Svenja (32) and Peter (34) Reidelbach were on the road with their camper van for 14 months - from Alaska to Rio de Janeiro.
Now they have settled down again - in the middle of Miesbach.
Miesbach
- You didn't have a special mission. They weren't looking for the meaning of life or for themselves either. And they certainly didn't want to get out forever. Svenja (32) and Peter (34) Reidelbach just wanted to travel. “Our only goal was to have no more destination at some point and finally to be“ fed up ”. They really were when they returned from their 14-month tour from Alaska to Rio de Janeiro just in time for the first corona lockdown. They recently started living in Miesbach. But your camper van is parked ready to drive in front of the front door. Who knows when the hunger for travel will break out again.
When the Reidelbachs tell how they came to Miesbach, they sound like many other newcomers.
The proximity to the mountains and Munich was the decisive factor.
“We also have to earn money,” says Svenja Reidelbach.
That's what the two of them do as employees in the renewable energy sector.
There is one point where they differ from some other new citizens.
You didn't get your camper van because it's hip to try your hand at being an outdoor adventurer.
You have discovered "Vanlife" as a lifestyle and have already cultivated it in many countries around the world.
Quit full-time jobs for the wanderlust
Before they got that far, the Reidelbachs (Svenja originally comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, Peter from Lower Franconia) did as well as many other travel enthusiasts.
They wanted to see as much as possible, but because of their full-time jobs, they had limited time.
On the other hand, they did not want to visit as many sights as possible on the beaten tourist track in two weeks.
So they tried to combine adventure and everyday life.
They shared their experiences in their blog “Work-Travel-Balance” as well as in various lectures and helped like-minded people to plan such trips.
Also interesting: moving from Munich to Schliersee as a world tour by bike
Over time, however, the Reidelbachs realized that they really wanted to get out.
They terminated their rental contract and job, stored their furniture with Svenja Reidelbach's grandfather in Dortmund and set out on the longest journey of their lives.
They did not have a precisely worked out route.
They just wrote down their desired countries on colorful slips of paper and then grouped them on a world map.
“Everything else we decided spontaneously from day to day,” says Svenja Reidelbach.
Blown tires, wild bears and grim border guards
In Alaska, the two bought a VW Bully, then drove off. Once through the USA, a detour to Hawaii (here they were on their bikes) and Samoa in the South Pacific they also indulged themselves. Then it went back to family and friends in Germany. But the couple soon found their wanderlust again. In the Balkans, the Reidelbachs discovered that classic backpacking was too "inflexible" for them. So they flew to Colombia, bought an off-road vehicle there and drove to Rio de Janeiro. What they experienced in the total of 14 months - from blown tires to wild bears and border officials who are just as “not very tame” - the two of them wrote down in their 450-page book “No goal is the goal”. As soon as the corona situation allows,they want to share their fascination with other travel fans in lectures.
They don't yet know where they are going to drive their van next.
“Somewhere through Europe,” says Svenja Reidelbach.
“We'll let everything else come back to us.” But they want to hold on to their new apartment in Miesbach.
"In winter," says Svenja Reidelbach, "it's just too cold in the van."
so called
