History
It's hard to peg when it all started to become a coherent idea. A rented Renault around Europe, a purple $300 VW convertible bug to tour Australia, crashing 125cc motos in Thailand or driving a $60 Trabant across Europe. Somewhere in the midst of all of the nonsense, John "Lovie" Lovejoy decided an office job was far from the ideal work place, and had no desire to commute in a "reliable" Toyota.
Each of his previous endeavors ended haphazardly: the Renault had a rough time in the streets of Florence and came roaring back on to the German Autobahn with its fair share of dings, dents and blemishes. The beetle faired quite a bit worse, hitting a kangaroo before the engine exploded all over the motorway outside Brisbane. His first time on a moto was no less disastrous, crashing into just about everything he could find and routinely forgetting to put the kickstand up properly, knocking over every other scooter around.
"In July 2007 [the team] departed Germany for Cambodia. They arrived just under six months later, three months over schedule with two less cars, having driven through 21 countries."
Perhaps the last one was the final impetus for it all. Having loved "Trabis" since growing up in Germany, he convinced a mate to split one with him to drive across Europe for the 2006 World Cup. They successfully managed to navigate through Germany and on to Paris. Upon arrival, Lovie wanted to take the little plastic fella down to Pamplona; his mate just wanted to go home. It took little time to find a couple crazies to ride down with him. They got as far as Versailles before that engine exploded as well. It was left with the keys and paperwork for someone a little more mechanically-inclined.
Having gotten across Europe it seemed natural to push just a little further. Having just left a children's organization in Cambodia for a journalism job in Budapest during the winter, Lovie was missing both the work and the sunshine. One night out and a couple palinkas brought him to the brilliant conclusion to drive the cult-car half way across the world. This was followed by a tornado of emails and resulted in a team of eight foolish people, three Trabants and a dilapidated old Mercedes willing to take the risk.
Despite the constant barrage of naysayers telling them it was impossible, "you'll be lucky to make it to Turkey", "we will see you in two weeks", the team pushed forward and in July 2007 departed Germany for Cambodia. They arrived just under six months later; three months over schedule and with two less cars, having driven through 21 countries, burnt and frostbitten from both the blistering heat of Central Asia and the bitter cold of Siberia. Oh, and they only broke down 326 times, or something like that. After the 100th time it was all a blur of rackets, spanners and screwdrivers.
The relative success of Trabant Trek definitely got to Lovie's head with a new adventure springing-up every couple of minutes. He finally decided NO MORE JOB and has been spending all his time to bring together all the crazies in the world who want a whole lot more than the normal life.
The ideas are still spewing forth, with the first team-oriented event centered around the upcoming World Cup, a distant idea for the 2014 World Cup, and a plethora of other events spanning the globe in between.