection and self-convincing. when you invest all day every
day in something it hurts to see other people reject it, i guess.

i've sat at a desk my entire career, almost 15 years, and it's starting to get
old. it's starting to make me feel old, and i'm not old, not by a long shot.
it's starting to affect my social life and mental health. 3 months ago i
decided to make a change, and have started to implement it. hopefully will be
done within a year.

i promised myself if it seems like i'm being sucked back in, which happens
when lots of money is involved, i'm going to cut and run on my 35th birthday.
there's no fucking way i'm going to sit at a desk all day (a little is fine)
at the mid-way point of this decade before 40.

------
MrDosu
This is reminds of a story of friends of mine from South Africa. They took the
kids out of school to travel all the way up Africa and into Europ and back
down for a year. They got robbed three times. Two times in France and once in
Spain...

~~~
colmvp
Ha! I've travelled to remote parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and the
only times I ever experienced getting robbed or deeply fearing for my safety
was in Barcelona and Philly.

~~~
sumang
Barcelona really? I am from Barcelona but never thought people are scared to
be in Barcelona. I heard people get robbed in Las Ramblas years back but now
its quite safe. You will never get mugged in Barcelona according to my
experience.

~~~
jnsaff2
Years ago I found a foreign hand in my pocket at metro turnstiles in
Barcelona, elaborate scheme with 3 people, one covering on the back, one on my
right distracting me and one on my left reaching into my pocket.

Something tripped my alarm and I ripped the hand out of my pocket before I
lost anything, that dude was gone in a flash, the other two urged me to go
through the gates as I would lose my ticket.

Then I remembered the recommendation to swear angrily in Russian at them and
came up with a few of those I knew and the other two took a hike very quickly.
Apparently they are very afraid of Russian speaking people.

~~~
M_Grey
No one wants to take the chance that they're pissing off someone connected.

------
ftrflyr
I have spent the past 10 years doing this with Engineers Without Borders and
conducting independent research. My experience is similar to yours but I
didn't buy a vehicle - I used busses and trains.

My research in Africa was around Energy and the many forms it presents itself.
I only encountered a handful of negative experiences:

[1] Getting jailed at the border in Mozambique for refusing to pay a bribe.

[2] Nearly getting kidnapped in Musoma, Tanzania by the biggest Tanzania I
have ever seen in my life. He proceeded to grab my arm and pull be down and
ally proclaiming I was to come with him and play the drums.

[3] In Nairobi during one of the worst storms in the past 25 years.

I just spent that past 11 months backpacking South America. This time, my
research was focused on Drones and Last Mile Distribution.

------
djaychela
In 2007-08 I did a three week trip in a banger (£155 Skoda Felicia), taking in
some of the areas covered here - Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal
and finally The Gambia. Cars were donated to raise money for Gambian causes,
and it was an incredible experience. We got to Senegal just when the route
recce crews came through for the (eventually cancelled) 2008 Dakar Rally -
cancelled because of the murder of french tourists [1], which we were unaware
of as we'd set off before it happened. It was part of the rise of Al Qaeda in
Africa, and indeed I wouldn't do the same trip again today because of the
security problems that are far worse now than they were then. Drove for days
in the Sahara, did 100km along the beach in Mauritania, 4400 miles in total in
a tired old thing that never said die. I can totally believe it about the
roads in places - some of the 'proper' roads we drove on were unbelievably
hard going (and I say that as someone whose hobby was gravel rallying in the
UK) - one was a 100km stretch of washboarded road to the Senegalese border
that put paid to many of the rear dampers in the group due to overheating and
eventual expiry.

Africa is a magical place - I've been fortunate enough to go for a reasonable
period twice - also worked in Tanzania for three weeks in 2004 - but it's
certainly not for the faint hearted; I'd not want to go there without serious
mechanical skills as there isn't the level of support that you get in Europe,
and the fuel supply is hugely variable; indeed some stations have a reputation
for deliberately supplying poor fuel to travellers to allow them to try to buy
the vehicle for a low price (this actually happened - dodgy diesel from a
barrel, and then 5 minutes later the vendor was saying he'd buy the car off
the guys we were with. Needless to say we fixed it). Anyway, the memories will
last a lifetime, and perhaps more importantly the lessons learnt there (such
as how fortunate I am to have been born by chance into a wealth, stable
democracy) have shaped my life ever since.

[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_killing_of_French_tourist...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_killing_of_French_tourists_in_Mauritania)

------
georgeg
I live in Africa and I am pretty envious of this trip. I plan for something
close when my son gets 16 if he agree to that is. It would be wonderful! I
think you will agree with me that what the western world reports of Africa is
largely skewed and not representative of such a diverse continent, culture and
landscape! Kenya is amazingly beautiful!

------
donretag
Perhaps I should do a Ask HN, but are there any fellow geeks that would want
to do the Mongol Rally in 2017/2018? Would love to do it, but none of my
friend are that type of person (or cannot quit their job).

~~~
hexadec0079
Hell yeah, I'm pretty mechanically handy and have been on a few stage rallies
in the area. Let me know if you find the remainder of a team!

------
overcast
I envy this sense of adventure, but a lot of Africa is such a volatile place.
The countries there are consistently in the top 20 most dangerous places to
visit, and placed on do not go lists. Definitely takes a special person to
deal with all of that, on top of all of the obstacles they ran into. Looks
like they could have avoided most of the transportation issues, by investing
in a true land rover type vehicle, instead of a heavy behemoth.

~~~
fitzwatermellow
A much safer alternative would be circumnavigating Australia. By land via
Highway 1 (the world's longest continuous road at 15,000 km). Or by sea in a
luxury super yacht ;)

[https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-
adventure/21421/circumna...](https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-
adventure/21421/circumnavigating-australia-a-beauty-of-a-voyage)

~~~
sickbeard
I dunno man. The wildlife in Australia scares the shit out of me

~~~
oska
There is very little to worry about there. Having your car break down or get
bogged in a remote location is a much greater danger, but one that lots of
tourists ignore.

~~~
enraged_camel
Um, Australia is home to some of the most poisonous snakes and spiders on the
planet. And outside of major cities, they crawl into people's homes and cars
on occasion.

~~~
mb_72
Australian here. What you say is true, but avoid long grass (snakes) when out
walking and check under the toilet seat (spiders) before sitting and you'll be
fine. More importantly, make sure you look up constantly when around gum trees
to avoid sudden and violent drop-bear attacks. The exact number of deaths and
injuries caused by drop-bears is keep secret by the Australian government to
avoid putting off tourists, but could well be more than zero.

~~~
shitgoose
i had to google 'drop-bear'... are spiders under the toilet seat also part of
australian folklore or they are real?

~~~
vacri
Mostly folklore - there's even a song:
[http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/redback-on-the-toilet-seat-
ly...](http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/redback-on-the-toilet-seat-lyrics-famed-
aussie-poem/)

A normal clean toilet is no danger, same as everywhere else in the world, but
if you're going to the loo in one of those ramshackle open-to-the-elements
rustic outhouses, you might want to check the seat.

------
jonstewart
There have been so many of these self-congratulatory I-quit-my-job-to-travel-
the-world posts that the New Yorker published a satirical piece on it:
[http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/why-i-quit-my-
jo...](http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/why-i-quit-my-job-to-
travel-the-world). TFA doesn't even have any geek discussion of build details,
design trade-offs, problems encountered on the road and how they were solved,
etc.

~~~
DanBC
> problems encountered on the road and how they were solved, etc.

The solutions seem to be "someone else fixed it".

>> Our truck weighed over 10 tonnes fully laden, and whilst driving through
some marshland just before we got to Senegal we broke through the hard crust
into boggy clay below.

>> We were very lucky to be just ahead of the Amsterdam Dakar Rally, and they
helped pull us out. It took about 4 hours of digging, and 3 trucks to get us
out - 2 pulling forwards, 1 sideways to make sure we didn't topple over!

[...]

>> We ran out of diesel, and all the crap that had been floating on top
clogged up the entire system.

>> For 3 days we were stuck in the middle of nowhere, unable to fix it
ourselves. We were travelling in convoy with another couple and they were able
to drive to a small village a few hours away where they found someone who knew
a guy in Congo who could help us! So he took our friends to a spot where he
could illegally cross the border and smuggle his mechanic friend across.

[...]

>> Turns out the dry river beds weren't so dry after all, and the weight of
this truck made it sink right through to the mud below.

>> It took 2 days and the help of a nearby village to dig us out.

I'm kind of surprised there isn't a buddy comedy movie about something
similar. (I guess _Into the Wild_ , although very much not a comedy, is
similar.)

~~~
forgotpwtomain
You forget the timeline involved. There is nothing surprising about getting
stuck 3-4 times on dirt roads over the course of 19 months.

~~~
DanBC
Sure. Wouldn't most people dig themselves out?

~~~
forgotpwtomain
Probably you have never experienced a stuck heavy vehicle. It's usually
impossible to get one out without assistance.

Rarely, you may have a winch and can anchor to something which can support the
vehicle's weight, but certainly not 'dig yourself'.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
A winch that can pull the truck seems an essential item to take, but your
general point stands.

Also, perhaps, don't drive a 10 tonne truck?

------
sickbeard
The most dangerous thing in Africa is running into an armed rebel group or
corrupt police/army.

The vast majority of strangers you meet will mostly be sympathetic to your
cause and help you when they can. You'll also be SOL if you are not handy.

~~~
RogtamBar
Not in Congo though.

[http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/50799-Democrat...](http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/50799-Democratic-
Republic-of-Congo-Lubumbashi-to-Kinshasa)

Multiple times, the travellers found spots where locals would make traps for
cars and then ask for money to get the cars unstuck.

The only people who were invariably helpful were priests.

~~~
sickbeard
Not the worst thing in the world. it's part of being handy, you're going to
get asked for money A LOT (if you're white). You're going to be asked for
dates or marriage a lot if you're a white woman.

Frankly a lot of their problems related to getting stuck was not having a 4x4

~~~
RogtamBar
Land Rover is not 4x4?

------
jharohit
wow - the views of the Western Sahara, Namibia, Kenya, Zanzibar & the water
driven mill is simply staggering! I wonder what were his costs overall. That
truck surely looked like a petrol/diesel gargling machine!

~~~
greenmountin
He said [1] upfront costs were ~$100k, though recouped ~$30k by selling the
truck at the end.

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/53eqlt/i_quit_my_job_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/53eqlt/i_quit_my_job_bought_an_army_truck_and_spent_19/)

Reddit thread has NSFW tag for source pictures

~~~
donquichotte
With this type of adventure, you can get your cost down to maybe 5-10k/year if
you travel light (bicycle, motorbike) and camp out a lot. Source: Quit my job
and rode a motorbike from Central Europe to Mongolia. One of the best
decisions I've ever made.

~~~
estefan
What sort of bike did you take? A shitty 600CC that was knackered to start
with, or did you go for a BMW tourer a la Long Way Round?

~~~
donquichotte
KLR 650, it is pretty heavy in the mud but easy to work on. Many adventure
bikers start taking light, modern, powerful fuel injected bikes for long range
trips now, like the WR250 and the KTM 690 Enduro. I saw some guys struggling
hard with GS1200s in sand and mud. If you know you're going to drop the bike a
lot, it's probably worth going for a lighter option.

~~~
estefan
Thanks. It's something I've been thinking about doing :-)

Edit: Can those lighter bikes take panniers? I guess you're not going a long
way with a rucksack?

~~~
donquichotte
Yes they can. I used hard cases, for future trips I will change to soft
luggage though because everything will be ground to dust in hard panniers if
you don't pack tightly and ride hard off-road for days. Walter Colebatch
designed the "Magadan" soft panniers after riding the Baikal-Amur Mainline, I
personally haven't used them yet but will try them for the next trip. If
you're into this kind of stuff, check advrider.com.

~~~
estefan
Sweet, thanks for the tips.

------
prawn
It pains me that so many beautiful sights on our planet are in what is
reasonably dangerous territory or at least perceived as such.

I would love to see all of Africa, but have only been to Morocco, which seemed
very safe at least.

~~~
RogtamBar
Freedom means you're free to succeed or fail on your own merits.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanzelka_and_Zikmund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanzelka_and_Zikmund)
.. these guys travelled the world widely in late 1940's. I've read the African
book, and it's very funny reading these days.

The both despised the colonialist administrations, and the book frequently
mentioned all the injustices done on the native populations. Yet the factual
descriptions of Africa at that time make it look a far safer place.

~~~
prawn
Friends of my parents' travelled in Afghanistan (and probably neighbouring
countries), presumably in the 1970s. And said it was akin to going to Vietnam
now - as in, maybe slightly adventurous by average standards, but nothing
crazy.

------
ep103
I gotta wonder how much this would cost

~~~
aiyodev
I'm guessing about three or four octillion Zimbabwe dollars.

~~~
shiggerino
How much is that in Schrutebucks?

------
donretag
You want crazy? Try going around Africa via public transportation. I would not
recommend it. ;) No matter what kind of bus ticket you get promising a luxury
bus, it will be anything but that.

Try getting a small group together and do like the author did. I loved Africa.

~~~
clydethefrog
I loved reading the story about "the lunatic express", the Nairobi-Mombasa
train.

[https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-lunatic-
express](https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-lunatic-express)

~~~
donretag
I took a train from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Slow and decrepit.
No first class even if you wanted to. However, they sold beer on board at
prices that were cheaper than even a supermarket. We finished their entire
supply. Opted not to take the train in Tanzania. There were no other options
for trains at other times.

------
sinatra
In addition to all the other issues others have raised, I'll worry about the
total gallons of gas I'll be burning in the truck in those 19 months. That'll
be one heck of a carbon footprint!

------
nxzero
Author of the post has posted responses to comments on Reddit:

[https://m.reddit.com/u/skebanga/activity](https://m.reddit.com/u/skebanga/activity)

------
Marthyn
How did you pay for all of this? And are you back working now?

~~~
tspike
I find it very curious that expense is the first thing that comes to mind for
a lot of people when they hear about trips like this. I understand it is
expensive, but so are a lot of things that don't trigger this question. Is it
just because it requires eliminating the safety of a regular income? Replacing
my roof cost as much as a year of traveling, but nobody ever asked me how I
could possibly afford to replace my roof.

~~~
Marthyn
Because replacing a roof is not something i would wanna do, and driving around
africa in a truck is. I believe he can afford it, i just want to know how much
it would cost me to do the same thing.

------
cdubzzz
Straight from Mali to Benin. What about Ouagadougou! ):

------
resmote
I think I'd almost feel safer circumnavigating Russia than Africa in an old
truck.

------
genericacct
You circumnavigated Africa with a truck? I am impressed!

------
tunichtgut
Now thats an amazing truck! Love it!

------
lintiness
goddamn am i boring.

------
barking
Is this the 21st century equivalent of big game hunting?

Driving around africa in a truck for 19 months isn't exactly environmentally
friendly. How many miles to the gallon do those things do?

~~~
gambiting
I've said this before, but I'll say it again - I'm 99% certain that my local
supermarket stocking fresh cherries from Chille every day(I'm in UK) damages
the environment more than someone driving a truck in africa. It almost makes
me angry that someone mentions that this sort of adventure shouldn't be done
because of environmental reasons.

~~~
barking
The odd person driving a truck around africa won't cause environmental damage.
Killing a few elephants won't endanger the species. Are you in favour of
allowing people to shoot elephants?

~~~
comboy
Apart from the fact that sips likely generate more pollution than cars [1],
it's seems very plausible that he would generate more of it being stuck in a
traffic jam while getting to work than he did during these holidays.

He also didn't probably use as much electricity as you do at the moment which
is likely generated mostly in non environmentally friendly way. Ignoring the
fact that many parts of your equipment came on ships from China. From
factories which generate a lot of pollution.

Also, if you want to be perfect better-world-optimizer, it is really hard.
Even if the earth would get ever slightly more polluted by this single car,
the impact of thousands of people reading the story could still be positive.
It makes them think about nature, probably slightly increases their well
being, and so on.

1\.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-1...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-16-ships-
create-pollution-cars-world.html)

