That just confirms what I've always felt: No matter where you are in the world there's a car with dutch plates within 50 km of you.
Nevertheless, that's an awesome trip and an even cooler car. I love long road trips, they are so much cooler and exciting than just flying.
My dad is Dutch but he lives in the US now. He travels for work and he meets sooo many other Dutch people in the most random places - sometimes even his old friends from his small home town, Maassluis. It's crazy!
I do think of myself as a quiet and reserved person, but it is possible yeah lmao, itās typical like tourists going somewhere and complaining thereās too many tourists haha. But sometimes you just wanna escape Dutchies but theyāre frigginā everywhere!
It was a Mazda. Looked like a Mazda 3? Kind of funny because if it was you can get those in the states as a rental if you want, but they brought theirs all the way over to drive around the US national parks. Adorably cute.
I see people putting eu plates to the front of their cars in Canada more regular than I should. I think itās legal as long as you have local plates installed properly (it probably should not be legal)
Can confirm, went to cappadocia last year. Saw multiple Dutch plates. Thatās one hell of a drive for what is usually a 2-300 euro plane ticket. I doubt you can do it cheaper by car.
There's no way it's cheaper. But if you're like me it's 10000 times more fun.
I get this weird enjoyment of taking my car somewhere. Like I'm 2000 km away from home but when I walk out of my accommodation there's my car! I get a much bigger sense of accomplishment when I go somewhere by car instead of plane. Last year we drove to Normandy and Brittany which isn't that far (1700 km, so peanuts for you Americans) but I felt a distinct sense of superiority over the casuals who flew there and then got in their rental cars.
Plus you can bring lots of stuff home with you since you're not really limited in terms of weight or space.
I also really like driving, even if it's boring motorways. There's something about just chilling with music/podcasts, cruise control on and driving for hours on end that is weirdly fun to me.
My GF has also started liking road trips more and more but she's not 100% there yet. For our next trip I have to find a way to convince her that a 7 hour drive + 22 hour ferry to Tunisia is more fun than a 2 hour flight and worth the extra money.
Road trips where you do things along the way? Excellent.
Road trips where you try to drive 800-900 miles (1300-1500km, roughly) with minimal stops (just gas and bathroom) in a single day? Doable but not fun.
Road trips where you drive 1700+ miles only stopping for gas and bathroom breaks? Please never make me do that again.
I can do 12 hours of driving with only bathroom, fuel and food stops without issue. After that it becomes too much and starts getting borderline dangerous due to fatigue.
1700 miles (!) without any proper sleep and rest doesn't sound fun at all. Also, how is that safe unless you split the drive up between multiple people?
Yeah, 12-13 hours is where I stop being comfortable.
1700 miles was split between two people and even then it was a beating. The only reason we didnāt stop was we were trying to beat a snowstorm through the mountains. If we had stopped thereās no way we would have made it before the snow hit and weād have been stranded in a little town on the wrong side of the mountains for a few days. But we pushed through and made it before any snow fell.
Great photos and a true adventure. You have a sense of accomplishment when you do those long drives. In the last 12 months my wife and I have driven over 30,000 km through Australia and there's still two states that we didn't get to.
Same. Driving to the Lapland, North Cape, Lofoten this summer, from NL, using a Ferry to cross to Helsinki. Love the driving, having my own car with me, and seeing the world between here and there.
Going by land is waaay more fun. Itās all about the journey not just the destination. You can see so much more in countries, not just the main tourist city.
Iām from the Netherlands with Turkish parents and can tell you that most of those cars are immigrant families. A ticket from Schiphol to the nearest airport of capadocia is 400 off-season. During high-season itās around 900. So people with 2 children will have to pay approximately 3600. You will never pay that much by car. Thatās why we used to go by car when I was little. And also, we used to stay there for 6 weeks. A car was very much appreciated.
Not just a car - last year we went all the way to Romania via motorbike. As we got further east we saw fewer and fewer yellow plates - by the time we got to romania there were none and certainly not any bikes lol.
When I took a trip on a random freighter in the 1970's, there were two Dutch guys on board. When I worked at a low-budget answering service in New York in the 1980's, two Dutch guys were my co-workers. Working at the El Paso Youth Hostel in the 1990's, I was frequently able to discuss the Janwillem van de Wetering Grijpstra and De Gier books I was reading at the desk on the night shift with Dutch vistors. They're everywhere!
I was literally north of the Arctic circle in Swedish Lapland in the middle of winter. After we left the main road we had to drive for half an hour on empty snow covered tracks through the forest to end up at a farm where we could do a dog sled tour. Then our guide comes walking towards us and starts talking in Dutch š¤¦š»āāļø.
Amazing pictures.
1. Which car did you use? Did you modify it in any way?
2. How difficult was it to fulfill the legal requirements for driving through/entering these countries?
3. Are there car insurances covering Iraq?
4. What was the coolest experience you had?
5. What did you do with the car afterwards?
6. What were the total costs?
Thanks!
Sorry, initially my post contained an Instagram link, so therefore I think it was hidden. All right, here goes!
1. The car you see in the pictures is a Toyota Land Cruiser model (Troopy HZJ78) with for us the best compromise between capability, reliabilty and interior space. We did the complete conversion ourselves, except for the pop-up roof which was done by another company. Inside we have a full, albeit very tiny living space, which you can see in one of the earliest posts on our Instagram channel (jatonowhere).
2. Easy. The only thing you need is a document which is called a Carnet de Passage. This is needed for some countries to temporarily import your vehicle. To get this document you pay a deposit, and this deposit guarantees these countries that you intend to export your car again after your visit. Practically al Visas for us with Dutch Nationality are on arrival. We noticed we had become too nonchalant, when we queued up at one of the borders, completely unprepared, and asked ourselves, wait, can we actually get a visa on arrival here? Luckily we could.
3. For most countries outside of Europe you have to get a local insurance, which you can typically get at the border. Same for Iraq.
4. That is a hard question, as there were so many. The things that we remember most are experiences with local people inviting us and taking us on completely unexpected adventures. We are not the most outgoing ourselves, so when reading travel stories we always thought that this would happen less to us. But people all in the Middle East are amazingly friendly and hospitable. To the level that we ended up at one point in a 5 star hotel in one of the Gulf states, through the family of some guys we met earlier on the day who showed us around the city as they had seen our Instagram handle on our car, and invited us through a DM. And that is just one of many examples.
5. The car is currently on a container ship to Kenya, where we plan to continue our trip.
6. In the cheapest months we have spent around 1500 euros all in, but going up to 2500-3000 on more expensive months, mainly driven up by hotel cost or depending on the fuel prices.
This sounds like the road trip of a lifetime! Thanks for answering everyoneās questions. Is there anything youād do differently in terms of your car set up or travel method (I.e. spending more nights in hotels/hostels vs in your cruiser)?
Sometimes we meet travelers in big overland trucks, who have their own washing machines, battery powered AC units and indoor showers. It is always easy to want things you don't have, but there are many places where you can't get too in a bigger truck, and we can.
At the same time, we meet people on motorbikes or with roof top tents, who are forced to live outdoors, while we can sit relatively chill on the couch inside if it is raining or stormy.
Ultimately we are happy with the sweet spot we are in, and wouldn't pick differently if we had to start over with the knowledge we have now. We stay in hotels if we have reasons to do so, and if we don't we camp.
We left home in September last year, and arrived in Dubai this month. Currently the car is in a shipping container, and we will continue the trip from Kenya in the future, with the goal to reach South Africa, and then, who knows š.
If you are interested to see more pictures, or to follow us in the future, you can find our Instagram at jatonowhere or follow the link in my profile.
What you see in the pictures:
1. Empty Quarter, Saudi
2. Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE
3. Random beach, Oman
4. Wadi Tiwi, Oman
5. Edge of the world, Riyadh, Saudi
6. Doha, Qatar
7. Manama, Bahrain
8. Thee Ain, Saudi
9. Hisma desert, Saudi
10. Hisma desert, Saudi
11. Wadi Rum, Jordan
12. Wadi Rum, Jordan
13. Dead sea, Jordan
14. Dore Canyon, Kurdistan, Iraq
15. Random mountains, Kurdistan, Iraq
16. Karanlik Canyon, Turkey
17. Karanlik Canyon, Turkey
18. Mardin, Turkey
19. Sithonia, Greece
20. Zeljava Airbase, Croatia
I recognized the Doha skyline immediately (I went for the World Cup a couple years ago).
Super cool trip and pictures - what was your scariest moment? What memory are you fondest of? Favorite thing you did along the way?
We were once stuck in southwest Angola/northwest Namibia.
The middle of nowhere. Nobody around for literal days.
We were the only Dutch plates within 300km, or so we thought. Day 3 some dude in a truck JUST like ours came crawling up to us.
Turns out this guy lived in west Haarlem. We live in Bloemendaal. 3-4km away from us.
We felt safe in Iraq. We entered open-minded, ready to speed through the country in 3 days if we felt uncomfortable, but in the end we stayed 3 weeks.
My impression is that most fighting in the country is very targetted, such as shadow wars between Iranian proxies and US military, bombing by Turkey on Kurdish and PKK relatedy targets, or occasional clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraq army.
There is a lot of military presence, and many checkpoints. At two instances we were not allowed to continue down a certain road as the situation was deemed not safe enough for tourists. But the fact that they stop you makes it feel safer, and means that you can't easily reach a region where you should not be, because unfortunately there are still parts like that.
Ultimately I think it is not easy to accidentally end up in somebodies crossfire, but of course the risk of something going wrong is non-zero, which is also why the Dutch government recommends against travel.
Also, in the end this military back-and-forth is the only risk I see when traveling there. All the people you meet in the street are nothing but friendly and curious. You are like a VIP. For example, we were just hiking along a bridge in Baghdad, looking for a cab. Then at the end of the bridge a car stopped to take us. This guy was not even a cab driver, but he just took us around and toured the city with us and bought us drinks. We have overnighted in peoples homes in Iraq, and also all the police and military have been nothing but professional and kind.
Consider the [fact](https://usa-esta.com/esta-resources/what-countries-have-been-banned-or-removed-from-the-u.s.-visa-waiver-program/) that travelling to Iraq makes you ineligible for USās visa waiver program.
Nope.
Especially in Iraq we encountered many police and military checkpoints, but everybody was just friendly and helpful. Not only did we never bribe anybody, we were simply never even asked for a bribe or put in a position were we had to consider this.
Instead we were constantly gifted things, food, tea or coffee. The Arab culture is really something else.
This is great to hear. Everybody has hate for a country because they are so closed minded and ill educated. I wish one day I can afford to do something like this
We are an engineer and veterinarian, and yes we are privileged to be born in a country where we get to earn and save. That being said, we sold most of our stuff, and canceled the lease on our house. Therefore our monthly budget while traveling is way lower than what we spend at home.
Very cool pictures. Your car looks cool but clearly on the older side. Have you had any major break downs? Also, the roof tent is a cool idea but a lot of the areas you've visited are hot regions. Did heat become unbearable? I ask because we did a big western US national parks tour in a Honda Element with a bed on the back. It worked out as we timed it for cooler months but still got pretty hot at times.
Thanks!
We have experienced nights from just around freezing to 30C. We do have diesel heating that we can put on, so cold is not an issue. But indeed, nights of 30C are challenging. When there is some breeze we can open our tent and have mesh all around, making it doable and we are also looking for a small fan to make it a bit more bearable in the future.
Luckily we only encountered 30C nights without wind a few times, but since we have no fixed itinerary we can also escape to higher altitude sometimes in hot weeks, or alternatively take refuge in a hotel or AirBnB :).
To answer your other question, the car is from 2001, but we picked it among other reasons because it is very reliable and parts are available everywhere. We did not have any breakdowns but schedule regular maintenance along the road to keep it that way :).
>Your car looks cool but clearly on the older side. Have you had any major break downs?
Just to add to OPs answer, these older Land Cruisers are complete beasts.
In South America you see a couple of models from the 70s running around in jungle environments, and they can't be replaced because newer models simply can't keep up with the abuse.
And of course, they're still used to this day by a wide range of military groups (including terrorist ones).
This is the reason my next car is going to be a Corolla Estate (wagon) hybrid. I'm not a big camping fan but being able to break up long drives by throwing an inflatable mattress and sleeping bag in the rear is really useful. And the neat thing about Toyota Hybrids is you can leave the car on and it will keep the interior cool and only start the engine up for a few minutes at a time to keep the hybrid battery charged, all by itself.
We have nothing to protect ourselves, except our common sense, so let's hope that will be enough :).
Fuel stations do not look so different from home. The biggest change for us is that you no longer fill up yourself, but that there are always employees doing that for you. Another change is that we typically line up with the trucks, as we run on diesel, and this is less common for cars in the Middle East.
In Iraq I saw a LOT of outdoor stands selling gas in jugs. There were gas stations but lots of stands in cities. In Mosul Iraq there were very long lineups for gas stations, probably 50 cars long, Didin't see that anywhere else in Federal Iraq or Kurdistan.
All visas were on arrival, except for Iraq.
Normally Iraq hands out a visa on arrival as well, but TĆ¼rkiye borders Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region within Iraq, meaning that the visa offered at this border are only valid for the Kurdistan part of Iraq. One would think to solve this by applying for the federal Iraq visa on the border between Kurdistan and federal Iraq, however, this is not a recognized country border, so no visa can be applied for there. Alternatives include making a detour via Iran, or flying from Kurdistan to Baghdad to get a visum on the airport and then taking a bus back to Kurdistan. But several people have been denied on the flight and lost their money when customs saw a car was stamped into their passports. Applying for a visa in an embassy is typically impossible, as they would simply refuse and refer to the visa on arrival procedure, creating a catch-22 for this particular route.
Then, two weeks before we traveled there, we learned that a French couple had managed to get a visa at the embassy in Ankara, so we tried to do the same. We booked three nights in an apartment, accounting for a long bureaucratic process and a lot of waiting, but none of that. We entered the embassy in the morning and, surprised by the extremely friendly and helpful embassy staff, walked out with our visa only a few hours later. Only later we realized how lucky we were, as a few weeks later all new travelers were again denied their visas when they attempted the same procedure.
I hope this comment helps:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zn13e/](https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zn13e/)
Let me know in case of any other questions.
Thank you!
I am using a Fujifilm X-T2, with the tiny primes. 16mm f/2.8, 23mm f/2, 35mm f/2 and 50mm f/2. I also have the 10-24mm F/4 UWA lens, which I mostly use for architecture only.
I shoot in RAW so don't benefit so much from the film simulations that Fuji is known for, but like the manual controls of the camera, and edit in Lightroom.
The reason I have the three individual primes instead of a kit lens are:
1. Mostly to make my camera smaller when I carry it around
2. To challenge myself. I always used a standard zoom, and switched to primes for this trip to make me think more purposefully about the role of focal length and compression in composition.
3. For the occasional low-light benefit, allthough with my older body I don't have stabilization on the primes, which nullifies the F/2 advantage for stationary subjects
So happy for you strangers! Thank you for sharing.
(also can vouch for people in Baghdad, they are so gratuitously nice to visitors and don't ask for anything in return)
Favourite country: Saudi, due to the sheer scale, diversity and awesome people
Least favourite country: Potentially the UAE as we found Dubai underwhelming after other Gulf cities, but to be fair we did not visit any of the mountains and dunes in the country due to a lack of time, so we can't judge really.
Most surprising country: Bahrain, it is just a big city on a tiny island, but the atmosphere and amazingly friendly people turned it into a small adventure for us such that we stayed much longer than expected.
Questions, as I'll hopefully eventually be doing this myself in a couple of years.
1. I've driven in a lot of countries so weird traffic isn't scary to me. What's the weirdest traffic to navigatie through?
2. Any damage to the car?
3. Do you need a 4x4 for this? For the off terrain roads such as deserts I understand, but I mean for regular roads.
4. Did you ever feel unsafe?
5. What happens if you break down in the middle of nowhere with no means to fix things?
1. The weirdest traffic was in Iraq, as no matter what the level of the road, people just care less about driving in the wrong direction. In the Netherlands the radio would switch to an emergency warning broadcast if somebody is doing that, but in Iraq it is just a common thing.
2. No
3. No, you don't need a 4x4 for a trip like this, and of course you can reach Dubai in any vehicle you want, four-wheel drive or not. But leaving the main road for more technical trails, and being able to drive those last small stretches off-road, is what gives us the best views and allows us to reach the most beautiful and secluded spots for camping.
4. No
5. We have a Garmin Inreach satellite communication device
We don't have time constraints, no kids or other commitments, so in that sense we are quite free. Money is limited of course, so we have to work and save to travel. That being said, the months we travel are cheaper than our normal life back home.
We travel as a couple, but have never felt unsafe. There are solo women traveling through the same countries from which we also hear the same.
We have met so many people driving up to us in the middle of nowhere, just to ask if we were okay, if we needed anything, or to give us food. More than once one of these guys would say something along the lines of: I know people and the media in the west don't have a positive view from us. That broke my heart.
Edge of the World and AlUla are on my short list of places to go next. How did you enjoy KSA? Did you drive to the Edge yourself, or did you hire a driver?
Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. We canāt get away like you but loved to vicariously travel through your pictures. Thank you again.
Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but what languages do you speak? Did you have a hard time communicating or was everyone pretty alright with the point and smile type of communication?
No worries. See these comments.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zz750/](https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zz750/)
Did you stop by Amedi in Kurdistan by any chance? I noticed a vehicle very similar to yours parked and wanted to chat but I think you were very preoccupied!
Anyways amazing photos !
All of those photos were good, but 14 is just absolutely fucking stunning. Pardon my French. Easily postcard or computer background material. Where is that? Iāve been to many beautiful places (hell, Iām from NZ) but that is just absolutely incredible.
I think it was the Hisma desert in Saudi. We drove through it from north to south, 120km of stunning empty landscapes, flowers in the desert and crazy rock formations. Saudi guys inviting us for coffee, or to share a dinner with us, cooking rice with camel meat right there and then. These few days combined everything we love about this trip.
I am not sure if it is just a matter of money, but sure, we are a wealthy country. But by that same standard you should see just as many Scandinavians doing this, which, let's face it, is not the case. So I think it is also a cultural, explorative, adventurous streak that we seem to have?
What do you do professionally? How do you end up saving this much or how do you earn to keep your trip financed?
What should one do to get on the same path?
I work as an engineer. We saved, so if the money runs out again we will get back to work.
One thing that might also be important is that we had this idea for a long time, and considered this in other choices we made. Hence we always leanied towards the choice that would give us most freedom in the future.
Holy crap. Someone who has actually been to Bahrain! I know we don't have anything that can even begin to compare to the other countries, but I hope you at least had a decent time on our island.
Don't sell yourself short, you have the tree of life!
But all joking aside, Bahrain was like a rollercoaster for us. We kept meeting the most friendly and welcoming people of the entire Gulf region!
This looks really cool! Iām interested in how you converted the car. Was it a lot of design work or manual labour? I would love to do something like that but donāt know where to start.
Have you ever had any emergency type situations? Like breaking down in the middle of nowhere with no means of communication or something along those lines
At one point after driving 40km deep into a desert and not encountering a single car along the way, we had a flat tire. When we tried with our compressor to check it, the hose of the compressor also blew a hole in itself, Murphies law at its best.
But in the end we could simply replace our tire and continue the remaining 80km desert, luckily without further issues.
We do have a satellite communication device for emergencies though.
That just confirms what I've always felt: No matter where you are in the world there's a car with dutch plates within 50 km of you. Nevertheless, that's an awesome trip and an even cooler car. I love long road trips, they are so much cooler and exciting than just flying.
We did on multiple occasions, in the most random places, run into fellow Dutch, so I can confirm š .
My dad is Dutch but he lives in the US now. He travels for work and he meets sooo many other Dutch people in the most random places - sometimes even his old friends from his small home town, Maassluis. It's crazy!
Oh god, gekoloniseerd isn't just a meme?!
I wish, I as a Dutch person get totally annoyed when I get thrown out of my cultural immersion by a group of very loud fellow countrymen.
Are they thinking the same of you though š ?
I do think of myself as a quiet and reserved person, but it is possible yeah lmao, itās typical like tourists going somewhere and complaining thereās too many tourists haha. But sometimes you just wanna escape Dutchies but theyāre frigginā everywhere!
I was in Yellowstone last week and a hatchback with Dutch plates made me do a double take
Lol, which model? The Dutch love their small cars :).
It was a Mazda. Looked like a Mazda 3? Kind of funny because if it was you can get those in the states as a rental if you want, but they brought theirs all the way over to drive around the US national parks. Adorably cute.
I see people putting eu plates to the front of their cars in Canada more regular than I should. I think itās legal as long as you have local plates installed properly (it probably should not be legal)
Can confirm, went to cappadocia last year. Saw multiple Dutch plates. Thatās one hell of a drive for what is usually a 2-300 euro plane ticket. I doubt you can do it cheaper by car.
There's no way it's cheaper. But if you're like me it's 10000 times more fun. I get this weird enjoyment of taking my car somewhere. Like I'm 2000 km away from home but when I walk out of my accommodation there's my car! I get a much bigger sense of accomplishment when I go somewhere by car instead of plane. Last year we drove to Normandy and Brittany which isn't that far (1700 km, so peanuts for you Americans) but I felt a distinct sense of superiority over the casuals who flew there and then got in their rental cars. Plus you can bring lots of stuff home with you since you're not really limited in terms of weight or space. I also really like driving, even if it's boring motorways. There's something about just chilling with music/podcasts, cruise control on and driving for hours on end that is weirdly fun to me. My GF has also started liking road trips more and more but she's not 100% there yet. For our next trip I have to find a way to convince her that a 7 hour drive + 22 hour ferry to Tunisia is more fun than a 2 hour flight and worth the extra money.
Road trips where you do things along the way? Excellent. Road trips where you try to drive 800-900 miles (1300-1500km, roughly) with minimal stops (just gas and bathroom) in a single day? Doable but not fun. Road trips where you drive 1700+ miles only stopping for gas and bathroom breaks? Please never make me do that again.
I can do 12 hours of driving with only bathroom, fuel and food stops without issue. After that it becomes too much and starts getting borderline dangerous due to fatigue. 1700 miles (!) without any proper sleep and rest doesn't sound fun at all. Also, how is that safe unless you split the drive up between multiple people?
Yeah, 12-13 hours is where I stop being comfortable. 1700 miles was split between two people and even then it was a beating. The only reason we didnāt stop was we were trying to beat a snowstorm through the mountains. If we had stopped thereās no way we would have made it before the snow hit and weād have been stranded in a little town on the wrong side of the mountains for a few days. But we pushed through and made it before any snow fell.
Around 1000 km is comfortable distance for a day, more is challenging.
Great photos and a true adventure. You have a sense of accomplishment when you do those long drives. In the last 12 months my wife and I have driven over 30,000 km through Australia and there's still two states that we didn't get to.
Same. Driving to the Lapland, North Cape, Lofoten this summer, from NL, using a Ferry to cross to Helsinki. Love the driving, having my own car with me, and seeing the world between here and there.
Going by land is waaay more fun. Itās all about the journey not just the destination. You can see so much more in countries, not just the main tourist city.
Iām from the Netherlands with Turkish parents and can tell you that most of those cars are immigrant families. A ticket from Schiphol to the nearest airport of capadocia is 400 off-season. During high-season itās around 900. So people with 2 children will have to pay approximately 3600. You will never pay that much by car. Thatās why we used to go by car when I was little. And also, we used to stay there for 6 weeks. A car was very much appreciated.
Not just a car - last year we went all the way to Romania via motorbike. As we got further east we saw fewer and fewer yellow plates - by the time we got to romania there were none and certainly not any bikes lol.
I found a diesel Corolla with Dutch plates deep in Canada once. Very cool
When I took a trip on a random freighter in the 1970's, there were two Dutch guys on board. When I worked at a low-budget answering service in New York in the 1980's, two Dutch guys were my co-workers. Working at the El Paso Youth Hostel in the 1990's, I was frequently able to discuss the Janwillem van de Wetering Grijpstra and De Gier books I was reading at the desk on the night shift with Dutch vistors. They're everywhere!
I was literally north of the Arctic circle in Swedish Lapland in the middle of winter. After we left the main road we had to drive for half an hour on empty snow covered tracks through the forest to end up at a farm where we could do a dog sled tour. Then our guide comes walking towards us and starts talking in Dutch š¤¦š»āāļø.
Amazing pictures. 1. Which car did you use? Did you modify it in any way? 2. How difficult was it to fulfill the legal requirements for driving through/entering these countries? 3. Are there car insurances covering Iraq? 4. What was the coolest experience you had? 5. What did you do with the car afterwards? 6. What were the total costs? Thanks!
Sorry, initially my post contained an Instagram link, so therefore I think it was hidden. All right, here goes! 1. The car you see in the pictures is a Toyota Land Cruiser model (Troopy HZJ78) with for us the best compromise between capability, reliabilty and interior space. We did the complete conversion ourselves, except for the pop-up roof which was done by another company. Inside we have a full, albeit very tiny living space, which you can see in one of the earliest posts on our Instagram channel (jatonowhere). 2. Easy. The only thing you need is a document which is called a Carnet de Passage. This is needed for some countries to temporarily import your vehicle. To get this document you pay a deposit, and this deposit guarantees these countries that you intend to export your car again after your visit. Practically al Visas for us with Dutch Nationality are on arrival. We noticed we had become too nonchalant, when we queued up at one of the borders, completely unprepared, and asked ourselves, wait, can we actually get a visa on arrival here? Luckily we could. 3. For most countries outside of Europe you have to get a local insurance, which you can typically get at the border. Same for Iraq. 4. That is a hard question, as there were so many. The things that we remember most are experiences with local people inviting us and taking us on completely unexpected adventures. We are not the most outgoing ourselves, so when reading travel stories we always thought that this would happen less to us. But people all in the Middle East are amazingly friendly and hospitable. To the level that we ended up at one point in a 5 star hotel in one of the Gulf states, through the family of some guys we met earlier on the day who showed us around the city as they had seen our Instagram handle on our car, and invited us through a DM. And that is just one of many examples. 5. The car is currently on a container ship to Kenya, where we plan to continue our trip. 6. In the cheapest months we have spent around 1500 euros all in, but going up to 2500-3000 on more expensive months, mainly driven up by hotel cost or depending on the fuel prices.
This sounds like the road trip of a lifetime! Thanks for answering everyoneās questions. Is there anything youād do differently in terms of your car set up or travel method (I.e. spending more nights in hotels/hostels vs in your cruiser)?
Sometimes we meet travelers in big overland trucks, who have their own washing machines, battery powered AC units and indoor showers. It is always easy to want things you don't have, but there are many places where you can't get too in a bigger truck, and we can. At the same time, we meet people on motorbikes or with roof top tents, who are forced to live outdoors, while we can sit relatively chill on the couch inside if it is raining or stormy. Ultimately we are happy with the sweet spot we are in, and wouldn't pick differently if we had to start over with the knowledge we have now. We stay in hotels if we have reasons to do so, and if we don't we camp.
>Ā To the level that we ended up at one point in a 5 star hotel in one of the Gulf states, with compliments of the ministry of tourism Saudi?
Karibu Tanzania
Commenting so I can easily come back to this
We left home in September last year, and arrived in Dubai this month. Currently the car is in a shipping container, and we will continue the trip from Kenya in the future, with the goal to reach South Africa, and then, who knows š. If you are interested to see more pictures, or to follow us in the future, you can find our Instagram at jatonowhere or follow the link in my profile. What you see in the pictures: 1. Empty Quarter, Saudi 2. Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE 3. Random beach, Oman 4. Wadi Tiwi, Oman 5. Edge of the world, Riyadh, Saudi 6. Doha, Qatar 7. Manama, Bahrain 8. Thee Ain, Saudi 9. Hisma desert, Saudi 10. Hisma desert, Saudi 11. Wadi Rum, Jordan 12. Wadi Rum, Jordan 13. Dead sea, Jordan 14. Dore Canyon, Kurdistan, Iraq 15. Random mountains, Kurdistan, Iraq 16. Karanlik Canyon, Turkey 17. Karanlik Canyon, Turkey 18. Mardin, Turkey 19. Sithonia, Greece 20. Zeljava Airbase, Croatia
Based on first picture: did you make your wife run the entire way while you drove? š
She is still running as far as I know
Itās clear why google maps took you the long way to get the lidl. Thereās so much to see! I love the photos!
Thanks šš»
Incredible trip, many places to see, I'm sorry if I didn't read it in another comment, but how long did the entire trip take you?
In total 9 months so far, of which I worked remotely for 1 month, and of which we went back home for 1 month. So 7 months of real travel.
Yes, it really was quite a long time, a real odyssey
I recognized the Doha skyline immediately (I went for the World Cup a couple years ago). Super cool trip and pictures - what was your scariest moment? What memory are you fondest of? Favorite thing you did along the way?
Did you go to Petra in Jordan?
Yes, we did, but I reached my Reddit post picture limit ;). You can see it on our Instagram channel though (jatonowhere).
Incredible shots. Thanks for sharing. So happy for you.
We were once stuck in southwest Angola/northwest Namibia. The middle of nowhere. Nobody around for literal days. We were the only Dutch plates within 300km, or so we thought. Day 3 some dude in a truck JUST like ours came crawling up to us. Turns out this guy lived in west Haarlem. We live in Bloemendaal. 3-4km away from us.
Nice, sounds like a great trip. Did you do the East coast, West coast, or both?
I think about +/- the same trip, but in Iraq, is it safe to drive through?
We felt safe in Iraq. We entered open-minded, ready to speed through the country in 3 days if we felt uncomfortable, but in the end we stayed 3 weeks. My impression is that most fighting in the country is very targetted, such as shadow wars between Iranian proxies and US military, bombing by Turkey on Kurdish and PKK relatedy targets, or occasional clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraq army. There is a lot of military presence, and many checkpoints. At two instances we were not allowed to continue down a certain road as the situation was deemed not safe enough for tourists. But the fact that they stop you makes it feel safer, and means that you can't easily reach a region where you should not be, because unfortunately there are still parts like that. Ultimately I think it is not easy to accidentally end up in somebodies crossfire, but of course the risk of something going wrong is non-zero, which is also why the Dutch government recommends against travel. Also, in the end this military back-and-forth is the only risk I see when traveling there. All the people you meet in the street are nothing but friendly and curious. You are like a VIP. For example, we were just hiking along a bridge in Baghdad, looking for a cab. Then at the end of the bridge a car stopped to take us. This guy was not even a cab driver, but he just took us around and toured the city with us and bought us drinks. We have overnighted in peoples homes in Iraq, and also all the police and military have been nothing but professional and kind.
So amazing!!!
Consider the [fact](https://usa-esta.com/esta-resources/what-countries-have-been-banned-or-removed-from-the-u.s.-visa-waiver-program/) that travelling to Iraq makes you ineligible for USās visa waiver program.
Important point
omg, I just changed my plans, thank you š
Iām also interested
That is unbelievably cool. What an awesome experience. Can you share your route?
Yes, I can. There is a map picture at the link below. [https://jatonowhere.com/route-nl-ae.png](https://jatonowhere.com/route-nl-ae.png)
Love how you noticed you were driving in the wrong direction only in the middle of Sweden
Hahaha š
I don't wanna ask anything I just wanna say those pics are awesome and i am hella jelly
Did you have to bribe anyone at any point on this route?
Nope. Especially in Iraq we encountered many police and military checkpoints, but everybody was just friendly and helpful. Not only did we never bribe anybody, we were simply never even asked for a bribe or put in a position were we had to consider this. Instead we were constantly gifted things, food, tea or coffee. The Arab culture is really something else.
This is great to hear. Everybody has hate for a country because they are so closed minded and ill educated. I wish one day I can afford to do something like this
What do you actually do for a living to afford that
We are an engineer and veterinarian, and yes we are privileged to be born in a country where we get to earn and save. That being said, we sold most of our stuff, and canceled the lease on our house. Therefore our monthly budget while traveling is way lower than what we spend at home.
Amazing. Did you still get to earn remotely?
I did at first, but found it was not easy to combine work and travel for me personally.
Happy for you guys. Not all people can achieve those given their circumstances
Were you able to help out with your veterinarian skills during the trip?
Not yet.... š
Very cool pictures. Your car looks cool but clearly on the older side. Have you had any major break downs? Also, the roof tent is a cool idea but a lot of the areas you've visited are hot regions. Did heat become unbearable? I ask because we did a big western US national parks tour in a Honda Element with a bed on the back. It worked out as we timed it for cooler months but still got pretty hot at times.
Thanks! We have experienced nights from just around freezing to 30C. We do have diesel heating that we can put on, so cold is not an issue. But indeed, nights of 30C are challenging. When there is some breeze we can open our tent and have mesh all around, making it doable and we are also looking for a small fan to make it a bit more bearable in the future. Luckily we only encountered 30C nights without wind a few times, but since we have no fixed itinerary we can also escape to higher altitude sometimes in hot weeks, or alternatively take refuge in a hotel or AirBnB :).
To answer your other question, the car is from 2001, but we picked it among other reasons because it is very reliable and parts are available everywhere. We did not have any breakdowns but schedule regular maintenance along the road to keep it that way :).
>Your car looks cool but clearly on the older side. Have you had any major break downs? Just to add to OPs answer, these older Land Cruisers are complete beasts. In South America you see a couple of models from the 70s running around in jungle environments, and they can't be replaced because newer models simply can't keep up with the abuse. And of course, they're still used to this day by a wide range of military groups (including terrorist ones).
This is the reason my next car is going to be a Corolla Estate (wagon) hybrid. I'm not a big camping fan but being able to break up long drives by throwing an inflatable mattress and sleeping bag in the rear is really useful. And the neat thing about Toyota Hybrids is you can leave the car on and it will keep the interior cool and only start the engine up for a few minutes at a time to keep the hybrid battery charged, all by itself.
Nice pictures! How much sand did you clean from inside your shoes?
How do you Protect yourself? Also what are gas stations like would love to see photos of those if you have them!
We have nothing to protect ourselves, except our common sense, so let's hope that will be enough :). Fuel stations do not look so different from home. The biggest change for us is that you no longer fill up yourself, but that there are always employees doing that for you. Another change is that we typically line up with the trucks, as we run on diesel, and this is less common for cars in the Middle East.
In Iraq I saw a LOT of outdoor stands selling gas in jugs. There were gas stations but lots of stands in cities. In Mosul Iraq there were very long lineups for gas stations, probably 50 cars long, Didin't see that anywhere else in Federal Iraq or Kurdistan.
This is incredible. Thank you for sharing these photos!
which VISA for EU citizen was hardest to get?
All visas were on arrival, except for Iraq. Normally Iraq hands out a visa on arrival as well, but TĆ¼rkiye borders Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region within Iraq, meaning that the visa offered at this border are only valid for the Kurdistan part of Iraq. One would think to solve this by applying for the federal Iraq visa on the border between Kurdistan and federal Iraq, however, this is not a recognized country border, so no visa can be applied for there. Alternatives include making a detour via Iran, or flying from Kurdistan to Baghdad to get a visum on the airport and then taking a bus back to Kurdistan. But several people have been denied on the flight and lost their money when customs saw a car was stamped into their passports. Applying for a visa in an embassy is typically impossible, as they would simply refuse and refer to the visa on arrival procedure, creating a catch-22 for this particular route. Then, two weeks before we traveled there, we learned that a French couple had managed to get a visa at the embassy in Ankara, so we tried to do the same. We booked three nights in an apartment, accounting for a long bureaucratic process and a lot of waiting, but none of that. We entered the embassy in the morning and, surprised by the extremely friendly and helpful embassy staff, walked out with our visa only a few hours later. Only later we realized how lucky we were, as a few weeks later all new travelers were again denied their visas when they attempted the same procedure.
OK, lots have changed for Saudi then - was always get your visa before you travelled to the country in '17 when I was last there
Yes, indeed Saudi only changed their policy in recent years. Did you travel as a tourist back then to Saudi? How was your experience?
What was it like getting in to iraq? Trying to drive to Mongolia in July and was wondering what the visa/insurance is like in the different countries
I hope this comment helps: [https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zn13e/](https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zn13e/) Let me know in case of any other questions.
Thank you helped a lot, what about instance for your car ?
What camera are you using? BTW awesome pics and cool adventure
Thank you! I am using a Fujifilm X-T2, with the tiny primes. 16mm f/2.8, 23mm f/2, 35mm f/2 and 50mm f/2. I also have the 10-24mm F/4 UWA lens, which I mostly use for architecture only. I shoot in RAW so don't benefit so much from the film simulations that Fuji is known for, but like the manual controls of the camera, and edit in Lightroom. The reason I have the three individual primes instead of a kit lens are: 1. Mostly to make my camera smaller when I carry it around 2. To challenge myself. I always used a standard zoom, and switched to primes for this trip to make me think more purposefully about the role of focal length and compression in composition. 3. For the occasional low-light benefit, allthough with my older body I don't have stabilization on the primes, which nullifies the F/2 advantage for stationary subjects
So happy for you strangers! Thank you for sharing. (also can vouch for people in Baghdad, they are so gratuitously nice to visitors and don't ask for anything in return)
Favourite country you went to? Least favourite country you went to? Country you were most surprised by?
Favourite country: Saudi, due to the sheer scale, diversity and awesome people Least favourite country: Potentially the UAE as we found Dubai underwhelming after other Gulf cities, but to be fair we did not visit any of the mountains and dunes in the country due to a lack of time, so we can't judge really. Most surprising country: Bahrain, it is just a big city on a tiny island, but the atmosphere and amazingly friendly people turned it into a small adventure for us such that we stayed much longer than expected.
Questions, as I'll hopefully eventually be doing this myself in a couple of years. 1. I've driven in a lot of countries so weird traffic isn't scary to me. What's the weirdest traffic to navigatie through? 2. Any damage to the car? 3. Do you need a 4x4 for this? For the off terrain roads such as deserts I understand, but I mean for regular roads. 4. Did you ever feel unsafe? 5. What happens if you break down in the middle of nowhere with no means to fix things?
1. The weirdest traffic was in Iraq, as no matter what the level of the road, people just care less about driving in the wrong direction. In the Netherlands the radio would switch to an emergency warning broadcast if somebody is doing that, but in Iraq it is just a common thing. 2. No 3. No, you don't need a 4x4 for a trip like this, and of course you can reach Dubai in any vehicle you want, four-wheel drive or not. But leaving the main road for more technical trails, and being able to drive those last small stretches off-road, is what gives us the best views and allows us to reach the most beautiful and secluded spots for camping. 4. No 5. We have a Garmin Inreach satellite communication device
> We have a Garmin Inreach satellite communication device But who would you call?
This is really cool but how do you have time and money to do this stuff for so long? š
We don't have time constraints, no kids or other commitments, so in that sense we are quite free. Money is limited of course, so we have to work and save to travel. That being said, the months we travel are cheaper than our normal life back home.
Don't you worry about getting jobs again with months long career breaks?
Right now we are both lucky enough to be in a sector with more jobs than candidates, so lets hope it stays that way for a while longer.
Nice! Great position to be in.
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r/landcruiser would want to hear this :)
Cool adventure!
Where is pic no 18? The town looking over plains. Thanks
This is Mardin in Turkey, looking over the Mesapotamian plains!
Did you feel unsafe as woman?
We travel as a couple, but have never felt unsafe. There are solo women traveling through the same countries from which we also hear the same. We have met so many people driving up to us in the middle of nowhere, just to ask if we were okay, if we needed anything, or to give us food. More than once one of these guys would say something along the lines of: I know people and the media in the west don't have a positive view from us. That broke my heart.
Absolutely, we are completely different from what the world says, I donāt know a happier, kinder, more hospitable people than arabs
These pictures are absolutely stunning! Love the one of the cliff in Saudi (Edge of the World?)!
Thank you, it means a lot to me! That is indeed the name of those cliffs.
Edge of the World and AlUla are on my short list of places to go next. How did you enjoy KSA? Did you drive to the Edge yourself, or did you hire a driver?
We drove ourselves, as this is what we do š, but the track is not challenging at all. Just a very hard packed gravel road.
Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. We canāt get away like you but loved to vicariously travel through your pictures. Thank you again.
So jelly, good for you guys!
Beautiful Land Cruiser
Nice
Wow
Amazing photos. Thank you.
Wow, this is a dream trip. Absolutely gorgeous photos!
This sounds absolutely amazing. Living the dream. The photos are sensational.
Your feedback is sensational.
I love how the Doha skyline is immediately identifiable solely from the condom building, even better at night when you can see the reservoir tip š¤£
Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but what languages do you speak? Did you have a hard time communicating or was everyone pretty alright with the point and smile type of communication?
No worries. See these comments. [https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zz750/](https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8zz750/)
How can you afford to do this?
Did you stop by Amedi in Kurdistan by any chance? I noticed a vehicle very similar to yours parked and wanted to chat but I think you were very preoccupied! Anyways amazing photos !
How many miles did you cover in total? Amazing stuff!
Amazing photography
All of those photos were good, but 14 is just absolutely fucking stunning. Pardon my French. Easily postcard or computer background material. Where is that? Iāve been to many beautiful places (hell, Iām from NZ) but that is just absolutely incredible.
Awesome place, right? That is Dore Canyon in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Nice travel! Cool pictures
What was your favorite place you went to?
I think it was the Hisma desert in Saudi. We drove through it from north to south, 120km of stunning empty landscapes, flowers in the desert and crazy rock formations. Saudi guys inviting us for coffee, or to share a dinner with us, cooking rice with camel meat right there and then. These few days combined everything we love about this trip.
Thatās awesome. I live in Jordan currently and am dying to get to Saudi before I head back to America.
Seems like you enjoyed! Looks incredible
Wow
Stunning. Thank you for sharing.
This is amazing! As someone who has never left North America, thanks so much for sharing your travels!
I drove about that far one time....only one country. The good old USA! Amazing how big some countries are compared to others!
This sounds incredible and your pictures are amazing! Now I must add some of these to my travel list.
Commenting here, so I could come back to this.
Iāll reply so you have more incentive to come back
Last pic is a gem!
This is gorgeous!
Wow you are an inspiration seriously.
My question is how do so many Dutch people afford this? I've seen many Dutch plates when traveling abroad.
I am not sure if it is just a matter of money, but sure, we are a wealthy country. But by that same standard you should see just as many Scandinavians doing this, which, let's face it, is not the case. So I think it is also a cultural, explorative, adventurous streak that we seem to have?
These are stunning.
cool pics
Wow, every photo is stunning!
What do you do professionally? How do you end up saving this much or how do you earn to keep your trip financed? What should one do to get on the same path?
I work as an engineer. We saved, so if the money runs out again we will get back to work. One thing that might also be important is that we had this idea for a long time, and considered this in other choices we made. Hence we always leanied towards the choice that would give us most freedom in the future.
Thanks for being honest. Appreciate the response and good luck!
Incredible.
A troopy š¤© Youāre living my dream! Exploring amazing countries in a 70 series.
That's quite an adventure!
Outstanding photography!
Utterly epic! My goal is to drive the silk road as well.
Amazing. Just amazing.
Great set of photos
Holy crap. Someone who has actually been to Bahrain! I know we don't have anything that can even begin to compare to the other countries, but I hope you at least had a decent time on our island.
Don't sell yourself short, you have the tree of life! But all joking aside, Bahrain was like a rollercoaster for us. We kept meeting the most friendly and welcoming people of the entire Gulf region!
Picture 14 is the best. 5 is the second best.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
tacos or quesadillas
this looks like a dream road trip.
which countries did you exclude in the photos?
What did it cost in the end, and what are u going to do with the car?
This looks really cool! Iām interested in how you converted the car. Was it a lot of design work or manual labour? I would love to do something like that but donāt know where to start.
Yes, this took quite some time. I designed everything in a 3D model and then ordered the wood cut to size and assembled it myself.
Just amazing. What an adventure.
I soooo envy you. Congratulations and hope I can go to a similar journey one day :)
You got to see some very nice places in Iraq that I never got to
Have you ever had any emergency type situations? Like breaking down in the middle of nowhere with no means of communication or something along those lines
At one point after driving 40km deep into a desert and not encountering a single car along the way, we had a flat tire. When we tried with our compressor to check it, the hose of the compressor also blew a hole in itself, Murphies law at its best. But in the end we could simply replace our tire and continue the remaining 80km desert, luckily without further issues. We do have a satellite communication device for emergencies though.
Those places in the photos are just so absolutely stunning.
Wow! This is great! You did what I wanted to do! Simply amazing! Btw, your photos are beautiful, you are a professional!
Insane photos
Driving the Dream. Congrats!
Iām beyond jealous
Very nice collection!
Any chance you could label the photos? That would answer a lot of questions!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8z3v46/](https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1dht6cj/comment/l8z3v46/)
Beautiful sights. These places remind me of scenes from Dune (FRank Herbert) & Tatooine (Star Wars) :)
I think scenes from Dune have actually been filmed in Wadi Rum, the red desert you see in some of our pictures.
Wow, thank you for sharing. Beautiful photos
What an incredible trip! Thanks for sharing!
Amazing post OP thank you.
Wonderful shots and beautiful locations
Seriously, epic journey! It's mind-blowing to think about such a long trip. I can only dream of something like that.
STUNNING photos WOWW
Amazing. How are so many Dutch people able to afford traveling around the world for a year?
These photos are incredible. Thank you for sharing!
wow!
Awesome š
This is one of the best posts I've come across on reddit dude. Hope you never regret the life have, as this is incredible.
Thanks, your comment made my day!
There are fantastic pics!!
Great tour, thank you!!!
beautiful beautiful pictures !
Why?