Truck With A View
Roadtrip to anywhere.
Welcome to our life on (and off) the road!
Retired and with our family spread around the world, we decided to get out of here and hit the road to see a bit more of this amazing planet! Feel free to browse our photos and videos, read our stories and follow us on our travels.
FYI
Although we started the website in September 2020 when we started traveling with our expedition truck Trokkie, we have in the meantime integrated stories from before and after that date when we traveled with our own jeep, our kids vehicles, friends cars or rental cars in Southern Africa and in the other countries and continents where our kids and their families now live.
When you read our blog post of Karoo National Park and Mokala National Park at the beginning of 2022, you would have understood that by then the global Covid 19 travelban had lifted and that we would soon be on our way to Australia and Jamaica to visit kids and grandkids. Life for us has changed dramatically since then. Realising that we had missed out so much of our grandkids growing up during the Covid travel ban, we decided to make the best of the years after Covid to hop between continents to visit.
Much to great annoyance of our kids :), we have taken up the maximum times on our visas and stayed around 3 months per visit. (Our Jamaican kids and grandkids have in the meantime moved to USA, so there we can stay up to 6 months). To create a balance between spending time with the grandkids and not driving our own kids (too much) up the wall, we have invested in a vehicle in both countries.
A minivan (with a view) in USA (Ford Econovan extra length) and a mini-mini van (with a view) in Australia (Renault Kangoo, also extra length). They definitely lack the luxury of Trokkie (in storage and proper home feel), but it hasn't stopped us going on amazing roadtrips in both countries. Cooking and toilet happen outside, but sleeping is totally adequate...even for Stefaans long legs! The grandkids in Australia are a bit young to come along on roadtrips so a small vehicle like the Kangoo is totally suitable. But the now American grandkids are a bit older than the others and have been going on roadtrips with us in Trokkie in South Africa, so we knew we needed a bigger van than the Renault Kangoo.
So... even though our adventures don't necessarily have happened in Trokkie for the past 2 years, we still go on road and off road wherever we can, come winter or summer!
This it how it started:
Truck with a view explains itself. We got ourselves a truck and – starting in Africa – will be exploring the amazing vistas of this continent and then … who knows … as per Stefaan’s favorite expression: “depending where the wind blows us”.
We want to drive to places that leave us awestruck, walk between trees and up mountains and sip a glass of wine in utter silence when the sun goes down on untamed wilderness, endless ocean or desolate desert. We want to discover the grandeur of our natural environment – on wheels and on foot. We are privileged to be able to do this and we want to make the most of it for as long as we can.
We’ll share with you that what we enjoy most: the amazing magnitude and beauty of our planet. Hailing from Belgium but having lived in South Africa for almost 40 years has made us fall in love with the vast plains and endless horizons. We’ll also throw in some practical info and advice. We have learnt so much from other travelers, that we want to pay it forward and, in turn, share what we learn and experience along the way, so that you too can go and enjoy the great outdoors.
This is Trokkie: our BIG home on wheels. Eventually- after unexpected delays due to Covid19- on 1 September 2020 we left the suburbs behind and hit the road. Let’s see where our road trip will take us.
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