A retired Dutch couple, Paul den Reijer and Monique, are exploring Oman and Saudi Arabia in their custom-built MAN HX60/Bliss Mobil expedition truck.
The vehicle is solar-powered and equipped with a 500-litre water tank, a freezer, and a fridge, allowing them to be off-the-grid for up to two weeks at a time.
The couple chose the Bliss Mobile concept or the ‘home on wheels’ as a way to have a holiday home that is not fixed and moves from place to place, allowing them to visit remote and hard-to-reach locations.
They have been travelling all over Oman and recently crossed over to Saudi Arabia, where they were able to watch part of the Dakar rally.
Their expedition truck is an old UK army support vehicle named ‘destination.unknown.nl’ that was modified to left-hand drive, and includes features like beadlock rims, a central tire inflation system, and an integrated winch. The truck was modified by a Dutch company called Overland Travel.
They chose Bliss Mobil, another Dutch company, to build the living unit for their truck, which is 16 feet long and containerised for rugged use.
Paul retired from Shell Development Oman (SDO) in June 2022 after 30 years completing his work on the Block-10 project for SDO as Contracts and Agreements Commercial Lead while
Monique retired as a Physical Education teacher. Paul predominantly worked on the negotiation of the Block-10 Concession agreement with the government. The Block-10 Concession was executed in late 2021 and allowed Shell to become an upstream operator in Oman.
Paul and Monique say, “we love Oman which is an absolutely wonderful and beautiful country to camp and explore. It was an easy decision that we wanted to start our journey after retirement. Oman is unique, safe, people are incredibly friendly and helpful with its nature, mountains, deserts, and beaches. The roads are really good and there are beautiful camp spots. Oman is becoming more popular with European overlanders (people with our kind of trucks). Everybody we speak to mentions Oman as a favourite destination and a place they want to visit again.”
Their twins (boy/girl) named Tessa and Max are cooperative and their daughter joined them for two weeks and explored the mountains together and have now been enjoying their new ‘retired’ life for some six weeks.
When they went back to the Netherlands for Christmas, they gladly left their huge MAN HX60 truck back in Oman.
They returned to pick up the truck and stocked up supplies before hitting the new road to Saudi Arabia via Nizwa and Al Safah Lake. They travelled back to Muscat via wadi Suwaiq and Whales Head Camp on Bar Al Hikman.
Says Paul, “a holiday home that is not fixed, but can move from place to place. The expedition truck concept allows you to go much more remote or hard to get to locations when compared to a normal camper.”
The couple loves Oman and its friendly people, and they plan to return back again in June for kitesurfing before storing the truck and returning to the Netherlands for the summer. They plan to be back again in early October for two months before embarking on another journey to Saudi Arabia.
The daredevil couple are documenting their sustainable journey on Instagram under the handle @‘destination.unknown.nl’ and plan to continue their green journey in their ‘sayarah bait’ as long as they can.
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