The Hoepner brothers

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The Hoepner brothers in the ZDF television garden, 2018

The twin brothers Paul and Hansen Hoepner (born April 6, 1982 in Singen am Hohentwiel ) are adventurers, travel book authors and documentary filmmakers.

Hansen Hoepner

Hansen was born five minutes before his brother Paul in Singen am Hohentwiel and studied product design, goldsmithing and photography at the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts. He has been working on the “KAOS” creative project since 2014, where he set up a workshop for goldsmiths and product design.

Paul Hoepner

Paul Hoepner

Paul studied media design in Cologne and works as a web and app designer in Berlin . In 2015 he graduated from the “Human Factors” course at the TU Berlin .

Adventure projects

In addition to many smaller adventure trips, the twins have implemented two extensively documented projects.

Bike tour from Berlin to Shanghai: "Two to Shanghai"

On April 6, 2012, they set out on a long-distance bike tour from Berlin to Shanghai via Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The journey lasted 7 months (204 days) and stretched over 13,600 km through the Kazakh steppe, the Taklamakan desert and the Himalayas up to an altitude of 5250 m. They rode on touring bikes weighing around 12 kg, which, when packed, reached a total weight of around 60 kg. They documented the trip with video recordings, which were later shown as a three-part series in an ARD film series, and in a book published by Piper Malik Verlag.

Around the world in 80 days without money: "Two around the world"

About three years later, on May 6, 2015, based on Jules Verne's novel Journey Around the Earth in 80 Days , they attempted to do just that. However, they started their experiment in comparison to the fictional character Phileas Fogg , who started with 20,000 pounds, from their home in Berlin without any money. The roughly planned route should go through 17 countries: France, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and back to Germany. Everything they need in money on the go, they had to collect and earn during the trip.

After having to change their route several times en route, with the generous help of people in all the countries they traveled through, they made it back to Berlin on August 17th, 2015 with only 24 days delay. They also extensively documented this trip. A 7-part documentary was shown in the show stern TV and with Piper Malik Verlag they have the book Two Around the World - in 80 Days Without Money. released.

More bike tours

As their first trip together, the brothers tried a trip around Lake Constance at the age of 16, which already failed on the first evening because no campsite wanted to accept the underage brothers. After several years separated by studies and individual journeys between the ages of 20 and 28, the brothers took the first trip together on self-made bikes from Maastricht to Milan in a long time. Further trips to Lofoten and Budapest followed .

financing

Lecture in Hilzingen January 2014

The brothers financed their bike trip to Shanghai, which cost around € 20,000, through crowdfunding and sponsors. They offered to fulfill the wishes of the respective financiers on their trip, such as putting up a personal street sign in China.

In addition to the advance financing, the brothers offer lectures and readings on the adventure they have undertaken.

literature

Web links