Feature: Joanie - The Traveling Beast — Women Overlanding the World

“Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves.”

Hello! My name is Joanie, also known as Violette, most likely due to my visible love for the color (it is the best color) and up until about 2 years ago, I was working as a programmer in the game industry. After working in front of a computer for nearly 12 years, I decided to quit my job and sell most of my belongings to become a road warrior and drive my Jeep, Beauty, to the end of the world! In short, this is just a fun way to say that I am driving the Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Ushuaia.

Now, you must be thinking "What is up with those pictures?" Well, the answer is pretty simple : Since overland journeys are very vehicle-centric and Ushuaia loves to claim to be the end of the world, I figured I could merge this trip with my great interest for the Mad Max movies (which are also very vehicle-centric and take place after the end of the world) and my passion for costumes, to make my own crazy adventure! I even made a new costume along the way from pieces that I found across multiple countries, such as spark plug cables found on the beach in Mexico, a dog skull found in a river in Peru, curtains found in BC, etc., so that's quite the souvenir filled with stories!

I'm also quite a big fan of urban exploration (which is the exploration of abandoned buildings) and luckily for me, there is a ton of amazing abandoned places along the Panam and tons of amazing landscapes that seem to be straight out of a movie, so photoshoots were a natural fit into the mix! Being solo, however, requires me to put the camera on a tripod and use the timer, which is quite a lot of trouble to get right, so there were many times where I simply couldn't be bothered with all of this work, which results in way less pictures than I would have liked, but that's okay. Hard drives eventually dies but those memories will live on forever!

Who or what inspired you to choose independent vehicle travel as your mode of transportation?

All of this started with a small weekend road trip in the neighboring province. Originally, a friend was supposed to tag along, but she had to call off at the last second. The old me probably would have cancelled the whole thing and stayed home in front of Netflix, but for some reason, I said to myself “F this” and decided to go alone. I had never done anything like this, never traveled before, even less alone and had no real destination, only me, my Jeep, some camping gear and a IDGAF attitude and oh my god, this was one of the best weekends of my life! It was truly eye opening! I have always been very shy to the point of being unable to ask a store clerk for help or to order a pizza, but thanks to this F This Energy™ fueling me, I got myself into more adventures that could possibly be crammed in a weekend, culminating in watching the sun rise from the roof of some new friends’ house before heading out on a hike with them, my camping gear unused because I didn’t find time to sleep… After 28 years, I had finally discovered that I could actually do things on my own, so the next weekend, I decided to go on another date with myself, then again, and again... By the end of the summer, I had driven to both coasts of Canada and some of the US as well. The following year, I pushed further and drove to Florida and California and back to Canada. By that point, I didn't really think I could go any further until one day, in a glorious act of procrastination, I asked myself "Is it possible to drive to South America?" Well, it turns out that not only is it possible, but a lot of people actually do it and they call themselves 'overlanders'! I no longer remember what I was actually supposed to be doing at that time, but it certainly didn't get done. I was lost in this new rabbit hole! It didn't much more than that, I had already made up my mind : I would start saving money, turn my Jeep into a tiny house and drive to the end of the world!

Everyone always asks a traveller what their favorite country is. Do you have a favorite country? If not, what is a place that is special to you?

No one likes my answer, but it's Canada, more precisely the Yukon. I think people don't like that I'm naming my own country, but let's be fair : Canada is huge! Mexico City or Madrid are actually closer to my home than Whitehorse (Yukon's capital) is, so it's not exactly my backyard. As for the reason, well, while that region certainly is breathtaking, there was also breathtaking parts in every countries, so that fact alone isn't enough to make it come out on top. My reasons are instead related to my personal experiences with the people living there. I spent about a month in the Yukon and the number of amazing moments I had is just unbelievable : quickly making friends in Whitehorse and getting invited to their events, meeting the friendly people of Tuktoyaktuk who told me to just walk into their unlocked houses to have a shower or fill my water in their sink (I didn't, I'm way too shy to just walk into someone's house unless they lead me in) and who kept coming to see me while I was camping on the beach to ask if I wanted to taste another of their local meal, somehow getting invited by the locals in Dawson City to even crazier events than anything so far and finally, shaking hands with Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, while wearing one of my costumes no less! All of this alone would probably be enough to put Canada as the number 1 country where I had the most positive experiences, but my time in Alberta and BC were not that far behind either. I have met many overlanders who only went south from the USA or Canada without visiting the northernmost regions and I believe that this is a mistake. The north is not to be missed!

Travelling has taught me…

That I can do whatever I set my mind into! It's not always going to be easy, in fact, nothing worth doing is easy, but if I keep at it, I will make eventually reach my goals. There are a few other personal projects I had in mind before this journey that I never attempted, partially because they looked too daunting and that I was scared of failing, but now that this journey has ironed my will, I think I am ready to take on anything!

Overlanding sucks sometimes because…

...you are left at the mercy of mother nature. This is doubly true for those of us sleeping in tents or with an outdoor kitchen. I had planned my trip around the seasons, so it wasn't too bad for me as I barely had rain from Alaska to Colombia, but in Ecuador, I caught up with the rain season and that sucked big time! I couldn't use my camping stove, so that resulted in way too many sandwiches for every meals and spending all my evenings inside, reading. I read -a lot- of books during that period! I love reading, but this was too much.

I am a badass woman because…

...I don't let others tell me what I can and cannot do. When I announced my trip, I had quite a few naysayers who tried to tell me how dangerous that was, that I should go to Europe instead, that it couldn't be done and all kinds of other bullshit excuses, as if I hadn't already talked with others who have made the trip before, some of them solo. I've always been a bit hard-headed and this has always worked out well for me. I'm far from a loud person, but I will not let others tell me how to live my life.

What is your favorite quote?

While not exactly quotes, 2 sentences that I try to live by are "Always follow your guts" and "Just do it!". The first one keeps me safe. If I don't feel good about something, I act to fix it. During an overland trip, this is usually as simple moving away from a place or some people. The second is an attempt at fighting off my expertise in procrastination. The monkey in my brain is a super villain, you see. It's easy to push back doing the laundry or doing minor maintenance in exchange for more fun things, but it's nothing a few kick in the ass can't fix!

As for a proper quote, I really like "Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves". I have written on one of my necklace and I painted it on the leg of one of my pair of pants. It doesn't have any deeper meaning to me but I like how it sounds and it resonates a bit with how traveling changed me, hopefully for the better.

One of the most common questions we get is about finances. Do you have any tips, tricks or advice on this topic?

If you are wondering if you need something or not, then you probably do not need it. You do not need that much to get started and you can make it work for almost any budget, depending on how much comfort you require. Many people travel with high-end rigs filled with gadgets and while that's all good if you can afford it, it can sometimes send the message to those who cannot afford it that they need to invest a lot before they can get on the road. I went down with my daily driver in which I added about 400$ worth of mods, mostly DIY (in which I had no experience, but didn't have the money to pay someone to do it for me). As for the journey itself, I am on the very low end of the budget scale, with a budget of 30 USD a day, and so far, I am well under that! Considering that about 75% of my spendings are gasoline, if I was not solo, it would be possible to go with 20 USD a day per person. That's less than most people pay in rent! Wild camping and cooking your own meals as much as possible can cut your spendings by a ton and I particularly find both of those to be a lot of fun! Since I do not have a fridge, I generally have to skip meat in favour of veggies, rice and pastas, which in every countries save for the USA, Canada and Chile, are cheap enough to provide you with 3 good meals a day for less than 5$. Even with this low budget, I still bought plenty of things I didn't really need, mostly relating to my costumes, and visited over 30 national parks. It's all about spending money on what really matters for you. Cutting down luxuries was a bit hard at first, but you get used to it and over time, it really helps to shift your priorities in life. I am really curious about how all of this is going to affect me once I get back to a more "normal" life.

How has this experience changed you?

Oh boy, it changed me in so many ways! Working in technologies in a big city, I was addicted to the internet and always felt like if I wasn't busy doing 3 things at once, I was probably wasting my time. Now, living in the great outdoor without a phone or electricity, I really learned how to disconnect and slow down. Sure, sometimes when it's been a week since I had wi-fi, I really started missing the internet, but I believe there is a happy medium where you can stay in contact with your friends and family without being glued to your phone all the time. Not falling back into this abyss once I get back home is going to be hard, but I now know that it is possible.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for women overlanders? And the biggest advantage?

This is not just for women overlanders but women travelers in general, especially the younger ones : Sexual harassment. It is present in every countries, of course, but some countries along the Pan-American Highway were terrible in that regard, the worst of which being Nicaragua. In the same day, I had a cop at a checkpoint telling me he was in love with me and wanted to know where I was going to spend the night and another cop who pulled me over started touching my hair while telling me that I was beautiful! If that was any random guy, I would have punched him right in the face, but since it was a cop, I just remained silent and hoped that it would be over soon. I love visiting out of the ordinary places, but a Nicaraguan jail was not in my plans. This was unfortunately just the tip of the iceberg in that country : I couldn't even stop at an intersection without men making noises or other rude gestures with their tongue at me, like, every freaking times. Oh and since I had a few people tell me that it's because of how I dress, I will point out that I only wear costumes during photoshoots, which usually take place in the middle of nowhere with no one in sight. On a regular day, I am more likely to be wearing an oversized hoodie and that didn't change a thing. I think one thing solo-female travelers need an inflatable boyfriend to sit on the passenger seat for those situations. An overland gear company should get on that!

As for the biggest advantage, I think women are generally more approachable. This might not make much difference to more extroverted people, but as a shy and introverted woman, it makes things a lot easier for me when others approach me. I had all kinds of people inviting me among them, from festive young people, families with young kids or lone old ladies, who probably thought that I was too skinny and offered me pastries or tacos, before asking me why I was alone and then telling me they will help me find a good husband! I am not interested, but it was still very cute of them!

What are your favorite overland resources (blogs, books, FB pages, etc.)?

ioverlander and the PanAmerican Traveler Association FB groups are my two main resources, but I figure that anyone reading this knows of those by now, so I'll throw something else : Google! It's so much in our face all the time that we forget about it sometimes! I had many people telling me that they love following me because I visit different places than most other overlanders and Google has been my secret ally for that. Throw the LonelyPlanet guides away (but not too far away, it's still very useful) and simply google -an special interest or hobby you have- + -the region you are in/going to- and you'll most likely find dozens of places not in any guide! If you are in Latin America, I would suggest writing your query in Spanish, since they'll mostly be written by local people. In my case, this was usually something like "pueblo fantasma argentina" or something of the sort. Get out there and make your own adventure, customized to your own specific interests!

As for inspiration, the first blog I stumbled upon when searching about driving from Canada to Argentina was Dan Grec's The Road Chose Me. The fact that he did it with a Jeep, which I already had, pretty much convinced me that this was within my reach.

What is a simple life hack you’ve discovered while on the road?

This one is more for solo travelers, but I can't help sharing it with as many people as I can. You know how it's generally easier to cook for two than for a single person? Back home, I would put the left overs in a plastic container and thus have a lunch for the next day, but on the road, without either a microwave or a fridge, this was not as easy. Out of nowhere, the idea of getting a thermos struck me and it had to be my best idea after deciding to go on this journey! Not only do I save a lot of time, since cooking on a tiny camp stove and doing dishes sometimes without water can easily take up to an hour, I also save on gas, having to cook only once instead of twice, further helping me to keep my budget low. I should have asked the Thermos brand to sponsor my trip for how many times I talked about how useful their product had been for me!