A couple spent $15,000 driving a $500 Volkswagen bus from Alaska to Argentina

Courtesy The Bus and Us

Tessa Ely and Dillon Vought spent a year and a half driving from Alaska to Argentina in a 1975 Volkswagen bus they bought for $500. After a break, they’re now making their way through the US, sharing their journey on Instagram and their blog, The Bus and Us.

Ely was working as a special education teacher, Dylan in a corporate cubicle job, when they decided they weren’t ready to settle down.

"We both were just ready for some sort of long-term travel," Ely said.

The Alaska natives acquired their trusty Volkswagen bus, lovingly dubbed "Rita," in 2014, and spent a year restoring it. They saved up and budgeted $15,000 for the whole trip, but made no itinerary.

"Even in the year and a half that we spent driving down, we felt that it wasn't really enough time to really experience everything we wanted," Vought said. "Time is the biggest resource. There's never enough of it."

For Ely and Vought, both longtime lovers of Volkswagen buses, no other vehicle would do.

“It opens a lot of doors, because you see that vehicle and you just kind of assume there are fun-loving people driving it,” Vought said.

“It's really kind of a third person on the trip. It kind of has its own personality, its own aura about it that attracts people.”

“The Alaska plates will get us some waves and some good conversation starters, even if the bus itself doesn't,” Ely added.