Overlanding as the New RV'ing

toedtoes wrote:
It really isn't new "in the US". As I mentioned before, people have been doing it in various forms forever - whether by hitchhiking, by car/van, or by RV.

I do have to question your comment "I have plans to do an expedition in a year or two to Central America. I find the idea of driving around the continent or the world as something really worth doing and now it is finally catching on here in the US." Why is that last part there? I you like the idea, then do it. Whether or not it's become popular shouldn't have any bearing on it.

Hitchhiking is NOT considered Overlanding any more than riding your bicycle across the country is considerate RV'ing. And Overlanding generally if not always infers crossing more than one continent. Not just traveling across your own. But it is more about HOW you do it also. Overlanding like RV'ing can and does encompass many different types of vehicle and styles of travel. But there is a distinct difference between the two.

America has been slow to pick up on the Ovelrlanding idea whether it be by tour such as with Encounter Overland on a 27 week trip from London to Capetown or on their own with their own vehicle. Still to this day those that make up the vast majority of Customers of organized Overland trips are European or Asian, Americans are thin on the ground.

So no it has not been going on here for a long time except by a very few hardy individuals that caught on to the trend back in the 60's and 70's went to Europe bought an old VW van and set out for India.

And lastly you never seem to tire of splitting written hairs. Why do you care how I phrased it? the statement isnt really about popularity as much as it is about timing. I first became interested in Overlanding when I was about 13 and read a book about two English guys that drove their Land Rover around the world. I have sailed my own boat across the pacific I have driven across more than one continent long before this. None of it had to do with "Popularity".