Our first experience with off-roading and desert camping was in the Empty Quarter / UAE. We kind of liked the stark contrast to the posh hotel life. The desire for adventure, nature and self-reliance started to grow and become more meaningful to us.

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Equipped with a satellite phone, a decent off-road vehicle and provisions for two weeks thoroughly packed and numbered, we covered an approximate distance of 1000km in a stunning Mongolian landscape and under the legendary blue sky. We believe it is here that the seed of traveling adventurously and beyond borders has been sown.

After 20 years of spending in the most elegant hotels across the globe, we could not imagine that we EVER would rent a camper. In September 2011 we yet did it, possibly a critical endeavour. A great one week trip through Northern Italy. And guess what, we truly enjoyed it!

The next camper trip had to be more adventurous, bring us closer to nature and people and have a touch of an expedition. Norway was the chosen land to be discovered. But we truly started to miss a 4WD feature on our van while attempting to reach the best spots for overnighting. We googled the solution: Expedition Vehicle it is called.

Barely did we know that an expedition vehicle will be the type of mobil home we would love to have for our adventures and expeditions on and off the roads, we got a name inspiration at the Fram museum in Oslo by Nansen & Amundsen’s exploration ship The Fram ("forward"). Fram is said to have sailed farther north  and farther south than any other wooden ship. Sounds like our plans, our FRAME too, should go further than anything else!

At this fantastic and world’s largest overlander exhibition we cemented our intentions and started to dream that one day we would travel in one of these incredible rigs. We started modestly to focus on a Mercedes G-Class type like the Rockwilder and soon found ourselves inside the biggest MAN from Action Mobil. During the next couple of years of visiting Bad Kissingen we settled for an excellent compromise called Unimog, a mid-size truck that can go further than any other off-road truck.

Years were passing incredibly fast and before we’d commit to an investment of a truck we wanted to make sure we dare to drive one. While living in Romania there was no better dare than doing the license in the hustling city of Bucharest, on a 30 year old truck, in a foreign language.

At the Abenteuer Allrad 2019 in Bad Kissingen we heard about an Ex French Firetruck Unimog 1550L/37 which was standing on the yards of Merex in Gaggenau. On the way back home to Switzerland we drove by to see for the very first time what was to become our future expedition truck.

Is there anything better to do on a sunny Saturday then driving some 600km from Zurich to Gaggenau/GER (and back) for a vehicle inspection and test drive of our potential new mobile home? Needless to say, it was a fantastic day and the confirming handshake after the test drive was the definitive start of our new FRAME adventures. Finally… we just bought a truck!

Early morning train to Gaggenau to receive our red fire truck baby, followed by a 400km high-way drive to the Hellgeth brothers, luminaries in Unimog tuning based in Wurzbach / Thuringia. 

A year after having dropped our red fire truck at “Hellgeth Engineering Spezialfahrzeugbau GmbH” we were able to receive our now blue-grey expedition vehicle. A total of 74 modifications - for now - turned this completely mechanical 1996 Unimog into a strong and high performing chassis for our FRAME expedition and adventure mobile home. We enjoyed our first leisurely two-day ride with our truck to Cologne where it will get its customised living unit by "Orangework".

The construction of the living unit is taking a bit over a year and is done by great professionals at "Orangework" in Cologne. Exchanging countless emails, phone calls and a couple of visits on site, we enjoyed a smooth construction period with "thousands" of decisions that need to be taken along the way. There is never a right or wrong, but always a compromise that one must do in order to get as close as possible to our vision of building that ultimate expedition vehicle of the highest quality and performance.

Early March and before final handover of our Mog, we received an intensive introduction to all the technical installations of the living unit. Imagine the technology of a house compressed to just a couple of m2, but equally sophisticated. For final installation we had to move back to Thuringia which gave us the opportunity for a first live testing on and off the road.