An Argentine family will conclude - tomorrow, Sunday, March 13, a 22-year journey around the world, which began on January 23, 2000 in the Republica Square in the capital, Buenos Aires.

This rare and crazy journey by car was supposed to last 6 months, but it lasted 22 years, and included more than 100 countries, during which the couple had 4 children, and at the end of it they concluded that "humanity is wonderful."

In Gualeguaycho, northwest of Buenos Aires, one of the last stages of the journey, Hermann Zap is torn between saying "my dream is over" or "my dream came true", adding, "Everything was more beautiful than we imagined", which is what is most important to him.

wild trip dream

When the couple set out on their trip, they were 31 and 29 years old, comfortable financially, owning a house in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, and wanting to have children.

But before that they wanted to fulfill their old dream of taking a road trip for months, from Argentina to Alaska, and so the adventure began, and at the beginning of the trip they had an amount of $4,000.

Someone offered them an old "Graham Beige" 1928 car for sale, with wood-wrapped tires and barely able to walk, and not suitable for a trip like this, but the couple liked it, so they decided to use this "ancient" vehicle on their trip.

The Zapps identified themselves with a sticker they put on the car denoting they were a "worldwide family", and the Graham Paige's car that became the star of the trip.

The number of countries he toured reached 102, and the car traversed 362,000 kilometers, although it only traveled a few hours at each station, and not at a daily pace, given its age.

In a 1928 Graham Page, Zapp and his family complete a world tour that began in 2000 (French)

car opens doors

Hermann says that the car "does not have the best seats, nor the best shock absorbers, and it lacks air conditioning... It makes the driver alert (...) but it was amazing."

It is noted that it crossed the hearts of people, constituting a source of joy for them, and prompting them to extend a helping hand to him and his wife.

Changes were made to the car since the first kilometers of the journey, which was limited to 50 kilometers on the day of its launch, before it broke down for the first time, and the family had to undergo a number of repairs, and then made a major change in it, which represented in enlarging its size and adding 40 centimeters to it because the family grew up, and it included the Bamba Currently 19-year-old born in the United States, 16-year-old Tehio born during a visit to Argentina, 14-year-old Paloma, born in Canada, and 12-year-old Alabi, born in Australia, not to mention Timon the dog and Hakuna the cat .

And the car often represented a "main residence" for the family, as the children slept inside a tent on its roof, while the parents slept inside, while the entire car was covered with cloth to preserve privacy.

"The house is small, but the garden is wide, with beaches, mountains and lakes," Hermann jokes. "If you don't like the place, you can change it."

But in fact, the Zapps slept mostly among the residents of the areas they settled in, as they were hosted by more than two thousand families in the world, as Hermann explains, who says, “We would never have imagined that people in the world could be so kind. The humanity to which we belong is wonderful," adding that "many people helped us because they wanted to be part of the dream."

The couple and their children Tehu (right) and Pampa (left) next to their car near the US Capitol Building (French)

People are the most important discovery

The trip was not always beautiful and perfect, as they faced great difficulties after witnessing conflicts and crises, and were infected with bird flu in Asia, Ebola in Africa, dengue fever in Central America, and Hermann contracted malaria… Every 3 years the family returned to Argentina for a period of two to three months In order to visit relatives, and then leave, not only because they are drawn to the landscapes that pervade regions and countries from Namibia to Everest and from Egypt to Peru, but because their most important discovery is the people.

It is difficult to predict the future after two decades full of details mentioned in a series of 3 books entitled "Capture Your Dream", of which 100,000 copies were sold, and part of the proceeds contributed to financing the adventure.

While Hermann points out "thousands of options", he points to the possibility of taking a cruise around the world.

Children do not show enthusiasm for the idea of ​​presence learning in a school after they spent years learning through correspondence or with the help of their mother, and geography lessons during them were unparalleled, but the delay may face the family in light of the successive crises the world is witnessing that push people to stay in their countries.

Hermann believes that there is no reason to change plans, and says, "We come out of Covid-19 to enter a huge war (Russia's war on Ukraine), and if we wait for the right moment, there will always be a reason not to achieve our dreams."