This couple drove all the way from Singapore to London — all 54k kilometres

Most people won’t bat an eyelid if you tell them about your latest getaway. But driving through 33 countries in a year? That’s the kind of story you save and file away for posterity. Meet Ben and Sophee Southall, the authors of travel website Best Life in the World.

Ben’s the one who made the news in 2009 when he beat 34,000 others to nab the position of caretaker of Hamilton Island in Queensland, which came with a huge paycheck and a luxe villa.

No stranger to adventure, he and his partner Sophee put in about 18 months of planning before they set out from Singapore in February last year. Some of their favourite experiences here included catching a glimpse of the Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay, trying out local hawker fare and listening to Dick Lee’s tunes.

In a tribute to the 1955-1956 Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition — where six university students journeyed from London to Singapore in two Land Rover-sponsored station wagons — the couple took to the road for a year of thrills and spills. Here are some highlights from their unusual trip:

• Kyrgyzstan was one of Sophee’s top three favourite locations. That’s where they stayed with nomadic tribes, discovered the sport of Buzkashi (literally translated as ‘goat dragging’ in Persian) and had vodka sauna parties.
• One of their most terrifying moments was loading their 3,500kg Land Rover onto a narrow, wobbly wooden boat at Lake Attabad in Pakistan. The other? Being on the sixth floor of a dilapidated hotel in Darjeeling, India, when the first tremors of an earthquake began. Scary stuff.
• They loved India’s street food, especially samosas, which were apparently well worth the resulting time spent rushing to the toilet, according to Sophee.
• After long bouts of driving, they entertained themselves with a water fight the old school way — by downing a mouthful of water and spraying it at one another while keeping the car on the road.
• They found happiness in the most unexpected places. Like in the slums of Mumbai, the rural villages of Italy and the desert areas of Eastern Morocco.

Read the full story on Best Life in the World to find out more.