Following Herman Melville’s mantra that “it is not down in any map, true places never are”, the adventurers showcased in the book have veered off the beaten road to explore the great outdoors on their converted campers, jeeps, station wagons, or 4X4s. People like Luis and Lacey who set out in their modified Toyota Land Cruiser to drive from the USA to Argentina and ended up crisscrossing Latin America for over four years, or like Griff, Lisa and Sirocco Overland, their trusted Land Rover, who traveled from Scandinavia to Vladivostok via the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Gobi desert and Siberia.

There are those who eschew the protection of a jeep or van for the thrill of a motorbike, like Doris and Sjaak who set off from the southern tip of Florida to reach Alaska, or Chris Sleigh who, along with two friends, traveled from Edinburgh to Cape Town braving a broken collarbone and subzero temperatures, camping outdoors and an ongoing conflict in Sudan. And then there’s Gunter Holtorf, a true globetrotter, who in 26 years driving his Mercedes G-Class SUV has crossed 411 borders outside the EU and covered more than twice the distance between the earth and the moon. In these and many other inspiring journeys, “Off the Road” magically echoes the call of the open road and the ultimate form of freedom it denotes.