Travel Route, Statistics & Information

Our journey

Here we report on our route, our shared experiences and impressions. We have divided the route into individual sections. This should make it somewhat clearer. The entire route with pictures can also be found on Polarstep or Find Pengiun. Below are the links to the pages and programs.

Itinerary - Canada and Alaska ->

Itinerary - USA West Coast and National Parks ->

Itinerary - Mexico and Central America ->

Itinerary - South America ->


follow our tour on :

Find Penguins: https://findpenguins.com/4bghekcxvpogd or

Polarstep: https://www.polarsteps.com/KaiOlafDammenhain/5161546-panamericana

statistics

We are approx. 74,500 km driven. Of these,

  • 80% - 59,935 tarred
  • 18% - 13,400 not paved, which means gravel roads of whatever quality. Sometimes even better than the paved roads because they are easier to maintain. But mostly a torture for passengers and vehicles and
  • 2% - 1,165 off-road tracks, stretches where we needed the four-wheel drive, the low gear and sometimes even the locks. There are definitely drivers who can get through here without any technology, but we didn't want to try that.

refueling: We filled up 107 times. Our Luis used an average of 11.43 liters of diesel per 100 km. We spent around 10,500 euros on fuel and paid 1.26 euros per liter. It can be said that Canada and the USA are much more expensive than the other countries on the way south.


Living and Sleeping: We were 530 days on the road and in the end we realize that we used the roof tent less than we thought.

  • 49% - 262 days in the roof tent
  • 20% - 105 days of sleeping in the car - because it was cold, because we slept overnight in a city, because we stopped at gas stations, because we simply felt safer in the car
  • 31% - 163 days in a hotel or with friends - because Luis was in the workshop, because Luis was on the ship, because we were in a city or simply because we didn't feel like "hitting the car"


    •

    Cost:

    We needed more money than planned. The main reason for this was the unplanned repairs and their subsequent costs (long stays in cities and accommodation). In total, we spent around 24,000 euros on repairs and subsequent costs. This also includes the experience that a defect can only be repaired in the more expensive cities, but it didn't have to be Canada or Chile.

    It is possible to do it with less money, but we wanted to see lots of things, go to operas, concerts, museums, go on tours, eat well and visit restaurants and, above all, try wine. You can definitely save money on food.


    • Total - 117,500 euros - total cost of the trip excluding running costs in Germany

    • Shipping - 8,376 euros - from Europe to Canada, from Panama to Colombia and from Montevideo back to Europe

    • Flights/transfer - 7,980 euros - from Europe to Canada, the sailing trip from Panama to Colombia, from Buenos Aires back to Europe and then unplanned from Calgary to Vancouver (because of Luis's stay in the workshop) and from Santiago to the UK (because of a family celebration)
      •

    • Repairs - 19,500 euros - mainly gearbox and chassis parts such as wheel bearings, furthermore brakes and tires were changed once as planned
      •

    • Overnight stays - 17,850 euros - many unplanned hotel and Airbnb overnight stays, thanks to many new friends we were often able to stay privately
      •

    • Food - 13,250 euros - especially in Canada and the USA it is more expensive than you think and sometimes it has to be king crab, beef fillet and a very good wine.
      •

    • Culture, sightseeing, tours - 13,250 euros - national parks, glacier tours, Machu Picchu, operas, museums ...
      •

    • ...
      •


and here the slightly different statistics

dead-end streets

Not all roads lead on, but have an end and you have to drive back. In total we drove about 7,500 km there and back. And sometimes you're just "stupid" and so you have to drive Baja California three times in total, about 5,025 km (see under stupid things).

  • Dempster Highway (Canada) - 926 km one way
  • Dalton Highway along the pipeline (Alaska) -795 km one way
  • Carretera Austral/ Ruta 7 (Chile) - 1,350 km - to get to Argentina you have to drive back a large part
  • Ruta 3 (Argentina) - from Ushuaia/ the end of the world there is only the Ruta 3 back
  • and many more

Famous streets:

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