A Very Rough Plan of Attack

So where to go? What to see? How to get there? When to leave? How long to stay? And what is a 'Carnet de Passage' anyway?

Late June and I was holidaying in Andalucia; sat in the Plaza De La Corredera in Cordoba, escaping the 40+ degree heat with a refreshing beer or three when I noticed a touring motorbike parked at the opposite side of the square. I didn't register what type of bike it was, I can't even recall it's colour (Guess I'm just not that in touch with my Feminine side ;o) ), I failed to take any notice of the bikes specifics at all and I only vaguely remember how it was loaded to the hilt with various pieces of touring equipment. I do recall however that almost instantly after observing it, I slipped into my almost habitual state of holiday day dreaming and contemplation, "I could do that; yep I could travel the world on a motorbike, now that's romantic", but at that point in time that's all the reflection was, whimsical thoughts drifting in and out of my conscious.

I have however been seriously considering doing a RTW trip (Round the World), for quite some time, all be it just in the usual fashion. Buying some designer walking boots, an all singing and dancing ruck sack, a RTW air ticket, and joining the hoards of Gap Year students tramping the hippy trails of Asia and the Americas, via a few months chill-out back in New Zealand. But coincidence or not, later that week the idea of using a motorbike to pursue my travel dream was suggested independently to me, by someone who I now fear could well be as unbalanced as myself. The whole motorbike idea at that very moment sparked something greater within me, "maybe it was possible, perhaps it might be the best way to travel and maybe; just maybe this was what I'd had been looking to do all along, travelling RTW with complete freedom to go whenever and wherever I wanted."

Now some three months after returning from Spain I can't quite believe how much this insane idea has fired my imagination and enthusiasm, though to germinate this idea successfully I knew I would have to combat my complete ignorance about the subject with a modicum of intellect and so some serious research commenced the very moment I returned from my holiday (My current 'To Read' stack looks like the Travel section at Waterstones, complete with every possible Lonely Rough Guide to everywhere with every corresponding Nelles map, not to mention a whole plethora of 'Long Distance Motorcycling handbook for the Deranged' books and Ray Mear's 'How to survive for two years alone lost in a jungle without eating your own legs'!).

At the very start of my research process I remembering that Ewan McGregor and a friend of his had stolen my idea a few years earlier, going the 'Long way round'. Although a major difference between their trip and the one I'm planning is support levels (My plan involves being isolated with no support crew for assistance if I run out of fuel, break down etc. I'm on my own), fortunately for me however I am planning a very different kind of trip to theirs. I have absolutely no intention of riding 'hard and fast' on a 'Fly-by-wire' controlled motorbike (Hey, I work with computers; I know they all break!), and I am a intrinsically a traveller not a 'biker'. After doing some rough calculations I've estimated that I only have to achieve an average of seventy one miles a day, not a massive distance by anyone's standards, just a lazy philosophy, stopping for a few days as and when I want to before leaving whenever I feel like it, the attitude of travel. "The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see" - G.K. Chesterton

But the biggest and most important revelation to me during these early investigations into the 'Grand Tour' is that previous to Ewan's and my idea, hundreds if not thousands of people have already achieved RTW trips on motorbikes. This single fact has had a massive influence on my approach to pursuing this idea, I know it's achievable, it's got to be; people like me have already done it, no matter how crazy the idea may first appear.

The other immense benefit to knowing it's been accomplished before is that in our modern era of 'mass information overload' a considerable amount of these travellers share their experiences, knowledge and advice on the Web, a resource I can tap into instantly. This is an un-quantifiably valuable resource; for it means whatever I'm trying to research, whatever dumb questions I have; and I have a lot, there's always someone out there that knows the answer and probably answered it already. More importantly however and more significant to me than having this complete wealth of information at my fingers tips is the reassurance that knowing I'll be riding in the tracks of others before me brings, it's gratifying to know I'm not the only slightly insane person in the world that believed this was a good idea.

My initial pre-conceptions of the idea were somewhat misguided and uniformed. For instance, I had originally considered that the motorbike option would be a reasonable inexpensive one, how naive was I? It's not! If like me you don't already own a suitable motorbike to make the trip or any of the other essential equipment required to perform this immense task of constitution, it's going to start costing big bucks and that's just for the basics, without any additional equipment which allows you to achieve this in a degree of comfort. Although a reasonably cheap used bike suitable for the task may be acquired for just a few thousand pounds, once you start adding 'heavy duty' crash survivable equipment onto it (yes I will crash, more likely than not in India where some of the worlds most appalling roads mix with a 'fatalistic' religious driving style, to compose a cocktail of interesting hazards to avoid, not to mention the cows!), the price starts escalating considerably, easily doubling the cost of the bike itself.

The bike also needs a passport, or as it's technically called a 'Carnet de Passage'. This is a document issued by your home country that lets you take your vehicle in and out of other countries without having to pay import duties (which in some counties; again such as India may be up to 400% of the vehicles value!), obviously then having a Carnet is a good idea, but yet again another surprise, another additional cost that's not cheap.

Apart from getting all my initial rough costs wrong I was also very naive as to the route I planned to take. Initially I assumed that if I could or would visit a country in the standard fashion, by air, then I would also be allowed to ride into and through it on a motorbike, unfortunately this isn't the case. For instance you can't ride a motorbike into China or Myanmar (OK you might be able to negotiate a special visa for China but usually this involves the compulsory hire of a 'state' guide to accompany you everywhere you go at a cost of $150 a day!), and Myanmar (Burma to you and me), is now run be some very unsavoury military characters, who just don't like letting motorcycle travellers in at all. This combination of not being able to pass through either China or Myanmar courses yet another problem; it forms technically a geographic road block between the India Subcontinent and the rest of South-East Asia. Of course there is a solution, but yet again it's another additional expensive. You have to take to the air over the 800 miles of Myanmar you want to cover, crating the motorbike up in Delhi or Calcutta and flying over, again not a cheap option compared to the relatively low costs of riding that distance!

So where am I now three months on from the birth of the Spanish Plan? Well the planned route is now in a draft format, the countries to visit listed below are in order, but I've omitted duplicate entries where countries need to be re-entered to gain access to others. The listing is forty plus countries, (I've also omitted the likes of the Vatican City and San Marino, they just don't count!), with at least one country included on all of the accessible six continents, it adds up to approximately 50,000+ miles. Dates and durations to arrive and leave countries have yet to be concluded, I'm still juggling this to try and avoid the worst of the wet sessions and monsoons with various Visa requirements. So countries:

France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australasia*, Chilli, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, USA & Canada.

* TBC

(Clickable but not that Hi-Res)

Also after extensive research, the choice of which motorbike to use has finally been made, along with all manner of essential additions and extras, all of which cost a kings ransom, in what appears to be a specialised market which therefore commands specialist prices. (At this point I'd like to thank the Guys and Girls from xrv.org, who after I finally decided on which Bike to use have provided some further inspiration, great advice and support for my little venture, thanx all, please keep it coming, I really am that wet behind the ears ;o) ).

Now I know what you're asking yourselves. After all the revelations of the past three months, why haven't I dismissed this idea completely for being nothing more than a very expensive dream of folly? Is this really worth selling everything I own to fund? Well in my opinion yes. Call me a romantic, call me a fool; call me anything you want, but the whole idea of escaping this life for a few years to see and to be absorbed into other completely different societies and cultures, to observe many of the wonders of the world; both natural and man made, to me at least appears a very appealing one, a romantic idea that fits my current life situation, state of mind and heart. And the use of a motorbike to achieve this allows you access and interaction not possible compared with other forms of travel, it's a vehicle capable of reaching the very heart of other worlds, to take you anywhere you want to go, exactly when you want to (Excluding China and bloody Myanmar of course!).

OK, so there's nothing romantic about the possibility of getting shot at in some remote Central American jungle, but hey, life's nothing more than a gamble right? I've just gotta remember not to wear my combats when I'm out there ;o)

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