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Best tips: Fast travel, many km, little time... Best tips: Fast travel, many km, little time...
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TRAVEL Hints and Tips Post your TIPS to travellers - all the interesting little tidbits you learned on the road about packing, where to get stuff, and how to cope with problems. Please make sure the subject describes the tip clearly!
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 29 Sep 2012
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I find that I average about 500 km per day... but then I only ride two out of three days, and play tourist on every third day, with little or no riding that day.
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  #2  
Old 30 Sep 2012
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Originally Posted by brclarke View Post
I find that I average about 500 km per day... but then I only ride two out of three days, and play tourist on every third day, with little or no riding that day.
Over how long a trip though and through what countries?

It's very much a 'how long is a piece of string?' question I think.
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Old 30 Sep 2012
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Great thread.

We tend to do three week to one month trips. Due to work. I tend to work out our trip routes based on about 1600 km a week. We are three in a 4x4. This works out at approx 230 km a day.

In main Europe this is easy, we can up the average to 400 easily if we need to. On occasion we have done 800 + km just to get somewhere. I feel bad after it. Not for me or the wife but the nipper. So prefer to avoid doing this. However as we travel further afield we sometimes need to cover ground to get to an area to explore.

Once we leave Europe and big smooth roads we tend to average between 100 and 300 a day, sometimes these are long days with lots of slow unpaved roads and photo breaks. They are normally fantastic thou.

I think it can be hard to work out trip lengths, especially of you are newer to the game but as long as you are flexible and don't expect to do motorway speeds on minor roads outside Europe a rough guide of 1600 km a week works.

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  #4  
Old 21 Oct 2012
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Here in the States, I would say that it 'all depends.' If I want to get to my destination quickly, such as getting to New England or the Badlands, putting 1,000 + km is easily done. Tiring and not very satisfying, but doable, especially on a cruiser/tourer mc. The interstate road system is fast and efficient to get you there and probably safer in bad weather with frequent accessible exits and overpasses.
If the riding experience is your cup of tea, such as the Badlands of S.D. or Tail of the Dragon, T.N. then cut that daily estimate in half.
If the tourist experience is what you desire, such as the Grand Canyon, A.Z. or the Devil's Tower, W.Y. how you plan to soak in the moment can further divide that estimate in half. Be honest with yourself. Do I want to 'check off' having been to a place or do I want to soak up the experience?
The only reason for a time table is because you have got to get back to or out of somewhere. Figure extra time for the limiting factor of the slowest member of your group, break- downs, health, etc. I usually give myself an extra day per week for such circumstances.
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  #5  
Old 21 Oct 2012
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IMHO the key to happy and healthy travelling is to understand and know your own rhythm and needs.
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  #6  
Old 22 Oct 2012
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Originally Posted by Bertrand View Post
IMHO the key to happy and healthy travelling is to understand and know your own rhythm and needs.
I'll second that!

Personally, I would not underestimate the importance to first sort out what one do expect from such a travel and what are the key elements he knows which will offer the satisfaction he needs. I usually tend to think that past experiences taught me what I definitely don't like, but future and especially unexpected ones will make me discover new key elements of satisfaction.

I strongly believe that time factor in a trip planning is overly underestimated. Trying to max out distances and checkpoints in a fixed timeframe highers the risk of spending too many moments under stress, and stress can be a trip killer.
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Old 22 Oct 2012
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Feasible distance per day depends first and foremost on yourself, but also very much on where exactly you are travelling.

In India I remember thinking, that in some areas just 200 kms was a long and exhausting day of riding, even using main roads. That's nothing in Europe, US, or Oz for example.

The number of border crossings on your plan will also have an effect, because they'll easily bring delays, and you might have to apply for visas for upcoming crossings somewhere, and wait to get them. And if you need to freight the bike across the sea, for example, that'll take at least a few days on both ends, even when everything goes according to the plan.
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Old 22 Oct 2012
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Originally Posted by Bertrand View Post
IMHO the key to happy and healthy travelling is to understand and know your own rhythm and needs.
Spot on Bertrand, I'm happiest keeping on move for example and only really like the odd early finish to catch up washing clothes etc.
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