Overland Expedition Planning: The Top Resources We Use for Overlanding
Overlanding Skills
Expedition Planning Part 3
Overland Expedition Planning Part 3: The Top Resources We Use for Overlanding
This is the third article of three articles on our overland expedition trip planning process.
The focus of the first article was on the process we use to develop our itineraries. The focus of the second article article is on the steps we take to prepare for each expedition. And the focus of this third article is on the resources and tools that we use to develop our itineraries and prepare for each expedition.
In this article in our Overland Expedition Planning series, we identify the resources we use most during our overland expeditions. We’ve grouped these resources into several categories: communication and connectivity, language, money management, outdoor adventures, photography and videography, and trip planning.
We hope you find this overland expedition planning guide useful. Please email us your resources so we can check them out and add them to our list!
Communication and Connectivity
Facebook helps us stay connected with friends and family and other overlanding and travel communities where people share advice about destinations, routes, and logistics. Some of these Facebook groups can get annoying, but others are great resources, and a great way to connect with like-minded people.
Instagram is convenient to share our photos and stories quickly, and to connect with other travelers.
Our Website is a way for us to document more comprehensive content about our adventures for friends, family, and other travelers interested in similar journeys.
WhatsApp is our primary messaging app and an additional voice calling app while traveling.
We use pre-paid country, continent, and/or global phone plans or e-Sims like Orange Travel and/or T-Mobile.
Starlink is pricey, but worth every penny (and hair on our heads). It’s been great for reliable WiFi.
Language
Apple Translate is often used (sometimes with our AirPods) to have real-time conversations with people who speak different languages. The app makes it possible to listen, speak, and translate during face-to-face interactions while traveling. It isn’t perfect since doesn’t catch and translate every words (in our experience it only catches and translates 50-75% of words), but it’s better than nothing. Keep in mind that you need AirPods 3 or above to use it, and you need to download the languages on your phone and in the app when you have good WiFi.
Google Translate we use to quickly translate text and conversations between languages. Apple Translate can do many of the same things, but we often find Google Translate’s interface slightly easier to use for quick translations and more accuracy.
Money Management
For everyday banking, we use a U.S.-based account designed for international travel. The important features for us are no foreign transaction fees and reimbursement of ATM fees worldwide. Over several years of international travel, those two benefits can save a surprising amount of money, particularly when withdrawing cash frequently in countries where card payments aren’t always practical.
Several U.S. banks and cash-management accounts offer similar benefits, so rather than recommending a specific institution, we suggest looking for an account with no foreign transaction fees, worldwide ATM-fee reimbursement, no monthly maintenance fees, and a debit card that works reliably internationally.
Just make sure you decline conversion on the ATM screen. Choose the country currency, not your local currency, e.g., USD. Let your bank/card do the conversion, not the ATM.
PayPal is one option to pay vendors while traveling. It’s important to ask vendors to send an invoice, because without one you might not be able to rely on PayPal’s support if something goes wrong.
TravelSpend iOS app is one of many options for international budget tracking. Having Microsoft Excel, for expense tracking is complementary. TravelSpend is great for tracking daily expenses, while Excel helps track recurring expenses that some applications aren’t designed to manage.
Wise has been a popular way in Europe to make payments directly to vendors who don’t accept PayPal. It works like an international bank account, allowing a person to deposit money directly into vendors’ bank accounts when that’s not possible from a U.S. bank account.
XE Currency one of the more common go-to’s to quickly convert foreign currencies into U.S. dollars so you can better understand what things actually cost.
Outdoor Adventures
Biking
Bikepacking.com is Karl’s primary resource for identifying bikepacking routes.
Gaia GPS is what we use to download detailed topographic maps for bikepacking and trekking adventures.
Kamoot has been our go-to in Europe for identify biking and hiking routes. We’ve found that it works better for biking, and are often evaluating alternative resources for hiking. Leah seeks out country or region specific trail apps and maps to compliment and/or use in place of Kamoot.
Birding
Birding Places is a nifty website to identify birding locations in Europe, focusing on “not to be missed” birding destinations.
Merlin is the app Leah uses to identify birds, but it’s not as comprehensive in Europe as it is in the U.S. A few options that we have not tried yet are: eBird, Collin’s Bird Guide, and iNaturalist.
Climbing
Ferrata Guide and Komoot we use to identify via ferratas.
Hiking and Trekking
Best Hike Europe we use to identify some of the best hikes and treks in Europe.
Moon & Honey Travel is another one of our go-to’s to identify outstanding hiking regions and specific hikes and treks in Europe.
Scuba Diving
PADI Travel, PADI Top Dive Sites in Europe, Scubago Dive Center Locator we use to identify scuba diving destinations, dive centers, and dive sites.
Snorkeling
Snorkeling Around the World is our resource along with World Adventure Divers to identify excellent snorkeling destinations.
Photography and Videography
Andy Mumford videos and tutorials are what Karl uses to improve his landscape and travel photography skills.
Dylan Goldby videos are what Karl uses to improve his portrait and travel photography skills.
Lonely Speck has articles that Karl uses to improve his astrophotography skills.
PhotoPills is what Karl is currently experimenting with to plan sunrise, sunset, and astrophotography shots.
Underwater Photography Guide articles are what Karl uses to improve his underwater photography skills.
Overland Expedition Planning: The Top Resources We Use for Overlanding
Overland Expedition Planning: Expedition Preparation
Traveling with Pets
Safety
Vehicle Maintenance
Overland Expedition Planning: Itinerary Development
Choosing a Vehicle
Last but not Least
Trip Planning
Agritourism Memberships are subscription-based memberships such as España Discovery, France Passion, and Agricamper to identify farms and wineries that allow overlanders to stay on their properties. These are great resources because relatively few overlanders use them.
Airbnb and Booking.com are two platforms we use to find places to stay when we want or need to get out of our vehicle for a few days. Airbnb is often better if we run into problems and need help with a refund, but Booking.com is frequently cheaper because Airbnb fees can be relatively high.
Google Maps and a Garmin GPS Navigator are what we use use for navigation, especially when driving. However, when searching for specific services—like a veterinarian in a small town in Morocco—we often check Apple Maps and both because some places appear on one platform but not the other.
ChatGPT as described in Part 1 and Part 2 of our Overland Expedition Planning articles, we use during our trip planning process and as a daily general information gathering source.
Google Docs we use to create and organize documents such as itineraries. One advantage is that documents can be edited even when you are offline.
iOverlander we use to identify campgrounds and wild camping options in regions like Central and South America.
Traveling Mailbox is a virtual mailbox you can receive, view, and manage your home country mail while traveling internationally.
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