Vanlife

Many of us overlanders are trying to make their verhicles more capable, to add a winch, frontbar, rear tyre holder, additional fuel tank, rear bar some armor, bigger tyres and so on. I suggests to watch the weight of the vehicle during planning and the whole buildup process. For an capable travelling and offroad vehicle, you should try to keep your vehicle light, to keep the center of gravity as low as possible, to keep the weight between the axles balanced. What we should always keep in mind is the maximum legal payload. If we look at the 3.5ton class, from Land Rover, Land Cruiser and Mercedes G you can mostly add 500-1000kg on weight to your vehicle. On modern cars they often use the basic edition inside of the papers - on the weigh station you see some kilos more than described. At first you should weight your verhicle, add the weight of the travellers to the bill. Now let us look to the stuff what would b...

10-Day Emergency Survival Guide: Solar Power, Essential Gear & Supplies Preparation

When it comes to prepping, it's easy to get lost in extremes — bunker fantasies here, end-of-the-world scenarios there. It's more sensible to stay pragmatic. If you want to be prepared, you should consider the following three scenarios and decide what is truly necessary for each. Adapt your gear as needed so it can be helpful in several or all scenarios. Starting Point Let's assume the supply situation has collapsed: no electricity, no water, no food supplies, gas stations closed. The cause doesn't matter — natural disaster, sabotage, war, or terrorist attack. Public order is severely restricted. After a short time, even mobile internet (4G/LTE) stops working (based on recent experience from the ANTIFA attack in Berlin , September 11, 2025). Let's leave aside uncertainties, like being away from home during the crisis (e.g., on vacation, at work, visiting friends) and unable to reach your base. Goal: Survive ten days until the situation normalizes. Our Action Options...

attention when using drone on a world trip

Traveling with drones is not always unproblematic. Wonderful videos by world travelers are inspiring more and more travelers to take drones with them on their own. What was often a gray area years ago is now often quite well regulated and sanctioned accordingly if necessary. It is wisely to stay under a drone weigh of 0.55ln or 250g, to get more relaxed rules from the EU till US laws. This rule just DJI drones can fullfill with a good video / picture quality currently. These 250g law will give them a nice selling push! In the last few years there have been quite a few incidents where travelers have ended up in prison, and sometimes just possession or import was enough. In 2013 there was a well-documented case of a Trans-Africa on the east route, where two travelers were in jail for a few days, when a DJI drone was discovered in the trunk upon entry. At that time it was still possible to travel from Libya (thanks to Gadaffi) and the land route to Egypt was open: Link 1 and ...

flexible Watertank or bladder for vanlife and overlanding

To be able to easy carry enough water for drinking, washing and showering is important for us travellers who likes to be able to stay off grid some days. Easy to fill, easy to store, easy to use. This is less important if you stay at campgrounds with facilityes each night. A view days ago I did detect some great ideas for water storage in our van, 4x4 or rv vehicle. An australian company did sell them over ebay. Also when the shipping from australia will cost additional cash it it should be considered for us travellers. The water bladder! Those flexible watertanks or bladder are very good for a temporary installation, it need just a minute to install or remove them. I was able to interview some people who use them since severall years. As always there are some pro and cons about such a product compared to an watertank with solid walls like I showed below. A flexible bladder tank will makes less noise, there will not water noise during driving. He is also easyer to install an...

Adapter for cartridges: Replacement Campinggaz R904/R907

Who hasn't experienced it, the next trip is planned - and you start thinking about whether the gas bottle will still be able to cope with this trip. Is the gas bottle half full or already empty? Or whether you should replace it as a precaution. There are many travel blogs where motorhome travellers with Campinggaz gas cylinders such as the R904, R907 or R901 report problems with purchasing or replacing the cylinder. You don't even have to travel far away for this, even in Europe the search can take a long time depending on the country you are travelling to. Or consider whether you really need to carry a spare bottle. Despite my good research skills, I had to search a little longer until I found a remedy. Because what is available in DIY stores almost all over the world? These small gas cartridges with DIN EN 417 connection. The small cartridge gas bottles usually offer a better price/performance ratio. I am not primarily concerned with saving money. ...