Welcome to our blog Uyo’s Passengers! We are Laurène and Valentin, a young French couple passionate about travel and adventure. We have been preparing for more than a year a big trip to discover West Africa in a van.

Very quickly, we found ourselves in a long-distance relationship. We met at the end of our studies, and we chose different countries to start our professional life: Valentin in Finland and Laurène in France. Not an easy way to start a relationship. Nevertheless, we organised ourselves to see each other as often as possible and to make these meetings moments of adventure and discovery.

The idea of travelling together

It was while sharing these moments together, in Finland, in France or in other countries in between, that the idea of a big trip started to germinate. We discovered on social networks couples and families who had made the choice to leave everything behind to visit the world. And why not us?

At the end of 2019, after two years of long-distance relationship, we wanted to meet again. To live together, in the same country, in the same city. We had three choices:

• Living in France
• Living in Finland
• Travelling before settling down somewhere together

At that time, Valentin was not yet ready to leave his job. First of all, because he liked it so much, but also because the idea of leaving the workforce was frightening. We both had only two years of work experience. With so little experience, will they hire me after I return from my trip?

At first, we put the trip aside, but the idea always remained in the corner of our minds. It came up regularly in our conversations. So we decided to set a departure date that suited us, leaving us another year and a half to gain professional experience but also to prepare our trip (and put money aside). In the meantime, it was Laurène who chose to leave her job to live an experience abroad and join Valentin in Helsinki. It was an opportunity to change her professional speciality and discover the field of renewable energies.

Search for a van for Africa

As soon as Laurène arrived in April 2021, we started looking for a van to take us to the end of the world. After a two weeks experience in a van in the north of Italy, this means of transport became an obvious choice:

• Financially (reduced accommodation costs),
• Comfortable (you can take more things with you than in a backpack)
• Flexibility (not being constrained by public transport).

So, after 3 weeks of active research, a dozen platforms browsed, hundreds of offers consulted, we found Uyo; a Volkswagen T4 synchro 4×4, at the other end of Finland. A van that we will suit us for our trip to Africa.

Now, we are about to embark on a wonderful adventure on the African continent. We chose Africa for its beautiful landscapes, its multiple cultures and the wealth of humanitarian, ecological and sustainable projects.

We have created this blog to share our experiences, our encounters but also our advice.

We hope you will have the opportunity to travel through our articles.

Bonne lecture !