Motorbiking the world - Help needed
 

I am motorbiking around the world from February starting in the UK heading west around the world. I'm a British Citzen from the Isle of Man.

First port of call is
London to Washington DC (Feb20th) then
Vancouver to Brisbane/Sydney (Apr10th) and finally
Perth to Shanghai (May08th)

I am having trouble finding anyone who flies Perth to Shanghai, so would appreciate any help.

If anyone has contacts / suggestions regarding the other routes mentioned it would help greatly.

Time is of the essence as I'm attempting to keep up with my son who is bicycling the world (bicycles are no trouble to ship, hence attempting to keep up with, otherwise I'd blast him away!!) at the same time

Adrian

Sorry, I´ve no info on freight routes (I once shipped to Perth, though, but from Indonesia...)

But just out of interest: you´ve got the China bit sorted..? Meaning you are aware of their special requirements for foreign motor vehicles, travel agencies, guides, costs involved, etc?

Never heard of anyone (like a regular "tourist", I mean), shipping their vehicle into Shanghai, or anywhere else inside China for that matter. Doesn´t mean it never happened... but could be easier for those, who work there. From what I´ve read, it seems hard enough to enter through their land borders. Sending in as freight could be yet another ballgame.

No, haven't got the China bit sorted, extremely limited amount of info out there regarding the special requirements for motorcycling into and through China. This is the bit that I'm getting stuck at, so any help would be greatly appreciated

ok, here´s a tip: spend a few days browsing this website´s Route Planning & Southern Asia-sections (and possibly Northern Asia, too), and you will become much wiser about the requirements. Many have run into this very same problem before.

(...as a test, I just typed "entering china" into the websites search function, located on the upper right corner of the page next to the Touratech ad, and got many, many threads, that I could check out – doing for example that same search should get you well started)

As far as I'm aware (I'm hoping it will change sometime!) foreign tourists are only allowed to use their own vehicles if they are escorted by an official state-approved guide. These are not cheap - to do the short route through Kashgar into the Torugart Pass you're looking at around 1500 - 2000 from memory.

Vietnam is also a stumbling block when it comes to tourists on bikes along with Myanmar (Burma). This means the route to the East would be shipping (probably easier from Malaysia than Singapore) to either Japan or Russia.

To the West Afghanistan might not be a wise idea maning you are left with India - Pakistan - Iran, then you could head up through central asia.

I've just finished reading a load of Walter Colebatch's ride reports (on advrider) and if I was heading out there (which I will be when my house gets sold and my Africa project done, so a fair while after you!) I wouldn't want to miss the 'Road of Bones', and the Pamirs in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan - amazing looking roads and places.

You're riding from Washington DC to Vancouver from February to April??

I presume you realize that is in the dead of winter. I guess you can do it if you head south, but many of the national parks etc. will be buried in meters of snow, I really can't think of a worse time to go. I crossed the US in mid-march a few years ago, had a blizzard in Ohio, cold weather/rain throughout the midwest, and then snow where I rode through the mountains in southern Arizona. Once you get to southern california you should be OK as long as you stay out of the mountains (more snow).

The route I'm planning through China is Shanghai up to the Kazakhstan border, 3000miles in 24days, traveling along the Highway 312 (I think it's 312) via Xi'an, Lanzhou and Urumqi. It does look most likely that a guide is required, although I would like to avoid that.

I'm trying to stay further north avoiding India, Pakistan, Iran etc. I'll take a read of Walter Colebatch's ride.

Thanks Pecha72 for the advice, I'll continue my internet research.

Motoreiter, the route through America is a U through the country heading down to Miami through Texas over to LA then up to Vancouver, attempting to avoid the worst of the weather in the North

OK, but you should build in spare days in case you have to wait out bad weather. I lived in DC for many years, and the weather in February can vary from warm and sunny to blizzard-like (although generally it is quite cold). Same for other areas, and you'll probably need to stay out of even the lower mountains (Shenandoahs, etc.). As you get out west, probably best to plan the route through Las Cruces NM and Tucson AZ; when I was there in mid-march, Flagstaff AZ was getting several inches of snow.

You should also get on the regional forums on ADVRider for up-to-date info about road conditions, this was helpful to me.

Here's a different sort of advice from what you asked for:

Do your research first, then ask questions. Otherwise, by the time you get to the point where you've got some blank places in your plans which you really can't fill without asking here, the folks with the answers will be feeling burned out on answering you. You don't want to use up your cred asking stuff which can be easily answered in a couple of searches, e.g., about permitting for riding in China (or going east-to-west in North America during winter, which you're planning to do at a bad time of year in a fair hurry).

Hope that's helpful. If not, please ignore.

Mark

Thanks Mark,
I understand not throwing out questions that can be answered with searches. The thread was mainly looking for air-shipping advice from Perth to Shanghai (I've since been in contact with Ship My Bike Australia) and thought I'd throw in the other shipping routes that I'm looking at, see if anyone had advice and it all went from there...

Ade