{"id":6069,"date":"2012-01-30T18:12:03","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T12:12:03","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-01-30T18:19:34","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T12:19:34","slug":"vw-vagabond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/vw-vagabond\/","title":{"rendered":"VW Vagabond"},"content":{"rendered":"

This couple penny-pinched their salaries for several years, bought a VW Van, and drove it around the world (US, South America and Africa). They share what they have learned on one of the most helpful websites<\/a> I’ve seen for this sort of thing. I really like their sensibility and advice. Very reasonable and very wise. They also “review” the tools and stuff they found vital in their small traveling home on this page<\/a>. Click on a tool to see more. <\/p>\n

They give good advice about shipping vehicles (very complex) and even saving up enough to make the journey. They have a book, too.<\/p>\n

While living in a VW Van for three years, they got the idea that even this lifestyle was too complex so they get simpler for the next stage. They are now bicycling across Asia<\/a>, another adventure and great idea. They are riding recycled 1980 mountain bikes. As usual they have all kinds of great tool reviews<\/a> (water filters and the like).<\/p>\n

Part of the reason their advice and website is so useful is that they have no sponsors<\/a> — a rarity for ambitious trips like this these days. It keeps them honest and useful. Check ’em out.<\/p>\n

Sample excerpts:<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

Rain gear has proven to be pretty
\nmuch useless here in Southeast
\nAsia. To wear even the thinnest,
\nmost breathable layer in this heat
\ncreates a sauna-like effect. We
\nhave taken to simply riding in the
\nrain… it’s refreshing, really! If it
\npours too hard to see, then we
\npull over in a bus stop and wait
\nfor the drizzle to return. <\/p>\n

\"Bangkok<\/p>\n

This is Rich preparing to cycle out of the
\nBangkok railway station at 4 a.m. Notice
\nthe reflective vest and reflective tape stuck
\nall over the bike. Reflective vests are
\navailable from almost any bicycle shop. The
\n3M tape is the stuff used on highway guard
\nrails in the U.S. We purchased strips of it on
\neBay for a few dollars. <\/p>\n

We purchased our down bags at the Veterans
\nThrift Store. They are a few years old and
\nneeded a good washing but are as functional
\n– albeit with less status – than their adventure
\nstore counterparts. Rich paid $10 for his and Amanda’s was only
\n$1.65. We washed them on the delicate
\ncycle then ran them through the dryer on low
\nheat for a few cycles. If you put a running
\nshoe (make sure it’s clean) in the dryer with
\nthe bag it will keep the down from clumping.
\nWe hung them on the line for two sunny days
\nand now they look and smell brand new – or
\nclose enough. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This couple penny-pinched their salaries for several years, bought a VW Van, and drove it around the world (US, South …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"0","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[84,275],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}