Our world tour in Land Rover

Today, we have chosen to introduce you to Agathe and Mathieu, a young couple in their thirties whom we have already been following for several months on social media. They left France 4 months ago to go on a world tour in a Land Rover Defender. Yes, they decided to travel the world for a year aboard their converted vehicle! Their journey around the world has already taken them through Europe and the East, and next will be America. We love them so much that we asked them to become our “ambassadors”. Thanks to them, we feel closer to our local partner agencies. When their itinerary allows, they stop to meet our local experts at the ends of the earth. Currently in Russia, they took the time to answer a few questions so that we could share their incredible adventure with you and, who knows, maybe inspire some of you.

How did you get the idea to travel the world in a Land Rover?

A year ago, we were in South Africa for a few weeks and we came across a 4×4 Land Cruiser equipped for long-distance travel on the roads. Professionally, we were starting to feel the need for a break and potentially go abroad. The project started with the idea that it would be nice to take a trip to reach our new home, and then, little by little, the trip became our new experience. The #WeCanGoAnywhere adventure was born! And who knows, maybe we’ll find a country along the way where we’ll want to stay a bit longer!

Who is Léo?

Léo is our 4×4! We bought him quickly after deciding to travel. He’s a Defender (Land Rover brand) produced in 1998 who already has 272,000 km on the clock and quite a few raids in Morocco under his belt (with his previous owners). He is one of the 2 car models known to be reliable enough for this type of long journey. The most important thing is that his engine has no electronics, which means any mechanic could repair him. Before the big departure, we had to redo the entire interior and equip him (roof tent, fridge, heater, water heater) to make him comfortable and livable for 1 year.

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A post shared by Agathe_et_Mathieu (@wecangoanywhere) on May 10, 2019 at 2:42 PDT

How do you spend the long hours on the road?

Since we love to visit and discover as much as possible in the countries we cross, we end up driving quite a lot of kilometers, which can be more or less quick depending on the road conditions! To pass all this time in the car, we read books to each other, or we listen to podcasts. But above all, we enjoy the amazing views of the landscapes we travel through!

And from time to time, we take advantage of other means of transportation! #slowlife

How did you choose your destinations?

Before thinking about this new type of trip, we had already traveled quite a bit with backpacks and there were countries we had visited, and often loved, but hadn’t been able to fully explore due to lack of time. There were especially Iran and Mongolia in mind, which are huge countries and for which transportation can be problematic when backpacking. Starting from that, we had a general route and we refined the journey depending on whether it was possible to cross certain countries by car or not (for example, for China, it’s extremely complicated and expensive). Then, for the second part of our world tour, in South America, we thought it was a great opportunity to go to Patagonia and above all, it fit perfectly with the seasons to have 1 year in the sun!

What are your best memories so far?

Among our best memories, there is this chance encounter with Bulut, a Turk from the city of Izmir, a big fan and also owner of a Defender. First, he helped us find our car parts, but above all, he invited us to spend the evening at his place with his cousin. We quickly found ourselves tasting the best street food dishes in the city (which we would never have dared to try without him), then he took us to the highest mountains overlooking the city to enjoy the most beautiful view around a campfire.

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A post shared by Agathe_et_Mathieu (@wecangoanywhere) on March 6, 2019 at 2:58 PST

Another moment we remember fondly is our arrival at Lake Song Köl, very remote in Kyrgyzstan. First, we crossed countless herds of wild horses in nature, among which we enjoyed special moments with foals. Then, once the lake was in sight, crossing this green grass steppe, the special feeling of not having a track (let alone a road) to drive on.

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A post shared by Agathe_et_Mathieu (@wecangoanywhere) on May 29, 2019 at 9:47 PDT

This camp was idyllic because it was completely remote. Only about twenty yurts around the lake, but they were invisible to us because the lake was so big.

What do you take away from your meetings with our local agencies?

So far, we have had the opportunity to meet the managers of two of your local agencies in Iran. It was a real plus during our trip. And we really like to combine business with pleasure! We met Alireza (Fantastic Iran Travel) at the very beginning of our month in Iran and his knowledge of the country amazed us. In one hour, we had gone over all the points of interest on the map, the areas that were flooded at the time and the roads that were cut off, and we were able to shape our stay based on this information. We love driving the kilometers!

As a result, we managed to see almost all the UNESCO sites in Iran!

When we met Mehdi (Irandelle Voyage) in Isfahan, his first intention was to offer us small hand-decorated plates. This gesture, so representative of Iranian hospitality (which first manifests itself by inviting you for tea, then inviting you to dinner, then insisting that you stay overnight), touched us deeply.

How can we follow you?

We regularly post our adventures on Instagram: @wecangoanywhere and for those who are more “old school”, on Facebook: WecanGoanywhere