Currently my favorite You Tube series. The host, and hostesses, are quite remarkable. This is the gist:
*Young man quits six figure corporate life where he gave presentations to corporate directors...likely in Europe. Saved money and went economy van traveling for years.
*Buys '92 Volkswagen Van with 1.6 liter air cooled engine in Chile. Proceeds to remove the engine ten times over the upcoming years. He overworked the little engine by carrying full loads of passengers and gear up and down the Andes mountains.
*Lives and camps on about $10/day per person including gas. Gas money is much of the reason that he often carries five passengers. Has live in girlfriends much of the time. Has a great little dog named Alaska.
*Spends, I think, seven years traveling from Chile to northern Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. One of those years in spent in the shops of various mechanics that are overhauling the Volkswagen engine. He finally learns to do it himself in spite of no previous mechanical experience.
*The Volkswagen Kombi literally breaks down hundreds of times. There are many times that he almost quits.
*Has a few minor problems with police due to being in questionable places and needing to sleep for about free. Honestly....paying $50 for a basic camp site is pretty outrageous and adds up quickly.
*Enjoys literally thousands of great adventures. Surfing all over South and Central America, Mexico, and California. Fishing is mostly done for food.
*Only hits the west coast of N. America and Canada. We find that mosquitoes get worse as one travels north. That has also been my experience with mosquitoes well into Canada.
*Van catches fire due to lithium solar battery while he is away due to passport 90 day restrictions.
*Watches a guy get shot and killed by Argentinian police after talking to the guy only minutes earlier. Perhaps other countries are not as forthright about publishing police executions?
*Very talented guy. Videos are well done, and numerous, with the help of drones and skillful editing.
I have done my share of adventures. I do not think that I could lead this lifestyle for years at a time.
Has a steady female partner now. They have given the VW Kombi away via lottery and plan to do Europe and Asia next. I would assume that contributions from Patreon supporters will make this possible. I consider it almost a miracle when one can pick up hundreds of thousands of subscribers and enough financial contributers to be able to travel the world by camper or sailboat. This looks like an awesome deal but the truth is that creating the videos is a full time job. Only a few have picked enough contributors to make this possible.
If you have wanted to travel for long periods via a van, you will learn a lot. There are dozens of well made videos on You Tube. Kombi Life just happens to be something I am comfortable watching.
Airstreams are nice trailers and unbelievably expensive. So much for that dream!
As for me, I want to see much of the California Baja next. Perhaps two weeks at a time. That is a doable project for someone who lives in S. Colorado.
I don't know the folks and I am not intentionally promoting their product. Though I have some gratitude for dozens of enjoyable videos. Watching adventures is so much easier than doing them! Climbing adventures are my favorite but hard to find good ones. Meru and Touching the Void are both excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/user/kombilife
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
