{"article":{"text":"Packing their lives up and heading off on a lengthy road trip was something Nina and Kai Schakat, both from Germany, had envisioned doing together during their retirement.\nBut after the death of Nina\u2019s father, and the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the couple, who have two children, Ben, 11 and Leni, 10, decided that they couldn\u2019t wait any longer.\n\u201cWe were just wondering why everybody waits until retiring,\u201d Nina tells CNN Travel. \u201cAnd we challenged ourselves to think if such a trip is possible to enjoy with the kids when they are in the right age to understand the journey and still keen to travel with us parents.\u201d\nWhen they began researching a potential trip around Asia, the Schakats, who have lived in Dubai for around 15 years, quickly realized that they\u2019d struggle to afford the accommodation costs and flights for four people and started looking into alternative modes of transportation.\nAfter noting that a van would perhaps be too small, as their children are \u201ca little bit on the taller side,\u201d they decided on a bus.\nThe Schakats then bought an old bus by an Indian vehicle manufacturer named Ashok Leyland for $6,000 and set about converting it into a fully equipped home on wheels.\n\nBUS TOUR\nThe Schakats spent $40,000 converting this bus into a fully-equipped home on wheels to travel in.  8feet6wheels Over a period of around nine months, they kitted out the vehicle, which measures 12 meters long and 2.4 meters wide, with a dining and lounge area, two bunk beds, a shower room and a master suite. The bus was also fitted with solar panels and a large water tank.\nFinally, the couple brought in an artist friend to spray paint a colorful mural onto the exterior in order to give it a more fun and child friendly feel. The total cost of the conversion came to around $40,000, according to the Schakats.\n\u201cWe have a fully equipped kitchen with a big household fridge, freezer and washing machine.\u201d explains Kai, who has worked as a truck driver for several years, and managed to secure his bus driving license before the trip.\n\u201cWe have everything [we need]. We can spend one week somewhere without needing water or power, and we have enough food supplies [to last us].\u201d\nBefore completely committing to the trip, the family took a test drive from Dubai to Oman both \u201cto see if they liked it,\u201d as well as check that all of the new fittings and fixtures on the bus were running smoothly.\n\u201cThere were a few hiccups that we had to resolve,\u201d admits Nina.\nOnce they were satisfied, the Schakats threw themselves into preparing for the trip and getting things in order so that they could essentially put their life in Dubai on hold for 13 months.\n\u201cThat was exhausting,\u201d admits Nina, adding that both she and Kai worked up until the day before they left. \u201cThere were thousands of things to take care of.\u201d\nAfter shipping the bus to Iran last August, the Schakats traveled to the country by ferry to pick up their vehicle, got on board and set off on the journey they\u2019d been dreaming about for years.\nAlthough they had initially planned to drive from Iran to Pakistan, the heavy floods which hit parts of Pakistan from late summer last year meant abandoning that route.\nInstead, they opted to drive to Turkey, spending a few weeks driving up to the central region of Cappadocia, famous for its \u201cfairy chimney\u201d landscapes, before making their way back to Iran and attempting to drive across to Pakistan once again.\nUnfortunately, the political situation in Iran had altered significantly during their time in Turkey and their second visit proved to be a very different experience.\nThe death of a 22-year-old  Kurdish Iranian woman  had led to protests, and authorities\u2019 were attempting to contain the spread of demonstrations through internet blackouts.\nThis meant that mobile networks were largely shut down and access to Instagram and WhatsApp, which the family relied on to keep friends and family updated on their whereabouts, had been restricted.\n\u201cWe drove through Iran very quickly, because we didn\u2019t have any internet,\u201d explains Nina. \u201cWe were always usually in touch with family and friends [before]. But then suddenly, we were completely out of the loop and nobody knew where we were.\u201d\n\nDEALING WITH SETBACKS\nKai, Ben, Leni and Nina at the Bagh-e Fin Garden in Iran.  8feet6wheels They had no choice but to remain in the country for around two weeks, as their visas to enter Pakistan could not be processed, and borders were shut due to the political situation.\nAfter around 10 days of driving across Iran while waiting for their visas to be processed, they\u2019d pretty much given up hope and were making plans to ship their bus back to Dubai.\nHowever, just in time, the Schakats managed to secure their visas for Pakistan in mid-October. They were provided with an armed escort during their drive from Pakistan to India, which took around six days.\nSince leaving Pakistan, the Schakats have been traveling across India, \u201ctackling the country counter clockwise.\u201d\nNina admits that it\u2019s taken their children Ben and Leni, who she describes as \u201cvery social,\u201d a little while to adapt to life on the road.\n\u201cSuddenly, you\u2019re in a bus with four people, two nearly teenagers, 24\/7,\u201d she says. \u201cYou learn how far you can challenge the kids.\u201d\nShe admits that they\u2019ve all found having to keep up with online schooling while traveling difficult, particularly the children, who miss interacting with school friends.\n\u201cYou get distracted all the time because you want to explore the area, and then you need to sit with a kid for a couple of hours a day to do the work, because there\u2019s deadlines,\u201d she adds.\nAnd while the Schakats have been enjoying each others company for the most part, they can\u2019t help but miss being around other people.\n\u201cWe experience everything together,\u201d says Kai. \u201cThere\u2019s no new stories to tell really. But we still have a lot to talk about.\u201d\nThankfully, the family\u2019s eye-catching bus has proved to be quite the conversation starter, and has led them to many new people.\n\u201cIt\u2019s helped us a lot, \u201cexplains Nina. \u201cIt opens doors in terms of communication and connecting to people. It\u2019s very child friendly. Everybody can see that we\u2019re traveling with children.\u201d\nOne of the standout moments of their trip so far has been spending Christmas on a \u201clonely beach\u201d located between Mumbai and Goa with five other overlander families.\nMeanwhile, Ben and Leni were bowled over by Hampi, an ancient village in the south Indian state of Karnataka.\n\u201cI think it\u2019s their favorite [place] so far,\u201d says Nina. \u201cIt\u2019s like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, with all the temples, monkeys and the rocks from the formations of the landscape. It\u2019s just amazing.\u201d\nOf course, there\u2019s no getting away from the fact that driving a huge bus can undoubtedly lead to issues at times, and the family have had their fair share of setbacks.\n\u201cEveryday you have one heart attack,\u201d says Nina, before describing some of the close calls they\u2019ve had with motorbikes while driving through busy roads.\n\u201cMy husband is a superstar in bus driving. The amount of hours he\u2019s spent behind the wheel is pretty crazy. I think he\u2019s got a couple of gray hairs on the trip.\u201d\n\nSLOWING DOWN\nAt the top of the Zigana Pass in northeastern Turkey.  8feet6wheels Although Nina had hoped to be able to take on some of the driving during the trip, she says she finds the gear stick difficult to maneuver, as well as driving on the left, which is the law in India, in a right-hand-drive bus.\n\u201cI tried, but I think it\u2019s probably better that I don\u2019t [drive],\u201d she says.\nIn order to take the pressure off Kai, who got his truck license back in 1999, the family are now trying to take shorter trips, which ultimately means that they are spending longer than they planned in each new destination. They\u2019ve also had to change their route a few times for various reasons.\nNina explains that they \u201clost one and a half months\u201d due to the extended time they spent in Iran and that unplanned detour to Turkey.\nWhile they were hoping to visit Myanmar at some stage, Nina says they\u2019ve accepted that the border between India and Myanmar, which has been closed for months, is unlikely to reopen any time soon.\n\u201cWe should have traveled much faster if we wanted to pursue Southeast Asia,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we knew at a certain point that Myanmar was a \u2018no\u2019.\n\u201cAnd then the shipping cost for the bus would have been so expensive. We simply couldn\u2019t have afforded it.\u201d\nThey recently had to let Ben and Leni know they won\u2019t be able to make two of the destinations that were top of their bucket lists.\n\u201cMy daughter wanted to go to South Korea and my son to Japan,\u201d explains Nina. \u201cI\u2019ve promised them that we will do it on a holiday separately, but we can\u2019t manage it kilometer wise and entering country wise. That boat has left the harbor.\u201d\nWhile the list of countries they end up visiting over the next few months is likely to be shorter than they\u2019d initially hoped, Nina feels that slowly down and spending more time in each place has been more rewarding.\nCurrently in Kochi, they plan to drive towards Chennai, before visiting Cambodia and Laos and then returning to India.\nFrom here, they aim to drive towards Jaipur, Uttar Pradesh, where they\u2019d enter Nepal and return via New Delhi or Agrar to Pakistan.\nAlthough they\u2019re due to return to Dubai this summer, the Schakats are already thinking about their next big trip, and hope to be able to drive around Nort...