Hi everybody,

What a great website! Really detailed and resourceful, I have to say, I was really relieved when I found it.

I'd like to preface this post with the general statement that some of you may not agree with my plans (be it due to my experience, low funds, age, or otherwise) and I appreciate the concern but I feel like it's something I need to do.

With that in mind, here's some info about me and the trip. I will graduate at the end of May and I'm hoping to do a tour of Central Asia and maybe Russia this summer before I head off to university. I'm 17 years old and hold both a German and Irish passport. I will only turn 18 on the 7/7/2016 (pretty much slap bang in the middle of my vacation). I am currently living in the US (Florida) and don't have a motorcycle license (although I will get one before I embark on this trip), the reason that I'm holding off on getting my license for now is that I don't really have the weekends to give up right now, but that should change towards the end of the year. My current "motorcycle" experience as of today is three weeks of driving a moped (please don't kill me) in Indonesia. I do, however, really enjoy mountain biking and go biking everyday. For a long time I've been really interested in adventure riding, especially through Central Asia. So I found it only natural to want to buy a motorcycle, which has been my one goal for the last 7 years probably (Mum is adamant that there's no way I'm getting one while I live in the house), and drive it round somewhere.

My plan was initially to fly to Moscow and stay with a friend for a while while I find a bike and then drive east, making a quick detour to Mongolia, and ending up in Vladivostok and somehow flying home from there. However, after speaking to my Russian friends and some of my teachers (one of which has lived in Mongolia) they all pretty much said I would die once I got to the middle of Russia or that I would face some pretty big challenges (bureaucratically speaking) that I don't have the money to sort out. The main reason for this assumption was the problem that I don't speak Russian, a skill they said was quintessential to traversing the area without a hassle. After looking into alternative routes and speaking to my friends and teachers, the idea of the Pamir highway came up. It looks absolutely beautiful. So my current thinking is to fly into Moscow, stay with my friend, and buy my bike (anyone think I'll have issues registering a bike under my name at the age of 17 on a business visa?). After that I can either head straight through Kazakhstan, down to Kyrgyzstan (an area I've spent a lot of time studying for school), then to Tajikistan, and finally in to Pakistan (the Kashmir area). My budget will be a very sad one, ~ $2000 (and that's before the purchase of the bike, if I even manage that). I plan to camp the majority of the way and basically live like a very poor man. In terms of gear, I have all the camping gear that is required (it's a hobby that my family and I enjoy), I have lots of tools (a result of owning a Land Rover), but I have next to no riding gear. In terms of the time I'll have, I estimate it to be about 12 weeks (which is nothing compared to some of you guys here, but enough to see a good portion of Central Asia, although it may be rather brief).

This is the very basic outline of my plan for the summer, I understand that it doesn't seem too viable given the situation of things right now, but I do believe that it's possible. Some key issues that pop up are not having a riding partner (a specification that my parents would like to see fulfilled), not having the money (something that I might be able to get around with some help from my parents), and my age. I've been looking into visa situations and they seem to be ok given my nationality. I've begun looking at sights that I may want to see, applying for an IDP, and applying for a carnet (this becomes very difficult as I'll have to do it where I buy the bike, I may skip Pakistan for both the complexity of the application for the carnet and the actual price).

Thus, this leads me to have a few questions. Does HU believe that this is possible? Do any of the members have any details and suggestions for a more concrete route (I'm not opposed to something completely different, but I'd like to stay in Central Asia as I've explored a lot of South East Asia already)? Does anyone know if I'll have an issue buying and registering a bike at 17, and if I will have an issue, how I might be able to bypass it (flying to another country, buying a certain bike, registering it in a different name)? Do you think this is possible on my sketchy budget? How hard do you think it will be to find another rider (I saw the riders looking for riders, I'll post there once I have a more concrete plan)?

If anyone could give me any suggestions, advice (life related or trip related), or just general feedback I would really appreciate it.

(I'm sorry for the wall of text but I'd like to be as thorough as possible)

Thank you in advance for any and all help.