Dirk and Sonja of ELMO's Odyssee
Dirk started traveling on a motorbike in 1989, before that he’d travel with his father as a international truck driver to different countries. After purchasing their Unimog with a plan to build it out over three years, Sonja decided after one year they needed to start their overlanding adventure around the world as soon as possible. Just go! Now on the road for over one and a half years, they will occasionally stop for a week or so to make changes or add upgrades as they travel.
The naming of their truck was genius; wanting to make sure the potentially intimidating looking machine had a friendly name, they wanted to be approachable to people as they traveled. ELMO is an acronym for Expedition (E) Survival / überleben (L) Mobile (MO) making it easier to have contact with new friends. And who wouldn’t smile at a cute little red guy on a Unimog.
Dirk and Sonja go through a lot of great tips and stories in this two part episode, not excluding the harder parts of overlanding in areas of the world that are in war, safety is a vital consideration. Sonja and Dirk do a great job of going through all these helpful details, along with many tips and good stories of their overlanding adventures.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elmos_odyssee
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SonjaundDirk
Vehicle: 1992 Unimog U 1450 Model L
Most Valuable: A very comfortable bed in Elmo with memory foam
Top Destinations: Romania and Uzbekistan
Heater: Webasto diesel heater
Fuel Capacity: 380 liters (124 gl.) of diesel going up to 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles)
Water Capacity: 200 liters (52.82 gl.)