Originally Posted by SoulRebel

Hi

I am an American planning on buying a KLR 650 and shipping it to Europe using Stefan Knopf. My goal is to eventually ride all continents starting with Asia once Covid settles down. I have travelled extensively overland using public transportation and on sailboats and now want to fill in some of the gaps of places I haven't been on a motorcycle.

Rough outline of itinerary: Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Crimea, Abkhazia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, ferry/cargo ship to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, Mongolia, (also considering going through Xinjiang but I've heard thats now unpleasant, eastern Russia (Sakhalin I. - though not sure if you can drive there from Mongolia!) to Japan via Hokkaido.

Here are my questions:

1) As an american can I insure the bike in these countries? Stefan said his company covers some of these but not all. Any other recommendations for insurance?

2) Storage - I have two relatively yong children. What I am thinking is I ride for a month to month and a half at a time and then fly back to the East Coast of the US for a week or two to see my kids (so they don't forget me) and work a few shifts (I am an ER doctor). Does this sound like a reasonable idea? Any thoughts on where I can store the bike while I travel home? I've also heard that some contries will not let you leave the bike while you fly home. Does anyone know which countries these are?

3) Travel Insurance - Can anyone recomend a good company that will cover evacuation and medical costs and not exclude motorcyclists? FYI companies like Global Rescue are not ideal since they exclude you once you have received medical care other than them initially. i.e. if you are unconscious and brought to a local hospital and then they are contacted they will no longer evacuate you since they weren't contacted initially.

Thanks you for your suggestions!

Nick