The Ambassador

Van-Tastic Tasmania winners announced!

ambassador — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:07:00 GMT

The Americans are taking on Tassie! The dynamic duo of Dara Simkin and Catherine Fleming, friends from Florida will be hitting the road for the Van-Tastic Adventures roadtrip through Tasmania.

Check out their winning video where they go looking for Geoff the campervan. Their search has paid off as they will find him waiting in Melbourne for their Australian adventure. Follow this energetic and animated pair as they go bushwalking through the rainforest, explore remote beaches, catch the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and sample some of the local brews in Tasmania.

Get filming! There are still 3 legs of the adventure up for grabs. Send in your video for the Van-Tastic South Australia roadtrip by November 29th.

Don't forget to send us your film!

If you've got what it takes, then we'll...

Fly you to Australia from anywhere in the world!
Give you the keys to our beloved karmic campervan
Give you free access to some of your state's top attractions
Give you $1,000 worth of petrol
Tell you all the great places to go
Give you six weeks use of a digital video camera & laptop

Why?
Because we love you. And because you've got six weeks to go wild or go mild, go hard or go humble, get witty or get wise and make a mini-documentary!

Oh, yeah, nearly forgot - if your doco is voted by the travel community as the most entertaining you'll win $10,000 plus two Virgin Blue domestic flights.

Sound cool?

Visit http://vantastic.worldnomads.com/

Van-Tastic Victoria winners announced!

ambassador — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:10:00 GMT

Congratulations Tim Ackroyd!

So it will be Tim (a right geezer from London) and his secret weapon- his Aussie mates – boarding Geoff for the Van-Tastic Victoria Adventure! Tim plans to hook up with several of his antipodean mates at various... stages whilst in Vic to help him discover the array of delights Victoria has to offer. Check out his application video:

You can also check out his blog of his adventures here.

But there are still 4 Van-Tastic Adventures up for grabs people, so get busy with your submissions….Tempted by Tasmania? Go to http://vantastic.worldnomads.com for more information!

See more of the Van-Tastic videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=worldnomads

We're still looking for four more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

Don't forget to send us your film!

If you've got what it takes, then we'll...

Fly you to Australia from anywhere in the world!
Give you the keys to our beloved karmic campervan
Give you free access to some of your state's top attractions
Give you $1,000 worth of petrol
Tell you all the great places to go
Give you six weeks use of a digital video camera & laptop

Van-Tastic QLD Television interview

ambassador — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:27:00 GMT

An interview with Adam & Hamish about the Van-Tastic adventure by Channel 7 Australia.

Remember there are still 5 Van-Tastic Adventures up for grabs, so get busy with your submissions. The next deadline is August 30 for Van-Tastic Victoria (a helicopter flight over the 12 Apostles? playing with the penguins? music festivals anyone…?)

See more of the Van-Tastic videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=worldnomads

We're still looking for five more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

August 30th is the deadline for all Van-Tastic Victoria applications...Don't forget to send us your film!

If you've got what it takes, then we'll...

Fly you to Australia from anywhere in the world!
Give you the keys to our beloved karmic campervan
Give you free access to some of your state's top attractions
Give you $1,000 worth of petrol
Tell you all the great places to go
Give you six weeks use of a digital video camera & laptop

Van-Tastic NSW winners announced!

ambassador — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:54:00 GMT

Congratulations Kirsty & Carly!

The girls will pick up Geoff in Brisbane, cross the border and kick start their adventure in NSW with diving, kayaking and beaching in beautiful Byron Bay …ahhh the dolphins, the whales!

We loved their fun video , and can’t wait to see some of their acrobatics on the road!

But there are still 5 Van-Tastic Adventures up for grabs people, so get busy with your submissions….next deadline is August 30 for Van-Tastic Victoria (a helicopter flight over the 12 Apostles? playing with the penguins? music festivals anyone…?)

See more of the Van-Tastic videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=worldnomads

We're still looking for five more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

August 30th is the deadline for all Van-Tastic Victoria applications...Don't forget to send us your film!

If you've got what it takes, then we'll...

Fly you to Australia from anywhere in the world!
Give you the keys to our beloved karmic campervan
Give you free access to some of your state's top attractions
Give you $1,000 worth of petrol
Tell you all the great places to go
Give you six weeks use of a digital video camera & laptop

Geoff the Van-Tastic van is heading north to Cairns

ambassador — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:28:00 GMT

Alicia and Kirsten, two American international business grads intent on seeing the real world, are driving up the east coast of Australia to deliver Geoff the Van-tastic van to Cairns, where the first leg of the Van-tastic adventure begins.

Follow Alicia and Kirsten's adventures on their way to Cairns here.

Kiwi boys win Vantastic Adventure Queensland roadtrip!

ambassador — Thu, 9 Jul 2009 02:25:00 GMT

Hamish and Adam, two charming kiwi boys will be taking Geoff on it's maiden voyage, kicking off in Cairns for their Queensland road trip.

Congratulations!

We hope they arrive with all limbs and organs firmly in place as they are gearing up to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Ay-carumba! Hmm our next challenge will be getting the boys out of Athens (their next travel destination) and into Cairns in time for our big launch party (will keep you posted on party details!)

CHECK OUT THEIR WINNING VIDEO

See more of the Van-Tastic videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=worldnomads

We're still looking for six more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

July 19th is the deadline for all Van-Tastic New South Wales applications...Don't forget to send us your film!

If you've got what it takes, then we'll...

Fly you to Australia from anywhere in the world!
Give you the keys to our beloved karmic campervan
Give you free access to some of your state's top attractions
Give you $1,000 worth of petrol
Tell you all the great places to go
Give you six weeks use of a digital video camera & laptop

Check out some of the Van-Tastic video submissions

ambassador — Tue, 7 Jul 2009 06:35:00 GMT

See more of the Van-Tastic videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=worldnomads

We're looking for seven pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

If you've got what it takes, then we'll...

Fly you to Australia from anywhere in the world!
Give you the keys to our beloved karmic campervan
Give you free access to some of your state's top attractions
Give you $1,000 worth of petrol
Tell you all the great places to go
Give you six weeks use of a digital video camera & laptop

Film the ultimate Aussie road trip & win $10,000! Submissions for Queensland leg close 5th July!

ambassador — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:55:00 GMT

We're looking for seven pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

If you've got what it takes, then we'll...

Fly you to Australia from anywhere in the world!
Give you the keys to our beloved karmic campervan
Give you free access to some of your state's top attractions
Give you $1,000 worth of petrol
Tell you all the great places to go
And we'll give you six weeks use of a digital video camera and laptop

Why?

Because we love you. And because you've got six weeks to go wild or go mild, go hard or go humble, get witty or get wise and make a mini-documentary!

Oh, yeah, nearly forgot - if your doco is voted by the travel community as the most enter-ter-ter-ter-taining you'll win $10,000 plus two Virgin Blue domestic flights.

Sound cool?

Applications for the Queensland leg close July 5th. Don't miss out!

Visit http://vantastic.worldnomads.com/

Check out some of the submitted videos at

http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=worldnomads

The Ambassador Van (mk2)... retires

ambassador — Wed, 3 Sep 2008 03:00:00 GMT

The Ambassador Van has been on the road for nearly two years now. It's done more than a few laps of Oz, survived a crash by the Lost Girls, rested more than 35 Ambassador heads on it's pillows, ferried more cases of beer than we care to know, and created enough travel memories to produce more than 500 stories, 5000 photos and 50 videos!

Poor old Ambassador Van needs a well deserved rest, so he will be heading for retirement in Cairns to take up lawn bowls and bingo (he's got his Hawaiian shirts and safari shorts picked out!).

Follow John & Dierdra's adventure as they escort the van home.

One van retires... another van is re-born!

But that's not the end my adventurous hunters of bounty! We're planning a bigger, better Ambassador program for next year - a new van, a new plan....so Check it out here! There is a chance to win $10,000!.

Bye-Bye Ambassador Van......

Huge thanks to all our Ambassadors for spreading the World Nomads love!
As a tribute to our much loved van and courageous Ambassadors , we've put together a few of our favourite stories, photos & videos - but let us know about your favourite moments - what you enjoyed doing/reading/viewing about the Ambassador program?

^{All Welcome................................} ^{Hussy Chics}

^{Show us your craic!........................ The Lost Girls}

Meet Geoff, our Van-Tastic ambassador van (mk3)

Show Us your Craic!

ambassador — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:13:00 GMT

John & Deidra have come from Ireland in search of some good craic in Australia, and have picked up the Ambassador van to help them in their search.

John:

3 and a half months ago I left the UK for Perth, Western Australia. Meanwhile I’d received an email from WorldNomads.com (my travel insurance company) telling that my application for the Ambassador program was pretty much a goer! – I was stoked!

I flew down to Melbourne to meet my girlfriend Deirdra, who was arriving to join me on this adventure with her new licence in hand – take some of the blame if we crash it!

Deirdra:

I am from Strabane,- a small place in Northern Ireland once voted the UK’s 3^rd worst place to live, basically I don’t posses the cheesy ability to write reams of inspirational travel-hippy type stuff and would like to stand up and say- “Hello, I’m Deirdra and I’m a realist” and here be’s my blog.

I suppose I wasn’t doing anything else after graduation so I blew nearly 800 quid on a one way ticket to Melbourne, Australia- city of culture, arts and music- (And the World Nomads teeny tiny campervan!)

Anyway, so its been a great 2 days in Melbourne, perfect place to start- enough culture to keep us going but not too much drama that we’ve spoiled ourselves too early. The weather is pure Irish, the culture is pure bohemian and the wine is pure tasty- sure I could still be in Strabane if I closed my eyes.

Read John & Deirdra's journal:

Show us your Craic! -'Australia'

Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Blue Skies ahead

ambassador — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:27:00 GMT

We (Nora Dunn & Kelly Bedford) were never the sort of people who do things in small measures.

We don’t just bungee jump; Kelly is an instructor and I have jumped all around the world (including the world’s highest bungee jump in South Africa – three times).

Kelly doesn’t just have a history fighting forest fires; he abseiled out of helicopters to fight them.

I don’t just skydive; I have over 300 jumps. I don’t just ride a motorcycle; I take it on the track.

And together we don’t just travel; we sell everything to travel the world long-term, sustainably, and in style.

And so it happened that on the cusp of becoming World Nomads Ambassadors, we somehow felt the need to embrace the true meaning of being Ambassadors. What better way to shout the word of World Nomads from the top of every building, whisper it through every tunnel, and generally spread the World Nomads message, than to have the privilege of seeing what World Nomads can really do?

So as we embark on a six-week Australian adventure in the World Nomads Ambassador van, we know full well what being a World Nomads Ambassador means. We just hope that from here on in we can keep the Ambassador-ship to a more innocuous level of adventure, discovery, fun, and overall well-being.

Read Blue_skies journal "Life Happens"

Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Allwelcome's Family Vacation

ambassador — Wed, 9 Apr 2008 00:30:00 GMT

Unsatisfied with our little house in Norway, two great jobs and warm and loving friends, a supportive salary and freedom from our 8 year old while he attends school, we ditched it all for a nomadic existence.

What were we thinking????

We're now tempting fate by throwing the apparent stability of our family into a den of wolves by packing ourselves in an indiscreet van around Australia for 8 weeks.

Read all about this Family Vacation in allwelcome's journal "I wanna go Florida"

Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

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Down a rolling road

ambassador — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:43:00 GMT

"We're Leesa Gentz and Julz Parker A.K.A "Hussy Hicks". We've been given the honour of being the World Nomads Ambassadors for the next few weeks. With this honour comes the van (what a splendid creature) ... our home ....we will drive and live in it as we circle the great country of Australia, doing gigs along the way doing to promote our new album."

Follow the story of 1 van, 2 girls, 5 states, 6 weeks, 24 gigs, 10,106 kilometers, ... oh and 8 fingers crossed ... in the HussyHick's journal "Down a rolling road"

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Lazy Days with Dazey

ambassador — Wed, 9 Jan 2008 02:30:00 GMT

"Back in September I left New York and all that came with it — job, friends, low-rent apartment— to travel Australia on my own. So far I’ve spent multiple weeks in both Melbourne and Sydney, and I’ve done the East Coast backpackers trail, all the way up to Cape Tribulation. What I haven’t done, however, is drive. And uh, camp. It’s not something I “do,” first off, let’s get that straight, so the fact that I’m lying in a campervan bed with a mosquito buzzing persistently around my head in the middle of the wilderness somewhere outside Lorne, VIC, is a big deal. But I wanted to do it — I wanted to try this camping thing — and I wanted to do it in one of the most beautiful countries in the world: Australia."

Read about Dazey311's adventures in her journal '25 and Under '

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Vagabonding

ambassador — Sun, 9 Dec 2007 23:45:00 GMT

Stuart, a young Scottish nomadic type with excessive wanderlust and a confessed addiction to Australia, takes the keys of the Ambassador Van in Cairns, rounds up some friends, and heads off into the sunset.

Read about Stuart's adventures in his journal 'Vagabonding'

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Berlin Bert

ambassador — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 03:30:00 GMT

Berlin Bert likes: Canned food, running, cities, soccer, after-lunch sleeps, photography, family, coffee... and working. After way-too-long hunched over a computer in the WorldNomad's offices, we have kicked out our hard working backpacker and sent him on the road to see some of the real Australia. Nervous of straying too far from a big city, he's hugging the East Coast highways for a quick trip to Cairns. We hope he returns chillaxed and calm, having fulfilled the 'holiday' part of his working-holiday visa.

Read about Robert's adventures in Twenty-one days on the road most travelled

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

The Wanderer... goes for a drive

ambassador — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:40:00 GMT

"After nearly twenty years working in emergency management - ambulance, search and rescue, structure fire, law enforcement and bush fires – assignments varying from managing aircraft on bush fires to coordinating crews in the picking-up of pieces of disintegrated space craft – the space shuttle. It was a fast-paced life, always full of excitement, never knowing where I would be next – always traveling somewhere. September 2004 – one final plane crashed into a wilderness area in the Northern Rocky Mountains. It was time for a change. I left the stresses of a fantastic job to do something different.

The Wanderer returned to his name sake and went on walkabout. A few months ago I found myself presented with an opportunity to visit Australia for a third time. I dared not pass it by. In early June just as the sun rose over the eastern hills of Perth I emerged from terminal with a pack on my back.

And now I find myself at the helm of the Ambassador Van travelling from the West into the sun towards Sydney."

Tribulations of a swiss guy

ambassador — Fri, 3 Aug 2007 01:18:00 GMT

"What should simply have been backpacking across Asia, became cycling through Tibet and the Himalayas. I was aiming for Japan, and I'm now heading Down Under to drive a crazy van from Darwin to Perth. But as I read somewhere, you're not doing a trip, the trip is doing you." Steph.

Read about Steph's adventures in Tribulations of a swiss guy

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Big Trip Bloggers

ambassador — Thu, 7 Jun 2007 03:36:00 GMT

"A while back, while waiting for Val to finish up writing some emails in an internet cafe, I stumbled upon an opportunity. To qualify, you had to be willing to blog about your trip to Australia several times a week, as well as produce at least one video or podcast. Since this is pretty much what we'd been doing and planned on doing for months and months, I went for it.

And then one day while checking email in Calcutta, I got a response back. We had been selected as World Nomads Ambassadors. In our case we'll be heading from Sydney to Darwin over the course of about seven weeks. It's an epic journey, and will surely go down as one of the most memorable of the Big Trip."

Read about Kevin and Valerie's adventures in BIG TRIP BLOG

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

The Lost Girls

ambassador — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 03:46:00 GMT

Jen, Holly and Amanda are three Manhattan girls who quit their magazine and media jobs (insert Sex and the City references here) and left the States to travel the world for a full year. This many not sound all that unusual to you globetrotting Aussies, but as any American reading this entry could attest: it is wildly out of the ordinary for a trio of Yankees girls to go nomad for so long.

Check in with us every few days for updates on our adventures, Lost Girl recommendations and a few chick-on-the-street interviews. And if you witness us stalling out in our manual-transmission, 1999 World Nomads camper van, don’t just honk and wave...stop and say hello! We promise --- you can’t miss us.

Read about Holly, Jen and Amanda's adventures in their blog THE LOST GIRLS

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Wanderyears Video Wrapup

ambassador — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 11:34:00 GMT

Timo from the wanderyears chats to Travellers Auto barn about his trip in the World Nomads Ambassador Van.

Wanderlust with the Wanderyears

ambassador — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:28:00 GMT

Hey bro….I’m doing this trip…. Etc…. look, I know you have work and stuff, no hurry, but have a think about it”.
Before Timo could even complete his sentence, Matt chipped in. “Yup, I’ll do it”.
Timo: “But, surely you want to think, check with the boss, organise things”.
Matt: “Done. I just thought about it”.
Timo: “Sweeet”.

One camper Van, Two blokes. Four weeks. What could go wrong?

"We didn't 'Planet'?" is the stories of Timo and Matt aka The wanderyears.

These two picked up the van on Monday 12 March and are simply heading west out of Sydney to do a bit of exploring in Australia's dry and dusty plains. Having said that, the last I heard was that there'd been huge rainfalls across South West Queensland resulting in a rare occurence - the rivers are full and running their brown rainfall right across the heart of Oz towards Lake Eyre, where it's lucky for the salt flat to see water every 7-10 years. It might not be so dry and dusty after all!

Read about the wanderyears' adventures in the blog We didn't 'Planet'?

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Philthy-nomad skives off

ambassador — Thu, 1 Mar 2007 23:31:00 GMT

Phil the Philthy-nomad took our Ambassador Van to the Melbourne Adventure & Travel Expo for a few days of show and tell. Yep, Phil works for us and we gave him a well-deserved one-week break at the end to deliver it back to Sydney. From his first blog entries, it looks like he's turned in the other direction (what are you trying to tell us Phil?) and taken the van south-west. We'll just have to wait and see if he comes into the office on Monday...

Read about Philthy-nomad's adventures in his blog Wish you were here...

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Travelling Dan

ambassador — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 03:37:00 GMT

Travelling Dan has picked up the van and he's off to see a slab of Australia for free. In a round-about route, he started in Melbourne, came via Canberra to Sydney and now he's off towards Victoria again to do a bit of rock-climbing.

Read about Dan's adventures in his blog Over down under

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Two Stowaways

ambassador — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:15:00 GMT

Instead of stowing away, Ian and Tamara have taken the helm and are steering the Ambassador Van south out of Sydney towards Victoria.

It's a little known fact that the busiest air-route in the world is Sydney - Melbourne and I think that we might also rival that with camper van trips in the next two years!

Check out where these two are on the road in their Stowaway blog.

Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Ambassador Crew 1 - Ana & Emma

ambassador — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 13:14:00 GMT

Check out our first World Nomads Ambassadors - Ana & Emma as they drive from Sydney to Adelaide and then back to Melbourne to help support the poor English cricket team !

Read about this cricket Odyssey in their blog Ana and Emma's Journal

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Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Video tour of the Ambassador van

ambassador — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 23:30:00 GMT

Nick gives us our first look at the ambassador van, which will be wandering all over Australia for the next two years.

Kick start YOUR travel writing career and see a slab of Australia for free!

Apply here »

The Kombi Adventure

ambassador — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:41:00 GMT

The Kombi adventure: The journey of a World Nomads branded Volkswagen kombi around Australia piloted by two intrepid travellers was the birth of our Ambassador van concept.

Click here for more photos of the Kombi Adventure

The Ambassador

Van-Tastic Tasmania winners announced!

Van-Tastic Victoria winners announced!

We're still looking for four more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

Van-Tastic QLD Television interview

We're still looking for five more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

Van-Tastic NSW winners announced!

We're still looking for five more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

Geoff the Van-Tastic van is heading north to Cairns

Kiwi boys win Vantastic Adventure Queensland roadtrip!

We're still looking for six more pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

Check out some of the Van-Tastic video submissions

We're looking for seven pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

Film the ultimate Aussie road trip & win $10,000! Submissions for Queensland leg close 5th July!

We're looking for seven pairs of travellers, one for each of Australia's stunning states, to become Van-Tastic Adventurers.

The Ambassador Van (mk2)... retires

One van retires... another van is re-born!

Bye-Bye Ambassador Van......

Ambassador video memories.....

Ambassador journal memories.....

Check out the Ambassador Van Photo Gallery

Show Us your Craic!

John:

Deirdra:

Read John & Deirdra's journal:

Show us your Craic! -'Australia'

Blue Skies ahead

Read Blue_skies journal "Life Happens"

Allwelcome's Family Vacation

Read all about this Family Vacation in allwelcome's journal "I wanna go Florida"

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Down a rolling road

Follow the story of 1 van, 2 girls, 5 states, 6 weeks, 24 gigs, 10,106 kilometers, ... oh and 8 fingers crossed ... in the HussyHick's journal "Down a rolling road"

.

Lazy Days with Dazey

Read about Dazey311's adventures in her journal '25 and Under'

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Vagabonding

Berlin Bert

The Wanderer... goes for a drive

Read more of The Wanderer's travel blog

Tribulations of a swiss guy

Big Trip Bloggers

The Lost Girls

Wanderyears Video Wrapup

Wanderlust with the Wanderyears

Philthy-nomad skives off

Travelling Dan

Two Stowaways

Ambassador Crew 1 - Ana & Emma

Video tour of the Ambassador van

The Kombi Adventure

Read about Dazey311's adventures in her journal '25 and Under '