So how on earth did this come about?
Many years ago our initial retirement plan was to buy a fifth wheeler and spend a couple of years travelling throughout the US and Canada. A few years and several adventures later, we ended up on our third trip to Africa that saw us living in a 4WD and a rooftop tent for 6 months. (You can see our blog from that adventure here.) Neither of us wanted to return to a normal life at home and it was then that we decided that a life of full time travel and adventure was how we wanted to spend our retirement, hopefully by the time we turned 55 so we would be young enough to enjoy it for a number of years.
Not long after we returned home we began researching the possibility of turning our dream into a reality. That of course started a very long list of questions that we needed answers to!
- Did people actually do this?
- They sure do! There are lots of people who do it around Australia, North America, Europe, Africa and South America.
- There are even some, although obviously not in as large numbers, that are just as keen and crazy as us and travel the world.
- How did they do it?
- Most have a vehicle of some type, although there are others who simply backpack.
- They ship their vehicle between continents or across seas when required.
- Some travel with their children, others as a couple and others simply as friends.
- Where did they travel to?
- The majority stick to a single continent which makes things a whole lot easier!
- What type of vehicle did they use?
- This is as varied as there are people!
- Some use bicycles or motorbikes, others vans or 4WDs, converted buses, small trucks, big trucks, old trucks, new trucks and it seems any model and variety is accounted for!
- What type of equipment did they need both in their vehicle and just general gear?
- This is a big area of research to understand what you need for your style of travel and life.
- Think of things like:
- How much solar power do we need?
- What about fresh and waste water? – capacity? how do we fill up from a lake?
- Diesel capacity?
- What climates will we be travelling in and will the vehicle manage them?
- What type of terrain will we be travelling in? Will the vehicle stand up to the use?
- Heating and cooling?
- Do we need gas or not?
- Cabin layout? – fixed bed? separate shower and toilet? kitchen space and appliances? Storage?
- Do we need a generator?
- Communications – wifi, 4G?
- Will we be off grid or plugging in? If staying off grid how long for and how much of everything do we need?
- How did they fund their travels?
- This is also quite varied. Some work on the road, others are retired and have a pension, some have income from properties or social media platforms, others have just saved up!
- How much did it cost to live this way?
- This of course depends on how you live, how you travel, what you eat etc.
- We knew from our 6 months in Africa and previous travels roughly how we would be travelling and what the costs were likely to be.
- Could we afford to do this?
- This was probably the hardest part!
- A budget planner was born, numbers crunched, mulled over, tweaked and finally it looked like it was viable!
After tons of research which included reading blogs and forums, asking questions of those that had done it before or were planning to, speaking to several different manufacturers and equipment suppliers, visiting a manufacturer in QLD and increasing our knowledge, some rough plans and a list of requirements were put together and the saving began! That was about 6 years ago and those plans and ideas have evolved over the time as we continued to research and refine what we needed and what we wanted, finally settling on the design of Matilda around May 2018.
There were some key things that were important to us which would allow us to live and travel the way we desired. These included:
- Access from the living area to the driving cab via a lockable door for security reasons
- 100% self sufficient for full time off grid living
- sufficient power (solar or generator) to run everything including the air conditioner, microwave, induction hob and washing machine
- sufficient fresh water capacity
- ability to fill up from any water source and end up with drinkable water
- Separate shower and toilet spaces
- Fixed bed
- Induction hob and electric oven (to remove the requirement for LPG gas as this can be difficult to refill – we know from firsthand experience in Africa)
- Washing machine
- Large refrigerator and freezer
- Lots of storage
- Ability to carry a motorbike
- Able to handle long term, rough 4WD travel – we enjoy going to remote locations and want to see as much of the world as we can!
- Able to handle extreme temperatures – from the Arctic Circle in winter to the deserts in summer
So that is how our dream evolved to become our truck Matilda, retirement at 54 and 51 and big plans to see as much of this world as we can for as long as we are physically able to. We will be far from wealthy and will need to travel slowly (the best way) however our lives will be rich with experiences and different cultures. We cannot wait for the adventure to begin!