As most of you who follow our travels already know, we found our dream vehicle in the UK while we were touring Ecuador and on our way to the Galapagos for a 3 week adventure over Christmas. We initially bought our previous vehicle “Dusty the Mudslinger” for a 4 year trip through South America and planned on selling it once finishing Latin America and buying a Troop Carrier for the rest of our drive around the world.
It’s now been 6 years and we just so happened to be talking about what we would do once our South American trip was over. While we were discussing how awesome it would be to find our dream vehicle for a reasonable price, Kaden was already busy looking at all of the sites we’d been using to see if any new vehicles had come up. Lo and behold, there it was on Expeditionmeister.com.
It was a 2013 Toyota LandCruiser 78 Troop Carrier, completely built out and just waiting for new owners. It had 35K miles with the original engine and had circled Africa once. We would be the third owners of this vehicle. The previous owners bought the vehicle thinking they would use it for its intended purpose, then Covid happened, the world shut down and nobody was allowed outside. So instead, they opted for a larger more convenient vehicle that they could live in. They were selling this one, having replaced everything that was going or had gone bad and even had brand new spare parts and ready to drive to Africa. They really wanted the vehicle to be sold to someone who would use it for its intended purpose. They were so happy to have found us and did some research on our Instagram page and Bronson’s Facebook page to make sure it would be a good fit. After driving it around and deciding we wanted it. We took it to a Mechanic to do an overall inspection and to deal with some sticky clutch issues and he gave it a clean bill of health.
Andrew and Francoise were sad to see Sid go, but happy he was going to us. They invited us to dinner where we shared stories of our travels and showed them some of our YouTube videos. They have since been following our excursions and have invited us to come and visit if we’re ever in the UK. Off we went with our new vehicle and set out to explore England.
Our original plan was to ship the vehicle back to South America.
Next thing we knew the Panama Canal was experiencing a severe drought, the Red Sea was dealing with the Red Sea Crisis leading to the Suez Canal problems and the prices of Shipping increased over 3 fold. So rather than risking shipping back to South America, we decided to stay in England and figure out our next steps.
Kaden decided he wanted to stay in Europe and possibly get residency so he could go to a European University and he felt a little burned out on Latin America. He wanted to see different things and experience different cultures and possibly pick up another language or two.
Ultimately we decided to get residency in Spain since he already understands Spanish, speaks it well and because it’s one of the cheapest destinations with the diversity of topography that we like. It’s location is a perfect for a basecamp to explore Europe and Northern Africa from. We can even take cheap hopper flights to destinations where the drive isn’t exactly worth it.
Here are the specs of our new LandCruiser:
LandCruiser 78 Troop Carrier (Bush Taxi, Safari etc…)
1 ton (2000-2500 lbs payload)
1HZ straight 6 diesel engine (no electronics or emissions)
Manual transmission (upgraded from 80n series)
2 fuel tanks (1,000 mile range)
Solid axles F/R
Locking differentials F/R
Manual locking hubs
Winch
Pop-top with access to cab
Sleeps 3-4 adults
Indoor and outdoor cooking options
Quality interior camper build
Solar Panels (300W)
Low miles (<38,000 miles)
1 Webasto diesel air/water cabin heater for back
1 Webasto diesel air/water heater for cab/engine block
Water purifier
Trabold bypass oil filter
Manufacturer’s link…
https://www.toms-fahrzeugtechnik.de/en/worldcruiser-1
We ended up naming our new truck “Sid” after “Sid the Sloth” from the movie Ice Age. We enjoy traveling at a sloth’s pace and it doesn’t like to go fast anyway. Sid is closer to a tractor than any other vehicle we’ve ever owned.
We’ve lived out of it for three months so far, during pouring UK and European winters, and it’s been great. A little tight for 2 adults and a 6’1” teenager and our new puppy while trapped inside for long periods but perfect the other 98% of the time.
The only thing we needed to do was add a 3rd seat for Kaden. Though he probably won’t be with us more than next year, he still needs the seat in the meantime. We were also advised that a few parts of Africa and Asia require an escort. This will be perfect for that purpose.
In our opinion, this vehicle is definitely not made for your typical camping trip in Europe, UK or the US. But, it’s perfect for everything we’ve been through in Latin America and the places we want to go in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia.
Here’s a link to the YouTube video of Sid!