A globetrotting couple who quit their jobs to tour the world in an old campervan have finally returned home after covering over 60,000 miles.
Chris and Marianne Fisher completed their four-and-a-half year trip in a 20-year-old vehicle called Trudy after leaving Britain in January 2020.
They visited 29 countries, shipping the van from one continent to the next when travel on land wasn’t possible.
The pair, who have three adult children, covered 66,000 miles by land and 26,000 miles by sea.
Chris, 54, and Marianne, 56, from Telford, Shropshire, decided to rent out their home and embark on a life-changing adventure following a series of personal challenges.
Marianne, who worked in NHS theatre admin, had recently donated a kidney to save her best friend’s life and was in hospital recovering when Chris found the 2005 Fiat Ducato Adria Twin Conversion campervan.
They chose Trudy on the advice of Marianne’s 93-year-old father who owned the same model and knew it was one of the few campervans with a bed long enough to comfortably fit Chris’ 6’3″ frame.
The pair say they are wiser and more enlightened after their Odyssey which even involved spending 95 days in a Turkish car park during the Covid pandemic.
“Meeting all the different people in the different countries on the journey was a real life lesson,” Chris, former head of catering services for an NHS Trust, told Luxury Travel Daily.
“Discovering that wherever you are in the world people just want the same things: family, friendship a future for their children.
“We had such a warm welcome in all the countries.
“At times it was immensely stressful but we learned to handle the stress.”
Marianne added: “Trying to find a parking place every night was difficult.
“We couldn’t plan it – we just had to try and find somewhere to park wherever we were.
“But even when there was a language barrier the people we met were always incredibly helpful even in places we were told they might not be.”
Chris has described “so many random acts of kindness”.
He said: “During the Covid pandemic we were in a car park in Old Town Istanbul in Turkey for over 90 days and were given food parcels by a chap who wanted to help us.
“And when we were in Canada we needed new parts for Trudy and the same man from Turkey who stayed in touch with us ordered them for us.
“It was incredible.”
Marianne added: “It just highlights the positives about people.
“I would also say never judge a country until you’ve actually been there.”
They also paid tribute to Trudy.
Marianne said: “We took her to places that would kill a normal van and we go, ‘oh come on Trudy’ and she did it.
“If we do nothing else in our lives we’ve done something just fantastic.
“If we can do it anyone can.”
Chris added: “Trudy’s been to the Arctic ocean, down the Las Vegas strip.
“It’s driven past Mount Fuji and the Taj Mahal and elephants in Africa.
“She won’t be sold – she’s part of our family now.”
The couple said while there’s no place like home and they were glad to be back in Britain, they are already planning their next adventure.
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