Once I had a VW Bus Kombi (my last “car”), a slightly magical, slightly cursed thing that carried me everywhere. I drove friends to lunch, traveled, slept inside it, and probably did a few other improper things I won’t mention here because my mom might find this blog one day.
In 2014, when I decided to travel the world for a while (not by car, for once) I knew I didn’t want to just sell the Kombi like a normal human. I wanted it to keep living, doing something meaningful, something fun, something bigger than my questionable road-trip decisions.
So I created Kombina.me, a platform (a WordPress adaptation) where anyone can “bid an offer” on the bus by proposing a price + an idea.
Basically Craigslist with a dash of idealism.
I received so many wild proposals that I had to invent an actual decision matrix (a spreadsheet that tried to judge the “soul” of each idea, which is as ridiculous as it sounds).
In the end, the Kombi went to Instituto Ambiente em Movimento (IAM), an organization that teaches kids about sustainability through theatrical performances. Perfect match. They turned the bus into a rolling stage, a colorful classroom, a creature of chaos and joy, exactly what it always wanted to be.
The bus kept doing what it did best, moving people. Sometimes letting go is just another way of keeping something alive.
Well, it helped me with my goal, I met amazing people, and had so much fun. But I didn’t do a good job sticking with it to find more people interest in selling their stuff besides myself.
More about the organization that won the kombi (English subtitles).
More (in Portuguese):
- https://onthelist.com.br/noticias/2014/07/custom-kombi
- https://bebelritzmann.blogspot.com/2014/07/projeto-artistico-e-sociocultural.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMJMCxaqo_I
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeH6L4qlNTo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thwPg74qaFE
- https://www.facebook.com/kombina.me/
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