Long Term Planners
 

Is there anyone else out there made their mind up they are going to do the big trip but know that it can’t happen for another year, two years five years!

We are now two years into a five year plan – We are keeping our interest alive by daily visits to the HUBB , and have had visitors from the community and have attended mini/meets, Ripley etc and in the meantime clearing our debts in order to to make our dream possible – but boy is time dragging ! (Well it is on work days!)

Is it a bit sad to be planning so far ahead? – has anyone else out there had to wait years but then achieved their goal? Or are we just not spontaneous enough? _ please tell me there are others out there!

Chizz

Mmmmmm the mini meet at Cannich has done nothing but fuel my imagination for foreign motorcycle travel.
We are now toying with the idea of a long trip possibly as far as Jordan, this is going to be a long time in the planning,(need something to celebrate being 50) but it sure is nice to have something to look forward to.
HUBB and google maps keeps the dreams alive for me.

Usually takes me 2-3 years of saving between all my bigger trips. Thats usually all planning, prepping, saving etc.

I'm sure there aren't many people who can just drop everything and go. Those who can are the lucky ones. I hope to be a member of that party very very soon !

I'm still planning my first big trip but never seem to get around to actually doing it!

In the meantime, reading this forum and saving cash is a good substitute!

Keep enjoying the planning.

All the Best,

David

Ted - that's encouraging - because you have gone ahead and achieved what you set out to do - good luck with your next adventure -

Milimut - I am hitting the big 50 next month too- obviously one of those life moments where you have the choice to stagnate - or regenerate - I am working hard towards the latter

Chizz

still waiting
 

Been wanting to do this since I was 17. Life sort of gets in the way! Anyhow now aged 54 and trying to sell the house. I have met others who are in the same boat, some of them were at Cropton in February some were at Ripley.
Hopefully be on my way sometime in 2011.

I have really got beyond the planning and buying gear stage now but I still have hopes.

Best of luck, where are you planning on going?

The hardest part of planning for me was working out how I could fund travelling myself and the other half have ok jobs but not in the high earner bracket. So this is the plan buy two XT600's kit them out and use them on a few short trips to see what I do and dont need and what does and does not work. Then buy a cheap (if there is such a thing) narrowboat do any work necessary and move on to it, sell the house which gets rid of most of my out goings (and all the junk we have collected more in the funds) and buy a small flat to rent out, the savings made on not having the house are then ploughed into the flat to pay off what ever mortgage we have which in turn gives us a small income from the flat, hop on the bikes and travel cheaply but for as long as we can.

Well so far I have the bikes and most of the kit trips planned France (poss pyrenees) september and morroco the following september,the narrow boat was purchased yesterday so the work now begins on that for the next few months.
The plan is slowly coming together, my advise would be get a rough plan tweek it over time and then stick to it. It takes discipline and commitment but if you persist you will get there.

"I love it when a plan comes together"

Chizz,

Absolutely! I've been planning this for about 2+ years so far and still have roughly another yet left before I can take off.

HUBB and ADV Rider certainely helps. I've read that many people find the planning phase just as much fun (sometimes more so) as the actual trip. I can't comment on that yet because I haven't been able to take an extended trip, but I have enjoyed distilling my plan several times.

Nice One Trix !
 

Its good to hear of other people going through the same processes - we have decided to keep the house because we live in the Highlands we should be able to get holiday lets which should increase the rent - which will part fund the trip - mortgage needs to be reduced first though which we are working hard at - we too bought xts' although as it turns out even a lowered one was a little to tall/heavy for my wife - so we have downsized to 250,s - I have a gs - which will be sold nearer the time to pay for shipping etc. We will both ask for a year off work but think that there is a serious risk of them saying no - which means a real risk that at 50 + we will not easily walk back into work - this is a risk we are prepared to take and as long as we have somehere to live

Mostly it seems to be a waiting game

Chizz

What you have to remember is that it will never be "the right time" to do anything. Your house will never be worth top dollar, you will never have your bike just right, you will never have saved enough money. etc etc etc

You just get to a point where you say F**K it, cut your losses and make a commitment.

For me on this trip it was booking and paying for all the ferries, carnet and insurance. Once you spend £1000 in under an hour on non refundable things, it's very hard to procrastinate any further.

I have been planning my big trip since I got back from 3 months around Europe in 2007,when I ditched the job & used my savings. Since then I have been clearing my debts & paying my bike off & slowly getting her kitted out but it will still be another few years before I can go again.
I have set myself a leaving date of start of May 2014 for a 6 month trip,it seems a very long way off but need that much time to save enough cash,I try to keep myself sane by visiting horizons regularly & making sure I have a road trip every year.

how do you know when its time......
 

it took Simon and i around 2 years to just plan and save and organise our lives, make adaptations to the bikes etc etc.
get a P.O.A sorted, rent out the house, organise paperwork for the bikes, house, visas for the first part of the trip and so on.
we had however saved for a lot longer!
we planned for around 2 years away - we are now over 7 years on the road.
since leaving we have sold everything - asking our P.O.A to sell everything that we had orginially planned to return to.

we are glad that we spent the time planning and saving. there was no way we could jsut up and go as we were not students living at our parents homes - we had a life, a business, years of acquiring things etc.
...however, we set a date to leave and were still not ready but left anyway. we had however had the most major things planned and a P.O.A set up who knew all of the most important things and what to do on our behalf if everything went wrong.

-the most important thing - set a date and stick to it.
you are never ready to leave - there is always something else to do - in the end you jsut have to take that massive jump and go.
there is never a good time, you always need more time, more money. more planning etc.etc.
set a date - set a plan - set your mind and....enjoy!

3 years sounds about right once you set a year it concentrates the mind, and then when you set the date time starts compressing and there is not enough of it :-)
This is our 2nd big trip, we decided on this one as soon as we got back from the last one in 2007.

Like Ted we leave in a couple of weeks, and no amount of planning and prep can really have you ready in time (still waiting for the panniers !).

I got over the work thing, by being ade redundant, so I could have dropped it all and gone last year, but I have had to wit for Jean to get her unpaid leave sorted (well one of us needs to work :-) )

When we did our 'big trip' we were selling our house with some vague idea about dropping out in Devon where I come from. I suggested we use the dosh or at least the interest on it to fund a trip to Cape Town before we bought another house. So we chucked in our jobs, bought the bike built the panniers and then hit the road, fours months after I suggested the idea. After a year on the road we had the bulk of our capital and landed here in France. My wife was pregnant so that has put the mockers on any motorbike trips for a while.

All the people who said to us they would like to do something like that when....?? (whilst we were preparing for our trip) are still in the same job, house etc. so i'm slightly cynical about long term plans.

No not at all I am saving up taken 2 years so far, (+/- Hick ups along the way)
I can not just afford to up sticks, as with my job could never just leave work and go! wished i could & come back & find a new job.

having said that I think if you have planned it right & put in some 'what If' aka O :censored: factors you should be ok remember you are supposed to be enjoying it not 'rushing to get to C from B by a certain time date.
you could find your self in India seeing the monkey temple then off to coast but here there is a 1 of must see event (happens once a year)

Our first decent sized trip was in 2006.
I've been itching to get going again since about a fortnight after our return, and few people seem to manage the perpetual journey (and probably with many a personal sacrifice in the process) so most of us have to deal with the day to day reality of what is most people's normal life.

So no it is not sad to plan.
You can either send the intervening months and years not thinking about it, or thinking about it. I prefer the latter: keeps me motivated to save, even when the goal is sometime off.

We plan to see Kamchatka, but regrettably this won't be for a couple of years yet, so it might be 6 years between trips!!! :helpsmilie:

However, in that time, we have moved country, started renovating a flat, both started new careers and professions and got dogs, so it was never going to be quick!!

I say don't lose sight of your objective:
It is too easy to let the plan become just a dream and then just the memory of a trip you "would have liked to have done".
That is what scares me about it: I must constantly remind myself that this is a trip we will do, not just might do or want to do.

By the end of the first day on the road, and it starts to sink in, you'll know it had all been worth the wait:thumbup1:

Very true!!

Also one of those moments (especially if you've never done a trip on that scale before) when you think: "blimey, we're actually doing this: it wasn't just talk!!"

There's hardly ever a right time but sometimes it's now or never.
My mate died of a massive stroke aged 37, which made me look at my own mortality and spur me on to at least go and see some places I'd only dreamed about. I was able to take a career break (thank you Merseyside Police) and my mortgage was small enough to remortgage the flat to raise the money (altho I overestimated how much I would need ) .
We set a date to leave(2nd January 2008 in time for the Dakar which never happened) and booked only the boat to Spain , and tickets for the Simmer Dim rally in the Shetlands 6 months later. After that , most of the planning was centred around me moving all my worldy goods out into my partner's house, and preparing my flat to be rented out, and sorting our innoculations, insurance etc, while he concentrated on getting the sleeping bags, luggage, etc and prepping the bikes.

When I do a second big trip, I already have the stuff from trip 1, so will save a shedload of cash there. Now I need to save up (that's the hard bit as I'm back living alone nowdoh:cool4:)

Focus on your dreams but don't forget to live the moment, it's not as if you're in a coma is it?
And keep smiling.

I know real world practicalities impinge upon it, but my philosophy has laways been 'there might not be a tomorrow, so lets do it today.'

If I had a pound for every person that told me 'I've always wanted to do what you've done, but 'x' stops me, maybe I'll do it in the future,' I would never have to come back and work.

Birdy

I've been thinking about a major trip (first of many I hope) for a few years.

To date I have sold the house and now live in rented (that I can give up), and I've consolidated all my debts into a cheaper debt management plan that pays my creditors (something else I intend to give up when I set off!).

I have now sold my sportsbike and am looking for a tourer, but main thing is I've organised getting my pensions early next year (age 55) to provide an income while travelling.

Bring it on!!

Hiya Bruce

2 years into 5 isn't too bad. It sort of took me ten years to get to do my big Euro trip.
Mind you, in that time I did some other shorter backpacking trips to Asia.But it took that long for me to get the cash/time/conditions to mesh right.

I think the main thing is to live day to day with that future plan as a guide. The planning is half the fun afterall.

Ed

Hi Ed

Good to hear from you. January takes us one year closer - we have a couple of weeks in India booked - hopefully we will get a couple of Enfields and make mini adventure of it.

But you are right it is about getting the balance right - living for the day but keeping an eye out for the future big trip. we have at least now set an absolute final date which we will not go past - in the meantime its lots of riding/camping in the Highlands - down to Ripley etc

Chizz

I am fortunate to have done a fair bit travelling back in the 70s and 80s then a bit more getting to a few places that were on my want list in the last 12 years If I had waited maybe i would be where I am now - with a second injury to the spine that is bad enough to prevent me doing any more big trips and restricts at the moment my time on the bike - i could not even contemplate off tarmac riding presently, certainly in the near future if it doesn't improve then it could be for good. I am glad i done what I could when I could and that was lots of mid size trips to many places on 3 continents - better that than the dream of doing the big one then never getting anything done. The future for me is certainly - uncertain. , I am with Birdy today is today tomorrow may not be there.

We've been planning our trip since the Ripley HU meet of 2005. We've now got just over 2 years left of a 5 year plan. Then we cash in our pensions and use the lump sums to fund the travel. It's getting harder and harder to go to work each day but focusing on 31st March 2013 keeps me going.

hey bruce,

regarding your job, and possible lack there-of, I think you are in one of the best places on earth to start your own thing. aren't there always HIE grants for new businesses ? there are a few tour guides up there, but always room for one more. especially if you can incorporate a cracking night the (musical) boozer, rooms or camping, local routes, etc. during the winter do walking stuff in the lower hills. set up a travel bike festival thing, like that mad bloke at Glasto ?

you've got a whole 3 years to get it off the ground. less navel-gazing, please... :-)

I have a different scenario all together. My RTW trip in 2012 is part of my relocation from the US to Germany. I have already given notice, which has set the wheels in motion.

As of now, Dec. 2010, I have 16 month left to get my "ducks in a row". Reading up on travel reports of folks who have done my planned route before me, I know that 16 month is not too far out. I have had already a good 6+ month of tinkering aimlessly with various bits and gear to see what might work and what not. All the hardware is pretty much decided on.

I enjoy the planing phase a great deal. With the new year around the corner, I will set hard goals as to what I need to accomplish by the end of each quarter for the coming year (2011). This way, I can focus on specific tasks without getting sidetracked. The main objective is to have ~90% taken care of by the end of 2011. I am sure, there will be plenty of loose ends creeping up, which will have to be addressed in the remaining 4 month until departure on May 1st, 2012.

Let the games begin...:helpsmilie:

:biggrin3: