His travel just started recently. Mick Miller is on his way touring the Australian continent in a VW Beetle from 1967. You can follow his journey on his site: www.myndstravel.com

“Around March 2013, I was in a situation that was extremely challenging, I was diagnosed with cancer. This was a wake up call to make a few changes in my life, for which I am incredibly grateful”, said Mick. Traveling Australia is a big change indeed!

We remember circling this huge island in 2010 before shipping Herbie and the caravan from Brisbane to North America. There we got to know another Mick (from “Mick Motors”). He helped us repairing our Love Bug and sponsored us on our African trip.

On May 1 we’ll fly to the United States in order to go on another trip in Herbie No. I,  starting from Ridgecrest, California. We’ll be traveling California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.

Last weekend Flo and Domi where driving to Flo’s property in Lower Austria. While they were driving through the so-called “Wood Quarter” – the northwestern part of the province, they got to know an older gent who’s repairing and selling motorcycles.

Domi returned with two mopeds. He bought a “KTM Hobby” from 1984 and a vintage “JAWA Stadion” from 1964 – both in good working condition. Now Flo and Domi are both looking forward to ride their mopeds in the upcoming summer season.

They picked up the motorcycles in a trailer pulled by our two-stroke powered “Trabi de Luxe”. And they even carried two bicycles they purchased for friends.

Downgrade! Herbie has four cylinders, the Trabi only two and the mopeds are driven by just one, but all of them are air-cooled! Welcome to the “DLV Aircooled Community”!

Infectious diseases are a big topic for every traveler. Especially if you intend to visit certain countries, you’ll have to think about the local circumstances which can affect your personal health. In many cases you’ll even have to constrain that you are vaccinated against particular diseases.

The so-called “International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis” should prove that you got the vaccine the respective country demands. Although we never got vaccinated against any kind of disease and never took prophylaxis or any other conventional drug, we traveled 80 countries within four years without being sick a single time!

Instead we always used traditional ancient medicine in order to prevent illnesses. Therefore our first-aid kit included only three main cures: Dragon’s Blood (“Sangre de Drago”), Artemisia tea (from the sweet wormood called “Artemisia annua” against Malaria) and pure Grapefruit Seed Extract.

The co-founder of DLV and our dear friend, Flo, is celebrating his 25th birthday today.

We all wish you, Flo, a happy birthday and all the best for your next quarter century!

“The Last Ride for Herbie No. I” was in June 2012. After we’ve traveled to Mexico and South America, we left our Love Bug tucked away at a friend’s house (the world famous “West OZ House”) in Ridgecrest, California. Meanwhile we’ve toured all around Africa in Herbie No. II towing our very own house, the little camper QEK.

Since September 2009, we’ve driven more than 115,000 miles (or 186,000 km) across all drivable continents around the world and now we’re planning to get back to California, visiting our beloved companion Herbie and his friends from Ridgecrest.

Unfortunately it will be just a short visit compared to how long we stayed in the past. But we are eager to get there and we’re looking forward to meeting all our buddies. Almost two years later, Herbie’s going for a ride again! See you there in May!

Our daily driver has been pimped by friends of “DLV’s Aircooled Community”. The Trabi is now ready for the winter season! He got new tires on pearl white painted rims and a deceptively real-looking taxi sign. Many thanks to Flo, Friedrich and Max for their help!

Domi turned 30! Therefore we celebrated his big birthday in one of Vienna’s pubs called “Morgenstern”. Many friends and family members came to congratulate him.

Special thanks go to Flo, Friedrich, Eva, Heinz, Gabriel, Michi, Georgy, Fabi, Christian, Benjamin, Matthias and of course Zainab who made Domi the most marvelous present. They surprised him with a “Trabant” station wagon from the old GDR (DDR).

Before the season is over, we, the club of DLV, invited to this year’s “Late Summer Ride” in the Vienna Woods. Even though the weather was not ideal, many air-cooled vehicles came and attended the round trip along the world famous “Höhenstraße”.

On the weekend we visited a gathering of air-cooled Volkswagens in Angern an der March, right at the border to Slovakia. But it was so hot at that day (104°F or 40°C in the shade), that we just spent a couple hours at the meeting. Now we’re looking forward to our annual event called “Late Summer Ride” on September 15!

Last weekend we visited the 2^nd VW Beetle Show of Nappersdorf in our province of Lower Austria. Together with all the other visitors we drove to the border of the Czech Republic and the so-called “Excalibur City” within the two frontiers.

June 28 is the official birthday of Walt Disney’s Love Bug. Therefore we’re celebrating Herbie’s 50^th anniversary this year and especially on this particular day, even though our Love Bug wasn’t manufactured on that exact date. But one is for sure, 1963 is the year in which Herbies all around the world were made. Happy Birthday!

Domi celebrated Herbie’s B-Day together with our friends Georgy, Matthias and Florian (from left to right) and their Beetles at a vintage car show in the South of Vienna.

Today, June 22, we’re celebrating the International Day of the Volkswagen Beetle. Thanks to this unique car we were able to travel all around the world within the past four years.

Today Domi and his friend Matthias, nephew of Friedrich Hübsch, picked up a 1960 Volkswagen Bug in the very South of Burgenland, one of nine Austrian provinces.

The black Beetle resides in its original condition. It still has the original paint, six volt and 1,192 cc with 30 horsepower. And it seems like that this vehicle has never been welded.

The only question remains is, who the next owners will be? Either Katharina, a friend and DLV club member of ours, or Domi and Zainab. Anyway, Herbie found a new friend!

Matthias, Georgy and Domi visited the biannual air-cooled Volkswagen show in Laxenburg. More than 100 vehicles showed up – from Beetles to Kombis and Buggies to Brezels. Thanks to the “VW Beetle and Bulli Lover’s Club Laxenburg” for that wonderful day. The “DLV – Aircooled Community” are patronizing you.

Yesterday we visited the legendary “Hot Summer Nite” at the SCS (Shopping City South). A lot of air-cooled Volkswagens and Porsches attended the show. Here the pictures:

Somebody hurt Herbie last week! His rear bumper got hit and the radio antenna broken. We traveled around the world in 80 countries and nobody ever did this to Herbie.

It is very sad that people do such things. It is actually a shame that Austrians can behave like that. The bumper got hit even two times – deliberately or unintentionally?

We’ll also have to buy a new antenna as somebody broke the old one off. Why would this person do this? Sometimes we just don’t understand other human beings.

Although we are an “Aircooled Community”, we couldn’t avoid coming across water on the streets of Eastern Austria. As Herbie is tucked away safely on a hill, we’re driving “Trabi” these days. Herbie encountered enough “watering obstacles” on his way round the world. Yesterday Domi and his friend Flo (from DLV) inspected some local flooded roads.

The South African adventure travel magazine “Drive Out” features a story on Herbie’s World Tour in its latest edition including six full pages about Herbie’s “gravel travel”.

Herbie and his friends from “DLV – Aircooled Community” visited the monthly “Friday Night Cruising by Altblech” at the SCS Shopping Center in the South of Vienna.

This was a very special day for us! We met Faye Gilbert and Luc Tremoulet who came all the way from the UK to film us for a documentary about the Volkswagen Beetle. They’re covering Herbie’s World Tour as an example for the worldwide VW enthusiasm.

As Faye and Luc were coming via Germany, we arranged to meet in St. Kolomann, a little town just outside the city of Salzburg. Unfortunately we had a foggy Saturday, so we weren’t able to cover the beauty of the Alps, but we still got Herbie in motion pictures.

Today we headed to Salzburg for a film shooting. A British production company wants to cover Herbie’s World Tour for a documentary on the legendary Volkswagen Beetle.

The plan was to film Herbie driving through that beautiful mountain scenery, but the weather forecast isn’t well-disposed to us. We hope for the best and wait until tomorrow!

Herbie carried us along the freeways “A2” and “A10” across the Austrian provinces of Lower as well as Upper Austria to Salzburg and a town called at St. Kolomann.

We’re staying at “Gasthof Alpenrose” (Guesthouse “The Rose of the Alps”) in the incorporated village of Wegscheid (St. Kolomann), just about 30 kilometers from Salzburg.

After more than 30,000 kilometers (or 19,000 miles) Herbie needed a pit stop at Friedrich’s shop in Vienna. Finally the Love Bug got a new master brake cylinder as the old one was leaking since a Togolese mechanic ruined the filler plug.

We also replaced the brake cylinders in the back as well as one of the rear wheel bearings, which was accompanying us on our tour round Africa with a weird pulsating noise. Herbie’s now ready to make a trip to Salzburg next weekend!

The Spanish traveler, Monserrate Espinosa, who we’ve met the first time in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, stayed with us for almost two weeks in our hometown Klosterneuburg, Austria, after we had toured together trough Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

Yesterday Domi escorted Monserrate to the freeway “A2” from where he’s heading towards Italy and home. As Herbie is at the workshop right now, Friedrich lent us one of his “Jubilee Bugs”. But next weekend we’ll drive with our Love Bug to Salzburg!

In South Africa we had the chance to meet people like Wernher Hartzenberg as well as Christian and Gisela Figenschou, who traveled East Africa already before Herbie did.

Wernher, our lovely host in Pretoria, South Africa, toured Africa together with Espen Svenson in their VW Kombi from 1959 named “Mabel” in 1999 – an “Aircooled Wonder“!

And Gisela and Christian started just about one year later. They were driving their “Zebra Bus”, a 1975 Fleetline Kombi made in Brazil. Check them out “the Zebra Safari”!

We arrived back home! Safely! Herbie made it again – and this while pulling a caravan the long way round Africa. Our dream of traveling this last missing continent (except Antarctica of course) became actually reality. Since September 2009 we visited 80 countries while driving two Volkswagen Beetles from 1963 with campers in tow for more than 115,000 miles (or 185,000 kilometers) around the globe.

We need a break and Herbie a pit stop! Therefore we’ll stay home for quite a while before hitting the road again. But there is more to come! What about Alaska!? Herbie’s World Tour is not over yet! The Love Bug’s still got the Travel Bug!