By David Chang
Taipei, Dec 12 (DPA) In 1984, Swiss couple Emil and Liliana Schmid travelled to the US to get away from the monotony of office work. They got hooked to travelling and haven’t stopped since.
Now, 23 years, 157 countries and 626,000 km later, Emil 65, and Liliana, 66, have turned their Toyota Land Cruiser into their home and want to spend the remainder of their life on the road, seeing nature, meeting interesting people and learning about different cultures.
The couple arrived in Taiwan from East Timor in October. They drove across Taiwan’s mountains and cities, stayed two nights at the plush Grand Hotel in Taipei as guests of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, and made friends with many locals.
“Taiwan has a unique combination of natural scenery and city life. A few hours from cities, you are at the seaside or in tall mountains. And Taiwan has beautiful temples and rich culture. I feel sad we are not staying longer,” Emil said in an interview with DPA.
“Another thing about Taiwan is that the Taiwan people are not sticky. They are friendly and helpful, but give you space. In some countries like India, locals hang around you and don’t leave you alone. They can look at you for two hours,” Liliana said.
The couple have since left Taipei for Hong Kong to visit the city as well as China and afterwards Papua New Guinea. Their Land Cruiser was shipped to Hong Kong a few days earlier.
However, the trip to China may be curtailed, as foreigners driving must be escorted by a Chinese guide at a cost of between $100-500 per day.
“If we cannot enter China, we will go to Papua New Guinea,” Emil said.
More then two decades ago, Emil, a computer software engineer, and Liliana, a company secretary, decided to go to the US to get away from schedules for a year.
However, 12 months proved not to be long enough, and now, 23 years and six continents later, they keep prolonging their journey. They have returned to Switzerland only three times.
Living off their pensions, they now hope to visit every country in the world, and have just 33 of the 194 states recognized by the United Nations left on their list.
In 1997, they entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Longest Driven Journey,” a world record they still hold today and almost certainly will for a long time to come.
Surviving on a budget of $36 (24 euros) per day, they sleep mostly in their car and disinfect water from rivers or lakes with a purifier.
They record their travel with two cameras and post the images on their website. A mobile phone and a notebook computer keep them in touch with the outside world.
Summing up their adventure, the couple said the biggest reward from the trip is that they have seen the beauty of the world and experienced boundless friendship from strangers. “Occasionally you meet bad people, but mostly you meet good people. We have met many friendly people on our trip and feel grateful for their help and kindness,” Liliana said.
They have no plan to settle down and build a home. “Home? This is our home”, Liliana quipped, pointing to the Land Cruiser.
And they don’t worry about the days when they are too old and cannot travel.
“We don’t want to worry about problems before they happen. We want to travel as long as we can. We want our life to come to an end on our journey,” she said.