The dromomaniac series of world travelers I write about here at DigiDrift, are all written about very unique individuals, and I place Jose in the group as well.

He never spent years on the road hitchhiking his way around the globe like Andre, or on a fifty year cycling tour (with no end in sight) of the globe like Heinz, but Jose was not just another rich man jumping on and off planes, and counting stamps in his passport. He was a true adventure seeker, that had a passion of overland travel.

These adventures have seen him drive almost 1 million kilometers (mostly in 4×4 vehicles) in just about every region of the planet. He is know as ‘The Father of All Terrain’, and is held in high regard in his homeland of Portugal.

Jose Megre – The Farther of All Terrain

Jose Megre on his tour of Antartica

Jose was born in Lisbon Portugal in 1942, and was always been seen as a practical man. This would be attributed to his mechanical engineering course that he completed in London between the years on 1963 to 1966, where his specialization was automotive. These skills learned at an early age have no doubt helped Jose out of many obscure situations he has found himself in over the years, during his lifetime of transcontinental rally driving.

During these rallies Jose would spend a great part of his life driving through some of the harshest environments on earth. He first raced in the Paris to Dakar Rally in 1981 (I’m not going to get into the politics of this race here, but it has had it’s problems and some see it as a burden on the local people where the race runs through many small village environments. There was also the death of the three villagers in 1998, and many from the Saharan Africa region are probably quite glad it’s moved to South America).

Jose Megre Made 15 Crossing of The Sahara (via 6 different routes)

Jose also spent many years in Africa, and has personally crossed the Sahara 15 times, via 6 different routes. Besides racing in the Dakar, Jose organized many trans continental rallies himself. He also twice competed in the Atlantic to Pacific from Peking to Paris Rally, and also crossed Asia on the Trans Siberian Railway.

It wasn’t until later in life that he actually began to quantify the vast number of countries that he had actually visited. When that number grew to over 130, he decided he would make it his life ambition to see the rest of the world. In 2006 he set out to visit the remaining countries he missed during his many years of overland adventures.

Jose was not the type who liked to visit a country solely for a quick stamp in the passport, and soon leave. Once in a country he would spend his time, and on most occasions would drive vast distances in these countries, and seeing area’s that few travelers do.

In the end Jose Megre visited 191 of the 192 United Nation Member States. The sole country that Jose missed on visiting was Iraq. It’s sad to say the Jose Megre will never set foot in Iraq because he sadly passed away in February of 2009, at age 66.

Sadly Jose Will Never Make The Final Trip To Iraq

A commemorative plaque to Jose Megre, celebrating his life of overland travel (image by Manuela Barreto).

It wasn’t through lack of trying to get to Iraq either, as he’d planned the visit several times, but due to his worsening health, he had to postpone. I suppose Jose has a sense of humor as well, as he released a book titled ‘Como Eu Vi Todos Os Paises Do Mundo - (Minos Un)’ or loosely translated to ‘ As I saw all the countries of the world (minus one)’.

Studying Jose’s world map, you can see the vast number of overland journeys he has undertaken (pay special attention to the crossing of the Sahara). To commemorate his life, the Municipality of Penamacor in his home nation of Portugal also created a plaque in his honor, crafted from ceramic tiles and depicting all of his overland journeys.

Jose Megre was in my opinion a true adventure seeker. As he grew older he refused to slow down and tread water like most, instead he kept on swimming against life’s currents in pursuit of his passion. He fell short by 1 trip of achieving his life’s ambition. RIP Jose Megre a true adventurer, and now dromomaniac here at DigiDrift.com

For a great slideshow of Jose Megre’s life of travel you can visit this site, or you can go to Jose’s personal site for a little more detail on his overland adventures here.

Your Thoughts and Comments?

Do you consider Jose Megre’s style of travel a worthy inductee into the Dromomaniac series? Has anyone out there competed in one of these trans continental overland rallies?

(Researching Jose Megre was quite difficult as most of what is written about him is in Portuguese. Although I gave Google translate a good workout, it’s not a perfect beast and does have it’s problems.)

The Hitchhiker is Born

After returning from military service, Andre made his way to the North American continent, and found employment in Canada, working as a translator from 1965-1967. It was this employment that was a crucial steppingstone to his forthcoming world journey, by giving him the ability to earn the necessary funds for him to travel the world extensively, hitchhiking non-stop for six straight years.

The Hitchhiker - Andre in a very common situation. Thumb out and waiting for the next ride.

Andre was as prudent with his money, as any frugal traveler could be. On average he would live on no more than a single dollar a day (although this needs to be put into perspective as it was a very long time ago). This single dollar would also include the cost of his visas, accommodation and extras like film for his camera. To make his savings go even further, Andre would also hitch rides everywhere he went, but he was not your average hitchhiker . He would not only manage to hitch lifts with countless cars and trucks, but was also able to hitch rides on planes, yachts and ships. It was these rides that no doubt helped him stick to that very tight budget of dollar a dollar a day, and allowed his to see such a great portion of the world, and gave him legendary status among many of his hitchhiking peers for years to come.

Another common situation for Andre. Looking at a map and working out his next destination.

Being from an era well before water bottled in plastic, Andre would drink river water whenever he was thirsty (he became seriously ill from doing this in Pakistan), and ate at the local markets, on a diet of fruit and vegetables. He would also sleep rough on many nights, when ever he wasn’t offered accommodation, but does admit to sleeping in a hotel on one occasion, when the Soviet government forced him to do so, whilst hitchhiking through the USSR. Andre’s travels saw him live with some of the most diverse cultures on earth. From the polar extremes of living with the hippies of San Francisco, to the head hunters from the jungles of Borneo. He also spent time with Buddhist Monks in Thailand, and studied yoga at an Indian Ashram. Throughout his travels Andre would live with and like the local people, traveling the length of the Americas, throughout the expansive Pacific Islands, the Far and Middle East, the USSR, and nearly every country on the African continent. He was jailed and deported on several occasions, and was even mistaken for one of Che Guevara’s gorillas whilst in South America. He has documented many hardships that he has seen throughout his world journey, and has been caught up in wars and other internal turmoil.

Throughout all this, Andre never contemplated giving up on his quest to experience the world for what it is, in all its misery and glory.

Andre relaxing in a rickshaw. I wonder if he paid for this lift?

Returning home after eighteen years on the road, and after visiting some 135 countries by hitchhiking over 400,000 kilometers via every means of transport possible. Andre began to write the first of several books ‘The Earth is But One Country’ , but would also continue to make countless trips for the next 30 odd years, to the many countries and territories he had not yet seen. It wasn’t until 2004 when he crossed the border into the Himalayan Kingdom of Mustang, that he realized his childhood dream of visiting every country and territory on earth. This personal quest took the man over 50 years to complete, and in my opinion Andre Brugiroux is one of the greatest contemporary travelers of modern times, and has therefore been forthrightly inducted into the ‘Dromomaniacs Society’ here at DigiDrift.com.

For a little more reading on the amazing tales of hitchhiker, Andre Brugiroux, you can visit his website and purchase a copy of ‘The Earth is But One Country’

Emil and Liliana Schmidt and Their Toyota Landcruiser

A photo of the Schmid's with their Toyota Land Cruiser

The Toyota Land Cruiser has been described as indestructible by some, but a journey as grand as this will kill any vehicle. In 2006 after a long debate and many an argument, the Schmid’s decided against retiring the vehicle to the scrapheap, and replacing it with something newer. They managed to find a small workshop in the town of Miri on the island of Borneo, and completely rebuilt their beloved Land Cruiser, which they aptly describe as family.

The Land Cruiser Would Require A Complete Rebuild

A photo of the Schmids car being repaired

The Schmidt’s are now in their late sixties, and are currently making there way through the archipelago of the Philippines, and there’s still no end in site to this incredible voyage. I’ve been following their adventures on and off, via their web site for a number of years now. Back In 2008 whilst I was on a short trip to Vanuatu, I spotted the all too familiar baby blue Toyota 4WD making its way up the main street of Port Villa. During the rest of my time there, I kept a keen eye out for them, as I would have loved to have caught up for a chat. It was a shame I never laid eyes on the vehicle again.

Emil and Liliana Were Faced With Many Obstacles Along The Way

The Schmids car on a barge in the former Zaire

I think there’s no secret that Emil Schmid is a stats man, and the amount of information the couple have kept throughout their journey is staggering. I will post a link to their site so you can check it out after finishing reading here (you’ll need a bit of time as there’s a massive amount of information there). An unconventional statistic that I found interesting was that they’ve taken about 19’260 slides, 18’660 prints and 34’450 digital pictures, that calculates to one image taken for every 9 km or 15 minutes of driving time. The couple have also had 166 flat tires and consumed 31 batteries, 138 spark plugs, 22 air filters and 54 shock absorbers during the previous 26 years.

There’s also and extraordinary amount of media interest in their voyage and as they visit each new country it seems the local media want an interview. The media page on their site is full of magazine and newspaper articles, as well as radio and the odd television interview.

There can be no denying that Emil and Liliana Schmid are suffering a serious case of Dromomania, and from this day forward are honorably inducted into the ‘Dromomaniacs Society’ here at DigiDrift.com.

Go to Emil and Liliana Schmid’s web site of their ‘World Record Tour’ can be found here.

The more you read about this incredible individual, the more you sit and ponder with disbelief, at just how much he has achieved in his life. Break his travels into segments, and there are many that have made similar journeys. String them all together over a single mans lifetime, and you have one very unique individual, on what I personally consider to be one of the most amazing, and fascinating journeys of modern times.

Heinz Stücke is The Real Deal. No Space Age Alloys Here!

Heinz slogging through the mud on Zaire's notoriously bad roads.

There are no frills with Heinz, he’s the ultimate real deal. No vans trailing behind him, with a team of sponsors and buckets of money to throw around. No high tech, super light weight, space-age alloys either. He’s done all but his most recent journeys on his trusty 3 speed, steel framed bicycle, that weighs in at 25 kilos. Pedaling a 3 speed with 40kg of luggage for thousands upon thousands of miles is an amazing feat in itself, but Heinz has also pedaled through the deserts of Africa, Australia and Asia. As well as over the high mountain passes in both India and Nepal. Although he does admit to pushing his way up many of the steepest hill’s (do you blame him).

Heinz posing with his trusty 3 speed bike.

His first bicycle journey was made at the age of 18 in 1958, but it wasn’t until Heinz turned 20 that he really gained a taste for overland cycling. Setting off from his hometown of Hövelhof Germany, where he cycled some 17,000km’s through 20 countries before returning home. Although It wouldn’t be long before Heinz would leave Hövelhof again, this time on an endless sojourn of monumental proportions. Between 1962 and 2010 he’s cycled more than 593,000 kilometers and visited some of the most amazing places on earth, whilst consuming 20 passports along the way.

Heinz selling postcards to fund his futrure journeys.

On his travel days, Heinz will cycle approximately 80-120km per day, but it’s not just the cycling of great distances that I admire. It’s the ability to endure such long and lonely times on whilst cycling alone for so many years. To my knowledge, he has never returned home during his 50 years on the road. Heinz also has an interesting motto that sits just below the German flag on the rear of his bike that sums up the mans personality, and philosophy of life perfectly. It reads ‘Be Carefree – Be Mad – Be a little bit bad. It’s the unknown around the corner that turns my wheel’.

The rear of Heinz's bike showing hand painted flags of countires visited.

During his travels Heinz has captured more than 100,000 images in some of the most far reaching and interesting places on earth. He funds his future travels by selling postcards of these images, which he personally signs, as well as booklets with a highly shortened version of his life story. In the end father time will catch up with all of us, but Heinz has repeatedly said that he will stop when he’s dead. In the meantime, if you happen to chance upon Heinz make sure you stop and say hello, and purchase one of his postcards so he can continue to inspire us all with his amazing feat of both physical and no doubt emotional endurance. The man who wanted to see it all! – Heinz Stücke, a modern day travel legend!

Heinz’s official website can be found here.
A shortened version of his life adventures can be found here on the Bike China website.

Peter and Kay Forwood, are two little known, but two legendary Australians, who have been cruising the world, on and off with their trusty Harley Davidson motorcycle for the past 14 years. I have been following there adventures on the Internet for a few years now, and I’m blown away by what they have achieved and experienced with their travels.

In 2008 their motorcycle was recognised as the only vehicle on the planet, that has been ridden or driven in every single country in the world, as per the United Nations list, that currently stands at 192 (for further reading on the confusing topic of what defines a county, you can read an earlier post of mine here).

The Harley Davidson was purchased new, and has now been ridden over 580,000 kilometres of the worlds roads. I contacted Peter and Kay a few weeks ago, and they gave me permission to use some details from there website for this post. As you will see by reading below, there is now doubt that Peter and Kay are modern day, ‘Travel Legends’.

Did you plan to visit all the countries of the world before starting?

DR Congo - Slow going, less than 100 km a day, for ten hours travelling time.

No. The trip was initially intended to be 6 months, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, just myself, but while in Malaysia I heard of a new motorcycle rally in Thailand, was having a great time, and suggested to Kay that she should join me for a month in the middle to attend that rally.

At the time we still had two children in school and one at university, so Kay’s mother looked after them for the month Kay joined me. This became the same pattern during the second 6 month trip from Bangladesh to Greece, when Kay joined me in India and Pakistan for a month about half way. By the end of 1998 our children had completed school and were independent to the extent we felt we could leave them to look after themselves in our house, in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, while we travelled full time.

It was about this time we started thinking of visiting as many countries as possible leading up to the 100th Anniversary Celebrations of Harley-Davidson manufacture, which was to be held in the USA in 2003. By the time of the celebrations the motorcycle had visited 143 countries and rather than calling that the end of the trip we started planning to visit the remaining 50 unvisited countries of the world, but as they were dotted all over the place, most were islands, it took a further five years to finish the ride to every country of the world, using the same motorcycle.

How have you afforded to travel 10 months of every year for 13 years?

Norway - The magnificent Lofoton scenery hasn't changed in the 12 years since our last visit

This is perhaps our most consistent question, often asked by young backpackers, to whom we smilingly reply. Work hard from now until you reach our age, save your money, and there should be enough to travel around the world, at least as a budget traveler.

The answer is fairly true of our circumstances, however we did not know what we were saving for. But there are two ways of making money, earning it, and not spending it, so perhaps as importantly we have tried to remove all at home costs from our expenses. Our house is rented, giving us income. We have some small investments that until the recent economic downturn were performing quite nicely. Sometimes it is suggested we are quite rich, financially, to which we again semi jokingly reply.

We were when we started the trip. It is also commonly asked how much has the trip cost. This is something we haven’t kept records of. I guess we would view it as asking someone, how much they had spent in the last 13 years living, as that is how we now see our travelling, just another way of living.

What was the most dangerous situation you encountered?

A new back tyre and welding the cracks from the Afghan accident.

Apart from just riding a motorcycle in traffic, in dozens of different countries, which is definitely the most dangerous aspect of our trip, we have been mugged twice, threatened at gunpoint once, and even though we traveled through many war zones, areas of civil dispute and countries under military rule, we never felt threatened at those times.

We were first mugged in Brazil, on Copacabana Beach (28/5/02), at night. Our own fault, we had read of its dangers but had forgotten and taking our short wave radio onto the sand to listen to the news, three men approached us, one demanded money at knife point, and whilst I wrestled with him, another held Kay, and the third relieved me of my wallet. It was all over in a matter of seconds, with them escaping along the dark seashore.

The second incident, in Ethiopia (23/2/06), in daylight, in a reasonable area for the capital, Addis Ababa, a man walked a little close to Kay, quickly reached over grabbing her necklace and ran off into side streets with me ineffectually pursuing him. Where we felt most personally threatened though was crossing the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Central African Republic (5/12/00). It was late in the day and we were met by military and police personnel at this tiny border crossing that would rarely see any foreigners crossing.

The government hadn’t paid wages to its public servants for over a year and the military official confronting us seemed to be either intoxicated or on drugs. When he demanded a payment for allowing us into the country, effectively a bribe, something we have refused to pay the entire trip, believing it only leads to more corruption and hardship for the locals who are constantly fleeced, we refused. He instructed his subordinate to load his rifle with ammunition, which he did, pointed the rifle at us, and proceeded to count 1. 2. 3. indicating he would shoot on three.

Luckily, or I would not be telling this story, the command to fire never arrived, and having played his final card the officer left, not to return. We settled into the police compound, camping for the night, and were allowed entry to the country the next morning, after obtaining a receipt for any charges.

You passed through many countries at war, were you concerned?

DR Congo - Always an audience

Even if a country is at war, it is usually only in a small area where the fighting is occurring, not right across the country. When we crossed the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country was divided into three areas, the government held area, plus two rebel held areas to the north. At the time, the two rebel held areas, where we crossed, we considered to be safer than the government held area.

The rebels were fighting against government corruption and whilst fighting was occurring along the bordering areas we passed well away from those areas and saw no signs of war. There was however destruction along our route, destroyed and looted buildings, from the Lords Resistance Army, who had only left the area a couple of months earlier. The same situation occurred in Iraq.

We entered the safer, almost autonomous, Kurdish region in the North, crossing over and back from Turkey, and again saw none of the fighting that was occurring further south in Iraq. Perhaps the most dangerous situation we encountered was where there was tension leading up to a civil war or a coup. This happened to us in both the Central African Republic and in Cote d’Ivoire. There was open civil unrest against the governments of both countries, tyres were being burned on the roads and there were many roadblocks, where government officials were demanding money or goods from locals and ourselves.

Both these country’s governments, soon after, collapsed under pressure. Perhaps Liberia and Sierra Leone were the most dangerous countries we visited. Fighting had been occurring in both for a long time. Sierra Leone was officially then at peace but the United Nations hadn’t yet moved into the region bordering Liberia, where we needed to cross and whilst fighting was in a lull in Liberia there was a tenseness and erupted not long after our visit. During the visit to Afghanistan, again there was a lull in the conflict. Whilst fighting was still occurring in the south suicide bombings hadn’t yet come to Kabul.

In Somalia, we only visited the more peaceful region of Somaliland and again avoided the worst of any conflict. It is hard to realise that life in these war torn countries still goes on as best and normal as possible. People still go to work, the fields are tended, what food there is is prepared and eaten, people survive as best they can, there is little choice.

What are your plans now that you have visited every country?

Indonesia - Leaving the H-D shop in Thessalonika

As there was no initial aim to visit all the countries of the world with the one motorcycle, the fact that we have now done so hasn’t affected our real reason for traveling, we just like to travel by motorcycle, and intend to continue to do so while ever we, and the motorcycle, are capable of doing so. We plan to ship the motorcycle from New Zealand to Europe at the end of February, returning to countries and places we liked on our first visit, or to see places we missed.

Our traveling is likely to be a little slower, less focused on an achievement, more oriented to traveling with others and attending rally’s in different countries, but we still like time to ourselves. The areas of the world we wish to return to are Europe, North America, South America and southern Africa, a large chunk of the world perhaps, but we missed so much on our 13 year reconnoitre, now we would like to have a good look, which we expect to take at least another five plus years. We estimate the motorcycle has ridden just 1% of the worlds roads leaving plenty of scope for the future.

Has travel changed the way you look at the world and yourselves?

Fitting the temporary belt made from two broken belts

Most people only have the media view of the world, or a small inkling from a holiday overseas, but to have had the opportunity to visit many places in depth our travels have indeed changed our view of the world. Perhaps the biggest influence on us is minimising waste.

When so much of the world has so little, so little they can afford, less even to waste, we have become minimalists, selectively only buying what is necessary, wearing clothes to destruction, eating food to completion. We have also learnt that almost all of the worlds problems are directly associated with overpopulation.

The more people, the more greenhouse gasses. The more people the more demand for forest products. The more people the more fish, animals, vegetables that need to be grown, placing more demands on nature’s shrinking resources.

We are also more aware of, although not necessarily more tolerant of, different cultures influence on our way of life. We have learnt not to judge nor put our values on other cultures, but don’t feel some other cultures offer us the same respect.

When will your retire the motorcycle?

Zambia - Loading Bike Via Crane

In a perfect world we will all retire together, Kay, the motorcycle and myself, at a time long into the future. Unfortunately the world is not always perfect but we see no reason to replace our motorcycle, and there seems no reason to replace Kay, so maybe the world will be a little perfect for us for a while longer.

Peter and Kay have the chronicles of there travels over at Horizons Unlimited, you should head over to the site for further reading on this amazing couple.

For those wishing to start their own world motorcycle adventure in the footsteps (or tyre tracks) of Peter and Kay, then you may wish to check out the Achievable Dream DVD by Horizons Unlimited.