When 28 year olds Nick Chazee and Mathilde Vougny packed up their belongings to travel the world three years ago, they chose to do it in an unconventional way — in their Land Rover.
Chazee, who was working at a technology startup, and Vougny at the United Nations, were exposed to frequent work travel. But that did not abate their craving to travel more.
“Anytime we had free time, we would go around and travel like even if it was five hours away from home,” said Vougny.
Their passion for travel made them realize that they wanted to do it full-time.
They thought “wouldn’t it be so cool if we could just keep driving and go to Turkey and then to Central Asia, and then all the way to Singapore… and do the whole world,” said Chazee.
Financing the trip
It took the couple nearly two years to save up the money to realize their dreams. Initially, the trip was completely self-funded, according to Chazee.
It was only after the couple started documenting their travel on social media platforms that they could rely on that income stream to fund their trips.
“This life is the dream. It’s so much fun, and it’s freedom every day,” said Nick Chazee
However, the couple admitted that they had not intended to monetize their social media presence at the start.
“We’re already doing those videos, but it was for friends and family, so there was no pressure,” said Vougny.
They planned to stop their journey when finances ran out, but “the money started coming when we were doing it not for the money… we’re lucky,” Vougny told CNBC Travel.
Their expenses typically cover the diesel and maintenance of the car, Wi-Fi, Netflix and music subscriptions, visa, and shipping containers for the car to be transported, totaling an estimate of $41,000 per year.
The couple saves on utility bills, rent, and avoid hotels, resulting in a lifestyle that is much cheaper than before they started traveling for a living.
Since Chazee and Vougny need to ship their car whenever they fly to another country, the couple tries to save money by booking flights at the last minute.
That ensures they never have to reschedule a flight if their shipping plans are derailed, saving them a lot of money as shipment costs typically account for a large portion of their expenses, at an average of $6,000 a year.
Travelers who book their shipments and flights in advance risk having to rebook their flights with additional costs to accommodate the unpredictable shipping schedule, said Chazee.
“We literally buy the plane ticket the same day that we want to leave, so we pay maybe 10% more than what it cost two months ago, but at the end, we saved so much more.”
If shipment ever delayed their car, they continued traveling by motorbike.
“We don’t take planes usually anywhere, unless… it’s between our car and our motorbike,” said Chazee.
For this couple, the best experiences are found traveling off the main road
Nick and Mathilde
Managing daily routines in their Land Rover
With a 65-liter water tank refilled at fuel stations, a full-sized shower head, a dual-fuel stove system, and a 45-liter fridge, the vehicle was designed to support daily life on the road.
Laundry gets done every two weeks either by public laundry machines or through third-party services.
The “car setup is perfect in many places, except for the heat,” said Chazee. “We use fans for the night when we sleep… but it’s still too hot sometimes and so we’re sweating. It’s hard to sleep.”
On the other hand, when temperatures dropped to -15°C in Alaska, “we were inside in T-shirts and shorts because we [had] a diesel heater… [and] the hot shower,” he said.
45,000 kilometers traveled a year, half a day is spent driving and the other half doing activities
Nick and Mathilde
Bittersweet moments
In their three years of traveling in a Land Rover, the couple have experienced some rough bumps on the road.
One of such instances occurred after a draining process of shipping their Land Rover to Australia — a move that cost around $7,000.
“Five days after we start driving in Australia, the engine breaks down entirely… worst experience possible,” said Vougny.
After 10 minutes, a local stopped to help.
“We eventually spent 21 days at his home, he helped us fix the car… we were cooking for them, [and] they were cooking for us,” she said. “So even that I can’t recall as a bad memory, but it would totally qualify as a bad moment for us.”
Apart from mechanical challenges, being far from family meant that they had to keep their car parked safely abroad while they returned home.
“But again, we’re lucky because of the community we built online. We have people in every country, and they’re always so welcoming,” said Vougny. “Usually they take really good care of our home, because if they follow our journey, they also know our car very well, and so they care about it as much as we do.”
Highlights on the road
The couple has a little tradition — “every time we enter a country, we try to find a local from the country to stick the country flag on our car,” she said.
When they were camping in Bolivia, Vougny recalled an interaction with an old man who was afraid that they came to steal their llamas.
“And that was super nice because you know, we tend to be scared of strangers, [yet] he was scared of us… and eventually we talked,” she said. “For me, those small interactions are… my best memories.”
The car draws its own attention with its French license plate and a left-hand drive steering wheel. “So when we go eat, we usually get a bit of chit chat. You meet people,” she said.
One of the highlights of their trip across 160,000 kilometers, is that more than 300 people globally have invited the couple to their homes. “I save all of their names and their location, so when we get to these countries, we write to them again,” said Chazee.
They thought constant travel would wear them out, but it never did, said Vougny.
Though they are set on ending the trip in two years, there are plans for “a new, bigger vehicle and travel to the continents that we really want to do again, or that we feel like we haven’t seen enough,” he said.
Another possible plan is setting up a home base to welcome other travelers in the future and “give back… what we received on this trip,” said Vougny.
