After 40K km in converted ambulance, Corner Brook couple is back home
A Corner Brook couple who embarked on a 40,000 kilometre journey are finally back in Newfoundland.
Robbie and Kristen Hickey sold everything, quit their jobs, turned an old ambulance into a camper van and then headed to South America last October, starting a 40,000-kilometre journey.
- Corner Brook couple make it to southern-most city in converted ambulance
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Robbie Hickey told CBC News they were only able to do the eight-month adventure by sticking to a strict budget.
"A lot of people think you need to be rich to do something like this, but that's not reality," he said.
"Once we figured that out, that's what started the trip for us. We were just smart with our money and we made a plan and we stuck to the plan."
The couple's journey took them to the most southern tip in the world, where they stopped to see glaciers and sea lions along the way. After heading south for 27,000 kilometres, the couple finally turned around and started their three-month trek back home.
"For what we wanted to do in the eight months that we had, I think we did it right," said Kristen Hickey.
"For what we had planned it was better than we thought. I can't regret anything."
A rig named Rambo
Their home on wheels for the trip was a rig they named Rambo, an ambulance turned camper van they built themselves.
However, Rambo didn't make it home, as they sold the adventure vehicle in Salt Lake City at the end of the trip.
"We thought it was weird at first that people name their vehicles and they say it becomes part of your family but it really does," said Robbie Hickey.
"You rely on this thing to everyday to get you where you want to go. It was tough. I just handed the keys over to this guy and that was it — see you later."
Though their trip was something they will never forget, the Hickeys are glad to be home in western Newfoundland — and back to a normal routine.
They both have been hired on as tour guides this summer in Gros Morne National Park.
