March 07, 2006 GMT - Good News - Setting off on an 18 Year Adventure
We promised the people of Asia that we would do the trip, and then go home and have babies. We have delivered on that promise, or at least Georgie has delivered. All is well with us, Georgie is smiling after...

November 07, 2005 GMT - More News - November 2005

We have 2 pieces of very good news we’d like to tell you all.

August 24, 2004 GMT - Coming Full Circle and Coming Home
Leaving Iran marked the ‘end of the unknown’ for our trip; but not the ‘end of the unfamiliar’. Spending a year and half in Asia had changed us and allowed time for things to change back in Europe. So this...

December 07, 2003 GMT - Iran: A Storm Brewing
All of the travellers we had met said that Iran was a wonderfully hospitable country, with fabulous culture and sights. It sounded like a hotter version of Turkey, with cheap petrol but with just one social minefield; a strict female...

November 21, 2003 GMT - Pakistan: A Land Where Men are Men and Women are Invisible
My real regret with buying the Enfield is the state of exhaustion and pain it would leave me in each evening. One of the victims of this was my diary. Since Nepal, the entries were few and far between, to...

September 17, 2003 GMT - Northern India - The Human Ability to Survive
"How on earth am I going to write India up?" A question I asked Georgie about a hundred times in the 5 weeks we were there. She struck lucky, getting nice positive experiences in Nepal and Pakistan to describe, but...

July 03, 2003 GMT - Nepal: Bikes, Bees & Bother
Descending into the Kathmandu valley we realised that Nepal would be that little bit different. Snow-capped mountains in the distance, acres of terraced hillsides, brickworks billowing out smoke and a sprawling city. There was a different class of tourists stepping...

May 21, 2003 GMT - Two Wheels Good, Four Wheels Even Better
No, we haven't gone completely barmy and sold up the trusty BMW for a clapped out VW van, but Georgie has gone slighty loopy and has just bought a new Enfield 500cc Bullet in Kathmandu!!!...

May 21, 2003 GMT - Traveling 35,000kms on a broken engine
If you're not interested in getting oil under your fingernails, you may want to ignore this posting! But if you want to know how rugged an old BMW can be and how important it is to be lucky as well...

May 21, 2003 GMT - Laos: One of the Countries Nixon Knocked About a Bit
Laos was to be our first "proudly communist" country for a while, and after our previous experience with other communist regimes we were slightly worried about what we'd find. But many fellow travelers told us that we'd "love Laos, especially...

April 08, 2003 GMT - Cambodia: Glitter, Dust and Soap
So what did I know about Cambodia before we entered the country? Very little as usual - "The Killing Fields" film about Khmer Rouge atrocities; my favourite Oxfam T-shirt during the 80s bore one of its former names of Kampuchea;...

March 17, 2003 GMT - Thailand: Land of 998 Smiles
The benefit of keeping a personal journal throughout the course of a visit to a country comes to the fore when you have dramatic events halfway through the visit. All the early memories tend to get obliterated by the later...

March 16, 2003 GMT - Japan: An Assault on the Senses

Although further east than Vladivostok, Japan is 2 hours behind Russia, so even in autumn the sun rises at 5.30am . This allowed us to get an early get away and to start exploring the mystical land of the rising sun. Our first reaction was complete shock. I really didn't expect such a busy environment.

December 03, 2002 GMT - Russia, The second time around

The Russian side of the border was as officious as the previous time, but we managed to get across in a couple of hours. When the other Simon and Monika came through a few weeks later, they got held up for 3 days, as the Russian customs officials demanded a licence for their GPS - only the intervention of the British Embassy in Moscow got them out of that trouble.

December 02, 2002 GMT - Mongolia

The scene was pretty ugly when we eventually met up and the tension never really subsided after that. But we all ended up in a guesthouse in the centre of UB - 300 metres from the parliament building - and for just $16 a night for 2 people - which other capital in the world could you do that in?

November 15, 2002 GMT - Russia

ROUTE: RUSSIA
NUMBER OF WEEKS IN COUNTRY: 3
DISTANCE DRIVEN IN COUNTRY: 2,500 miles / 4,000 km
When we entered Russia for the first time on 1 August we had already agreed that I would be responsible for writing the newsletter. With that in mind I would desperately look out for positive things to be able to report upon. Three weeks later I was severely lacking in positives and decided to reserve judgement until we finished our second stint in the country

October 09, 2002 GMT - Kazakhstan

Where has all the oil gone – the engine was full only 800kms ago; it can’t just disappear! There’s no alternative but to stick what oil we have in the engine and look into the problem later.

October 09, 2002 GMT - Altyn Arashan

We decided not to take the spare tyre up with us (saving a massive 4 kilos from our total 450 kilo load!!) and we set off for the hills.

October 09, 2002 GMT - Kygyzstan

After 2 nights of rough camping our first reaction was to jump into the water. It was glorious. This really did seem an idyllic spot until we revealed our sleeping intentions to our neighbours. Horror across the girls face as she announced But the horsemen will come and will drink vodka and you will not be safe. Now this type of statement on the first day of visiting a country is not healthy for my vivid imagination. I immediately had visions of the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse, pissed up, ransacking the tent.

August 13, 2002 GMT - Uzbekistan

Our exit from Turkmenistan was considerably less gruelling and time-consuming than our entrance, only the "jobs worth" squaddie on the barrier insisted on his superior (who was obviously on the khasi) examining the passports after everyone else, making us wait in the 40C scorching sun.

July 08, 2002 GMT - Turkmenistan

Turkmen flag; green with a crescent moon and star, and a red stripe with what appeared to be 5 carpet patterns on it. Surely not! Whatever, I had obviously not done my homework.

July 08, 2002 GMT - Azerbaijan

Buy a cabin for the boat for $100 each as a foreigner - alternatively 'pretend you're Azerbaijan' and only pay $60. No, don't do that (good advice from Lonely Planet) as a crewman will rent you his cabin (complete with girlie pin-ups) for $10. We were later told by a friend that the captain rents his cabin out for $20, and for a few dollars more you can enjoy his personal services, if you're a female passenger!

July 08, 2002 GMT - Sarpi on Turkish border - Tbilisi - Lagodeki

Slowly, slowly into the Achara thiefdom - keeping to the 50kph speed limit to avoid the attentions of radar cops. A few times in Georgia we came round the corner of a road to see a cop with the radar gun out looking happy

June 23, 2002 GMT - Bursa to Turkey-Georgia Border

A lot of Turkey is over a kilometer above sea level. This makes for clear, cool riding days but bloody cold nights.

June 23, 2002 GMT - Manchester to Bursa

A few days previously, Simon looked at the junk and dust still remaining in his house and realised that we weren't going to make the Saturday ferry.........

March 03, 2002 GMT - The Big Trip Plan

the first of (hopefully) many mails from the adventuring duo