Driving a Tacoma around the world

Your photography and this story thread is absolutely amazing.

 

We’ll thank you @Stewart! If interested we have more write up and high res pics (unfortunately had to reduce the pixel size to post here) on our website, https://www.roguewanderers.com/blog/bosnia-and-herzegovina. Next up is the wonderful country of Albania in a couple of days!

 

Oh I’m getting behind! Our next stop was the Balkan country of Montenegro. Montenegro was fanstastic. We entered coming down the coast from Croatia, and immediately felt just a little more relaxed. Montenegro shares gorgeous turquoise coast line with Croatia, ancient walled cities and forts and stunning national parks. But it is less crowded and developed for tourism, which makes for some fun challenges.



The town walls of the ancient town of Kotor coming down to an inlet on the Adriatic Sea.


Small cobbled with marble alleys within the walls


The streets are shiny from hundreds of years of wear.


Not all campsites are ideal, but this old rock quarry served us well for a night.


The amazing town of Budva, originally built by the Venetians, hundreds of years ago.


Another free camping spot after a day in Cetinje - on a hill above town. We love it when a country’s camping rules are flexible.


The added bonus is there was a cave 100’ away from the site.


And even a real bell you can ring. Yes, I did!


Heading into Durmitor National Park, with the Tara river below


Have no idea why this is called the Black Lakes.


Our favorite camping site in Dumitor National Park. Right off the road, legal.

Cheers!

 

As someone who lives in Miami, this is VERY Miami. I see you came through my neck of the woods and visited the Everglades and maybe the Keys? Awesome journey so far! I just started following and catching up. Thanks for sharing.

 

You're welcome and thanks for following! Yes, the Everglades in the month of June was the hottest time in the two years we’ve been traveling. This month we change gears and head into West Africa, hoping it won’t be as hot there!

 

Albania! My oh my! What wonderful surprise. Magnificent mountains, beautiful, warm beaches, stunningly clear seas, and a complex history, it has it all. It so far has not yet been discovered by too many people, unlike Croatia.

Pulling Pulling into our first wild campsite in the Accursed Mountains


The next day we hiked a fairly grueling 6 miles up to a 6000 foot high pass. It was well worth it

Our first stop was Shkodër, one of the oldest cities in Albania. We made our way to Rozafa Castle, a stunning complex built 4,000 years ago on a rocky hill above the city.

It was the right combination of restoration and ruin for us. We could feel the history and understand the structure and use of the various buildings but it didn’t feel too new and perfect.


We love it when we’re free to roam and there’s no one else around.

Our next stop was unplanned and one of our favorites. It was one of those moments when we were driving down the freeway, feeling like a break to stretch our legs, and saw a historic sign saying “Apollonia” with a picture of some Roman columns.



My wife’s favorite - Artemis




Mine. No comment



Again, almost noone around and free to clamor over Roman ruins.

We continued our way down the coast of the Adriatic ocean, driving the hairpin turns of the mountain to sea roads and eyeing the turquoise blue ocean the “Albanian Riviera” is known for.



Found our favorite campsite in Albania - private beach, no one around




And the campsite on further exploration found an old submarine bunker built into the cliff, extraordinary and eerie. I had to go for a swim in the water was probably 75°


Our next stop was another historic site - Butrint National Park on the strait of Corfu. It has been the site of Greek and Roman colonies. Once again, we were allowed to wander freely among the ruins, often no one else around. Entrance fee was $3.



Dawn is waiting for the show to begin


Over the past 2 1/2 years of traveling we’ve been to 38 countries, four of which were our favorites and Albania was one of them. If considering going to Europe next summer or fall, this is one I would pick. It is cheap and the people are friendly as well.

As I mentioned in an earlier post we are now traveling across southern Europe to meet our kids and family for Christmas in Morocco after which we will leave them start our adventure down the West Coast of Africa. Right now we’re deep in the research right now.

 

I've changed my whole set up to have more space and when its done I plan on taking this everywhere!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/building-flatbed-and-camper.784730/#post-28071374

 

Nice flatbed! You built that yourself? Looks professional

 

Yeah, I built it myself. I thought that I could just teach myself and save a lot of money. Like your set up but I would not be able to afford all that anytime soon. It has taken lots of research and time but I like how it came out. Also the camper is about 30% done. I'm doing a whole pop up also.

 

Nice! Are you building a pop-up camper as well? The only reason we bought our setup is that we sold our house and live full-time in it

 

sounds like you're living a fun life and a dream! I am building a pop-up. How have your travels been?

 

We are thoroughly enjoying our traveling life. After decades of both my wife and I pursuing sucessful careers it’s been a wonderful change.

 

glad y'll can do that! That's always a question for us is how are we going to make a living without having to give up so much of our lives

 

We toured Albania in the summer of 2019 from the northern mountains to the beaches in the south. I had read it was the last place in Europe where you could live an adventure. So true! The people are super friendly, the weather is just mind boggling (always sunny, both in the mountains and by the sea), everything is super cheap and the whole country is much safer than what it could look like.

 

Great photos and storyline!

My family and I lived in 3 European countries while I was active duty military: England, Germany & Italy.

Met my wife in England (she's Scottish) and traveled to Scotland & Wales.

Our kids were school aged when we lived in Germany but we squeezed a trip down to Edelweiss in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

In Italy, it was Pisa/Cinque Terre and Rome.

I think Europe is fantastic...my family was anticipating me getting an overseas civilian job...but I didn't go that route.

Continued safe travels to you and your wife. Let me compliment your photos again!!!

 

do you think you would ever want to move back or stay over here in the states?

 

Your picture of the ancient town of Kotor in Montenegro.

Unbelievable construction on that sheer cliff and into the inlet. How it could be built so long ago is amazing, and likely not something we could recreate today using simply manpower and crude tools. I am sure a lot of slave labor went into it, but so incredible.

 

@Calamity_taco

At this point, we're staying put. Both our daughters are married; 1 living with us (going to college full-time) & the other living near Baltimore, MD. It's all about retirement preparation...paying off the mortgage, continue working to fund our IRAs and still have the master bathroom to remodel.

My wife has family in England so we have places to stay without paying for hotel when we visit.

It was so much easier being assigned to a military base and then driving/flying to a destination near another military base and staying in their billeting.

Camp Darby (near Pisa, Italy) and Rota Naval Base (near Cadiz, Spain) are two places we visited while stationed at Ramstein, Germany.

Europe was the best experience for our family.

 

i feel you still pretty cool you got to experience all that! whats something i guess you miss about living overseas?

 

@Calamity_taco

The different cultures.

Our adult kids will tell you they are cultured because of my military career. It allowed them to goto DoDs Schools and have friendships that still continue today.

As a matter of fact, our youngest met her future husband at my final USAF assignment to Aviano, Italy in 2009. After both families PCS'd (Permanent Change Station) in 2011, they kept in contact and eventually got married 6 years later. We are amazed they kept a long-distance relationship for so long.

Our eldest was introduced to her future husband at the first Firefly Festival held in Dover in 2012. She married a classmate from her sister's year. Somehow, with all our travels, both our daughters graduated from the same CR High School, here in Delaware.

But back to the culture thing...All Europeans have their own daily routines which differ from Americans. They aren't in a rush to do daily errands and go about their lives in a quiet mode. You could say, they don't bring much attention to themselves.

In Germany, our kids did their best to learn the language and the locals appreciated it. Same thing when we were in Italy.

I can share more experiences in PM if you like. Don't wanna detract from OP's thread with my stories.