13 Things That Suck About Overlanding the World No One Tells You (But I Will)

1. Fear While Overlanding the World

If you want to overland the world long-term, wild camping eventually becomes part of the lifestyle. Sure, there are campgrounds and the occasional paid spot, but when you’re traveling for months—or years—at a time, you’ll spend plenty of nights off-grid. Most overlanders rely on apps like Park4Night and iOverlander to find places to stay. I use them too, but more often than not, I’m studying Google Maps satellite view and finding my own campsites.

The thing no one really talks about is the fear.

When you pull into a remote forest, a deserted beach, or a quiet patch of desert, you’re still in someone’s community. Even if the land appears empty, there’s always that thought in the back of your mind: Would I want someone pitching a tent in my backyard without asking? The camping apps help identify spots that other travelers have used successfully, but another question always lingers: What if the wrong person knows about this place too?

It’s funny how your perspective changes after dark. During the day, a campsite can feel absolutely perfect—quiet, secluded, and secure. Then the sun goes down and suddenly every crack of a branch, rustle in the bushes, or distant engine seems ten times louder.

One of Karla’s scariest nights happened on an abandoned runway I found while browsing Google Maps in Slovakia. It looked like the perfect wild camping spot. At around 2 a.m., we were jolted awake by thunder. Being parked on an exposed hilltop runway, we knew we needed to close the rooftop tent before the storm arrived.

The moment we got everything packed away, a 4×4 truck appeared and drove straight toward us down the runway.

A big man wearing a dark green sweater slowly circled about two-thirds of the way around our Jeep Wrangler Rubicon before stopping beside me. He started talking, but I had absolutely no idea what he was saying—I don’t speak Slovakian. He kept looking at me, then at the Jeep, then back at me.

Karla was sitting inside the Jeep, watching through the driver’s window, and she was scare.

After a few moments, the man seemed to realize I couldn’t understand him. He backed up his truck, parked it perpendicular to ours, and stepped out. Then he opened the rear door of his vehicle.

Out came a shotgun.

From inside the Jeep, Karla was convinced we were about to be robbed. We were in a remote location, it was the middle of the night, and there wasn’t another soul around.

But the man wasn’t interested in us at all.

He was a hunter.

Without saying another word, he slung the shotgun over his shoulder, walked right past us, and disappeared into the forest.

That moment perfectly sums up one of the hardest parts of overland travel. Your imagination can run wild in unfamiliar places, especially in the middle of the night. So far—knock on wood—we haven’t had anything bad happen while wild camping. The overlanding community is also pretty good about reporting issues on camping apps when they do occur, which helps other travelers make informed decisions.

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2. Weather Challenges in Overland Travel

One thing most people on Instagram and YouTube won’t tell you is how uncomfortable the weather can actually be. You’ll see someone in a van or a Land Rover parked in an incredible location, feet up, cold beer in hand, talking about how perfect life on the road is. What your screen doesn’t show is that they probably picked the best 15 minutes of the day for that little photoshoot.

As I write this, we’re in Guinea and it’s 95°F (35°C) in the shade, still two hours away from the hottest part of the day. Step out into the sun and it feels like it’s trying to burn your skin. What you don’t see in those perfectly curated photos is the temperature inside the vehicle. Sometimes it’s just plain miserable.

And weather isn’t only about heat.

We’ve camped in freezing temperatures where no matter how many layers you put on, you’re still cold. We’ve set up the outdoor stove to cook dinner, only to find ourselves scrambling to save the food and cooking gear with an umbrella because the wind is too strong for the awning and the rain is coming down in sheets. We’ve been jolted awake at 2 a.m. by lightning storms, realizing we’re the tallest thing around, tearing camp down in the middle of the night and moving on while everyone else is safe and dry inside their homes.

You’ll see videos of Jeeps powering through mud and heavy rain with the wipers working overtime. What you won’t see is what happens after the camera turns off. The rain is still falling. The mud is still there. The camp still has to be set up, dinner still has to be made, and everything you own is damp.

The reality of overlanding is that you can prepare for the weather, but you can never control it. There is no vehicle that’s perfect for every climate, every season, or every destination. In our year on the road—from North America to Europe and now West Africa—there have been plenty of incredible days, but there have also been a lot of long, uncomfortable, and downright miserable days because of the weather. That’s just part of the adventure.

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3. Vehicle Breakdowns on the Road

Breakdowns are something you see talked about online quite a bit, but usually they’re the manageable kind—a flat tire, a broken suspension component, or a vehicle stuck in mud with a recovery story that makes for great content. If you’re overlanding through the United States or Europe, a breakdown is often an inconvenience more than a crisis.

The equation changes when you start traveling through remote parts of Africa or Asia.

Out here, the farther you get from major cities, the bigger the problem becomes. There is no AAA waiting for your call, and tow trucks are few and far between. When something breaks, you’re largely on your own. The good news is that Africans are incredibly resourceful and can often find ways to keep vehicles moving. The bad news is that when you need a specialized part, there is no shortcut—you wait.

We met a couple in Mauritania traveling in a Unimog who needed a replacement solenoid. The part had to be shipped from the UK, and they spent two weeks waiting for DHL to deliver it. Another overlanding friend is currently stranded in Sierra Leone with a failed fuel pump. As I write this, they’re already into their second week of waiting for a replacement to arrive from Dubai.

Even basic maintenance can become a challenge. My Jeep Wrangler Rubicon requires synthetic oil, and I haven’t seen any since Dakar. That’s the kind of thing most travelers never think about before setting off on a long-distance overland journey.

When something goes wrong in a remote part of Africa, your plans, schedule, and route suddenly don’t matter. Your trip is put on hold wherever the vehicle decides to stop. Whether that’s a bustling city, a dusty roadside village, a remote desert track, or the shoulder of a lonely highway, that’s where you’ll stay until you can figure out a way forward. That’s a reality of overlanding that doesn’t always make it into the highlight reels.

4. Bugs and Insects: An Unavoidable Challenge of Overland Travel

My absolute favorite… bugs.

One of the best parts of the day in Africa is the morning. You wake up, the air is cool, and for a few hours the heat hasn’t started its daily assault. You’ve got a plan, a destination in mind, and maybe even your next wild camping spot already picked out. The day unfolds, you explore, drive, and enjoy the adventure.

Then afternoon arrives.

The heat builds, everything feels sticky, and by the time you’re cooking dinner and settling into camp, you’re counting the minutes until the temperature drops. Finally, the sun starts sinking below the horizon, the air cools off, and you think you’re about to get some relief.

That’s when the mosquitoes show up.

Every. Single. Time.

At that point, you’ve got two choices: put on extra clothing or cover yourself in DEET. Neither option is particularly appealing. After spending all day in the heat, the last thing you want is another layer of clothes. On the other hand, bathing yourself in bug repellent isn’t exactly enjoyable either, especially when you’re trying to live outdoors for months at a time.

Wild camping adds another layer to the problem. It’s often difficult to shower when there are villages or people nearby, so spending the evening coated in DEET while feeling sweaty and dusty from the road isn’t anyone’s idea of luxury.

And mosquitoes aren’t the only offenders.

In some places, flies seem determined to become your traveling companions. They’ll hover around camp, circle your head while you’re cooking, and even follow you on walks. The constant buzzing around your ears can slowly drive you insane. In many parts of the world, there’s also the daily ritual of checking yourself for ticks after spending time outdoors.

It’s a never-ending battle that comes with overlanding, camping, and spending so much time outside. Social media is full of photos of beautiful sunsets, rooftop tents, and remote campsites. What you rarely see is the person just outside the frame swatting mosquitoes, brushing flies away from their face, and wondering how something so small can be so relentlessly annoying.

The struggle between man and bugs is real, and it’s a part of overland travel that almost never makes the highlight reel.

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5. Road Conditions: Dirt, Potholes & Remote Driving Challenges

We’re traveling in a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, so in theory this section shouldn’t be a complaint at all—because I genuinely love 4×4 driving.

Roads around the world, however, come in every condition imaginable.

Right now we’re in Guinea, and the road network is rough, to put it mildly. Even the main highways can have massive potholes and long stretches that turn into dirt tracks without warning. Once you leave those main routes, pavement quickly becomes a memory. Road maintenance equipment like graders simply isn’t common, so conditions tend to stay that way.

Getting from point A to point B here often feels less like highway driving and more like a continuous off-road trail. In fact, a lot of it would not feel out of place as a technical 4×4 route in Utah.

Distance becomes a very different concept. A 100-mile drive can easily take up to six hours, depending on the road, weather, and traffic conditions. Every journey requires focus, patience, and constant adjustments.

And the truth is, I love driving off-road. That’s part of why we chose a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon for this kind of travel. But when every single day turns into a slow, technical, and sometimes exhausting drive for weeks on end, even something you enjoy starts to wear you down a little.

That’s the reality of overlanding in West Africa—the road is never just a road.

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6. Toilets and Bathroom Reality on the Road

Everybody has to do it, but when you’re on the move day after day, something so basic can become surprisingly complicated.

If you’re not fully self-contained like we are, going to the toilet turns into a bit of a task. On a rural road, if you need to pee, it’s usually simple enough—pull over, walk a little way into the bushes, and get it done quickly. But if you’re a woman, like me, there’s always an extra layer to it. First comes making sure no one is watching, then being as quick and discreet as possible, while still being respectful of the environment and making sure nothing is left behind. We even carry a designated bag for any bathroom-related waste so we can leave no trace.

When you’re wild camping, it becomes even more of a process. Unless you’re completely hidden from view, finding the right spot takes time and a bit of stress. And if you need to do more than just pee, it becomes a whole operation—going as far away and as discreet as possible, digging a proper hole, and making sure everything is covered and left clean afterward.

Campsites aren’t always much better. Bathrooms can range from basic to downright unpleasant—sometimes clean, but often smelly, dirty, and not something you want to spend any extra time in.

In cities, it’s a different challenge again. Public bathrooms can be hard to find, and when you do come across one, there’s always that moment of hesitation. More often than not, you end up wishing you had found another option.

It’s one of those parts of overland travel that nobody really talks about, but it’s part of daily life on the road whether you’re in West Africa, Europe, or anywhere in between.

7. Showering and Staying Clean While Overlanding

About half the overlanders we meet are in the same situation as us when it comes to showering—you simply can’t fit a built-in shower into a Jeep Wrangler, a Land Rover, or a Toyota Troopy. So the reality is, most of us rely on outdoor showers.

We’ve set up a home-built shower curtain system, and depending on where we are, we’ll use either our Scepter 5-gallon jerry can or a Lifesaver jerry can with a shower spigot attachment. It works well enough for what it is, but only if you can actually find a private place to use it. Otherwise, you’re standing behind a curtain trying to shower while hoping nobody is watching from a few meters away.

There’s also the water itself to think about.

A couple of days ago, we did a few-hour hike in 100°F heat to a waterfall and ended up completely filthy. We hadn’t planned our campsite for the night, so after the hike we spent a long time driving just to find a place where we could finally set up camp and shower. Sometimes something as simple as getting clean dictates the entire direction of your day.

Staying clean—yourself, your clothes, your bedsheets—takes a surprising amount of water. It becomes a constant, everyday effort to keep jerry cans and water bottles filled, topped up, and ready to go.

When we were overlanding through Europe in late Fall the challenge shifted completely. It was far too cold to shower outside, so we ended up relying on truck stop and gas station showers, usually costing around 5 euros for a 6 minutes shower. Even something as basic as hygiene suddenly became a logistical task involving planning, timing, and extra expense.

Showering and finding water isn’t just a comfort issue on the road—it’s a daily struggle that costs both time and money, no matter where you are.

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8. Touts, Hustlers & Scams While Traveling Abroad

We’ve spent years of our lives crisscrossing the world, and this is one of the harder realities of long-term travel.

In many parts of the world, people make a living by guiding travelers—helping at borders, pointing you toward hotels, or directing you to the right bus when things feel confusing. Sometimes it’s genuine help, and sometimes it’s not always that simple.

A long time ago, I was in Kampala, Uganda, trying to catch a bus to Jinja. The central bus station was massive. I walked up and down it for a while, trying to figure out where I was supposed to go, while touts kept approaching me asking where I was headed. I tried to act like I knew what I was doing, but honestly, I didn’t.

Eventually, I gave in and told a very persistent tout I needed to get to Jinja. He immediately said “follow me,” walked straight to a bus, escorted me to a seat, spoke briefly with the driver, and left. I sat there wondering if I had just made the right choice—and how much this was going to cost me.

As the bus started filling up, I asked the man sitting next to me where it was going. He told me it was heading southwest, toward the border with Tanzania. I had been guided onto the completely wrong bus.

That experience taught me very quickly how important it is to figure out whether people are genuinely helping you or simply trying to make a quick dollar.

It’s not just transport either. In markets and shops, you constantly have to gauge whether you’re being given a fair local price or a heavily inflated “tourist price.” On the road, you’ll also come across random checkpoints where people ask for money, even though they don’t appear to work for any official authority. Some will show badges or wear uniforms and request “fees” for entry or passage—some are real, and some are not.

Over time, you learn to read situations faster, but you never fully let your guard down.

At the same time, it’s important not to become closed off. Because many people genuinely are trying to help—offering directions, advice, or assistance simply out of kindness. The challenge of overlanding is finding that balance: staying aware, questioning what doesn’t feel right, but still keeping a good attitude and not letting suspicion take away from the experience of the journey.

9. Border Crossings, Delays & Paperwork Challenges

Not many travelers are big fans of borders.

One of the easiest things about the European Union is the simplicity—one border in, one border out, and you’re done. No paperwork shuffle, no long stops, just keep driving.

In most of Africa, it’s a very different experience. It becomes a constant puzzle of figuring out where to get visas, which borders are easiest, and exactly what documents are needed to get stamped through. The rules don’t feel fixed either—they can change month to month, sometimes even week to week.

Getting visas often means going into capital cities. Some can be issued the same day, while others take several days or even a week. Increasingly, there are also e-visas, which sound convenient but come with their own challenges—reliable internet isn’t always guaranteed, and you often need to print or download documents, which can be surprisingly difficult depending on where you are.

Once you finally have all the right visas, you head to the border—and that’s when the real process begins.

It’s rarely a simple stop. Instead, you move from one building to another: police checks, immigration offices, sometimes military checkpoints, back and forth through gates and windows, collecting stamps and signatures one step at a time. It can feel confusing and overwhelming, especially after long driving days.

West Africa in particular has a reputation among overlanders as one of the most complex—and expensive—regions in the world when it comes to visas and borders. And based on our experience, that reputation is well earned.

But like everything on this journey, it’s just part of the process.

10. Money, Cash & Currency Problems While Traveling

If you’ve ever dreamed of feeling like a millionaire, West Africa can definitely give you that illusion. In Guinea, for example, the exchange rate sits around 8,700 Guinean francs to 1 USD. That means 100 USD turns into 870,000 francs—literally a thick stack of bills that can be almost an inch wide. It feels surreal holding that much cash just for what is, in reality, a relatively small amount of money.

The reality of handling cash here is very different from what many travelers are used to. ATMs in Guinea usually only dispense 10,000 or 20,000 franc notes, so you end up carrying a huge bundle of money just to cover everyday expenses. On top of that, ATMs frequently run out of cash or simply don’t work at all, so whenever you pass a functioning bank, it’s smart to withdraw money immediately rather than risk running out later.

Cash management becomes a constant part of travel life in the region. You’ll need to carry both USD and euros because they’re often required at borders or in places where local currency exchange isn’t available. Exchanging money at border crossings can also be unpredictable and often turns into a negotiation to get the correct rate or amount.

Credit cards, outside of major cities, are basically useless. Everything runs on cash, and keeping track of prices can get confusing quickly. Having a small calculator—or just your phone ready—is essential for doing quick conversions on the go.

To make things even more complicated, some countries still reference old currencies or unofficial pricing systems. In some cases, people will quote prices by dropping a zero or using outdated denominations, so you need to constantly double-check what you’re actually being charged. It’s part of the learning curve of traveling through West Africa, where handling money is an ongoing exercise in attention, patience, and adaptability.

11. Cleanliness Challenges on Long-Term Overland Trips

Staying clean—and keeping things clean—can feel almost impossible while traveling through West Africa. Right now, we’re in the middle of it, surrounded by the famous red dust of the region. The dirt roads here are coated in a fine, light red powder that gets absolutely everywhere. It covers the Jeep, settles into every crack and crevice, and the moment you reach for something, it ends up on your clothes.

Even with the windows up while driving, the dust still finds a way inside. It’s a constant battle to keep anything clean for more than a few hours. What starts as a tidy setup quickly turns into a layer of red grime that just becomes part of daily life on the road.

In the cities, cleanliness brings its own challenges. You can walk around for hours and still see how different sanitation systems are compared to what many travelers are used to. Garbage is often left in open spaces, and in many places it’s simply burned by the roadside. It’s not uncommon, but it does take some adjustment if you’re coming from somewhere with structured waste management.

Laundry is another major reality of overlanding. Most vehicles aren’t equipped with washing machines, and laundromats are virtually nonexistent in many of the areas we’re traveling through. That means hand-washing everything, which easily takes hours out of your day. If you’re on the road, you should expect to spend at least half a day every week just doing laundry.

And even after all that effort, it doesn’t last long. The roads turn freshly cleaned vehicles back into dust-covered machines in no time. During the rainy season, it gets even more intense—mud replaces dust, and everything becomes heavier, wetter, and messier all at once.

On the road, you also stop thinking about changing clothes every day. Shirts and pants get worn for multiple days because constant cleaning just isn’t practical. In the end, staying clean becomes something you actively manage rather than something you maintain effortlessly—and it will reliably take up at least a full day of your week.

12. Camping, Wild Camping & Finding Safe Places to Sleep

Finding a place to sleep each night is one of the more time-consuming parts of overlanding, even with today’s technology. There are a number of apps that help with locating both wild camping spots and paid campsites, with two of the most commonly used being iOverlander and Park4Night.

Most days start with a loose plan—visit a place, see a site, explore a route—but once the sightseeing is done, the next priority is always finding somewhere safe to sleep. That part can take longer than expected. Some days you end up driving from one potential spot to another, trying to find somewhere secure, accessible, and actually allowed for overnight camping. It’s not always straightforward, and it’s definitely not like the polished version you often see in YouTube videos.

In some countries, wild camping is illegal. In others, it’s restricted in protected areas. And in many places, it can simply be unsafe. That’s why it’s important to plan multiple potential overnight stops along your route before setting off. Nobody wants to be searching for a campsite in the dark after a long day of driving.

We do use both apps, but a lot of the wild camping spots we find come from satellite view on Google Maps. Scanning for dead-end roads, quarries, or hidden pull-offs off the main road has become a regular part of planning. It’s a more independent approach, but it helps avoid some of the issues that come with overused public spots.

Not everyone is considerate when using shared wild camping locations on apps like iOverlander or Park4Night. Some places end up heavily impacted, sometimes even turning into what you’d describe as giant “toilet bowls,” which ruins the experience for everyone else. That’s part of the reason we often prefer finding our own spots where possible—no crowds, no mess, and a bit more privacy in nature.

That said, the apps are still extremely useful when you need a proper campsite with water, facilities, or a chance to meet other travelers. If your idea of overlanding is only wild camping in remote, picture-perfect locations like you might see on social media, the reality can feel very different. Those moments do exist, but they’re mixed in with a lot of ordinary stops—parking lots, roadside clearings, and functional but unremarkable places to sleep.

Overlanding isn’t just about remote beauty; it’s also about the people you meet along the way and the shared experiences at the places you stop. And sometimes, the campsite is simply wherever is safe enough to rest before the next day’s drive.

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13. Time Pressure, Visas & Travel Restrictions on the Road

Time is one of the strangest challenges you deal with when overlanding, specialty through West Africa—it can be both your best friend and your biggest limitation at the same time.

On paper, you might feel like you have endless freedom, but in reality, time often dictates your entire route. There will be stretches where you simply don’t have the luxury to stop, rest, or properly enjoy a place because your visa is about to expire or a border deadline is closing in. Instead of lingering at a waterfall or taking an extra day in a beautiful spot, you’re sometimes forced to keep moving whether you want to or not.

There are also periods where you end up stuck in places you never planned to stay. You might find yourself waiting in a chaotic town or an unattractive stopover, just holding time while you wait for an e-visa approval or for a border to reopen. It’s part of the rhythm of travel here—progress is often dictated by paperwork and timing rather than desire.

Sometimes it becomes even more complicated with visa timing. Some visas start from the day they are issued, while others only start once you actually cross the border. They all have validity periods, but not all of them are flexible on when you’re allowed to enter. This means you can end up having to carefully plan not just where you go, but exactly when you arrive in each country.

In some cases, you’ll find yourself staying for long periods in capital cities just to process visas for the next countries on your route. It can get tricky when embassies hold onto your passport while your visa is being processed, which temporarily prevents you from applying for or collecting other visas in the meantime.

Because of this, timing becomes critical. You need to plan your arrival dates very carefully to meet each country’s entry windows and deadlines. If you miss them, you may not be allowed in at all—or you could end up rushing through a country without enough time to properly explore it.

Seasonality adds another layer to it. You end up racing against weather systems you can’t control—trying to cross desert regions before extreme heat and dust storms arrive, or pushing through certain areas before monsoon rains make them impassable. Even nature puts deadlines on your route.

And then there’s the simple reality of bureaucracy. Sometimes you find yourself sitting in places you don’t want to be, spending days just trying to complete paperwork that should be straightforward. No matter how well you plan—or how much time you think you have—you eventually get slowed down by something unexpected that forces you to wait.

Before setting off, I always told Karla we had all the time in the world. Looking back now, we laugh at that idea, because in many ways it feels like we have less time on the road than we did while working full-time jobs.

Still, despite all of that, the bigger picture remains clear. If your dream is to overland the world, you should absolutely do it. It’s been one of the best decisions of our lives. Just know it won’t always be easy. There will be breakdowns, bad weather, bug bites, and some genuinely difficult days.

But there will also be incredible people, unforgettable meals, waterfalls you can swim in, and landscapes that don’t even feel real. The good days far outweigh the bad ones.

We’re living out of a Jeep Wrangler with very few comforts, and yet we constantly find ourselves thinking about what’s waiting just around the next corner.