Worldrecordtour, Anniversary, 25 Years, Oceania, Pacific, South Sea, Polynesia, French Polynesia, Society Islands, Windward Islands, Tahiti, Papeete, Picture, Story, Diary, Emil Schmid, Liliana Schmid

Our 25^th Anniversary of "being on the road" in Papeete/Tahiti in French Polynesia

" the islands of our dreams in the Pacific"


Tahiti – a magic name that makes everybody’s heart beat louder. Long have we dreamed of it and finally arrived. And here at our island of dreams we may celebrate also a very special milestone of our epic journey around the world: Our 25^th Anniversary: 25 years – 165 countries – 402’000 miles (~ 646’000 km). We are sitting in the Pacific under the Polynesian sun drinking a glass of champagne. Once more we let our thoughts drift back: Has anything changed in our spirit of adventure and our desire to explore new places, new cultures and their way of life since our 20 years celebration on Saint Martin in the Caribbean – 5 years, 15 countries and 38’000 miles (~ 60’000 km) later? We can answer with a sincere: “No!” The contrary: Our wish to see more of the world and to meet new people has rather grown. Today as before the thrill of adventure is present. Today as before we are curious how it might look “around the next corner”. And today as before we never regretted to have swapped our secure life 1984 in Switzerland with the unknown of the world. What happened during our last five years of traveling? We moved from the Caribbean via South America and Asia to the Pacific. Mostly, lady luck was with us, as we met extraordinary people who enriched our lives and helped us unselfishly in many ways to reach our set goal in new countries: This was in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Brunei, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa and French Polynesia. Especially we recall all the bureaucratic hurdles regarding our car permits for Taiwan and recently some of the different Pacific islands. But inevitably, we had to cross also countries we already explored: Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Of course, there were also disappointments and set backs: Thus we had to give a miss to Myanmar, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea – three destinations in which we invested much time and work, but are trying now to reactivate them again. And what did our LandCruiser experience during this time? On the island of Borneo, it got a successful rejuvenation. Since then, we can fully rely on it. Thus we are looking full of optimism towards the next five years exploring the world. click the picture to see details

Another milestone: Our 25th anniversary of exploring the world

Leap in time backward to the 20th Travel Anniversary on the island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten in the Northern Antilles/Caribbean Leap in time forward to the unusual 30th Travel Anniversary in Angola/Africa Leap in time forward to the 35th Travel Anniversary in Brazil/South America