Singapore Couple Quit Their Jobs to Travel by Van to Europe

August 24, 2019 Martijn. S 0 Posts, Travels,

We have been researching for our own overland #vanlife trip when we came across on Instagram about a Singaporean couple, Martin & Jacinda, who left their jobs to travel overland by a Hiace Van they bought in Johor Bahru.

I immediately got in touch with them via Instagram to know more about their van as Ann and I are looking to do an overland trip too in the near future.

Hopefully. 🤞

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This was back then when we first bought the van and just finished removing all 11 passenger seats, ON OUR OWN!!!! ☀️👫🚐 You know, initially many people told us we couldn’t do it cos we had no idea what we were doing. It was true, we were never very hands-on people, living in the city, everything we needed, we bought. But everyone has a first time, if you wanna do it, we’d say just f***ing plunge into it and get your hands dirty. Yes we made mistakes and blamed each other for the mistakes we made (haha), but that’s learning. Learning to live life and learning to live together. 👫🚐☀️ So what are you waiting for? Follow your dreams and don’t look back ☀️🚐👫 . . . . . . #vanlife #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #vandwellers #myvanlife #hiacecamper #vanlifemalaysia #travelmalaysia #travelgram #asiatravel #vanconversion #adventure #advanture #roadtrip #homeiswhereyouparkit #sustainable #zerowaste #diyvan #responsiblevanlife #thegoodlife #camping #MJROADTRIPPIN #vanbuild

A post shared by Martin Jacinda☀️👫🚐 (@mjroadtrippin) on Aug 20, 2019 at 7:37pm PDT

We were quite surprised that they immediately replied to our messages about their Hiace Van named Bruce. And we were instantly in awe of their ongoing trip from Singapore to Portugal via their DIY converted campervan.

We have been following their journey ever since via their Instagram stories, accounts and we look forward to their postings everyday.

Another fellow #Vanlife couple enthusiast from Malaysia, whom have been making fantastic series of videos about campervanning named 24 Hour Travellers, managed to catch up with Martin, Jacinda and Bruce.

Read more: 24 Hour Travellers – Treasure Trove of Asian Vanlife Videos by Sam & Rene

24 Hour Travellers filmed an interview with the couple about their trip, campervan and you can watch the interesting video below that has since become viral.

We are also big fans of 24 Hour Travellers where we follow their videos and updates religiously about campervan life.

Check out the video above on how Martin and Jacinda made the overland trip from Singapore to Europe come true. How they convert their Hiace Van with sustainable sourced items like rattan and bamboo for their furniture as well as coconut husk fibres for insulation of their van. How they left their jobs and convinced their families about their trip.

Amazing info for all you #Vanlife people who have always dreamed about making an overland trip like this come true.

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Why have we decided to travel the world? ☀️👫🚐 When we used to work full time, we could always only travel 2 weeks max at a time. But even during those short trips, our encounters with the locals made us realise that we actually didn’t know much of the world and her ways. ☀️👫🚐 Maybe cuz having lived, studied and worked our entire lives in Singapore, all we saw was what’s in front of us and all we knew was where we lived. ☀️👫🚐 Over time, we slowly discovered, what we typically considered strange or judged as taboo in other cultures was mainly merely ignorance on our part; just cuz we’re not familiar with it, we deemed it “wrong” or undoable. ☀️🚐👫 But the world is so big! There are a million ways to do one thing, so why stick ourselves in a box! Keep an open mind and we’d be less judgmental, more willing to take risks to try something new and then start to learn more and do things differently. ☀️🚐👫 So we MUST go! For the sake of ourselves and the society, we‘ve got to go into the world, take off our tinted glasses and head towards the unknown, physically and mentally. And this time not for only 2 weeks; we wanna really take our time to discover, and maybe from it, find ourselves and our place in the universe. Also, we go NOW, not when we retire and become more set in our ways. And we will return when we are ready and hopefully can contribute more value to the society. ☀️👫🚐 Till then, we know we’re in for a great trip! We’re gonna keep our eyes, ears and hearts open and explore the wonders of the world 💕 . . . . . . . #vanlife #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #vandwellers #myvanlife #hiacecamper #vanlifemalaysia #travelmalaysia #travelgram #asiatravel #vanconversion #adventure #advanture #homeiswhereyouparkit #sustainable #zerowaste #mjroadtrippin #roadtrip #diyvan #vaneats #responsiblevanlife #thegoodlife

A post shared by Martin Jacinda☀️👫🚐 (@mjroadtrippin) on Jul 31, 2019 at 9:00pm PDT

If you don’t have the time to watch the video, the Instagram post above summed up about their why Martin and Jacinda are doing this overland trip from Singapore via their van.

Ann and I are so pleased that there are Singaporeans who are willing to take the plunge and do a overland trip like Martin and Jacinda did.