03.02.2021

Exploring New Destinations with Our Van!

February boosts the sun’s warmth by a few degrees, lengthens the day by a few minutes, and for some of us, triples the longing for summer. But our team has always aimed to prove that you don’t have to wait for summer to travel—because if you truly love traveling, you have 365 days a year to enjoy every moment of it.

Proof You Don’t Have to Wait for Summer to Travel: The @adventure.trip.bus Project — Young People Exploring Miles of Untouched Nature in Their Own Van.

Their adventures began in 2016 with a Yugo 45, a car they never imagined would even make it to the first toll booth without breaking down. Yet, it carried them all the way to the Duomo di Milano Cathedral in Italy. That trip took them through several European capitals and ended at an art and music festival in Hungary.

They stayed at the festival for a few days, equipped only with a sleeping bag and their Yugo as their apartment. From that experience came the idea that they needed a van to serve both as transportation and as a living space during their travels.

After returning to Macedonia, they began researching and inspecting vans, eventually deciding on a VW T3 that was previously used to transport students to rural areas.

It took them six months to restore and convert the van into a home, complete with a mini-kitchen and a living room on wheels that transforms into a bedroom. The current design of the adventurous Trip Bus is carefully planned and illustrated to show that you don’t need to wait for warm weather to travel — with a spirit for adventure, you can hit the road rain or shine.

One side of the van is painted with winter motifs—skiers and paragliders—while the other side shows summer scenes with surfers and swimmers. The illustration is unique and one-of-a-kind. This isn’t a photo from a travelogue, but an original concept with a clear goal: to discover new, less explored destinations on every journey.

Traveling with Adventure Trip Bus is more than just following a map. Their journeys are spontaneous and sometimes last far longer than the planned weekend tour because they often discover more interesting camping spots along the way than originally expected.

So far, their adventures have taken them to the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania—as well as Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia, and Poland. They have also completed several-month-long trips through Italy, Sicily, Malta, France, Turkey, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other places.

They shared that at the border with Serbia, the police officers started asking them about their next destination and even tried to guess where they were headed.

They hope that in 2021 the borders will be open so they can visit Spain, Morocco, and camp in the desert in their million-star apartment.

Until the borders open, they continue exploring Macedonia and enjoying their favorite spots like Kozjak, Mavrovo, Ohrid and Galičica, Prespa, as well as lesser-known places such as the village of Belica in Macedonian Brod, Zovič in Mariovo, the Ramno peak in Skopska Crna Gora, and the Babuna river with hiking to its springs.