Hey folks, we thought it was about time we checked back in here and did a bit of an update about our overland adventure in our 1976 VW kombi.

Back in 2019, we shipped Ruby from the UK to New York, which the intention of spending 12 month ths exploring the US and Canada. In February 2020, with our visa running low and still loads to see in the US, we popped into Baja for what was supposed to be a mini Mexican adventure. Then the pandemic hit and the land borders to the US closed for foreigners and stayed closed for over a year.

We actually ended up as refugees and were given a special refugee visa by the Mexican government.

We would eventually spend a year and a year travelling in Mexico before deciding to follow our friends down the Pan American highway, because it sounded like a laugh. So without any real preparation, we ended south through Central America, ticking off all the highlights along the way.

Once we reached Panama, we had no choice but to ship around the Darien Gap. We used a company called Overland Embassy run by a guy named Alejandro who had driven his camper up to Baja from Panama before his trip was cancelled by the pandemic.

We shipped to Cartagena and continued to roughly follow the Pan American Highway, veering off whenever something sounded interesting.

It would lead us through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia Chile and then Argentina.

We popped to Uruguay, where we left our camper and both return to the UK for the first time in 5 years. Once we returned we only had one goal, which was to make the final drive to Ushuaia.

We final arrived 1969 days after we first arrived in New York. We definitely won't win any prizes for how quickly we arrived there, but I think travelling slower allows you to experience so much more anyway.

With the end of the world complete, we spent so e time exploring the island of Tierra Del Fuego, which translates to Land of fire. Its kind of ironic because camp fires are banned there. A better name for it anyway would be Land of constant wind!

We then had a region that we had been looking forward to since the moment we decided to drive south... Patagonia

Split between Chile and Argentina, Patagonia is a vast region with looming snow capped mountains, covered in glaciers. The waters form picturesque lakes underneath the peaks.

Glacier rivers carve there way through the mountains and we saw many people plucking giant salmon straight out of the waters!

We would eventually spent almost 4 months there, leaving just as the autumn leaves were starting to fall.

As I type this, we find ourselves in Brazil, camped next to a little reservoir. Our visa is about to run out, so we plan on returning to Argentina one final time to savour to delicious Mendoza malbecs one final time. We will then return to Brazil and explore the northern regions before ticking of the final countries in this continent l, ending in Venezuela.

It's been a truly life changing trip and we hope our travels inspire others to may e one day follow in our tracks. If we can basically do it I planned in a vehicle that turns 50 this year, then there's no reason why anybody can't come down.

We have met Overlanders all shapes and sizes. We once met a solo German Overlanders who was almost 70 and driving in an antique truck. We have met solo female travellers. Families. Overlanders from all parts of the world.

We have also met so many amazing local people who showed us incredible kindness and welcomed us into their lives. Feeding us, providing us with booze and letting us use their washing machine and shower.

We are super excited to see where this trip takes us next and can't wait to see more of South America.

If you are interested you can follow our travels and find way more photos and videos on our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts...

Just search for The Kombi Chronicles.

I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have about our experiences over the last six and a half years.