How to start planning a trip?
 

Hi all

I am wanting to do a similar trip to Lois Pryce i.e. from Alaska to the end of the world. I am hoping to go with my boyfriend, but if he isn't going to come, I want to try and make it on my own meeting up with people on the way.

I will probably never actually get around to doing this trip, but I do want to start planning it just in case the opportunity should arise but I haven't got a clue how to even start planning it.

Any ideas please?

Yep: browse this site for a few days, and I´m pretty sure you´ll have some sort of a clue... :rofl:

And also go very thoroughly through the ´planning´-section on the left.

I recently ordered the Achievable Dream DVD-set from here as well, and that´s a good and entertaining way to familiarize yourself with overland-travel.

I've seen the DVDs and I agree, they are funny as well as informative.

Sally, what are you going to do with your username when you change bikes sometime down the line? :)

As for planning, I would begin with two tools ... (1) maps and the (2) internet.

(1) Take a big map of a whole continent or of the world ... plan out a rough route. As you get more certain about the route you want, then buy smaller, more detailed maps to fine tune it.

(2) Google Earth and Panoramio ... for me these are great planning tools. Panoramio allows you to see pictures that are geotagged ... a map that has links to pictures of sights of interest in certain regions. When you see scenery or places you really want to visit, make a note of it, and plan your route through there.

Once you have your dream route in your head, you can begin planning what bike and preparation is suitable for your planned route, and what paperwork you will need.

But for me, every trip begins with dreaming up the route. Sort out a route and progress from there.

+1 on the achievable dream serie.

Warning : be aware that there's good chances that your "maybe doing it" will become "must do it".

That's what happened to me ;) I'm leaving in 2 days (yikes)

Also find out the blogs from people who've done this trip before. Tons of invaluable infomation and inspiration there as well.

Set a date! Seriously, you will be surprised how fast everything else falls into place once you have a date that you told people about. If you are just playing with the idea and not seeing it in your immediate future (and I would say a year away would be an "immediate future" for such a trip), or if you are planning it for certain, a lot of the prep work will be the same. I think the two biggest issues with any major trip will be money and time off of work. Everything else falls into place as you do the research. But if you have no date there is no pressure to save the money or let work get use to the idea, and both can be bigger blocks to your dream than any amount of planning.

Thanks for that. That seems so sensible and obvious! My boyfriend has a huge map of the world on his bedroom wall and I continually look at it. We had a "conversation" last weekend and I realised that I was banking on us lasting forever and me just following wherever he went, but that conversation made me realise that that probably isn't the case. So I want to start planning my own trip and, if we are still together and he fancies it, he can just follow me!

Where are you going? Are you going on your own? How long are you going for?

Good luck and I hope you have a marvellous time.

Setting a date is not possible. My Mum is in a nursing home and I can't go anywhere until she dies. I know that sounds horrible, but it is being pragmatic. There is no way I can go away for more than two weeks while she is alive.

Actually, maybe I could do a short Spanish trip..............

Do the 2 weeks!
 

Sorry to hear about your mom, but giving what you wrote I think the 2 weeks Spanish trip would be a brilliant way for you to plan for the bigger trip. You can find out if you even like going long term motorcycle travel (we met one guy who gave up after 2 weeks, turns out as much as he loves one week trips, long term was not his goal at all) and if you like solo travel or if you want to find a partner (be it your boyfriend or another person).

A practice run that is easy to plan and go on helps you know what you need to take and what to expect. And we find we take almost the same amount of stuff if we go for a week or months (so long as we are camping.) Then based on that experience you can start planning what you would do the same or different next time around!

Hi,

Anyway i would recomend to start with small trips. They will get bigger and bigger every year anway but then you know how it works, what you realy need and what you have to plan in advance (visa stuff etc).

Have fun, Tobi

Given your circumstances, I would stay at home for the time being, as for any trip anywhere I don't think your head will in the right place.

If not that, then at least use your time before you go and learn Latin Spanish, this will be useful for Mexico south, until you get to Chile and Argentina, then you need Castillano Spanish

Good luck

Planning a trip like Lois's would be a lot of fun, even if you don't go. You could download Garmin's Basecamp (free) which comes with a world wide global map. As you read a travel book or guide book and think you might wish to visit that location you could place a way point there.

Find a blog of someone who's currently on the road traveling though the country you wish to visit. Then just sit back and absorb everything. As they stop in a city, search a travel guide to see whats there and what you might like to see if in their shoes.

The Adventure Begins

The internet is loaded with great information, Horizons Unlimited is a great site and there are many others out there too.

Vagabond Journey Budget Travel Guide
Bicycle Touring Around the World: cycle tourings best bike tour and travel travelogue story

Have fun!

daryl

Who says you have to do it on a bike?

Pick a city from Lois's book and take a plane there and walk around.

I was set to do a trip south this year. Had LOA set up at work, had the bike ready and all my kit. Then mom passed away on Feb 19th. She was my dad's primary care giver. Now the job is mine. For seven months we did great, then he fell and broke his hip on Sept 19th. After a hip replacement I placed him into a care facility, so I know your pain. I won't go anywhere until he passes. It's a personal commitment I will not break. He's all I have.

On a brighter note...the care facility has damn fast internet. So when I drop by for a visit and he's asleep I can surf the net and work on my blog site. I'm living at his house for the time being. Time to time, I set up my camping hammock between a couple of trees, and dream of riding in some far away distant land.

daryl

http://www.trackdayriders.co.uk/tdr/...ileys/true.gif

That's where I'm at - date set for April 2014. Big map on the wall with a route sketched on it and a plan to raise the money and get the time I need off work.
Then you have a target. A meaning and a reason to put it all in place.

What have I learnt from doing semi-ambitious trips? As mentioned, set a date.

Once the word gets out, things start planning themselves. When you get those moments of doubt, you push yourself along saying "it's too late now" because the commitement is made.

I'm leaving this Friday on a trip with undetermined amount of time. No real plan other then a direction: South. Plans are made on the road. Plans are problems when they are broken on the road which happens all too often.

Biggest thing to start doing now is prep the bike. Make sure it's in tip top shape as you don't want to be ordering parts and be installing last minute, or worse, on the road.

Here's something to think about:

1) When have you heard somebody say "my travels weren't worth it". Or it "wasn't a good decision"

or

2) I wished I waited to travel more when I was older...

Just do it. Life can wait. This is coming from a guy who's normally resevered and passed out on way too many experiences using "work" as an excuse..

I'll likely never get a chance again to move to London for two years, or Australia, or even that trip to Thailand. All likely gone now. The sad thing is I'm only 28.

For more information and inspiration you could get yourself along to a HU meeting. A mini meet might have somebody who has been where you hope to go and Ripley will have several people who have done it and will be glad to share their experiences.
Most long distance routes have weather windows, some places, Alaska and Ushuaia for instance can only be visited for a few months of the year so bear this in mind when planning.
It has already been stated and I too have never met anybody who has done a long trip and regretted it.

On that point about setting a date, well, it also helps to make it public, because the only way to back out of it is to break a leg I guess.

I knew I was going to Europe next year, but not sure when and actually where to land the bike to start.

Once I thought about it a bit, with regards to weather and climate, I decided on Anzac Day in Gallipoli, Turkey so I could attend the dawn service on 25th April 2012.

That was the easy part, setting the date, then I had to tell people that so it was set in concrete. If you check out my blog page below, you will see I have added a countdown timer, THAT is reality, and makes it a lot closer to the date that I expected :)

Cheers
TS