Wait… 2022… over already? Where does the time go? Another overlanding year behind us. After six years driving up the Americas from Argentina, our mission of 2022 was to complete the Pan-American Highway by reaching Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. With that mission accomplished and our US visas expiring, we came to Mexico for some winter sun. What started as a round-the-world trip nine years ago has stalled a bit in North America since Covid. It’s about time we bucked ourselves up and got on with the business of circumnavigation! So now, from a series of lovely beaches in Mexico with overlanding friends, we ponder overlanding 2023 and the big question of our time: ‘Where next?’

Overlanding 2023 Options

Way back in 2014 at the start of this trip, we had a vague plan that after The Americas we’d put Cuthbert on a luxury cruise to somewhere across the Pacific. We were never sure where, just somewhere.

Shipping to Vladivostok, Russia and driving west had always been in the back of our minds as one potential route back to Europe. The tragic war in Ukraine put paid to that idea, at least for the time being. Disappointing, but we can’t whinge compared to what the poor people there are suffering.

Never mind. How about South-East Asia? Surely there must be a route through there. Turns out… nope! We could ship-in there, so it’s not totally off our radar. But with Myanmar and China being closed, there’s no land-route out and we’d just end up having all the hassle of shipping again too soon,

Okay… Australia then! No wars, no border closures… that’ll do nicely! The snaggette with Australia is that we’ve had quotes of rather gob-smacking shipping prices: over US$14,000 just for the shipping cost alone! And that doesn’t include port and agents’ fees at each end, cleaning and fumigation fees for Aus arrival, the Carnet de Passage, visa fees, flights, hotel for 5-6 weeks whilst Cuthbert is on the ship, the list goes on! Bugger! It’s going to cost a fortune, or rather it’s not… because it’s not going to happen at that price.

Even if we did choose to spend that much just to get to Australia, our maximum time allowed to stay is just one year! Less than a year after arriving, we’d have to start planning how to spend another OMG amount to get out of Aus again! It seems shipping prices are unfeasibly high at the moment as demand temporarily exceeds available cargo space. Prices are predicted to deflate and re-stabilise in the first half of 2023, but no one will bet their last beer on that, will they?

In the meantime…

We like it here, eating tacos on a beach in Mexico. And we’re enjoying a rest, being (relatively) static for a while after driving over 40,000km in 2022. Don’t cry into your New Year’s champers for us, but some days the distances on the Alaska route were relentless! We have no great sense of urgency in our pondering the mission for overlanding 2023, but we do have a bit on an itch to get exploring new places again. We’ve not seen everything in North and Central America (obvs!) but after exactly five years since arriving in Panama from Colombia, we now feel a new continent challenge is calling. We’ll consider other shipping options and keep an eye on the prices – something will come up. It always does. Promise that when we’ve made a decision, you’ll be the first to know!

In the meantime, here’s a little smorgasbord of our favourite pics from 2022. We wish everyone a super-duper new year and hope you all get to where you want to be in 2023.