The Official Publication of the Toyota Land Cruiser Association. Since 1976 and Still Going Strong.

January/february 2007

A 21-Year Journey Around the World–With Still No End in Sight...

by Emil & Liliana Schmid

October 18, 1984
When we embarked on our long cherished journey of freedom and adventure for one or two years with our Land Cruiser FJ60, on that cloudy autumn day in Switzerland—we never dreamt that 21 years later we would still be on the road. Traveling the world became addictive—from a break from routine life, it became a full time love affair.

North and South America, 1984-1988
The travel bug caught us after the first two years in North and Central America—exactly after 61,000 miles through seven countries—and raised our insatiable curiosity for more distant lands. With vivid memories of the beautiful national parks, 4x4 adventures in Canyonlands and Baja, California, steaming jungles and ancient civilizations in Central America where we barely escaped guerilla and bandit attacks, we shipped the Cruiser to South America. It was a plunge into a very diverse world. The challenges became bigger, the landscapes different—from deserts, volcanoes, glaciers, swamps and the Amazon jungle, we discovered all of it on our 48,000 mile, 10 country circumnavigation. Apart from a rear axle change, our Land Cruiser performed excellently, even in very high
altitudes in Bolivia where the air was very thin and lacked oxygen.

Africa, 1989-1992
Africa was really a jump into the deep water. Each of the 60,000 miles driven through 34 different countries offered something new, strange and exciting—starting with the crossing of the treacherous Sahara from Algeria into Niger, from the traditional Muslim world into untouched and laid back Black Africa. From north to south, it was a constant struggle with mud-choked roads, missing bridges, corruption, border crossings, poverty and disease. Nevertheless, we soon gave in to the charm of Africa—the smells and colors and the people with their broad smiles. On a 21-day trip on the River Congo in former Zaire, we lived day and night on a barge packed with life among a whole village of locals and their domestic animals. It was our most intensive African experience apart from the rewarding encounters with wild animals—gorillas, lions, rhinoceros, elephants, giraffes, wildebeest, hippos and buffalos. Also some snakes were sighted. When we reached the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, we were not only proud of ourselves that we had made it, but also of our sturdy Land Cruiser which pushed its way through incredible terrain and never caused us any major problems.

Australia, 1992-1993
The empty outback of wild and untamed Australia, with its many off road tracks kept us for one year, driving 24,000 miles from the deserted west to the green and populated east, and from the hot north to the rugged south and on into the empty, red and sandy interior. In a riverbed of loose stones, we had to use for the first time our winch to free ourselves and escaped for the second time (the first time was in Guatemala) from scary individuals, who chased us in a forested area—and this in the country of “no worries!”

Asia and the Middle East, 1993-1995
The change from Australia into Southeast Asia was a move into a fairytale land with new cultures, religions and a wealth of exotic temples, especially in Thailand. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—after having visited 60 countries—we had our first encounter with a Toyota distributor wanting to make a promotion of our Land Cruiser and helping us in exchange to get an entry visa for Dubai/United Arab Emirates by that local Toyota importer.

A touch of “1001 Nights” was the Middle East—the countries of nomads, sheiks, princesses, camels, desert sands and date palm oases. The deep Arabian tradition, Oriental architecture, traditional dhows and the smells of Oriental spices captivated us from the very first moment. With the assistance of all the regional Toyota dealers—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Yemen—we were able to circumnavigate the whole Arabian Peninsula as the first ever tourist car—it became an overwhelming experience.

Asia continued to have his grip on us: Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh were next, each country so totally different in landscape, culture and religion. India was the most challenging, regarding chaotic roads, curiosity and a complete lack of privacy. Inspired by the collapse of the former Soviet Union, we crossed from Iran into the newly born Central Asian Republics towards Russia and were amazed by the magnificent Islamic schools along the Silk Road and later the golden Russian Orthodox churches. Finally, we said goodbye to Asia, at least for the moment.

Europe and entering the Guinness Book of Records, 1996-1998
In 1995 we returned to Europe by crossing the Ural Mountains. This culturally rich but rather expensive continent took us three years and 52,000 miles to explore—from Gibraltar in the south to the North Cape of Norway, and from Portugal in the east to Cyprus in the west. It was in May 1997 in the Vatican—the smallest state in the world—when we achieved a triple entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most countries, the most kilometers and the most years in a single car. Even if an entry in the Book doesn’t pay anything, it helps a lot to open later jammed doors.

Arabia, Far East and North America (second visit), 1999-2002
Europe could not hold us any longer. In January 1999, we embarked down the road (for the third time) toward the United Arab Emirates and Oman on the Arabian Peninsula—one of our favorite regions in the world. As previously, the UAE Toyota distributor was overwhelmingly generous to us and our Land Cruiser—making repairs and rejuvenating it, even with new paint in recognition of the 500,000th km (or 310,690 miles) on the odometer, reached on March 16th, 2000. An unexpected offer for a free sea journey took us from Arabia to the Far East—from the desert to the subtropics of South Korea and Japan. The legendary discipline, correctness and traditional courtesy of the Japanese people made our eleven week journey through the hilly tropical islands of Nippon, with its unique shrines and manicured parks, a most memorable one. Unfortunately, our dreams for a sponsorship from Toyota Japan did not come true and we closed the chapter on Asia after 73,000 miles...

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