Hourless Life: Documenting Our Global Overland Adventure

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Did the same hike in 2008, Guatemala is my favorite country we've traveled to. Our tour guide spoke no English and carried a sawed off shotgun for protection (ideally for us but who knows) nonetheless, amazing experience and definitely something you can't do here in the states
Sounds like you had quite the experience! Did you ever make it to El Salvador? ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
EL SALVADOR!

This was the first country that even other overlanders suggested we go around and avoid, or if we were going to go through the country, that we basically just drive through and not stop. They said it was too risky and dangerous.

Here are our thoughts on the matter and what we decided to do.


Happy to field questions. ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
HONDURAS has been our most challenging border crossing to date. I did my best in this video to capture the border crossing from El Salvador to Honduras and give you a first person perspective of the process.

For what it is worth, every overland traveler we have spoken to that has gone further south says our next crossing, Nicaragua is by far the hardest border to cross in all of Latin America. That is our next border crossing so I can't comment on it yet. I don't plan to film that crossing, but I will share my thoughts on it once we've crossed it.

For now, please enjoy this video. Keeping in mind that it is hard to get footage at the borders, the officials don't normally like you filming. I did my best and hope you enjoy it. Feel free to ask questions, I'm happy to field them. ~ Eric

 

soulsurferone

New member
Not knowing where you will sleep the night is a great part of the adventure! I follow you all on IG @therealmrmichael (formerly @snr.miguel). I started watching this video last night through IG and what a great surprise to come to EP and be able to finish it here (while I sit in my office at work! LoL) It's awesome watching you all's adventure. I am surprised the border officials are cool with you filming. Was not expecting that but this is good information. Aside from time spent, that border crossing did not look difficult. Looking forward to seeing the Nicaraguan crossing!
-Michael
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Not knowing where you will sleep the night is a great part of the adventure! I follow you all on IG @therealmrmichael (formerly @snr.miguel). I started watching this video last night through IG and what a great surprise to come to EP and be able to finish it here (while I sit in my office at work! LoL) It's awesome watching you all's adventure. I am surprised the border officials are cool with you filming. Was not expecting that but this is good information. Aside from time spent, that border crossing did not look difficult. Looking forward to seeing the Nicaraguan crossing!
-Michael
Thanks for following along. Community is really important to us. Actually it is the hardest part about this journey not having consistency in community. As far as filming at the border, they don't really like it and often will shut it down if they see it. I did my best to capture what I could get away with. Nicaragua is said to be the hardest border in all of Latin America and I don't plan to try and film. Having said that, I'll be happy to provide a text update once we've made it through and answer any questions that folks have. We hope to cross into Nicaragua in about 8-10 days from now. ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
We got stuck in Nicaragua. Brittany shoved a camera in my face and this is our story:


Our journey around the world continues...

#hourlesslife #overlanding #Nicaragua
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Happy y'all made it out well!
Just listened to your podcast with the Overland Journal podcast. Maybe we'll run in to each other in South America.
Safe travels!
Thanks for listening to a bit of our story. We hope to be in South America in December of this year. Would love to connect! Where are you now HiPER? ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
The reality of this global overland journey is rarely talked about. Here is some of the hard stuff. Don't get me wrong, this trip is amazing and what we are experiencing is incredible. But there are hardships and challenges too, and this is what I want to share about today...

Ready? Here we go...

1. Rainy season in Central America is no joke. We're just at the beginning of it and we've already narrowly escaped a tornado in Honduras where our awning was destroyed, and we recently had to do a really sticky self-recovery in Nicaragua we weren't sure we were going to get out of.

2. The rain is non-stop sometimes and at times has made me second guess my life choices. But then we'll get a brief break, a small glimmer of sunshine, and everything is right with the world again.

3. Overall the Gladiator has been great and our overlanding kit/setup has done everything we've needed it to. There are a few things that I am underwhelmed with. The mozzie nets on the Alu-Cab Canopy Camper are already showing significant wear. Granted we are full-time overlanders and we use them all every day, multiple times a day. I think for weekenders they would be fine but for full-time they need to be a bit more robust. The velcro/glue combo that holds them sealed to the rig is also starting to fail. As far as the Jeep Gladiator itself, in hindsight, lockers would have been a smart addition for this journey. We were trying to save ounces, and that was the wrong call when it came to lockers. Also I'm underwhelmed in the Gladiator's ability to reverse in 4lo onto MAXTRAX. Good thing to have learned though for future situations. I know, I know. I should be heading forward, but you'd have to be in the situations that I've been in to fully understand the situation. Suffice it to say that recoveries that require reverse with an automatic transmission are not your friend.

4. Sickness is going to happen. When you live in a Jeep with a 5 year old, and it is raining outside all the time, that can be no bueno. Yesterday Caspian threw up 3 times. Twice inside the Canopy Camper. Yuk! Gotta roll with it. Part of the journey, but the stuff that never makes Instagram. (Though the story did make our Patreon where we share a bit more of our intimate moments like this)

5. The swarm of flying insects down here can be relentless. Last night, a low budget movie director could have filmed a really bad b-movie about what we went through. Thousands upon thousands of flying ant looking things with fragile wings swarmed us. They were all over our mozzie nets on the outside. Even though everything was as buttoned up as we could get it, they were still finding a way to get inside the rig. I killed bugs until 11:30 at night, woke up at 2AM and went for round two, then back to sleep at 4:30AM and up at 7:00AM. Not a fun night.

6. I've said this many times, but the lack of consistency in community is by far the HARDEST part of this journey. In our world, the ability to simply call up a friend and go have wings, or share a glass of wine doesn't exist. We are constantly meeting really amazing people, and then saying goodbye. If you are ever thinking of this type of journey, don't underestimate this. For us our Patreon community fills that gap as we are very transparent with them, and they have been incredibly kind and supportive during our most difficult times that we've shared. That's what friends are for right?

So there you have it. Just some random thoughts I thought I'd share to help keep this as real as it gets.

~ Eric
 

Alloy

Well-known member
The reality of this global overland journey is rarely talked about. Here is some of the hard stuff. Don't get me wrong, this trip is amazing and what we are experiencing is incredible. But there are hardships and challenges too, and this is what I want to share about today...

4. Sickness is going to happen. When you live in a Jeep with a 5 year old, and it is raining outside all the time, that can be no bueno. Yesterday Caspian threw up 3 times. Twice inside the Canopy Camper. Yuk! Gotta roll with it. Part of the journey, but the stuff that never makes Instagram. (Though the story did make our Patreon where we share a bit more of our intimate moments like this)


~ Eric

Stuff you remember forever is your little one projectile vomiting on the back of your head as you're driving.
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Today was humbling.

I was blessed to be an extremely small part of a humanitarian effort for 25 families who have lost everything due to flooding.

To be clear I had nothing to do with this. I stumbled upon this as friends of ours who are overlanders had taken it upon themselves to simply do the right thing for the local community. I just happened to be coming into the area where my friends were that had spearheaded a selfless effort.

So beautiful.

They didn’t do it for the recognition or the fanfare. So I won’t mention them by name. They know who they are and what they’ve done. They didn’t seek donations. They just stepped up.

Seriously beautiful humans.
❤️
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
A flood washed away everything they owned. This is the latest in our journey around the world.


Caution: Your heart will likely be moved by this.

#hourlesslife #overlanding #nicaragua
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
We finally have internet. First world problems right?

But...

Bucket List Item ✅

The Cloud Forest of Costa Rica. Join us on a day in the life overlanding around the world as we take you with us into the Monteverde area of Costa Rica. This is one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet.


#overlanding #costarica #hourlesslife
 

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