You need a little bit of spice in life and for some people, there is no such thing as travelling. Akis and Vula have already spiced their lives with thousands of kilometres around the world. The Greek couple is among those few lucky people who can literally say “We travelled the world”. Living one of Mankind’s finest dreams from 2007 to 2010, they actually drove across 66 countries in 5 continents, completing no less than 167,000 kilometres in 1234 days – Almost three years and a half on the road. And off-road.
Ready for ‘The World Offroad Expedition Vol.2‘, Motoroids has joined the Greek car journalist and our contributor Akis Temperidis as an official media sponsor. As Akis takes his family for a road trip around the world in their Iveco VM90 4×4, Motoroids will be with them, relaying their magical experiences throughout the trip. How did Akis become a part of the Motoroids family? While crossing the Indian subcontinent during their first trip, the Greeks met with our Editor Amit Chhangani and became friends since then.
Akis often contributed to Motoroids when he settled with his family in the Motor Valley of Italy. Living in the heaven of supercars, just 20 minutes from Maranello and Modena, was not enough for the Greek adventurers who seemed to be addicted to Overland travel and nomadic lifestyle. Two years ago, Akis bought a rugged Iveco VM90 – a personnel transporter used in military expeditions in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. The family transformed the Iveco into a tiny camper van for three people and they started designing their next trip around the world.
How does it feel to leave behind everything you know in the quest to see more of this World? Akis says, “It was a greater challenge this time to decide to leave behind our lives in Italy and hit the roads again. Because a small child entered the equation. But we had to try it. Like before, other than facing the struggles of life on the road (route design, visas etc) we need to make a living as well as homeschooling our daughter. It is an experiment we are confident will inspire many people to follow.”
The World Offroad Expedition Vol. 2 will be a longer and more profound experience than the first, as the family from Greece intends to travel for at least six years. This means Anastasia, their 7-year old daughter, will be finishing primary school while on the road. Akis is pretty ambitious with his project. Apart from providing articles, photography and social media content for making a living, he is working on a documentary series, one that could help like-minded people from hand and inspire them to travel around the world.
“Our motto is summarised in three words”, says Akis. “Dream. Explore. Respect. Dream with your eyes open, which means, follow your dream whatever it is. Explore our planet and yourself – which means you can’t do the one without the other. And third, but the most important is showing respect to nature and to local cultures, which means to respect all people and beings, even those who are different.”
Motoroids will be following The World Offroad Expedition Vol. 2, publishing articles and videos on a weekly basis and we can’t wait to see them in India again. These days, Akis, Vula and Anastasia travel around their own country, including a bunch of Aegean islands, starting from historic Crete – the birthplace of the Minotaur. For their expedition, they are supported by BlueStar Ferries and ANEK Lines and have already started sending pictures and videos from the iconic greek islands. The schedule is to leave Greece at the end of May and travel towards central Asia and Mongolia, after which, they will cross China to enter Nepal and India. Way to go guys!
