Preparing for the Pan-American

San Francisco, California

The time has come to get down to brass tacks.

We spoke to a few people with experience on this stretch of road, and their questions whizzed past our heads like mosquitos on a Panamanian freeway.

"What car are you going to use?”

"How will you deal with travel insurance? What about malaria? What about security?”

"Have you heard of the Darien Gap?"

Nothing erodes confidence quite like a jolt of recognition of your own ignorance. So, learn we did. The below is a brief write up and list of our discoveries and subsequent attempts to prepare ourselves for success prior to our departure. If you’re planning on undertaking this adventure yourself, we very much hope it will be of use.

Car/Gear

The first step required for a long car-based trip is exactly what one might suspect – a vehicle. And not just any car will do, it must be one that you can depend on in all road conditions and all weather conditions. One that can serve as your home.

On this front, our fortunes were good. David had recently acquired ‘Bessie’ – an ’03 4Runner with sizable tires and a roof rack durable enough to support a roof top tent. Here she is upon first landing in San Francisco.

While we’d heard from many trusted sources that Latin America runs on Toyota (and had seen the same in our own travels in the region), there were still a few modifications that needed to be made before Bessie would be Pan-America-ready.

First, we beefed up security. Adding some hidden features that would hopefully help us to avoid the perennial threat of smash-and-grabs that haunt car owners the world over. We also needed to fabricate a storage and cooking solution to turn Bessie from a standard 4Runner to a vehicle that could properly and comfortably house and feed two grown men (and the gear that comes with them). Lastly, we needed a worthy place to rest our heads at night for the duration of our journey. That arrived in a prodigious box, requiring three large men to remove it from a large truck. The day our Autohome Grand Tour rooftop tent landed was indeed the day that we felt we were properly in business. Beyond these major pieces, we added ditch lights (to avoid the soon to be described cow problem), a Goal Zero Solar-powered external battery and several other pieces. The full list of equipment that we obtained is here:

-1 x Bessie (’03 4Runner)

-4 new tires 32” (cheaper at Costco in Ensenada than in the States)

-Locking interior drawers

-Maggiolina Autohome Grand Tour

-Ditch Lights

-Rear ladder

-Additional USB plugs

-ARB Awning

-LED Lighting for under awning

-Pull out drawer for YETI cooler

-Locking lug nuts and license plate screws

-20% Tint All Around

Logistics

The true beauty of long-term travel undoubtedly lies in the lack of a defined itinerary – and that is not something we intend to corrupt. However, entering and exiting 18 countries by car simply cannot be successfully executed on a whim. One must account for the paperwork, learn the requirements and, perhaps most critically, gain a deep understanding of the pitfalls that have left other travelers ensnared in compromising situations.

To properly wrap our heads around those challenges, we began where everyone should – by talking to people who have done it. I want to take a moment here to acknowledge and thank several people who spent hours on Skype with us, addressing our every question and concern thoughtfully (massive thanks to Reto, Alex Smith, Amerilanders and TheLongCruise!). To supplement their knowledge, the 14,000+ person strong army of brilliant and generous souls who make up the Pan-American Traveler’s Association are a constant source of questions and answers to topics that previously hadn’t even entered our minds. We’ve learned so much from these sources it’s impossible to distill into anything short. Nonetheless, here are a few key bits:

-iOverlander is the ultimate app for this sort of travel, bar none. Pair it with Google Maps/Maps.me and you won’t get lost (unless you wish to, of course)

-WikiOverland is another incredible source of insights and tips

-Shipping around the Darien Gap is easiest when done with someone else (and best enjoyed if the time is passed sailing the San Blas Islands)

-Driving at night should be avoided (mainly because cows and other obstructions enjoy the road at that time)

-Border crossings are best attempted at dawn

-Topes.

-Prepare for rain in Central America, a lot of it.

-Don’t skimp on the sleeping arrangement

-Google Project Fi works everywhere on the planet and is relatively inexpensive. Goodbye, spotty public wifi.

-If you want to sell your car in South America, talk to Alex Smith

-SLOW DOWN. This road has an end, but the point isn’t to rush to get there – rather, it is to relish the path.

-Less is more. Pack essentials and you can always pick up more on the road.

-Photocopy everything. And then photocopy it again.

These principles and tips have been central throughout our planning process, and we will do our best to proceed with them in mind.

Life

Perhaps the most difficult portion of the planning process to bear (and discussed at length in our previous post) is sorting out the ‘life admin’ necessary to undertake this sort of adventure.

When you leave your home for an extended trip, many parts of life that typically hum along unabated in the background are suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Insurance, employment and finances all require clever remedies. And, thanks to many insightful sources, we have found confidence that we can manage them. Here are a few of the items that felt most pertinent:

-People at home will want to know what you’re doing and that you’re ok. Get a tool that tracks your progress, and give loved ones access (Polarsteps is what we plan to use, for one example)

-Travel insurance is a complex world, we heard overwhelming admiration for and appreciation of World Nomads.

-In order to actually meaningfully and practically log all of the recommendations that you get, try using Google’s MyMaps feature – which allows you to map out points of interest and include any notes you may have.

-You can work while outside of the country using https://www.workaway.info/, it’s become extraordinarily popular and helps you integrate more deeply into the local culture of wherever you find yourself

Bear in mind that we have yet to leave, and true depth of knowledge won’t be ours until the rubber hits the road. We’ll revisit this post once we have a few months under our belt to see just how right (or, more likely, wrong) we were.