1. Electrical lighter

Thanks to Tobias’ father, we have an electric lighter with us. And oh my, it has saved us countless times already. Nearly every vehicle has a secondary battery and at least one USB plug and that is exactly why everyone needs one of these lighters.

How often have you tried to light your stove, only to find out you ran out of lighter gas? Can you even remember how many times you burned your fingers due to those stupidly small matches? Or when they didn’t even light at all, because they became moist somehow. We know, those memories aren’t the best.

With an electric lighter you can easily light any stove, from gas to petrol. Once it runs out of battery, you simply recharge it and before you know it, you’re ready to go again. This is one item that we’re never going to leave at home again. Did we already mention it also works when it’s windy, and that it’s awesome?

2. Motion-activated light

The second item that can always be found in our car is a light with a motion sensor. We love to have one underneath our rooftop tent, as it provides us with a light source whenever we descend from the ladder. It comes in super handy when working underneath the awning, when cooking or looking for something, or when going to pee in the middle of the night. It also provides a sense of safety, as anyone approaching your vehicle at night will be put in the spotlight.

As our light attaches magnetically, we can hang it practically everywhere. It is a versatile item to add to your list of ‘to take’. Oh, and as with the electrical lighter, these lights are also USB-chargeable. Easy to use, easy to recharge.

3. Mini vacuum cleaner

When you go on a long-term trip (think: 4 weeks to endless), you’ll notice that you want to make your vehicle feel like home as much as you can. This can include lighting a candle during dinner, having a high-quality brewed cup of coffee, or something else. For us, a clean house is a house ready for adventure. And in Africa, a car is something difficult to keep clean due to all the dust and mud.

Every once in a while, we try to clean out whatever we can to make our house feel a little more organized, and like home, again. In all honesty, cleaning is something we – especially Manon – do when we don’t feel great. We rearrange the spices in one of our drawers, or we clean out the dashboard for the umpteenth time, as small things always randomly appear there. In all those cases, we have one thing we couldn’t do without: our mini vacuum cleaner. It de-assembles for easy storage, it is easily emptied and it works like a charm. And once again, it is USB rechargeable.

4. Foldable organizers

Going forward with a clean house, there is another thing we couldn’t do without: organizers. These grey boxes are foldable (you can assemble them by zipping the zipper) and will help you in organizing anything from your tea stash, spices, personal hygiene items, and more. One place we love to have it is in our cubby – the square box between the driver and passenger seat. We stash everything important here, such as spray to clean our glasses, extra camera batteries, and our bird book.

5. Ground coffee

Ground coffee is our secret hack, one we started to use out of necessity. And no, we don’t use it for drinking, but for something else: for cleaning our hands!

When we left home, Tobias had a small bottle of workshop soap with him, ideal to use after an afternoon of mechanical stuff. This soap had small particles of something in there, which scrubbed his hands while washing them. With his hands and palms usually full of oil, grease and other unidentified sticky stuff, this was the equivalent of magic soap. But as with everything you use, this one ran out.

By accident, we found a solution to our now-emptied scrub-soap: ground coffee with a bit of soap! You can use both used or new grinds. In both cases, it works like a charm! And so since the depletion of our original soap, we now have a small package of finely grounded coffee in our soap drawer.

6. Safe with a number pad

When long-term overlanding, you can’t rely on insurance you would have at home. In the Netherlands, for example, you have a roadside service that can help you with any car-related problem. They help people get in their cars when they are locked out.

While traveling it isn’t as easy as dialing someone to open up your car again. That’s why we mounted a safe on our car, hidden of course, with spare keys for entrance. The safe is secured with a number pad so only we can access it. It saved us a few times already, mostly when Nimba locked us out, and so we are super happy with it.

7. Infrared thermometer

We have this bright orange thing in our car, of which I (Manon) first thought ‘What is this?’. Well, it appears to be our infrared thermometer. You only have to point at an object, or the floor, to know how hot it is. And while it is fun to use to check the outside temperatures, it proves especially useful in mechanical situations. Recently we used it to measure the temperature of our brakes and wheel bearings after we descended a very steep mountain pass and we noticed the brakes weren’t working as well anymore. In those cases, having an accurate assessment of the temperature is vital.

8. Deluxe McGuyver Set

You know McGuyver? The guy who fixes everything himself? That could be you! Just take a ‘Deluxe McGuyver Set’ along, assembled by yourself, to fix all the small things that might break down on the road. In the McGuyver set you should add WD 40, electrical tape, duct tape, metal wire, and dual component kit/epoxy. Those are – for us – the things we couldn’t overland without. You might need to be creative to use them in an unforeseen breakdown, but it will for sure get you a long way. Hopefully to the closest mechanic, or perhaps even further.

9. SIM card organizer

There is one item on this list that we don’t have, but that we would love to have: a SIM card organizer. Ever since we arrived in Africa, we’ve been collecting SIM cards. You have to buy one in every new country, so it didn’t take long for us to collect a bunch. At first, we gave them initials like ‘MO’ for Morocco and ‘MA’ for Mauritania. The problem was, that we just dumped them into a little plastic bag, and as you might guess, the bag got lost somewhere.

Therefore, a SIM card organizer would be ideal for us. A small foldable case where you can insert your SIM cards, including perhaps some details about the country, pin code, and more. We can’t wait to have one.

10. Foldable bucket

This is one of those items you can find in most camping and outdoor stores. They are available in many shapes and sizes and are ideal for overland travel. We use them for anything and everything, from carrying water from a river to camp, to doing dishes or cleaning our laundry. It is one of those items that is universal in use. We advise you to buy a proper one, as the cheap versions will often start to leak, or collapse in on itself. Our cheap one had a plug that wouldn’t seal at all, skip a few months and we’ve glued it countless times already. So for us, it’s time to invest as well.