Birth of MangoManjaro
Robin and Amanda had been aware of each others existents since 2003 – very common when you live on an island with a population of 65 000 people. After a couple of years in contact mostly online, they met in person in the end of February 2010.
Immediately, they fell in love with each other.
Love in something very strong. Love makes you able to fly. Robin flew to France to see Amanda who was volunteering there at the moment.
In France, they met Ben, a cool guy who absolutely loved India. “You should go there” Ben said.
Amanda and Robin had heard that mangoes originally came from India.
Amanda and Robin LOVED mangoes. They even felt they could do mostly anything to get to the origin of the mango.
So they looked at each other and said “OK, when are we leaving?”
A few weeks later back in Sweden, Amanda received a text message from Robin. Based on Robin’s calculations, it would be possible to reach India by land in only two weeks. Amanda thought this sounded very cool.
Robin had seen on his world map hanging just above his bed in Stockholm, that it really wasn’t very far to India. Amanda confirmed on her world map hanging just above her bed in Visby, that this was indeed true.
A great friend named Jonas came along for dinner. Robin and Amanda told Jonas that they were going to India and that they wanted to hitchhike as much as possible.
Jonas suggested they could try ONLY hitchhiking, all the way.
Amanda and Robin thought this was a great challenge. The interest for great challenges was something they had in common.
Robin and Amanda looked at the map a few more times. They realized they would pass 14 interesting countries.
They figured two weeks would not be enough to hang out with all the nice people they would meet .
They wanted unlimited amount of time. So they decided to quit their jobs and cancel their apartments.
In the middle of September 2010, they jumped on the ferry to Poland, got off in Gdansk, and walked up to the road where they stuck out their thumbs.
Welcome to MangoManjaro, a work of passion!
FAQ
Q: What does “MangoManjaro” mean?
A: The first part is “Mango” which basically is a really tasty fruit. The “Manjaro” part contains one made up part “Ma” and one real part, “njaro” which means the shining. Sum of cardemum (swedish expression): The Shining Mango, or The Mango That Shines!
Q: Why Poland? And why India?
A: Why not? We’re no believers of “why’s”, we believe in “why not?”. The things that excites us are the things we’ve never done!
Q: Hitchhiking?! Isn’t that dangerous?
A: Not hitchhiking by itself. Traveling with a car is dangerous. Hitchhiking is not different in that sense.
Q: How long is this going to take?
A: As long as it has to. We’re making this trip independent of time.
Q: What’s your budget?
A: Around 2000€ (2200$).
Q: How do I make a website like this?
A: Read Robin’s quick three-step-guide to find out how!
Q: Who made the cool 3D-logo thing that you use in some of your videos?
A: It is made by Kaspian Jakobsson.