 | Home > Expedition & Overland > Overland Costs - How much do I need? |
 
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| Pam W Member Since: 25 Oct 2011 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 1169   
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I guess everyone and every couple will have a different optimum trip length. For us 4.5 months was fine, and we could easily have gone on longer, had we had the time and money to do so. We did miss family and friends a bit, but I was nowhere near as homesick as I'd expected. I did have a bit of a wobble about 2 months in, but I was a bit over-tired and sometimes emotions flow to the surface.
As a couple we got on a lot better than we expected! We had no bust-ups, although I have to admit to getting extremely grumpy when we got to Derby, top end of WA... it was 40 degrees and about 95% humidity and everything was too much of an effort and if you lifted an arm you sweated, never mind having to set the camp up! We'd been married for 27 years, and with Dave working from home we are used to spending a lot of time together. I think it also helped that we were able to meet up with off-roading Australian friends (met during the Outback Challenge in 2005 and 2008) in the 3rd and 4th months, which meant we could have 3/4 way conversations instead of just 2 way! Swopping tales and experiences and a bit of reminiscing also helped! The worst bit was actually the 2 weeks before we came home - not because we were homesick but because the realisation hit that we were nearing the end of a probable once in a lifetime experience and it felt like we were just marking time until the inevitable day of taking the 90 back to the shipper and catching our flight home. We had get ourselves closer to Sydney, which meant leaving behind the Outback and the Adventure. At that point we were 'ready' to come home, but I think that would have been the same in the last 2 weeks of a 6 / 7 /12 month trip. The hard bit for us really was the leaving the adventure behind with still so much to see and do, if only......... (Before all this our longest holiday together was just 3 weeks)  Our blog - http://landytravels.com/
Yorkshire Off Road Club - http://www.yorkshireoffroadclub.net |
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13th May 2015 8:49pm |
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| Tompoole Member Since: 05 Jun 2011 Location: Bucks Posts: 822 
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Talk to Jayne @
Lizzybus.com Have fun be happy |
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20th May 2015 8:46am |
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| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8578 
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Those figures sound attractive, BUT prudent buy to let owner works on a 10 month let out of 12.
No allowance for council tax when empty, no mention of property insurance, no mention of letting agent fees, no mention of gas safety certificate, no mention of repairs etc. Dare I mention tax? Best to do proper homework first. Brendan |
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20th May 2015 8:53am |
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| Tompoole Member Since: 05 Jun 2011 Location: Bucks Posts: 822
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Lol Brendan , just ball park figures to give an idea, I did mean to say that £400ish
Would be gross not net . Nothing is cheap esp travelling. Concerning that they live at home and have no savings ..... Think a few months I the road will do them some good.  Have fun be happy |
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20th May 2015 2:06pm |
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| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8578
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 at your last comment Tom 
We have a couple of buy to let and we find people think we are rich because all the rent goes straight into our back pocket (I wish) Also people forget the hard work involved and the mess that certain tenants can leave behind etc. On travelling costs with a vehicle I work on £100/day to include everything from ferries, plane tickets etc and reckon on an average day 100-150 miles covered. Brendan |
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20th May 2015 4:07pm |
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| Guy Member Since: 11 Feb 2013 Location: St Eval, Cornwall Posts: 250
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Mate, I hear where you're coming from.
My advice is to take the middle ground. Buy the Over lander's Handbook and 2 round the world plane tickets. Head east from Heathrow and keep going until you get back round to England! I travelled extensively when I was younger, Africa mostly, with just what I could fit into a MacPac Bergen. Since then I have acquired a career, a wife, 2 sons and a fully kitted Land Rover which has yet to see foreign shores 😕! All of that said, don't wait too long to follow your dreams, because no one knows what might be round the corner. Good luck, and don't dismiss backpacking for a quick travel fix! Guy. DINGO - '99 Discovery 2 V8 with 300Tdi transplant, chawton white. Repatriated from Australia and expedition prepped. **FOR SALE** SHARKY - '06 Discovery 3 HSE Auto, bonatti grey. SOLD. GEORGE - '99 Discovery 1 300Tdi Auto, willow green. Daily driver, travel companion, part of the family! SOLD. PINGU - '96 Defender 110 300Tdi station wagon. SOLD. Dream LR - 130 pop top station wagon camper. |
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29th Sep 2015 10:07pm |
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| R1200GS Member Since: 12 Jul 2015 Location: Hampshire Posts: 265 
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Did London - Cape Town some 20 odd years ago now. In our 30's and before kids came along. Found a cheap house in the backstreets of Slough which we bought and rented, going though an agent to look after the tenants and any problems that happened whilst we were away.
At the same time I was giving an old 110Hardtop a big birthday ( cost about 10k by the time I finished) 3k went on pre departure costs such as carnet & vaccinations. (Tip....give the vehicle a very low cost and don't select Egypt or a high import tax country) and we had 10k spending money. Had a whale of a time, got to CPT 11months later and came home with a pregnant wife (so much for year 2 in the Americas) and 2k of the original 10k left which went towards shipping the Landy home. Tenants had a 1 yr agreement and moved out. We moved back in and lived off the money left from the rental after costs until I got a job 6weeks later. With hindsight, I should not have worried too much. Everything worked out fine. Most important advice, make a plan, save a bit of money, DO IT....😀 |
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30th Sep 2015 5:34pm |
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| shaggydog Member Since: 12 Aug 2012 Location: Kent Posts: 3346 
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Thanks guys
For now I have bigger fish to fry bit its on the back burner bubbling away for now  Running Restoration Thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/post323197.html#323197
Self confessed mileage hunter  |
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30th Sep 2015 7:18pm |
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| Projectblue Member Since: 22 Nov 2011 Location: Devon Posts: 1096
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Shaggydog.
I have had a burning ambition for years. Since I was your age. Then it was a house, then it was marriage. I am now 49 and have a the best truck, the money, the time, but no will to go. But I'm still planning. There will always be bigger fish to fry. But one day you will be grey haired and stuck and something inside you will be screaming in frustration and pain that you never went. Don't let that happen to you.
Make it happen. You have the rest of your life to catch up with the six months you have invested. Think of it this way; In an interview someone asks what you did between Uni and that interview. 'Went round the world' sounds like a long p*ss up of a holiday. DRIVE around the world in a Land Rover is a proper project planned event. That's the difference between a good job and wasting a university education working as a coffee bar manager. New project and it's green: www.projectoverland.info |
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28th Oct 2015 10:56pm |
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| shaggydog Member Since: 12 Aug 2012 Location: Kent Posts: 3346
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Thanks Guys for the continued comments.
5 Months onwards and Girlfriend has finally settled into her job, mine is still plodding along and we have taken the step to buy the Td5 for Miss Shaggydog for now (which was a good job we did as my 200tdi is still coming together) with a view we can always sell a good condition Td5 110 and to save everything that's left for moving into a rental with a date set for after x-mas And most importantly I'm not married and were not pregnant ether which is what everyone else my age is doing so thats a bit of a bonus!
I took a while looking and reading and just trying to prioritise things. Yes I would love to overland but I came to the decision there are other things I want to do first. I have had 3-4 friends and family all go through ether death, cancer, depression or just pure bad luck. Its been quite sobering really so I have had some real time to reflect on what it is I actually want to do with my life and what actually is important. I used to think I wanted to be the whirlwind adventurer who has been everywhere and seen everything but I very quickly started to realise that I'm just not that interested. I realised I can't sit through any nature or world culture things as I get bored and start looking at defenders or trucks or just wander off into the garage to carry on fettling with my 110. I realised I would be more interested in driving around all these places and looking out the window but not really have any interest in actually stopping and talking to people or having a look around. I suppose it makes me sound like a terribly narrow minded and self involved person but I'd rather work it out now than in the middle of Yemen thinking "Christ I want a pint, why does nobody sell Harveys?" I'm happy to be around people but I'm just as happy on my own? If that makes sense....(I fear it doesn't  )
So for now my overland ideas have been limited to holiday in a few weeks time and then knuckle down, take on a second job and start focusing on earning as much as I can to try and get enough scraped together to get a deposit sorted out on a place of my own, house or workshop - probably a flat. Not the answer or solution I was expecting to be at 5 months later on (having expected to have been tying down a proper finance plans and having a rough outline of what I wanted to do instead!) but I suppose it goes to show that people are always changing and what you want changes. When I was 3 I wanted to be a Dog, when I was 12 I wanted to be a steam engine driver, when I started uni I wanted to work in film special effects, now I want to work with trucks, 5 years time? Don't know, perhaps lion tamer or carpet fitter. Life changes, people change, priorities change, just gotta take it as it comes and see what happens....  Click image to enlarge Running Restoration Thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/post323197.html#323197 Self confessed mileage hunter |
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29th Oct 2015 1:02am |
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| YOLO110 Member Since: 14 Feb 2015 Location: Perth Oz and Stansted UK Posts: 1633 
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Spot on! YOLO... You Only Live Once... |
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29th Oct 2015 11:02am |
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| womble Member Since: 27 Jan 2012 Location: south east Posts: 272
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hello shaggydog.i know ,this thread is over a year old and maybe you have already done a trip or perhaps you are on it ! i have just spent the best part of an hour reading all of the responses to your post and thought i would throw my opinion into the pot.
a couple of yrs ago i rang up my insurance company,serviced the 110 ,threw some spares,tools, a cheap fridge and personal possessions in the back and put the rooftent on the rack and made tracks for cappodoccia,Turkey.i ws on my own with no other vehicles and 3 weeks later arrived home after 6000 miles and no vehicle problems.i loved the journey and the destination.i just got insurance for everywhere that i was possibly going to travel through and went. maybe as some others have suggested you should do a shorter trip like this first as a shakedown but whatever you do make sure you have time to enjoy the trip and dont just race to the finish line. good luck and all the best,Womble. |
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13th Mar 2017 10:32pm |
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| shaggydog Member Since: 12 Aug 2012 Location: Kent Posts: 3346
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Thanks Womble
All discussion is valuable and all experiences are different, I opened this thread with a view to getting a wide base of discussion and we certainly had some. A year has passed and Myself and my Girlfriend have had some considerable ups and downs financially, she swapped job and went to a company who employed her for 2 months but paid her for 1 and then it took 3-4 months to find a new job which paid! Subsequently our savings were used for boring things like rent, food etc so we are sort of back at square 1 again. Then my 110 got all its paint damaged and a long and very bitter battle ensued which is now more or less resolved. We are still keen on doing one but for now it looks like it is more likely to be a 2 week drive around rather than a year long adventure but things may change. Currently our biggest goal is to try and get enough together to put down a deposit on a house but life has a habit of getting in the way currently. Running Restoration Thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/post323197.html#323197 Self confessed mileage hunter |
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14th Mar 2017 2:22pm |
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| Hollywood Member Since: 03 May 2017 Location: Essex Posts: 22 
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Well I would say we are at the same point in our lives!!! except I have been with the other half for 10 years and we have a mortgage in Essex. we have recently had a chat about living a little more and hoping to travel (in sections) around the uk and then use it as an excuse for little adventure holidays across Europe. trust me, there is no doubt a career and mortgage will get in the way to a point. I can't just up and leave for weeks at a time so doing it in small chunks. that being said Iv made good money on my house and built a good career allowing me to pay and buy everything I want including the defender.
I'm fully aware married life and kids are just around the corner so I'm determined to make the most of my time now and go on the adventure I should have done in my late teens/early 20s. I'm now 27 and it dawned on me how much time Iv wasted working over time, watching discovery channel or laying in bed hung over. Iv spent my whole life wanting to be a firefighter or RAF welder....... and I am now both and earning a good wage, I'm happy as a Larry with my relationship and like my house, but there is still somthing missing and I think it's that free spirit of being able to just jog on somewhere and leave it all behind for a week or 2. There you have it, my quarterly life chris's |
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22nd May 2017 1:34pm |
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