The Race to Norway
The summer of 2021 started much later than usual for us. It’s the first week of August, we are finally starting this summer’s adventure, exhausted from the intense events and hard work we have done in the past few weeks, but above all, happy to finally be doing what we like most.
The initial plan was to spend some time Overlanding in the Balkans, visit the parts of the peninsula that we haven’t so far, and continue the road towards Romania and Moldova. However, our Jeep had other plans. After it broke down for the umpteenth time just as we were arriving to this year’s edition of Meeting Camper, we have realized without much thinking that this was the last drop and that the time was right for a new vehicle, a more reliable one, and with more payload.
And so the search for a car began, much harder and complicated than we could have possibly imagined. We have been certain from the beginning that a pickup truck would be the perfect vehicle for our needs; however, finding one not too old and not too pricey was a whole quest in itself. The initial idea was to buy a new car, but as it happened with almost everything else, the pandemic disrupted the automotive industry, and so the waiting times for a brand new vehicle extended well into the next year. We’ve looked at several cars in a state much worse than advertised, and just as we started losing any hope for adventure for this summer, the Ranger appeared.
We got the car as soon as we could and started the camperization process the very same day: we picked it up and drove it straight to Woodvans Handmade, where our friend Loren and his team built us custom-made shelves for our equipment, as well as a nice little nook for the dog. What took years to be brought to perfection in the Jeep was done on the Ranger in a bit over a month, thanks to selfless and swift help from our friends. Acayx built us a bed rack in no time and provided us with a winch support so we wouldn’t leave for a trip this long without proper rescue gear. Almont4WD provided us with skid plates in order to protect our chassis from any mishaps that inevitably come hand in hand with off-road driving. In Rhino Aventura, they found us a good set of shocks in record time. Bluetti gifted us a portable battery and so saved us valuable time on electrical installation. The tyres from Falken were simply transferred from the Jeep to the Ranger - we have plans to lift the car a bit, but these would have to wait for after the summer.
We mounted our old tent on the bed rack and hit the road.
The Jeep breaking down made two important changes in our plans for this summer. First, as we’ve already been forced by circumstances to go see friends and family in Serbia on a short visit by plane, it made no sense to go there again, and our minds turned to other places. Second, the two months we stayed in Spain preparing the car gave us the enormous privilege to get fully vaccinated. With the Covid passport, going to Scandinavia become an option.
For years, we have been dreaming about traveling to Norway. For both of us, there is a feeling hard to describe drawing us towards Scandinavia, making us long for its extraordinary combination of cruel, inhospitable wilderness, and stylish and trendy urban Nordic atmosphere. Norway was the only country we haven’t visited in Scandinavia, and we figured that this year would be the perfect opportunity.
And so, we’re finally back on the road, eager to experience everything that this summer had in store for us.
