cool or stupid?
 

hi,

Tomorrow I will say my boss I quit my job.
I'f decided to do a trip to Africa for several months and just bought an old afrika twin to do this journey.

but, regardless of the bike, i haven't done ANY preparation, like papers and stuff...
I have 2 months still to work after i resign, so only 2 months of preparation left before I have to leave (or financial highly recommended have to leave :) )


when I see the preparation page here on the site, i see 6 months preparation time...


what do you think? good or a stupid thing to do?
will I be ready in 2 months with paperwork etc?


thanks for you advice or your opinion!

Do you really want to quit your job??? why not ask for an extended holiday or a year off work??
As for prep...it depends on what you intend on doing to the bike, equipment etc.
Or what paperwork you have to do, as you don't say which country you are travelling from and whether you need Carnets etc.
Are you selling a house or renting it?

Its a bit vague

But have a great time doing it, it will be all part of the adventure to come

Wayne

ok,
some more information:

I'm 27 and renting a room in a house with 4 other people (so I can easily find someone who want to rent my room while I m away and take it back when I come back), living in Brussels, Belgium.
concerning my job, its a bit all at the same time: i want to do a trip, and i'm not so interested anymore in my current job.
My boss will never give me a year off work i'm afraid, but indeed I can always ask for it. I will not tell i quit, but i will tell that I am in a preparation of a big journey because i want to see the world. I will see if we can make an agreement or something like that, I don't really know, its my first good and serious job and the first time I quite one.
It's better to obtain some statusses here in belgium for holding all the privileges from the social security, but after all, my journey is what has the priority.
I am pretty convinced by now that i cannot stay here in belgium and keep on working without doing a big trip.


countries I really want to visit: none.
it will be the west coast of africa, or the east, doens't really matter.
My plan is to travel for 2 or 3 months, and I woud like to do some volunteering for 2 months, and then ride back.
So ride to cape town and back, will be a little bit too far, but it is not something i delete from my options.

I read some things about the visas, but I cannot figure out exactly how much it will cost average / crossing borders either. a carnet de passage i already took it in mind, but the cost itself is only 200€ or something like that (not including the deposit, but you get it back once back in Europe)

surely, in the 2 following months, I have to make up the plan, so decide wich countries etc...

so, let me know if this a foolish think, or something that might work out.


note: and if it's foolish, I'm afraid there is no way back :(

Work on the rough plan first as you need to decide whether or not you are going down the East or West as which ever one you decide will have different stipulations for Visa etc.
Then once you have done that spend hours searching this forum as it is a minefield of information.
Belgium to Cape Town and back in 2 to 3 months, you will be pushing some daily K's
Just doing a rough guesstimate on Google maps it was 14284Km there, going on the route it gave me, so doing the same back, averages 317Km a day over 90 days.

Av fun
Wayne

the rough plan will depend on where travelling is the easiest.

I am spending hours in this forum, like you said, because here is really a lot of information!
problem is that I have difficulties to see the greater picture of all this information and link it together.


I think ethiopia and sudan and surrounding countries are not as easy to travel as the west-coast, so it will be west-coast I guess. however, some west-coast countries have difficulties too, like nigeria or ivory coast if I'm not confusing the topics I read.

travel time in total will be: 2 or 3 months riding, 2 months volunteer, 2 or 3 months riding= 8months more or less. at least thats the purpose.
I'm not planning to go Belgium-capetown and back in 3 months :)



if there is other advice, i'm glad to take it!
also, I will start alone, but will be glad to join someone from time to time, so that i don't ride alone the whole time, certainly not the more dangerous parts.

to be continued...

I was in more or less the same situation.

The day after I decided to travel for a year in Africa I quit my job. Three months later my trip started. For me three months was a lot of time, I could easily have done the preparation in two months.

thanks for this answer!
at least now I know all visa stuf etc can be done in 2 months.
how to, is another question :), but thank you.


did you go lately, or maybe you're still on your way?
did you go by motorbike too?

When you start your research you will probably find that you don't need a lot of visas in advance. I only got it for Algeria and Chad. Most visas can be obtained on the road. But it's important to know the details before you leave.

This long trip was in 2001-2002 on a motorbike, but I've been back to Africa several times later without problems.

If you are focused two months should give you plenty of time.
Start to do stuff that might require long time, etc visas, cdp, medication, parts for the bike etc.

hi,

some update:

1) good one: my boss heard my story and he agrees to fire me. We have to see how long I have to work to be in order with the law, but it will not be more that 3 months.
This is one of the better options that I had, I still wil get money the following months, and more important, I will keep all my social security. even when I come back, I will get some money from the government because I am unemployed without free will. (not that I am planning to do that, I want to work for my money, but you never know, if I don't find work immediatly...

2) bad one: I purchased my africa twin a week ago, and yesterday i planned to pick him up. I fixed the insurance etc during last week, and I test drived the bike, so it was just enough I coud get a lift from my father and drive the bike back.
I say goodbye to the previous owner who off course wanted to see his bike take off a last time before he's going to africa, I start the bike, drive for 300m and he stalls :confused1:
It was like 100m ok, then loss of power, but continious, not all at once, to finally give nothing anymore.
I maybe tought it was a spark plug that gave up, but then I remembered this thing has 4 spark plugs, so I think its the fuell pump. The owner 's knowledge of mechanics is so high he didn't know there were 2 fuell taps, so when asking about if the fuell pump was already changed or not he referred to his dealer (who did the maintenance).
I only rode an AT for less then 10km, so my experience with these bikes are pretty non existant. But, what I felt was like there was no fuell entering. battery, lights, starter,...all electrics are working but when firing the elecrical starter so that the motor is rotating, not any scent of fuell detected on the exaust.
later today I am going to pick up the bike with a trailer, and put him in my little not much equipped garage, to check the fuell circuit to see where there is a hold-up...

I actually like this writing a bit, maybe I have to start a blog somewhere...


tbc...

I like your travel plan but it's a shame about the bike. You may find assistance here but my first thought was for you to ask on this XRV forum:
Honda Trail Bike Forums

I'm no mechanic but do try all the simple checks first (spark, fuel, kill switch etc) :)

yeah, its very stupid the bike gave up.
the owner was totally embarassed and tried to help me as possible, however hes knowledge wasn't reaching far.
I'm not so mad about it because
-it wil not be the last time the bike wil have issues
-I immediatly start to know the bike technically

but I'm a bit mad becaus I coudn't drive him home i will not drive him this evening to show him to my friends or family!