ABOUT US

I’m Steve, I’m married to Emma; we bicker a lot whilst travelling. We don't particularly enjoy bickering but do enjoy travelling: especially to un-peopled areas with a high natural-history interest. Over the years, we’ve independently pootled around in - and more than occasionally lived out of - boats, MPVs, campervans and conventional motorcaravans. We’ve also done a fair bit of self-powered touring by means of bicycle-and-tent.

These days, our main mode of travel is our self-built overlanding truck and - to set some context - is prioritised towards seeking out wildlife and landscapes. Our usual routine means:

• we tend to explore as we go, plans are generally flexible and rarely detailed;
• we don’t ordinarily use formal campsites;
• we move on every day;
• when overnighting, we don't 'spill out' beyond the truck's footprint (no BBQ area, no washing lines in trees, no avoidable noise, etc);
• we do our best to minimise our environmental impact.

With the benefit of having travelled in boats and vehicles before, we knew exactly what we wanted the truck to do for us... before I started the build. Accordingly, it's designed and equipped to specifically accommodate our needs.

Countries Visited

Whilst travelling in our own vehicle (as opposed to those we've hired), these are the countries / territories we've visited to date:

Åland Islands, Albania, Austria, Balearic Islands, Belgium, Bosnia - Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faeroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hebrides (Inner), Hebrides (Outer), Hebrides (Southern), Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Northern Isles (Orkney), Northern Isles (Shetland), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Wales

Why a Truck and Why this Site

Sometime in the early 2000s, the quest for a convenient method to enable the independent exploration of difficult-to-reach destinations drew me to the world of truck-based overland campers. Back then, though (unlike now), I discovered that the very few that were available were either too expensive or not very well made, or both: so I built my own. You may have followed that build on the original Trip Truck website; a site that first saw the light of day in 2010, and which fully documented the conversion and development of our truck from ex-army reserve to fully-fledged overlander.

Pleasingly, the original Trip Truck site was well received and it was gratifying to learn that it helped to inspire / inform many new builds. It served me well personally, too, helping to form solid ground for my subsequent Build your own Overland Camper book project. Following the ‘completion’ of the truck build - and post-book publication - I decided that rather than run the risk of the original website quietly fading, the time was right to retire it and instead withdraw to a much simplified (and far less onerous) online presence.

This blogsite is the result. It’s intentionally lightweight and does no more than offer a summary of the truck as it’s found today, a handful of resources, a few links, and - if you’re into such things - some travelogues that document our time on the road.

In spite of the brevity, we hope you find your visit worthwhile.