Ever backpack after taking a big motorcycle trip?
 

So after riding through 15 countries and 2 continents I find myself wanting to travel again.

I'm ready to start planning another very long trip and my first intent is to do another motorcycle trip. This leads me to my question:

Have you ever gone back to backpacking after making a big motorcycle trip?

I started thinking of the carnets, the major logistics involved in shipping the bike, security, and all additional costs of motorcycle travel... and wonder what it'd be like to backpack. So if you've done it, what did you think? Did you miss your moto? Were you able to feel like you were traveling independently? For your next trip, you going back to moto?

I had to 'backback' for a couple of weeks in Malaysia while I waited for my bike to turn up from Australia at the port.

After waiting 5 hours for a bus to KL (the first one was full), I couldn't wait for it to arrive!

I mix it up a lot. Each has advantages, but there´s no doubt that once I´ve planned a bike trip I´m frustrated at having to shoulder a backpack while waiting for parts, repairs, shipments or etc. ç

Traveling alone, as I generally do, is isolating--think long hours inside my helmet listening mainly to my own thoughts. On the other hand, backpacking tends to land you where all the backpackers go, which might be a good thing were I still 22, innocent, full of hubris and incapable of imagining long, drawn-out futures. Oh, and also if I craved drunkenness and the company of drunks more than I apparently do: at this stage in my life, once a week or so seems to suffice.

Mileage varies.

Mark

All my long travels have been on a bike but i've considered backpacking as it's always seemed so much simpler and cheaper..

Then I think back to those buses full of 18 year old kids on "study breaks", 10 hour coach journeys to another tourist rip off destination, being stuck in overcrowded hostels near the bus stations...

Coming to think of it, it sounds like much MORE hasel without a bike.

I reckon having the freedom of your own transport is well worth the cost of shipping, carnets etc.

Anyway, how much can you experience a country with your face up against a bus or train window ?

oooh, interesting question... i only sit on the back, so its different for me, but i would hate having to lug a backpack after motorbike trip experience. i caught a bus recently when we left our bike behind for some stupid reason, and it was horrible, everyone sat on top of each other and earpiercinglyu loud music. the bike faffing still seems worth it, even with all the bureaucracy crud. even if it was just me on my own i'd get a scooter i think. (and then probably fall off and die). interesting to see what other people think tho? can you go back to normal wandering about??

Don't sell yourself low !!

I think it's harder and braver to ride pillion than up front !

Me and the Girlfriend are going on a little backpacking tour this winter, so I spend a bit of thought on this very same issue. Sure enough the term 'Backpacking' brings images of gap year tipes, drunks and boring tales of youth hostels to mind.

But then again, thinking about motorbiking one might as well think about mid 40ish Lawyers and Accountants riding to their coffee break on underridden and overpayed harleys. Image is just not important, what you do with your spare times and ressources is!

So when we (seasoned, experienced and weathered travelleres, that we are) say backpacking we just mean travelling without much of anything and especially without our own means of transportation and relying on local infrastructure instead. So:

This has nothing at all to do with how you travel and all with what type of trip you are doing. Never met the guy on a shiny new motorbike traveling between overpriced hotels and hanging out with foreigners?

So wether your trip is just an exercise of endurance and socializing with other westerners or a remarkable experience does not depend on the means you do it with, but on how you do it.

Backpacking, Motorbiking, Kajaking, Walking, Sailing, Pogo-Sticking, whatever floats your boat!
:Beach:

Edit: Fixed a broken quote tag.

[quote=buebo;264046]Me and the Girlfriend are going on a little backpacking tour this winter, so I spend a bit of thought on this very same issue. Sure enough the term 'Backpacking' brings images of gap year tipes, drunks and boring tales of youth hostels to mind.

But then again, thinking about motorbiking one might as well think about mid 40ish Lawyers and Accountants riding to their coffee break on underridden and overpayed harleys. Image is just not important, what you do with your spare times and ressources is!

So when we (seasoned, experienced and weathered travelleres, that we are) say backpacking we just mean travelling without much of anything and especially without our own means of transportation and relying on local infrastructure instead. So:

Well said !! :thumbup1:

I´ve been on backpacking trips where no 18 year old has the imagination to even dream of going. You´re as limited as you allow yourself to be, with bike or backpack.

Personally, I find it frustrating that I spend most of my days now listening to my own thoughts, rather than interacting with local people the way I used to on local transport (which means cars, trucks, buses, donkey carts, camels, freight and passenger trains, and foot). You don´t get that with a bike.

What I don´t miss is waiting around in the hot sun in the center of little villages for the truck that might show up later today....or maybe tomorrow....or maybe not, who knows? But I take my impatience as a sign I´m getting old and soft. If I was still young and tough, I´d still be hopping freight trains and rampaging around the way I used to. I´d have a lot less baggage to worry about, too.

The takeaway lesson here is: don´t confuse the means of travel with the validity, authenticity or difficulty.

Mark

(From Nicaragua, where I´m paying twice as much for my hotel as I might otherwise, solely to insure safe parking for my bike)

Safe journeys!

Thats more what I'm wondering. I guess what I need to think about as you're pointing out is if I have to tolerance/patience to use public transit/hitch/horseback.

I've just never backpacked since my "eurorail" trip 10 years ago (!!??!!). I think I'd be bored of a trip like that after a week, but you bring up a good point that just because I'm 'backpackin' it, doesn't mean I have to go from tourist bus to hostel to landmark. I can still mosey around like I do on a motorcycle.

It is just neat to hear what others have experienced with such transitions.. so lets hear your return to backpacking stories :D



(From Nicaragua, where I´m paying twice as much for my hotel as I might otherwise, solely to insure safe parking for my bike)

Safe journeys![/quote]

hmm no maybe its true and its a question of image, which is of course total balls. maybe if i didnt have the whole gap-year drunken 18yr old image in my head, and i just went on without the bike it would be an even better experience. but i can escape the feeling that with a bike, the inbetween bits where there is no tourist infrastructure are the best bits, the bits where you ride through and stop in a village where no one has ever seen one of you before, and its ok to stare at each other etc. thats less easy (i think) when backpacking, because i tend to get lulled into staying in the tourist spots. if i was more disciplined i would get the 3rd class trains and the local buses, and stay in fleapits or at friendly peoples houses, but sometimes i havent the energy and resort to the comfortable option. on a bike you get thrown into situations more so theres no choice.

"The 18 year old gap year" is not through personal eperience, just what I saw when I passed through tourist hot spots on my travels. Anyone whos been to Ushuaia, El Calafate, or Iguazu will understand. (obviously other numerous places too).
I personally couldnt wait to get out of there let alone have to deal with them everyday.

I'm mainly just really passing on experiences of friends and acquaintances who started off backpacking in South America, Austrailia etc and after meeting a couple of bikers started looking for bikes themselves as they felt it was very difficult or in some cases impossible to get off the "road more travelled"..

They were bikers at heart and very frustrated with being stuck on the tourist buses to get around.

I don't think id feel safe hitching hiking in foriegn countries to be honest !

I've been on a bus or train and zipped past some really really cool places where a backpacker would pretty much have no chance of getting to without a few days car hopping with drunken locals, waiting in a dead end town waiting for the bus that never comes and no idea if you could even get back after a night or 2 camping. etc etc !

Still, no way impossible just much more of what I consider to be a ball ache !

Havn't you ever been buzzing down a road, seen a sign for something odd or interesting and just turned the bike around ???

I have to agree with nico-lo-vo !!, it takes alot of motivation and energy to do that without your own wheels. Probably the reason most of us use bikes and use a motorcycle travel website !!

I don't think I could do it long term. Too much forward planning around buses/trains/blagging lifts. I stay in youth hostels with my motorbike and pity folks who leave early to get a train/bus and then spend all day on the damn thing until they get to somewhere at night. Freedom is waking up, picking a scenic road on a map, and only worrying about how much petrol you've got.

I spent a couple of weeks backpacking round Japan with my son back in July. The first thing I realised was that I'd forgotten was just how heavy and unwieldy the d*m rucksacks were. You were not welcome getting on a crowded train or a bus with them and the thought of walking any distance with them in Japanese summer heat and humidity soon went out the window. Loading it all onto a bike when you come out of a hotel in the morning seems a much better idea.

Getting to Japan was easy though - buy a ticket and turn up at the airport. Find somewhere to stay on Hostels.com. Going there by bike would have taken a bit more than the time we had to say the least. Same thing for our previous trip to China. Without Charlie Boormans contacts there wasn't much chance of getting hold of a bike either (even though he arrived in Tokyo two days before we left- you'd have thought he could have passed on his cast-offs. Thanks Charlie!).

For me traveling by bike is a much better idea when it's practical. Yes you have the hassle of security, extra paperwork, worry about accidents / injuries /breakdowns etc but all of these are outweighed by the convenience of being able to go where you want at your pace. I've both backpacked and biked round West Africa and of the two the bike trips were more enjoyable but the backpacking did have its moments - the very pleasant afternoon I spent at the side of the road taking tea and talking to the locals and fellow passengers while the bus driver went 30 miles on a donkey to get a spare part for the bus wouldn't have happened if I'd been on the bike. Neither would my masterclass in how to pick peanuts without getting stung by scorpions have happened without another bus breaking down.

On the other hand spending 24 hrs on (yet another) bus watching a crack in the roof slowly open because too many goats have been loaded onto the roof whilst wondering if it's the gradually worsening intestinal problem or the roof collapse that's going to get me first made me appreciate the bike.

Backpacking - that is moving around a country by public transport carrying all your possessions with you - is harder than it appears - and it gets harder as you get older. Not only physically but also in the way people relate to you. I'm well into my 50's and I was getting some very strange looks from the locals in Japan, looks that my 19yr old son didn't get - a sort of "you're old enough to know better"

Hahahah. Bouncing along a dirt track in the back of a crowded West African bache while everyone tries to evade the streams of goat urine coming from the terrified animals on the roof....that´s life at its finest, fer sure!

My personal theoretical overview says that the more I am in control, the fewer real adventures I tend to have. ¨In control¨in this context means carrying credit and ATM cards, bringing my own vehicle, knowing where I´m going, speaking the language, and in general having backup systems in place in order to deal with whatever might transpire. You might think that your ability to turn your bike around and investigate that little town represents adventure, but my view is that this is precisely the absence of true adventure, because it remains under your control. The fact that I´m increasingly old and lazy doesn´t alter the cause and effect relationship between safety, predictability and sticking with what I can control....and boredom.

OTOH, adventure is where you find it--and it´s primarily internal anyway. I don´t mean to present a one-sided picture; it´s just that sometimes I think we need to face up to the fact that we´re all busy trying to control everything in our lives, then wondering why none of it seems to fulfill us anymore.

Or maybe that´s just me.

I´ll repeat, though, that you can easily do wild and exciting stuff as a backpacker. To those archetypal 18 year old gap year backpackers, this might mean drinking to the point of insensibility, then trying to pick up local women in between vomiting in the gutters in Riga or Prague (to pick a few places, not at random). To me, that´s not reall where it´s at.

enjoy,

Mark

(old and lazy and motorbiking towards TDF in an entirely predictable, controllable manner....more or less)

i went backpacing in asia when i was shiping my bike from russia to the usa i was having some of the thoughs of the paper work cost type thing but when i opened the container door and seen my bike waiting there for me it was one of the best days and i then new it was $1200 well spent. all those miles of freedom are well worth it and i dont think i could go without a bike of some sort now
:funmeteryes:

:scooter:
I rode my bike for over 5 months,from the US down to Ushuaia,put bike on a ship to Canada,had 3 weeks to fill in so went back packing around Argentina and Chile.:censored: Bloody hell never again,suffered acute withdrawals systems from riding.Some times waiting up to :rolleyes2: 4-5 hours on the side of the road for buses.:mchappy: Should have spent money hiring another bike..I would walk along the streets of towns and cities,drooling over all the bikes,from 125s and up.
Ben

I'm also having this problem at the moment. Having done a couple of big overlands now, even being without a bicycle seems impossible.

I want to do West Africa this summer (rain :funmeterno:) and the cost of getting a bike there, disposing of a bike there etc. etc. (it's only for a month) is almost too much to bear. Want to end up in Ghana and at the moment it's looking like the backpack option is the simplest....but i just cna't bear the thought ot it!

wow, the thread that haunts me, seriously. Some great comments here.
after years of backpacking I discovered the delights of motorcycle adventure four or five years ago and have never looked back.
as much as i used to love staring out of long distance bus windows daydreaming endlessly and having strange unexpected conversations with strangers, those memories pale into insignificance when I look back on the constant buzz, riding challenges, decision making and pure independence of adventure biking that still give me goosebumps.
backpacking, sadly, has become an unwanted compromise, when logistics, availablitiy or costs conspire to force you to the bus terminal at ungodly hours and submit to the over-subscribed tourist trails with the lumpen sightseeing masses. Each new adventure without a bike fills me with a frustrated disappointment in myself and a renewed need to reform and redeem myself with another unforgettable bike misadventure.
Backpacking, it's a rite of passage, without question, but I wish i could confine it solely to rose-tinted glasses nostalgia of youthful pursuit.
Paperwork, parking, security, accidents and break downs are the necessary evils we must endure to experience the ultimate adventures available to us on our iron horses. Tourist attractions are just dots on maps we aim our bikes towards.

Somewhat off topic, I'm sort of playing with an idea of combining the two. I like low powered, simple bikes (MZ's). I figure that if I can pare down the dreaded "stuff" to the point where I can carry it on my back, I'll have a grab and go system that will work equally well with engine, pedals or even the dreaded peasant wagons. I've got it into my head that days when the prospect of another puncture (or conversation about either how MZ are not CZ, or the fact I did see the thing with the actor and his mate) fills me with dread, are exactly the days I'll fancy a walk and there is nothing like spending 3 1/2 hours on a train talking about Martians to a bloke drinking your stove fuel (I kid you not) to cure you of any notion that bikes are a bad idea.

I'm playing with ex-army webbing which might not be a great idea in the rougher-tougher parts of the worlds, but we'll see, maybe it can be dyed. At least next time something that can't be fixed with duct tape, cable ties and a can of coke goes pop I'll be ready for the walk.

Andy

I did three weeks backpacking in Burma simply because there is no other way of travelling there and would not like to make a habit of it, compared to the freedom of motorcycling or cycling it felt very restrictive and I did not enjoy sitting on a bus travelling at somebody else's pace. Not something I would do unless there is no other choice.

Heh, forgot about this thread!

I'm currently on another big trip ... but since I can't take a big bike into Vietnam I'm backpacking it right now.

Today I took a tour of Cu Chi tunnels outside of Saigon on a bus that first stopped at a POS "Handicraft goods from handicaps" mandatory shopping trip. Then spent all day touring around with the masses.

I miss independent travel.. REAL indepenant travel, not lonely planet "independent travel".

Can't wait to rejoin my bike tomorrow in Bangkok!!!

So I laughed, I apologize! I'm way too old and too dang lazy to carry all the good stuff I "need" these days! If I can't ride to the top of the mountain, I am happy to take a picture from down below! I'm too impatient to wait for buses, boats, trains or planes, When I want to go, I love to crank and roll! When I want to stop, it is time to stop, for whatever reason! If you gotta hike someplace, why not stow a day pack on your bike and take a wander out thru the trees or along the coast? Hiking and backpacking are fun, just different...

I've backpacked Australia, South East Asia, Nepal, China, India for a year and a half, Mediterranean Europe and Mexico (P.S. I must plug Mexico for being an awesome country and wonderful people, Estoy lleno de amor por México!!! Hasta Pronto!). It wasn't until India when I accidentally mixed backpacking and motorcycling together. I wouldn't go back and change anything, and I had a really good time -especially in India, but my next big trip to South America is going to be a mix of volunteering and touring by motorcycle. The plus side of this is that it gives me a good excuse to return to SE-Asia, Australia to see it again on two-wheels!!

As other people said, being stuck in tourists bus with a bunch of gap yah's and getting shuttled to one overpriced hostel, to the next attraction, and eating pizzas in expensive, restaurants aimed solely at tourists, is absolutely no ones fault but your own. Though I admit, sometimes, especially in parts of S-E Asia, Eastern Australia, and parts of central America, the tourist trail is well established and in your face, but use some imagination, and it is not difficult to avoid.

If anyone ever said backpacking is boring, I would suggest they go to India, Nepal and Bangladesh for six months! I've hired and bought Enfields in India and it's a great way to travel and get yourself in the thick of it, but that said, not exposing yourself to local buses, trains, rickshaws or walking, would be missing a very essential part of that country, especially the trains! An overnight train journey in India in sleeper class will be unforgettable, and Indian train stations are absolutely fascinating in themselves.

It was similar in Central America, although I spent a fair amount of time wishing I had a bike, getting chicken buses from Panama to Mexico, and then coaches throughout Mexico to Austin Texas, was a fantastic experience. Although they are uncomfortable, you really see a lot life whilst riding in those Chicken Buses, they are a great experience. Only once did I take a tourist shuttle, from Antigua to the big lake in Guatemala, and it was just me and five super sexy Canadian girls fromQuebec who invited me to party with them :)

The best travellers I met were the ones who could go trekking in remote pats of the Himalayas, and then next week go crazy in some cheesy surf swimming pool hostel and have fun. The latter isn't for me, and getting drunk to cheesy music trying to shout pickup lines down girls ears never really has been, but when I look back and see myself sitting at the bar, chain smoking, being a bit aloof and miserable, whilst everyone around me was partying and having fun, I think I finally learnt that sometimes you ought to just let go of yourself and your prejudice. After all, isn't that what dedicated travelling is about?

:palm:

I did a lot of backpacking for years, Ireland (when I was 18) , lots around France, Vietnam, several countries in South and central America, Sri Lanka…. But we became very quickly frustrated with it. You cannot stop on the way, go where you want, you depend on the train/bus. You go from one very touristic centre to another very touristic centre. The restrictions were very annoying. If you want to visit some places you need to hire a car with driver …

Then a few times we went on holiday and rented a car locally (Jordan, Turkey) it was better but…. Once I started biking it was just another world. I wanted to travel with my bike.

I like the challenge of the roads, the feeling of being out there, and the connection it gives you with the country and the locals. Also the fact you can go pretty much where ever you want, stop whenever you want, go to places where backpackers cannot go (unless hiring a car or taxi…) not relying on a stupid time tables etc….

The feeling of freedom is fantastic. Every time I go somewhere without my bike (my family lives in France and my mum is in Spain, so I usually fly over for a quick visit) , I just stare at bikes and bikers and wish I had my bike with me…..

So for us, unless we go visit family for a quick weekend trip, I don’t think I would go to backpacking again. It’s on a bike all the way!

I'm gonna say like Maria. For me traveling by motorbike has opened a totally different way to relate to the territory I'm traveling to. It's the difference between visiting a place and exploring a place. When I travelled as a backpacker I felt like a tourist, but when I travel by motorbike I feel like an explorer. There is something about making my own way, moving by my own means, me versus the world.

I have great memories of backpacking, totally awesome experiences that are not in any ways less precious then my motorcycle adventure memories, but I can't imagine myself going back to the buses, trains and boats of a backpacking trip. I'm totally open to the idea that this is a highly personnal preference, but for me a motorcycle (or any travel by my own mean wether walking or pushbike) is synonym of liberty and I need that liberty, I need that fix of total independance from the system when I'm lucky enough to escape from my working camp.

That being said, the last thing I would like to do is to project the idea that traveling by motorcycle is "better" then backpacking or that somehow motorcycle travelers are "more badass" then backpackers. Wether you travel by motorbike or backpacking or going from hotel boutique to hotel boutique with your rolling suitcases for the bellboy, if your attitude is good, you're nice to people, you are ethical and you try to bring something good to the places you visit, then you are the best traveler and deserves respect and admiration. Period.

Backpacking is quite a bit different than motorcycle tourism. I rode to Alaska and the rest of the states except Hawaii but also thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and kayaked the length of the Mississippi. Variety is the spice of life. Oh yeah, I leave for Ushuaia on a KLR in a week.

I just Got back from Thailand and Laos where I found the happy medium because it was a short trip to do both. Act like a backpacker from the airport to hostel/ hotel and once there rent a bike and take off on your own adventure. I flew from Bangkok to just below the Laos boarder and took a bus across to Vientiane with the locals .. it was cheap and you got the feel of the place and people a little from it then rented a bike the next day. It was a crf 250 .. it did the trick ( unlike the helmet)and was about 50 (US) a day . After a week I had to fly back to Bangkok for a day then I decided to go to Chaing Mai and rented another bike and rode up to the Myanmar boarder .. golden triangle etc. The nice thing is I only took a small pack on the whole trip that was the size of a carry on for the plane rides and little organizing. All I know is that it has planted a seed for a longer trip to South America with my own bike but that's going to be a much longer trip.If you only have a short time either way you are going to have fun .. shit you won't be working will ya :P

something in the middle (folding bikes)
 

Backpacking as in doing a complete trip on public transport. No thanks. Not anymore.

Tired of being condemned to public transport, zipping you from one place to another with nothing inbetween...

What we have liked alot since, is traveling with our bikes. Pedal bikes that is (the one that's using your muscles iso an engine). We've been traveling with Bromptons (folding bikes) in Serbia, France and Cuba. It's a squeeze, but you can carry all your luggage, including camping gear on them, they're good enough for 100km days, you can fold them and take them on a bus, train, taxi, fellow travelers car, ... . You can take them as checked luggage on plain, .... .

It's an incredibly flexible travel medium. It's different than a motorbike. You tend to go slower, sleep better, eat more. No hint of feeling locked up in the backpackers scene. At times, you'll feel even more freedom compared to a motorbike... .

Rob

While in Malaysia I found out that the short run buses no longer existed I was in despair,64 yo, I never was a hiker n not in the mid 90's both temp n humidity. Buying a bike,which is waiting for the next trip,was the first vacation of retirement answer. the only back pack we use, is to escape having to wait for our luggage at the turn stile. Some airport are a real hike to n thru customs beware of Seattle currently,they must have really blown a review or something
4 different lines to go thru,well over an hour.

going backpacking and relying on public transport again?

Id rather stick red hot knitting needles in my eyes

Overlanding on your own wheels gives you so much freedom Id NEVER go backpacking again, if I cant take my own motorbike/bicycle or 4x4 id rent or buy something locally.

I tried backpacking in South East Asia for three months last winter.

It was truly an awful, claustrophobic, touristic experience.

I ended up coming home a month early and paying for a EXTRA flight just to do it.

Never never never never never never never again.

I don't think anyone can go from freedom of motorcycle/4x4 travel back to buses and trains and gringo trails..

It's fine if you hitchhike I think.

er....I have.

Backpacking has its place in my psyche; not often, but definitely there. It's a different kind of travel, for sure, but I still enjoy aspects of it, just as I enjoy many aspects of solo motorcycle travel.....and car.....

Probably just South East Asia.....


uggggggghhhhhhhhhhh

It's easy to get of the gringo trail there.

Wow, strong ANTI-backpacking sentiments!
Is it the smell? :rofl: :smartass:

Did lots of backpacking style travel ... back to the early 70's. Criss crossed Mexico, Cent. & South America several times on buses trains, private vehicles and a few motorbikes.

I was lucky enough to be able to mix it up with occasional travel on a bike, haven't really done full back pack travel since early 1980's. All bikes! Like others, I've flown places as a back packer, got there and rented a bike.
Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam. (only short visits)

Rode a Jawa 350 a bit in Mexixo, onto Guatemala and El Salvador. Another trip had a Honda 50 along mostly for Mexico. (attached to friend's camper). Did more of this in S. America.

But since late 80's all bike trips for me. I could go back to backpacking but it would be tough now ... I'm too accustom to all the advantages on being on the bike ... and too soft and too old to tough out backpacking. (like hiking around La Paz, Bolivia for two hours looking for a Hotel! all at 4000 meters)

Everything everyone says about the "freedom" with the bike is true ... and it feels GOOD to get back on a bike after riding in buses 12 hours a day. doh But it's amazing where you can get to on a bus if you inquire on routes.

Probably biggest PLUS to back packing was local contact and improved language skills. You had to learn ... or get your seat mate to TEACH YOU. (That's what I did)

I'd see groups of kids who never reach out, stay as a group, rarely talk or attempt to interact with locals unless forced to. But they have a ball anyway and they do what they do. So what. No law says you have to become a multi-cultural warrior. (although you'll be smarter and wiser if you are!)

The Ozzies and Brits were often poor with language in Latin America. I bailed several out of trouble (and jail) due to simple misunderstandings. So some pay off there I guess.

But often buses DO suck. Trains a bit better. I traveled thousands of miles in Peru' by train. The trip from Lima up to Huancayo was memorable, highest train ride in the world, passing over 17K ft. Took ages. A long tough ride on a bike back in those days.

Getting back on the bus was disheartening after riding, so I get what guys are whinging about. Also, older I get the harder the backpacking scene is to take. So I agree with those sentiments to some extent. :thumbup1:

But backpacking also has it's "freedom's". No responsibility to maintain and repair a motorcycle. Some of the younger generation are woefully ignorant of even most basic maintenance/mechanical skills and some have no interest in learning. (my step son for example)

In USA most high schools don't offer Auto Shop like the old days. :( I learned so much there.

Backpacking also means no border hassles with TVIP's, insurance and dealing with whacked out crazy local traffic. No accidents, no hospitals and no ***** transito trying to impound your bike. (been there, done that)

That said, I've been in TWO pretty good bus accidents. One in Guatemala, another in Bolivia. Fist fight broke out at one of them. :rofl:

Far as Gringo trail stuff goes ... many bikers follow the same path and end up in the same places along the ever widening Gringo Trail. Difference is, once you learn of better, less exploited places, you can jump on your bike and be there quick. Not always so easy juggling bus schedules and once you've paid your room, hard to get a refund. But a good backpacker will think and plan outside the box and OFF the Gringo trail. These skills transfer well to travel by bike.

Backpackers used to not be welcomed everywhere in S. America ... the unfounded fear of dirty, broke Hippies "invading" communities was strong, supported by right wing, US backed reactionary press and govts. ... moderated now I'm sure.

And even then, I was approached several times by very serious father's offering good money to marry their daughter and take her back to "Los Estados". This still goes on I hear.

Drugs were a BIG DEAL in the 70's ... many died from Cocaine abuse ... no wonder as it was SO CHEAP and plentiful.
I witnessed a lot of this. Backpackers were always targeted as suspects.
Now? I've no idea ... but would not surprise me. Funny, since back then it was nearly always local military or govt. officials doing the serious smuggling. (That is a FACT)

On my bike I never felt targeted or suspected despite a thousand military stops and searches.

But now, in Mexico, it's Speed that's killing kids ... and Speed users are often young Cartel killers by age 13. So ugly. Stay clear of that. Ruthless little bastards. Backpackers may be more likely to run into these scenes at bus stations where bikers may avoid it.

Most people associate backpacking with going from one destination in the LP to another destination in the LP by way of the transport options listed in the LP. If that's the case you're not very creative. Similar to the people on 1200GS traveling Europe on the motorway. Which are often criticized for it.

Yup all the time
 

There is a poll on here some where biker or traveller or something like that.

I love travel, I prefer it by bike. but for the last couple of years bike = domestic, and "backpacking" = elsewhere. This has simply come down to money. (and time but if i had the money then i would have the time.. one way or the other.)

For me though the travel aspect is not too different.. I still land in a place with out a clue or a plan and just wing it.. No bookings not tours not party hostles..


Sure the backpack means organising transport but we will get to the out there places, by what ever mean we have to local bus, ferry cab, rent a bike rent an electric bike (burma..sSOOOO fUNNNN!!)... what ever it takes..

The bike is better no question in my mind... but I'll travel anyway I can, and it. We always even on a bike move slow, stay in places for a while and explore.. we have never been the blast though a place just for a "ride" kinda travelers. so we often get to a town/village/city bunch of ruins and walk for days on end.. then get the bike and move on.. so public t-port (A PITA) only changes that part slightly...

just travel on no matter how.
 

just travel on no matter how.

may I just throw in a different aspect....

Question is "what if you can't ride a bike any more, but don't want to give up travelling"

the thing is for instant, that I my self have been quite active in the HU community for years, attending to HU-meetings, holding presentations and workshops, helping out and hosting other HU members, writing posts and so... in short enjoyed it a lot.... but what if some thing happened that does not allow you to ride a bike any more... like having a very nasty bike accident for instant... yep that can happened in an instant to every single one of us HUBBer and it happened frequently, some even deadly.... but not always.

As it did happened to me, about 2-1/2 year ago with spine and talus injury, with month and month of heavy pain and a good set of titanium bolts and rods stuck in my spine as new companions, certainly no good deal at all, and on top of that my beloved bike a wreck too, but I have been lucky... I still can walk again well rather limp... but so what, at lest upright

Well I'm well aware that the HU is all about two wheel travelling, or mainly at least, which is grate anyway.
Coming to my point... and may I'm not the only one who used to ride along this endless country roads and beautiful countrysides far away from home... and than this thoughts pop up as you ride along... and I'm sure many of my fellow HU members experienced this thoughts too...

"What would it be like, be here right now without a bike, with much more time and less money to spare, or at least dive in to it.. more intense than riding a bike, like walking freely all this endless roads and tiny small path you cover in no time riding along right now, what would it be like to stretch this fast moment without riding a bike with just even less equipment... just walking, walking along a path even no longer accessible for riding a bike... like travelling by foot, may with a donkey in tow, with all the burden it takes, like the way the locals do.. or have to do... like what travelling used to be hundreds of years ago.. and so on.."

So... what if... you are unable to ride a bike any more but still like to see parts of this world you haven't seen yet, and didn't end up being depressive about your circumstances and haven't give up on live staying at home all the time hidden from the world... solution... you do rather walk ... or very slow hiking with just the few essential items you may just capable to carry on your back as far your physical strength does allow you to do so again.

So yes travelling does not stop after the bike is gone, it's only a way of getting around the world but not the only mean at all, just a temporally very convenient way of travelling.
In the 70th I was hitch-hiking around Europe with a big and heavy Rucksack, in the 80th I was travelling with just a shoulder bag and lots of Zombies in my head, in the 90th a old ex-military Land Rover 4x4 was my home to get around and about, the 1st Millennium century on Bike and enjoyed it a lot... and now... well.. a small backpack with no more than 7kg in total with everything needed to carry on exploring the world ones more...
Yep hitting the roads again in tree days again, hiking for a change as far as my broken spine bolted in to place and limping foot will carry me... not a big trip, not a trip around the Globe, but out and away to places less seen, breathing it all in ones more, happy to be alive enjoying the little things by the side of the path, meeting strange people and time....

see you soon