Epic 26-year road trip is a great love story with a heartbreaking ending

Gunther Holtorf spent the last26 year on a route misstep around the globewith Christine , a full stranger who met him in Africa after he published ad asking for a companion in a German cartridge . His journey includes 177 countries , 549,000 mile ( 884,000 kilometers ) and loads of picture taken from his old Leica .

fit in toDeusche Welle , he set out his trip in 1989 with his wife and Otto , the name he gave to his Mercedes G Wagon . After some months in Africa , his married woman adjudicate to provide him and return home . Gunther rank an advert in the personals section of German weekly Die Zeit . Christine , a 34 - twelvemonth - old from Dresden , respond and joined him on his tripper .

What ’s going to be a scant head trip turned then into a 26 - year long tripper around the world . Four years ago , Christine passed away after battling Crab . Just month before dying , they in conclusion married . She asked him to continue the trip in her retentivity , which he did for four more years . Now , Gunther has returned to Berlin after the tripper of a lifetime .