You had so much fun in your life. Why do you want to make your life a lot more ... ermm, complicated?


If you decide to go down that road, find a country with a good cheap workforce. Start with either the moto rental or the hostel. Two different kinds of branches will be a lot more demanding than running one kind of a business.



I self employed long enough to say: don´t friggin´ do it. Self employed means self exploited and there is rarely a limit to it.

There is more to it than meets the eye, I worked for two foreign owned and run companies in Nepal. Business visas were incredibly expensive to get, with a lot of bureaucracy, and there is the worry from one year to the next that the government may not grant you one, and you have to pack up shop and go home.

Some people end up marrying a local person so they can stay.. that tends to work. Marrying local in some countries can leave you vulnerable if you split up, as an outsider, divorce can be financially painful.

The Nepali government refused to issue work visas to the hundreds of ex pat tandem paragliding pilots one year, causing many to leave without a means of income,.

Then was the headache of local strikes, especially fuel strikes, you can stockpile petrol for these eventualities, but that is no good when the police come and steal it from you. Revolutions, wars, natural disasters also have to be considered. All part of the adventure I suppose but can you afford to have no customers for several years whilst things blow over?

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I would go with Turkey or Ukraine. I would rent the building if possible.

Airbnb might be the better option. With a hostel you would get more personal interaction with your customers, but that is not always a good thing. With a hostel you will have to make sure that you are there or someone you trust is there a lot of the time. There will be more babysitting.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

Almaty, Kazakhstan. A fantastic vibrant city and one that is actively developing itself while holding on to its roots as a trading post on the Silk Road. Almaty is a must for anyone passing through the Stans, and is in easy riding range of some jaw-dropping natural wonders. Although the city has a good number of hotels they don't really cater for overlanders on a limited budget who would like to hook up with other travellers. Nothing's simple of course, and Kazakh working visas for foreigners are difficult to get. You'd probably need a local partner, if only to help you with getting premises and dealing with the multi-layered Russian-speaking bureaucracy of everyday life.

The western Cape South Africa in the Cederberg

An Overlander Hostal/Campground or a backpacker hostal?

Overlanders want a safe place free of backpackers so they leave their stuff all out and nothing gets stolen. They are willing to pay more (people with rigs moreso than motorcyclist) and they want a quieter spot with camaraderie of fellow overlanders.

Examples of seemingly successful hostals/campgrounds that cater to overlanders that I visited: Camping La Guadalupe in Northern Peru, Casa Mate in Santiago Chile, Hostal La Puertovista in Valparaiso Chile, Quinta Lala in Cusco Peru.

These are not cheap places to stay at but they provide an experience that is harder recreate and makes them special to overlanders.

And to answer the where part of the question. If it a seasonal hostal I would try to open one that is on the overlanding trail, and is somewhat near one of many checklist bulletpoint items for overlanders so to speak. You also want to be in or near a town that is big enough that people can get mechanical things fixed on their bikes rigs, things can be shipped there, then can get parts to fix their rigs/bikes. etc...

If on the other hand you run a backpacker hostal, then it is all about location, nightlife around the hostal and an enviroment that is tourist friendly for short term travelers. Your clientèle is younger, parties more and is poorer.

Either way it wont be easy and you must be prepared to work a lot to probably even lose money at first.

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Alaska 2014: Hotel Budget ZeroXmas in Death Valley, New Year in Urique

I totally agree on picking something on the overlander trail, however I don't think it needs to be in a big town because the most important thing is going to be cheap land and space for workshops (if you want to go that way)

I was shocked at the amount of overlander traffic going through the Silk Road and back so anywhere along that route that ISN'T already dominated by overlander stops would be good. Georgia isn't a bad idea but you're either competing with cheap hostels in the cities or cheap guesthouses in the high country (tusheti, etc). And it's super difficult to get parts for some reason.

I would guess Albania Cheap, friendly people, good parts availability, nice roads (both tarmac and dirt) and you're picking up people doing both the silk route and the balkans loop. There's a bunch of moto-camps in Bulgaria and Romania, but nothing really on the Adriatic Sea side.

Already have Cederberg Oasis and many other fine campsites.