Good morning from Bahia Concepcion. Here in Baja, California Mexico. This is a darn
near perfect campsite! Aside from its proximity to the road and probably the
volume of people but the location is absolutely beautiful! So in today's video,
we are going to introduce you to some friends that we have been traveling with
here in Baja!..... If you've been following our channel, you know them already! This is
Sonia and Joe from Germany. And they travel in this really awesome Toyota
Hilux! And it is a true, globally capable overlanding
vehicle! Hi guys, I'm Sonia... I'm Joe
We're from Germany, like you've heard! And we've been travelling through North
America for basically the last year!..Yeah! We started in April last year!... Yes! We shipped our rig
over to Nova Scotia, Halifax. And then drove across Canada up to the Arctic sea,
Alaska and then zigzagging it down through the states all the way to Baja..Yeah and now Mexico...
Where we met him and her...Uhhmm.. We chose this vehicle basically after a road trip that
we took down highway 1 on the west coast. Just a regular normal vacation... That was in 2017
We came back and we felt that's our style of traveling. We were looking for a
rig, I wanted to something that is multi-purpose..Yeah right?... And I wanted a van...She wanted a van with a shower and a toilet...Well you compromise
somewhere! We wanted a rig that we can take off the road and get away from a
lot of people, right? And not just an RV that you use three times a year and then
it just loses its money in your, in your backyard or in your driveway and... We can
use it in different ways once we're back home!..Yeah... Tell us a little bit about why you
chose this platform of a chassis.... We talked to the previous owners of the
vehicle and they had bought it from a guy who, a classic, died of a heart attack.
55 years old. Dreamed of doing the Pan Americana in it and basically they lived
his dream then.... They live two years in it, took it all across Canada to Alaska
and then down to Patagonia. And... They always upgraded their system along the
road and we chose it because it's just a bulletproof vehicle. It has a diesel
engine in it. Which is really sophisticated! No injection whatsoever!
Just a red and a black wire basically for electricity and computer...And it's just
proven. They took it up to like 5,000 meters in altitude, smoking like an old
train but it did the job right and... It's just a really, really, reliable vehicle!
It never let us down on this trip! Besides a few minor issues, you know! Just things..
Yeah!... Along the way... So what kind of fuel economy do you get?..Hahaha... Well, the last
conversion I did before I learned that there's a difference between Canadian
gallons and US gallons.. Was... How do you do it? Twelve... Twelve miles a gallon... Okay!
Which considering that we have around 2.9 tons..
Overall weight for like 79 horsepower and a 2.4 litre engine.... And the fuel
capacity?... 65 litres... Okay!... So you don't pass a fuel station?...No we don't... Yeah! So now tell us a
little bit about the camper... The camper?... Yes!.. The camper is ahhh... It's called
Explorer. It's the company that produced them. It's kind of in Europe kind of
considered like the the godfather or mother of all pop-up, camper cabins that
are made out of fibreglass. So what we did not know when we bought it is that;
The cabin is actually pretty sought-after because of its... Weight, space ahhh...What's it called?
The relation between weight and space... Yeah!... Stability. Because it's basically
the bottom is one piece of fibreglass. Considering that the cabin is like from
the late 80s, early 90s. You know, with that technology and it's still very
sturdy and reliable! You can...Is it well insulated?... it's well insulated! Well when
you pop it up of course! You have the issue of the tent, of the canvas.
Another thing is you can put up to a hundred kilos on the roof... And the
struts still work?.. Yes because it's not just struts. It has a foldable frame inside
Oh nice!... That supports the weight and... That is of course really cool because we made a
pack mule out of it and put our inflatable kayaks!...Now ahhh...You told me these
are called airline rails?... Yes! They are, they, I think they... If you translate it in
German, it's airline Shannon. Which translates to rails.They are used in
airplanes to adjust the rows of how many seats they have in an airplane and stuff!
And they are quite famous in the European overlander scene... Because there
are just like you see here. They're like... Alot of purposes and functions.... Yes!
And you don't... I glued them on there with an industrial glue that like 10
centimetres by 10 centimetres holds 300 kilos! Wow.... So... They not gonna rip off or
anything and you don't have to drill the holes in you rig anymore if you
strategically place them on your rig! Right? You can always adjust for a
weekend trip or now for a year-long trip... Where we have a jerrycan, and a water..A can
on the outside. And if you don't need them back home, you take them off or put
a box on the back and stuff.... Nice!... Really, really useful! Even I have them on the
roof too and I build a roof rack... And I can like always adjust the spacing
really easily without gluing, attaching or screwing anything into the roof!... Cool..
So no water leaks... I noticed you guys have the same Dometic sights windows
that we have on our camper... Yeah! They're like old proven design.... Yes!... And
the trasharoo... The trasharoo, picked it up in Canada. Can't say enough good things
about it! It's, it's a very good piece of equipment to have! Of course if you're in
bear country, it's not wise to put trash in it! But I have like uhhmm...Spare oil in there...
Other liquids for the car, firewood we had in there! I have rope to take the
kayaks down.... Yeah! All kinds of stuff you, you know! Can't put it inside because
you're out of space...We don't know anything about that...Right! Okay, so working our way over to... This side we have the awning. I
like this style. The simplicity of it is growing on us as we see it more and more!
Yeah... It's a classic old YouTube DIY awning. Right! Watched some clips and then
just repeat, change the design a little bit and make it work.... Nice!... Only cost me
like 80 bucks instead of three or six hundred. This is
the, this is our multi-purpose table. You will hear of it when we look in the
inside. So this is basically where we cook, get our Coleman stove out. Uhhmm...We have uhhmm...
Come over here real quick. We have our gas bottle in this box...Oh okay!... So we wanted it
outside right so....Peace of mind when you're sleeping. You don't have to worry about
gas leaks and... Cooking inside, you always get the smell and stuff so... That's a nice
compartment... Yeah! Also attached with airline rails.... Here we got a little fold
down rack or cable. We use it when we're cooking for like spices and other
utensils. Basically I upcycled a few parts from the old interior and my
parents balcony railing! Yeah...Here is our water... That's well.. It, it
turned out to be our main go-to water tank. I fabricated a little nozzle. It's
stainless steel, holds jerrycan 20 litres and we just find ourselves always
filling up water out here...Yeah!.... Go through it quick... There's the fridge is inside..The fridge is inside?... There it
is!...Our little fridge!... It's a week old, it has a compressor so it doesn't matter how
the car is you know, positioned. If it's level or not. It's hooked up to the main
two batteries in the cabin. Which are charged by solar and... Also charged by the
alternator.... Okay!That's our little sink here!.... It is tight in here Sonia!...Yeah...And here is another water tank.... Okay...Yeah... Nice!
And we use it for our outdoor shower...You can put this little.... Oh okay and stick it outside the window...Then we can shower outside... Nice! It's a
good dual purpose!...Yeah!... How easy is it to find the Coleman propane bottles when you're
abroad?....Uhhmm... I know you're abroad right now but for example like in Europe or... Oh I
don't think we, we can buy it in Europe... Okay! So that's a North America accessory..Yeah it's an North American thing...Good to know!
Place for our clothes...It's not much but it's okay... How many pairs of clothes do you guys
travel with?.... Oh God! Too much.... Too much? You don't have enough space but you have too
much clothes... Yeah right!.... Nice!... And too much shoes. So.... Everything's too much so....
That's our little porta potty.... Yeah! This one...It's inside a box.... Nice!.... Emergency toilet for me!...Lots of
storage! That's the pantry?.... Yeah right! And we have
some storage.... Oh!... Yeah.... There's compartments everywhere
like ours...And here is the diesel heater and the battery.... The components of the vehicle!
Yeah... Nice.... And we have a little inverter right here so we can charge our phones...
Computers..Whatever... All that good stuff! Yeah... Nice!... Well I don't know if the
camera can get that deep so... Yeah! Okay yeah... Okay...
Nice!.... Yeah! Okay it's tight it in here Sonia..Yeah it is really tight... So it's a slide out bed...Okay!... Yeah.... So your heads are right
here and the feet are down there...Yeah! Right!...Okay...And it's enough space for us so...
It's very comfortable... Now do you guys find that only one person can occupy the
seating area?..Yeah right!...It's like okay you have the floor or I have the floor...
If it's very early and yeah... I'm laying in the bed and then yeah... It's not possible to
walk around with two people right there...Yeah, exactly... It's a little bit too small. Yeah. Right!
Yeah! Cool...This is a really nice home and I hope you guys continue your travels
once you do make it back to Europe next month!...Yeah, Thanks!
Okay, I guess you guys have a couple appliances to show us.... Yes! A few little
details. One we talked about in the previous video and you wanted to see it....
It's our dishwasher... Yeah!... That we have. It's not our idea. We stole it from
YouTube of course! From a bank couple... A spray bottle?... Yes! And this Bob is our
dishwasher! It comes for $1 in the regular American dollar store... In the
hair section... Yeah!...You know, that really makes a lot of sense for extreme water
conservation. You can do a lot with a spray bottle on a paper towel... And we
have like 50 litres in all...Right! Sometimes because of, because of weight...
When we know we can get to have easy access to water. We leave the, the back
tank empty so our gas mileage is better! And ahhh...Like down here, right?.... The places
we're about to go to, there is no water supply! So... Doing the dishes with the
drinkable water you have.... Yeah!... And another thing is... If you're in wildlife
like bear country and use the paper towels, you can burn them right away in
the fire! So draining your sink or whatever it's not a bear attractant. So
really helpful! And we can do two times dishes. Which means two bottles, two dishes
It's also your air conditioner....Yes that to!..Our hand cleaner...
And now for the oven... The oven yeah! That's a recommendation by the previous owners.
They were traveling with a couple in South America who had it. And they used
it every day to bake bread, even like frozen pizza. Warm it up and make pizza.
Cookies.... You name it! Whatever you can bake, they did! And they asked us to bring
them one back to Germany. Because in two years they will be doing a trip to Asia.
For two or three years... Nice... We'll try it out... Yeah!... Well, thank you so much guys for
sharing your over landing home on wheels with the world wide web and us. It's been
an honour getting to know you guys. And I know we're gonna see you just in all the
future travels and probably several more times on this trip!...
Alright! If you wanna continue following us as we make our way down Baja.... Be sure to hit that
SUBSCRIBE button! Thanks for joining us and also check out, they have a channel
that they're getting ready to start called mut_anfall on YouTube. And they
are currently on Instagram with that... I'll put that on the screen... Anyway, we'll
see you guys tomorrow. Thanks for joining us, bye bye!