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I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

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Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#251

Post by mb_72 »

shitgoose wrote: post #183
mb_72 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australian here. What you say is true, but avoid long grass (snakes) when out walking and check under the toilet seat (spiders) before sitting and you'll be fine. More importantly, make sure you look up constantly when around gum trees to avoid sudden and violent drop-bear attacks. The exact number of deaths and injuries caused by drop-bears is keep secret by the Australian government to avoid putting off tourists, b…

i had to google 'drop-bear'... are spiders under the toilet seat also part of australian folklore or they are real?

Real, but usually only if you have an 'outside toilet'; I had one of these in a WWII-era home located in a country area of Australia, and there would often be red-back spiders + eggs under the seat. Still, easily checked for and destroyed.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#252

Post by Marthyn »

tspike wrote: post #164
Marthyn wrote: post #113

How did you pay for all of this? And are you back working now?

I find it very curious that expense is the first thing that comes to mind for a lot of people when they hear about trips like this. I understand it is expensive, but so are a lot of things that don't trigger this question. Is it just because it requires eliminating the safety of a regular income? Replacing my roof cost as much as a year of traveling, but nobody ever asked me how I could possibly afford to replace my…

Because replacing a roof is not something i would wanna do, and driving around africa in a truck is. I believe he can afford it, i just want to know how much it would cost me to do the same thing.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#253

Post by prawn »

RogtamBar wrote: post #128
prawn wrote: post #8

It pains me that so many beautiful sights on our planet are in what is reasonably dangerous territory or at least perceived as such. I would love to see all of Africa, but have only been to Morocco, which seemed very safe at least.

Freedom means you're free to succeed or fail on your own merits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanzelka_and_Zikmund .. these guys travelled the world widely in late 1940's. I've read the African book, and it's very funny reading these days. The both despised the colonialist administrations, and the book frequently mentioned all the injustices done on the native populations. Yet the factual descriptions of Africa at t…

Friends of my parents' travelled in Afghanistan (and probably neighbouring countries), presumably in the 1970s. And said it was akin to going to Vietnam now - as in, maybe slightly adventurous by average standards, but nothing crazy.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#254

Post by collyw »

colmvp wrote: post #31
MrDosu wrote: post #18

This is reminds of a story of friends of mine from South Africa. They took the kids out of school to travel all the way up Africa and into Europ and back down for a year. They got robbed three times. Two times in France and once in Spain...

Ha! I've travelled to remote parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and the only times I ever experienced getting robbed or deeply fearing for my safety was in Barcelona and Philly.

Ha! I live in Barcelona. Yes, pickpockets are bad (mainly in the tourist areas), but it is no way a violent city.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#255

Post by grecy »

pmarreck wrote: post #250
beachstartup wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uh, who are you trying to convince, him or yourself? i think he's already made up his mind.

I wasn't really trying to convince him, I just think making drastic life decisions based on what sounds in essence to me like "whining" is possibly less than ideal, he had many other choices available to him if simply paying a long mortgage was the prime motivating factor. I may also be showing an anti-millennial bias /sigh I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-country bike rides for…

> I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-country bike rides for similar reasons and getting run over and killed, and that upsets me.

Do you propose they sit at a desk instead, and be scared to actually live?

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#256

Post by hexadec0079 »

donretag wrote: post #78

Perhaps I should do a Ask HN, but are there any fellow geeks that would want to do the Mongol Rally in 2017/2018? Would love to do it, but none of my friend are that type of person (or cannot quit their job).

Hell yeah, I'm pretty mechanically handy and have been on a few stage rallies in the area. Let me know if you find the remainder of a team!

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#257

Post by pmarreck »

grecy wrote: post #255
pmarreck wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't really trying to convince him, I just think making drastic life decisions based on what sounds in essence to me like "whining" is possibly less than ideal, he had many other choices available to him if simply paying a long mortgage was the prime motivating factor. I may also be showing an anti-millennial bias /sigh I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-country bike rides for…

> I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-country bike rides for similar reasons and getting run over and killed, and that upsets me. Do you propose they sit at a desk instead, and be scared to actually live ?

It's cool to bash on desk jobs but for most it's low-risk high-income work, and there are surely plenty of guys doing very manual risky jobs who would be only so happy to trade up to a cushy air conditioned office job for the same or better pay.

But some folks will figure out what works for them eventually. And admittedly it's probably not for everyone.

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#258

Post by RogtamBar »

sickbeard wrote: post #167
RogtamBar wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in Congo though. http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/50799-Democrat... Multiple times, the travellers found spots where locals would make traps for cars and then ask for money to get the cars unstuck. The only people who were invariably helpful were priests.

Not the worst thing in the world. it's part of being handy, you're going to get asked for money A LOT (if you're white). You're going to be asked for dates or marriage a lot if you're a white woman. Frankly a lot of their problems related to getting stuck was not having a 4x4

Land Rover is not 4x4?

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#259

Post by RogtamBar »

acchow wrote: post #144
RogtamBar wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's puzzling. 70% of French criminals are of Arab origin. Maybe Arabs are better behaved in the Arab world than they are in France? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1135... Maybe it's because the French are really soft on prisoners. That Coulibaly guy was furious they confiscated his playstation. I doubt Morocco or Algeria would have ever allowed him one..

Or maybe the french are racist?

I hope so. Reality is racist, therefore, if you're not a racist you're trying to fool yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2sUW8q7uWI

Re: I quit my job, bought an army truck, and spent 19 months circumnavigating Africa

#260

Post by grecy »

pmarreck wrote: post #257
grecy wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-country bike rides for similar reasons and getting run over and killed, and that upsets me. Do you propose they sit at a desk instead, and be scared to actually live ?

It's cool to bash on desk jobs but for most it's low-risk high-income work, and there are surely plenty of guys doing very manual risky jobs who would be only so happy to trade up to a cushy air conditioned office job for the same or better pay. But some folks will figure out what works for them eventually. And admittedly it's probably not for everyone.

> it's low-risk high-income work

Is that the goal of life?

> And admittedly it's probably not for everyone.

Of course, that's the point. If someone wants to quit so they can ride a bike across a country, that's as valid a choice as yours is to keep going to work. Nobody is wrong, everyone is just making their own choices.

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