Jupiter's Travellers

Travel with Purpose.   Wow. When we first began our little adventure, im not sure we could have even told you what "Overland Travel" meant.  We were simply looking to change our current lives and mindsets, and couldn't think of a much better way to do that than to remove ourselves.  We set out on a bit of a walkabout (or in our case driveabout) to immerse ourselves in a different set of cultures and values while we examined our own.

In the midst of our journey (and by falling into the Maya Rally) Jen and I met others of similar mindset who all referred to themselves as Overlanders.  In fact, many of our new friends are converging in Arizona this week for Overland Expo, one of the world's largest events for adventure travel enthusiasts.  I'd be lying if i said we didn't wish we could be there to jon them to share in the storytelling and fun.

Other than a few blogs we had read in advance (to convince ourselves we weren't completely crazy), we didn't really realize the long history of adventurers who had come before us, nor the community that surrounded the idea of adventure travel.

I write today, excited to announce (with awe and bit of confusion) that we have been bestowed the great honor of being named among of the most recent Jupiter's Travellers by The Ted Simon Foundation.

The  Ted Simon Foundation believes that individuals of good will, moving among foreign cultures and making themselves vulnerable to the beliefs and customs of strangers, have great importance in promoting world understanding, and even more so when they can distill the essence of their experiences into a form that can be absorbed by many.

As a little background for those who don't know the name, Ted Simon may be the guy who started it all.  As a journalist writing for the Sunday Times he rode his Triumph motorcycle around the world over 4 years time.  After the journey he wrote a book called Jupiter's Travels  and at the age of 70 he circled the globe a second time and wrote Dreaming of Jupiter.

The Ted Simon Foundation supports travellers in telling their stories and sharing their experiences with the world.  We certainly fall in alignment with their mantras and motivations and are excited to learn more as things continue.

We are humbled to be among a group of truly inspirational people who have set out and achieved far greater things than we have even dreamed.  We are inspired and motivated by their stories and hope that with the foundations support we can in some small way help share a valuable message with others through our journey and observations as well.