Gunther Holtorf and his travels

Moriturii said:
Like I said, everything you need (except for a five star hotel treatment, your daily cappuccino, and foot massage) you can get a long the way, unless you are a proper unsociable looney who always walk around with an upside-down smile. ....
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maybe this sounds negative/pessimistic, but it does not matter how much you smile, that wont carry far enough. it takes money and some connections to society you come from to keep caravan going. insurances, licenses, passports, credit cards and bank connections wont take care themselves. everything has to be renewed these days, even if you are in middle of Sahara. try renew your credit card after 1-2 years without residence anywhere? its NOT just petrol and parts for your car. but of course nobody stops you from going...
 
jarski said:
maybe this sounds negative/pessimistic, but it does not matter how much you smile, that wont carry far enough. it takes money and some connections to society you come from to keep caravan going. insurances, licenses, passports, credit cards and bank connections wont take care themselves. everything has to be renewed these days, even if you are in middle of Sahara. try renew your credit card after 1-2 years without residence anywhere? its NOT just petrol and parts for your car. but of course nobody stops you from going...
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Well, you could, of course, choose NOT to renew your card and go cash all the way. I am quite skeptical that globetrotters choose to carry cards with them.
 
horosu said:
Well, you could, of course, choose NOT to renew your card and go cash all the way. I am quite skeptical that globetrotters choose to carry cards with them.
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am not saying its impossible, or someone might actually do it. but carry your savings around and everywhere is ehm.. not very safe.
 
His G-Wagen reminds me of an Austrian family* we spotted near Edinburgh once - they had the largest off-road vehicle I've ever seen, the bottom of the doors wasn't far off eye level it was so big. I reckon you could get enough stuff in there to have crossed continents in it without stopping, and they certainly had room for more than two cameras.

Adrian

*names, blood groups and flags on the doors.
 
Moriturii said:
Quoted for absolute truth.

What might be even sadder that a lot of people typing away at their keyboards right now looking at this thread and this man thinks that they need tends of thousands of dollar saved up to do this.

But in reality, everything you'll need (food, bits and peices for the car, gas) is things you can get a long the way.

If only we had the bollocks.

I'll be going soon :angel:
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Speaking of bollocks...

How much time have you spent on the road? Even in India you need a minimum of something like $50 a day for fuel, food, accommodation, incidentals. That's before anything goes wrong with the car, or you've paid for insurance, visas, ferries, medical care...

Having driven quite long distances, on a shoestring, in Europe, India and the United States, I am sure that you'd be VERY hard put to survive overall on $100/day, i.e. $36,500 a year, and I suspect that 35,000€ a year, rather over $45,000, is more realistic. Now this is far from an impossible pension, but equally, it's more than many people earn, let alone more than many of us are likely to see as pensions.

Sure, if you stay in one place for a long time, especially somewhere cheap, you can drag this down quite a bit, but it's still going to be far more than most people (including me) can afford. How much do you think you'd need to live on, if you were on the road like this? And how much travelling have you actually done?

For examples of long journeys, I've done 4000 km around South India on an Enfield Bullet; in 2009 a Land Rover tour that took in France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosova, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany and Switzerland (I've forgotten how far, but it was a long way); and last year I went to Estonia and back, 3850 miles/6000+ km, taking in France, Belgium, Germany and Lithuania, on the way there and back. So yes, I spend several months a year travelling (as he does), on my own nickel, and I have a better idea than most of what it costs.

Cheers,

R.
 
Bob Michaels said:
And the only difference between Gunther and us is that he got up off his *ss and did it while we sit at keyboards talking about doing it.
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Well, not sure how many of us sit at our keyboards imagining 23 year road trips 😉

On a more serious note, very, very cool, and second the poster above who said there is not a big enough smiley emoticon.
 
if you're envious of his lifestyle then do something about your own life to make it possible.

i'm guessing almost everyone here has a normal job, normal house, normal family, etc etc and you can't pack up and leave. if you're unsatisfied with that start changing things.

make your own business, or start investing.

a few years of smart investing or creating a profitable business, you won't need to be around the house anymore, you can pay others to take care of your work and go out and enjoy life.

if you're not willing to do that, well then you'll just have to be content with what you've got now.

(i started a business a few years ago and am somewhere around the 1/4 to 1/2 mark of being able to stop working entirely and just go travel whenever/wherever)

i also wanted to throw in my two cents about travel costs, if you're spending 50$ that's way too much. if you cut your expenses and live more frugally it can be done for much, much less. i won't say anything more about the matter except that i've managed to travel hundreds of miles around japan and live for under 10$ a day when i first arrived here. in southeast asia or other less developed countries 10$ a day would go far.
 
paradoxbox said:
. . . i've managed to travel hundreds of miles around japan and live for under 10$ a day when i first arrived here. in southeast asia or other less developed countries 10$ a day would go far.
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With a big, thirsty 4WD?

Staying where? Eating what?

I completely agree about changing your life if you don't like it. But on the other hand I don't want to sleep rough and live exclusively on dhall, chapatis and onions. Nor am I convinced that 'investing' (or indeed starting your own business) is an option for everyone. Yes, I've worked for myself for over 30 years, and I've travelled a lot during that time. But time spent working your arse off, in the hope of early retirement, is time not spent travelling. I've preferred to enjoy life as I go along, rather than planning for an uncertain future.

Cheers,

R..
 
paradoxbox said:
if you're envious of his lifestyle then do something about your own life to make it possible.
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like someone said, most people prefer familiar hell over unfamiliar heaven. edit & clarification: am not meaning peoples life is hell! rather the logic of choosing the familiar over unfamiliar 😛

paradoxbox said:
i also wanted to throw in my two cents about travel costs, if you're spending 50$ that's way too much. if you cut your expenses and live more frugally it can be done for much, much less. i won't say anything more about the matter except that i've managed to travel hundreds of miles around japan and live for under 10$ a day when i first arrived here. in southeast asia or other less developed countries 10$ a day would go far.
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if this was very recently, I must raise a virtual hat to you. cheapest bus tickets between major cities like Tokyo to Osaka starts from 50$. I was in Japan on modest budget, but seeing least something during day (sights, museums etc), two cheap meals, coffee or two and hostel easily brings day cost over 50$.

IMO 10$/day sounds doable to India, and even there one really has to follow each expense carefully.
 
paradoxbox said:
if you're envious of his lifestyle then do something about your own life to make it possible.

i'm guessing almost everyone here has a normal job, normal house, normal family, etc etc and you can't pack up and leave. if you're unsatisfied with that start changing things.

make your own business, or start investing.

a few years of smart investing or creating a profitable business, you won't need to be around the house anymore, you can pay others to take care of your work and go out and enjoy life.

if you're not willing to do that, well then you'll just have to be content with what you've got now.

(i started a business a few years ago and am somewhere around the 1/4 to 1/2 mark of being able to stop working entirely and just go travel whenever/wherever)

i also wanted to throw in my two cents about travel costs, if you're spending 50$ that's way too much. if you cut your expenses and live more frugally it can be done for much, much less. i won't say anything more about the matter except that i've managed to travel hundreds of miles around japan and live for under 10$ a day when i first arrived here. in southeast asia or other less developed countries 10$ a day would go far.
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Smart investing and profitable business all sound good on paper, but in reality, only a very small portion actually succeed over long term.

IMO, $10/day is impossible in Japan today.
Either way, you can be frugal to certain extent, but the whole point of this is for enjoyment.. so I wouldn't want to compromise the basic necessities. $10/day will pay for food at best.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Possibly more fun for the surfers than the surfees.

And unless they start giving hospitality out as well as taking it, there's a word for couch surfers. It's 'parasites'.

Cheers

R.
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Mr. R you are too skeptical. it can be fun and inspiring for surfees too 🙂
 
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