Determined couple who quit London jobs to drive from Alaska to Argentina spend half £40,000 savings in first six weeks

A couple who quit their London jobs to drive from Alaska to Argentina are determined to complete their dangerous year-long journey despite losing half their £40,000 budget in the first six weeks.

Matt Saunders, 27, and Rachel Kelly, 25, both originally from Oxted, Surrey, and now living together in Clapham, south London, have so far encountered “insane” wildlife and Mexican cartels on their adventure along the Pan-American Highway – an 18,600-mile road stretching north to south through the Americas.

The couple, who met on Tinder four years ago and say they are “best friends”, saved £40,000 between them for the trip, with Matt saving for one year independently before they both spent another four years gathering their funds for the journey.

They planned meticulously for their trip to ensure they had a truck and camper waiting for them when they started their journey in June this year – but their original camper broke before they reached the start line and further issues with the truck’s engine meant they had to spend more than half their savings on a new transmission and camper within the first six weeks.

Currently in Mexico after crossing the border on October 10, they have come across “fake checkpoints” believed to be organised by cartels and spent one night sleeping in the car park of a Home Depot in their 1997 Dodge Ram and Northland camper after being urged not to drive on the roads after dark.

Matt and Rachel are now determined to reach Argentina despite their depleting funds and a risky road ahead crossing around the Darien Gap, an impassable jungle on the Colombia-Panama border notorious for criminals, prompting them to set up a GoFundMe page and share their journey on Instagram – where they now have more than 80,000 followers.

“I’m getting to Argentina even if it leaves zero pounds in my bank account,” Rachel told PA Real Life.

“We know we want to make it regardless of what happens, even if we’re not doing all the things we thought we were going to be able to do.”

Matt added: “It was a bit scary for us leaving London, especially as it has taken so long to plan and save.

“You’ve got to seize the moment and just go out and do it.”

Matt and Rachel met on Tinder in 2020 after living in the same home town, Oxted, Surrey, saying they are “best friends”.

They now live together in a three-bedroom flat with three others in Clapham, London – where Matt worked as a quantity surveyor and Rachel had a job with a sales company.

For Matt, journeying along the Pan-American Highway has been a lifelong dream.

“The plan was to take a year off to do the trip and it was the best way for us to tick off all the places we wanted to see in one go,” he said.

After deciding to take on the trip together and coming up with £40,000, they quit their jobs and flew to Canada on June 4 this year.

They stayed with Matt’s brother, Tom, who lives in Canmore, Alberta, and who had kindly set them up with a truck and camper.

“We spent a lot of money on the camper, around £2,500, doing it up and making sure it was good to go, and we had loads of checks done on the truck,” Matt said.

The couple officially set off on June 20, heading towards Tuktoyaktuk located in the northern tip of Canada to start their journey.

Once there and travelling south through Dawson City in Yukon, Canada, the pair said their camper “completely broke” – with its roof collapsing.

After driving further west into Alaska, disaster struck again when the transmission of their truck “blew up” while they were visiting a mechanic in a small and remote town called Valdez.

“Our transmission blew up on the garage floor,” Matt said.

“It was in the middle of nowhere, it’s quite a small little town and it’s only got one mechanic.”

The pair were forced to fork out 7,000 dollars (£5,390) to fix their transmission, which took three weeks to complete.

“Most people there just run their car into the ground so we had to pay to get it fixed,” Matt said.

“Fortunately our mechanic was very kind and he gave us his spare house to live in and gave us a spare car.”

The couple pressed on south to Vancouver with the aim of getting their collapsed camper roof repaired but said a mechanic informed them it was a “complete write-off” – and they had to pay £5,000 for a new camper to avoid having to give up with their trip entirely.

“We’ve been saving for five years and spent half our budget in the first six weeks, which wasn’t ideal,” Matt said.

“We spent £15,000 in one month and we had a budget of £3,000 a month – it was definitely a kick in the teeth.”

Rachel added: “We were planning on having all these fun experiences, like scuba diving, learning how to surf, but we just can’t afford that anymore.”

Matt said it was around this time the couple set up an Instagram page to share the rocky start to their adventure – prompting some of their now 80,000 followers to reach out and ask how they could support them.

They opened a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than £1,300 so far.

“We were in such a situation where people were asking us how they could donate money to help and the only thing we could think of was GoFundMe,” Rachel said.

Despite the challenges, they said it has been an “amazing” journey so far after they spent nearly three months exploring 10 US states, such as Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, California and Utah, hiking through 17 national parks along the way.

“It’s so beautiful, one minute you’re in a desert, half an hour later you’re in the mountains, then you’re by the sea,” Rachel said.

“Meeting all the people is amazing and the wildlife has been insane as well.”

Matt added: “I wanted to do a few dangerous hikes so we did Half Dome in Yosemite, Angels Landing in Zion National Park and I went down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.”

Currently in Mexico, the couple said they have had an interesting night sleeping in the car park of a Home Depot to ensure they were not travelling on the roads after dark.

“On the way through, there were probably about four or five checkpoints and we’ve been warned that some are not official checkpoints, they’re basically the cartel dressed up as policemen,” Matt added.

Looking ahead, the couple face a costly expenditure before they reach Argentina – a 7,000 US dollar (£5,390) charge to navigate around the Darien Gap via a boat, a jungle at the Colombia-Panama border which is impossible to pass through due to treacherous terrain and gang violence – but they are determined to complete the journey.

“It’s when you’re out of your comfort zone where you learn the most about the world and the people in it,” Rachel said.

“You don’t learn that sitting at a desk in London.”

To follow Matt and Rachel on social media, visit their Instagram here: instagram.com/ramonthepanam/?locale

To find out more, visit their fundraising page here: gofundme.com/f/msu65-help-us-get-to-argentina