A2A Expedition’s Graeme Bell on Family Overlanding, the Defender TD5, and Traveling the World Long-Term

Overland Journal Podcast host Scott Brady interviews overlander and author Graeme Bell of A2A Expedition, speaking from South Africa while sheltered in place and preparing for a new journey. Bell describes traveling long-term with his wife Luisa and their two children, how they homeschool using an American syllabus, and how constant family togetherness builds strong relationships and communication. He recounts choosing and building their Land Rover Defender 130 TD5 (“Mafuta”), its reliability across 25,000-kilometer Africa routes and the Americas, key failures like a broken clutch in Morocco, and a “Little Black Box” engine monitor that helped prevent overheating. Bell highlights converting the truck into a hard-side pop-top camper as a major quality-of-life upgrade, discusses cautious hitchhiking, argues overlanding should prioritize the journey over gear, explains living on about $2,000/month through minimalism and writing, outlines his books, and shares future plans to drive Cape Town to Vladivostok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.