07/11/2025
Gunther Holtorf, former Lufthansa country director and Hapag-Lloyd Flug managing director, began his epic journey in 1988 after resigning when the board rejected his scheduled flight network plans.
He purchased a Mercedes G-Class demonstration vehicle nicknamed “Otto” for 50,000 Deutschmarks from an Oldenburg dealership.
In autumn 1989, he placed an ad in Zeit newspaper seeking a travel partner and found Christine, a Dresden admin employee.
Together they modified Otto by removing rear seats, installing a wooden plank with mattresses on top for sleeping, and storing kitchen equipment, tools, and spare parts underneath.
Living frugally on savings, pensions, and proceeds from Holtorf’s 400-page Jakarta city atlas, they travelled 214 countries in a span of 26 years, covering nearly 900,000 kilometers.
Christine died in 2014. The journey concluded November 8, 2014, at Brandenburg Gate, where Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche accepted Otto for Mercedes-Benz Museum display as the most-traveled car globally.
