Just another world trip – by Astrid and Sven

„I think we found your home. Looking forward to see you (you can’t miss us :)),” sms from Astrid found me while I was working in my garden, some 3 km away from home. Yes. There is no chance to miss the Astrid and Sven’s truck. They have put a usual living caravan in a usual truck and now their transport vehicle looks absolutely unusual. It looks huge.

Astrid (34) used to be a lawyer and Sven (37) has background in finance. Last October the German couple quit their jobs and went to Thailand – now both are diving instructors. „Finally we started to do something that matters”, says Astrid, partly joking. It took almost a year to plan their world trip – arrange documents, sell things, buy and rebuild a truck.

Now Germans are on @JustAnotherWorldTrip. Start of their journey was in Munich, Germany and after Latvia they plan to go east – crossing Russia and entering Asia. There are pros and cons traveling with such an exotic transport. You are very independent and you don’t have to look for a place to sleep – a tiny feeling of home is always with you. Which means you can have more things travelers usually can’t place in their backpacks. But – you have to deal with some diesel costs (around 20 liters per 100 km), you have to have some understanding about mechanical processes – the car requires some technical attention once per week. And the main issue is taxes – some countries have very strict rules how much money you should pay or deposit entering the country – it can be even 1/3 of the total car value. And – You should study maps (ok, apps) really carefully to follow which roads, tunnels and bridges are appropriate for the height and weight of the big friend.

It looks ruff and impressive from outside and it’s very cozy inside. When heater is turned on it takes only a few minutes to get warm. We sit in a transformable bed with Sven and Astrid is making coffee for us – my house is out of power today. „So, now you are surfing in our home a bit,” Astrid laughs. She even has made a small garden with some greens and flowers inside. Half of the interior is original but half is self-made by Sven. All belongings are packed in boxes but boxes are fixed with elastic ropes. So far, so good. Despite of bumpy roads everything has survived – even the big mirror on the wall.

Astrid and Sven are someone very easy to host. All the banal couchsurfing phases: „easy going, open minded, funny” – are about them. No matter what we have done so far – planting vegetables, drinking vodka, talking for hours, visiting some nature trails and underground premises – it has been a good time. So – let’s go to explore Liepaja and surroundings now!