What Is This?
A bit mental...
Trabant Trek may have happened in 2007 but it will go down in history as one of the most ludicrously unique campaigns to raise funds and awareness for the world's millions of street children. It was also paramount to the foundation of Nomadic Nation.
Plastic cars? Two-stroke engines? Most people are unaware that Trabants even exist, or what they are. When they do figure it out, the last thing they expect is to see three of them puttering across half the globe. Yet that's exactly what seven (and a half) travelers did in the summer of 2007. Some called them daring, others bold... but mostly they were told they were stupid, and quite likely a little mental. Of course, being a little mental they went ahead with their plan.
Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!
After hasty preparations the kaleidoscopic team ventured out into the unknown. Unknown lands, unknown languages and unknown hazards all loomed – though they all paled in comparison beside the unknown team member each of the group was now sharing a very confined space with 24/7. In the first few weeks, tempers flared but laughter ensued – much like your average reality TV show drama. Agreements were made and treaties signed as the group pushed their way across Eastern Europe.
By the time Team Trabant had entered the historic crossroads of Istanbul, the road had begun to get into their brains. Sleeping in cars and on rooftops, the weary gaggle took advantage of the hospitality and hookahs, and refreshed themselves in parts of the world they had been to before. This was the last time a member would be able to say "last time I was here" until they reached the bittersweet heat of Laos.
The plan on arriving at the destination (Cambodia) in three months slowly disintegrated as Central Asia wreaked havoc. Cars fell apart, visa’s expired and food rations ran unforgivingly low. Four cars turned to three, eight members to seven, then to six…
Setbacks pushed the team into the dreaded Siberian winter. Without heat, sleeping bags were worn constantly in the car and the driver’s icy breath was regularly scraped off the windscreen. Mongolia’s inhospitable Gobi desert and it’s lack of roads was fun for the first few days. The initial joy quickly turned to dread as the motorists found themselves lost in the wilderness with petrol reserves nearly exhausted and cars crumbling into the cold, surrounding sands.
Finally, in January 2008, after six months on the road, covering 21 countries and a distance equal to half the Earth, two of the trabis (Fez and Ziggy) and five members of the original team staggered over the Trek’s finish line – Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The mission was a success, raising over US$20,000 in 173 days of travel for the two charities, Mith Samlanh and M'Lop Tapang, and gathering more press than any member could have imagined. The breakdowns could not be counted, merely guessed at around 323; the struggles and inevitable fights were soon forgotten, the pure joy at seeing the children that the group had driven so far to help was – as each member of the team would later describe – the best day of their lives.
Unstoppable
The Trabant Trek mission has not ended. We are now using it as a vehicle to get each of you out there on your own Trek to make a difference. We want you to be able to sit back with your team, pint in hand, after it’s all done and say “that was the best experience of my life”.
Browse the website, read the blogs, watch the videos, maybe even buy a book or t-shirt in support of the children of Cambodia… or maybe just maybe get inspired enough to sign up for a Nomadic Trek and do it yourself!