Expedition Happiness Movie Review

     I recently decided that I was going to take the time to watch something on Netflix. I haven't had time to watch any shows or movies recently, but I finally had a gap of free time on Tuesday night and decided to browse around on Netflix for something to watch. I stumbled across a documentary called Expedition Happiness which was a 97% match (according to Netflix) as to something I'd like to watch. I started watching it and was totally enamored within ten minutes. The documentary is about a German couple, Felix and Mogli, who flies to the U.S., buys a used school bus, and converts it into a tiny home/RV and travels around Canada, Alaska, the west coast of the U.S., and Mexico for over 7 months before raffling off the bus and flying back to Germany with their dog Rudy.
     First of all, I was totally impressed with the fact that they converted the entire van in three months (in a foreign country!) without any previous carpentry/plumbing/electrical/construction experience and everything actually worked and looked freaking beautiful. They even tiled their shower room with this beautiful emerald green subway tile. The whole interior was just super sleek and clean and simple, while still having a personal flair and style.
     DL, MF, and I are all kind of obsessed with the tiny house/bus-van conversion movement and have watched dozens of YouTube videos about people who've made these amazing alternative living spaces by hand and consequently either came out of debt or gained the freedom to travel full-time (or both!). While I admire these people for their do-it-yourself attitudes and willingness to sacrifice comfort in the name of eco-friendly living (and by eco-friendly, I mean both economically sustainable and earth-conscious), I could not do it myself. First and foremost, my family can testify to the fact that I hate manual labor and am not handy in any way. I can barely hang a picture on the wall, let alone create a plumbing system for my house. And while I love the idea of only having the bare essentials and using the outdoors as an extended living space...I have a lot of stuff, okay? And a tiny house would not fit it all. And while I do like to go outside in nice weather, my heart does not yearn to spend my days grubbing around in the dirt and muck in 90 or 20 degree weather. Also...sometimes you need dancing space...or space to you know, have a few people over and not feel like you're suffocating. All that being said, I am still massively in love with the amazing, creative things people are doing with housing and renovations/transformations/conversions and it was so cool to watch Felix and Mogli convert this kid-hauler into a home.
     Another thing I appreciated about this documentary was that it didn't gloss over or glamorize some of the frustrating and negative things about traveling, such as border crossing difficulties, problems acquiring visas, not-so-great weather conditions, awful roads, and sick animals. But it also didn't dwell on these problems, as Felix and Mogli were both very conscious of how much of a privilege it is to be able to drop everything and travel full-time. They kept their problems in perspective.
     The thing I loved most about Expedition Happiness (and this was definitely the focus of the film, so if you're not into it, don't watch it) was the breathtaking scenery that was captured through drone footage (as well as traditional hand-held video cameras). Felix and Mogli did the filming themselves which was super impressive and the footage is absolutely stunning. They are definitely not amateurs. Another cool thing is that Mogli is a musician and she wrote a bunch of songs while traveling and the soundtrack of the documentary is her songs! They were very peaceful and totally fit with the vibe of the movie.
     Anyway, I highly recommend this documentary if you're looking for something fun and inspiring to watch in your free time.
     Also, here is one of the songs featured in the documentary.





-SE Wagner