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Together is always easier to fix something, and solve all other problems :) I always do trips in group of 2-3 buddys
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Riding with Sons
I have taken each of my three sons on a father/son trip, with the boys riding pillion. These were our bonding trips, with the boys 14-15 years old in each case. The first son I took through Tibet, the second in a loop around Xinjiang, and the third through Himachal Pradesh (shout out to Saach Pass). Each of these trips was with a small group of riders I knew directly or indirectly (difficult to do China solo). I was connected by bluetooth headset to my sons for the roughly 10 day trips. We talked about everything and nothing and spent hours just absorbing our surroundings. Spending time with other members of the group was in each case very rewarding for the boys - it was a shared experience among men. These three trips have been among my happiest experiences in my life.
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When you travel with someone every decision is, by necessity, a compromise; sometimes in your favour sometimes not. This might be good if your goal is building a relationship with the other person. If you travel solo you're rarely alone, but if you travel with a partner you're often wishing to be alone. |
Do it solo
Although I've been on Euro trips with mates, when it came to 'the big one' it was always going to be solo. It was what I wanted and I never imagined I would be able to find a partner anyway. As part of my preparation I went on two group trips, mainly to find out how I would take to riding outside the civility of Europe. I thoroughly enjoyed both trips and made some great friends. The first one was in Africa - The Gambia back to Spain. The second was in the Indian Himalaya on a 500cc Enfield (I can't recommend Blazing Trails Tours highly enoug). Fabulous trips and served to support my decision to set off once circumstances allowed. Kids grown up, mortgage paid off, I left London in April 2014 and am having a fantastic time here on Australia.
I spent 6 years planning the trip, mainly because I had nothing else to do while I waited. How has it been? Fabulous! Just me and my Suzuki DR 350. I've seen fantastic places and met fabulous people. Do I regret being alone? Of course I do, sometimes. It's only human to need other people sometimes. I especially miss having a lover. But I recognised these downsides before I left and decided to live with them. I don't regret my decision. My advice to anyone considering their own trip is to stop procrastinating and GO. Read about my experiences on my blog. MOTOPANGAEA | Adventure before dementia. Seeing the world while I can remember where it is. Enjoy your trip. Geoff. |
Solo
I'm with DouglasJ. I traveled around the world for 3 years in total, in part with my best friend of +25 years. We rode together for 4 months in 2006, for about 7 months in 2012/13 and now we don't talk to each other anymore. After +25 years, you think you'd know someone, but you really get that knowledge only when you spend time with people day in day out. The biggest reason I'll never travel with another male is that you isolate yourself from the world, you turn inwards and have beers / dinner together. It's really about traveling solo and being open to the world. I think with a woman that might be doable as you're more approachable. Still, being solo on a bike will give you a perspective you will never reach with another person. All my best traveling has been done solo. Often you will meet people, all the time actually, when traveling solo. It's my preferred way now.
One thing to remember as to differences in m/c travel.... When you backpack, you use public transit, stay in small lodges and generally follow a transit/hostel route many others follow. You will meet a lot more people (tourists) backpacking than riding. Your modes of transportation are the same. On a bike, you are not taking transit, your transport times are different that others and your hostel/hotel needs are going to include some parking facility or option. All considerations others don't have or need to make. So don't compare traveling on a bike to regular travel. You will meet a lot fewer tourists and lot more local people. And because of your mode of transit and non-standard hotel locations, you will have a vastly different and often better connection with people. Parking a beat up R80G/S in Asia or the Middle East is like parking a F1 car in a Western playground with 16 year old bots. How fast? How big is the engine? Where do you live? How much does it cost? Do you want some tea? Come stay at my house! Oh no! Not on the street, park it in the lobby!! On the other hand, if you are out in the bush somewhere or in a small village in Pakistan, you will get 10 or so invites for tea, dinner etc. I don't think I was ever able to get gas in Pakistan without being offered tea. Go solo, and people won't see you as a threat and be much more welcoming. The only places I ever felt unsafe were Honduras and Turkey. But most importantly of all, go. Your life will be better for it in ways you cannot imagine. Kevin |
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When I'm travelling solo, I tend to end up staying that way. I get into that mindset and I don't seek company that often. It gets easier to hang out on my own and I end up getting annoyed with myself for being lazy and not making more of an effort to meet people. It can also be more intimidating walking into a Shack cabin bar at midnight in a small African Village on your own too. When you're with others, you have an instant drinking buddy and people accept you more. I think so anyway. A man with at least one friend can't be a complete arsehole :smartass: So it can go both ways... Sometimes a solo traveller can be looked upon with mistrust in many places. The perception is If you're alone it's because no-one want's to be your friend or you're up to trouble. And the locals see that as a potential warning light. Just my observations as a bar fly in small towns whilst gossiping with the locals. So to be honest, I think the only way to know if you can travel with someone, is to travel with them and find out. You can't judge it any other way. Like I said in my earlier post. ALWAYS be prepared and kitted out to travel solo if needs be. That way you're not dependent on anybody else. And in that way, you'll end up that you get on with other travellers better too. It simplifies things. And everyone likes life to be simple. If things are getting claustrophobic, a lot of the time you just need need a day or two away from your travel partner and everything is sweet and rosey again. It's a funny old game. But a good one. :thumbup1: |
I've done quite varied travel over the years by various means of transport.
At 17, I set out with a mate to go to southern Spain in a borrowed car for a few weeks. Your right about finding out about friends, we've been mates now for 35 years, he was my best man at my wedding and I'd still travel with him for weeks. Same wavelength. Doesn't ride road bikes though. My wife doesn't do road travel. She thought she did, but her needs during journeys conflict with mine. This however doesn't become a problem unless you let it. She travels by air over long distances and we meet there. Works for us. She did drop a few hints about dipping a toe back into Europe again on 2 wheels lately, not happening, I know it's not her thing. Would cause problems. Another mate I travel with, with the bike this time too, is also ideal to travel with. We get on, similar outlooks and very similar riding styles. Doesn't do outside the uk though. So I mostly travel alone over distance, which isn't an issue and has led to some interesting experiences. This summer I've been talked into taking a couple of friends over to the in laws in France. They both ride but I've already been told that they don't want to do too much distance in a day etc. Great people, but I have the feeling it's going to be a long couple of weeks, but I'll go with an open mind. There's a lot to be said for both solo and group travel, but it all depends on what you make of it. Very interesting to hear your take on solo Ted, I'd never considered that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Many are talking about fall outs with old friends. It had me thinking. Maybe you weren't friends after all. A friendship is built in experiences and hardships not how long you've known someone.
A wise man once told me that travelling with someone will accelerate your relationship. And he was spot on. Be it with a friend, partner, wife, let cat or blow up doll etc. If you were drifting apart, it will happen faster on the road. If you had the potential to be a great team, traveling will be the cement in that... Some of my most trusted close friends are people I've met on the road and ended up travelling with. I'd trust these guys more than people I've been friends with since pre-school. I'm really glad that I hadn't closed my mind to riding with others otherwise I wouldn't have these great friends in my life. |
I think it's also got a lot to do with the person you are. I think you find a lot of home truths about yourself whilst travelling, and how people react to you speaks volumes.
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Most of the time we've stumbled along, getting on each other's nerves a bit but not enough to head for the airport or start tossing a tyre lever from hand to hand while walking towards them. When we've got back we've then gone our separate ways and the whole thing chalked up to ... life or something. And it's not been a gender thing - I've been away with as many "difficult" women as men, although the problems do tend to manifest themselves in different ways. Whether I've been seen as "the problem" by those same others is, of course, impossible as we're always the hero in our own story. :rofl: Of course you don't get any of those issues if you travel solo and you're free to cock things up to your heart's content. Because of that generally I tend to be a bit more cautious when I'm on my own - both "mechanically" in that I won't head off quite so far into the unknown as I would with others as back up and I'm also slightly more wary of accepting "invitations" - "come and spend the night at my house" from someone I met in a bar half an hour ago, that kind of thing. Not outright reluctant, just aware of my solo status and situation. On the other hand I'm far more likely to interact with people, talk to strangers, if I'm with others - mainly because if you don't it'll be a very quiet trip. I remember reading an article in one of the mags many years ago about somebody (an older bloke) who rough camped on his first ever foreign trip to France (on an MZ!) and only ate packets of crisps and the like from service stations for two weeks as, not speaking French, he didn't want to make a fool of himself in cafes, restaurants, hotels etc. Even at my most inarticulate and anglo luddite I've never been that bad but having someone to take over when you're having a bad day is definitely a plus for group travel. In 2015 I did two substantive trips - a solo one down to Italy on my antique 125 and a group one across the USA on the GoldWing. On the Eurotrip one of the things I was determined to do was to talk to everyone. English, French, sign language, universal beer language, anything that worked. Even if it didn't I was going to try. It took some effort but it paid off and I met some really interesting people. Even for those that weren't that interesting it was worth the effort to find out. Sure I got some surprising responses (one (Brit) woman even locked herself in her car when I approached :() but overall it made it a more enjoyable few weeks. Some of that carried over to the USA but there were times, particularly when there were four of us (it varied over the trip), when it was easier just to stay self contained. We were lucky in that we all got on very well (two married couples so no fault lines) and you could relax a bit and withdraw within the group as usually someone would be looking out for you. I didn't have to be on top of everything all the time as I had to be on the earlier trip. That can get very stressful and with no easy way to resolve it. I've spent evenings on my own in some fly infested backwater just thinking "what the f*ck am I doing here?", but I've also spent evenings in hotel bars with travelling companions and thinking "what the f*ck are they doing here". |
I sometimes find it difficult travelling in a group. I’m very much of the “I wonder where that track goes?” kind of rider but I tend to forgo my itch to find out when riding with others.
Then again, sometimes it has really worked - just depends on finding the right group I guess. Just don’t expect me to get anywhere very quickly! Rachel |
I find that solo is best. You meet tons of amazing people on the way, sometimes ride with them for a bit, and then say your farewells and carry on by yourself again. Complete freedom.
In terms of safety, I guess travelling with a friend/partner is always safer; on the other hand I'm a female solo rider and I've never ran into any trouble that I wasn't able to solve by myself. So yeah, I still vote for solo:) |
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I was in Turkey in the summer of 2015 and It was great.The language is difficult though, but I liked the people away from tourist areas. Only one man who misunderstood manners for weakness had to be cautioned strongly not to grind on my wife in a train. He saw his error and moved quickly away. |
Not easy to answer the question but someone will get a sense out of all the anwers and get the best out of it for himself.
I think in General it depends on the Character, a people person will always go with other people, a Hermit stays alone. For me I travelled the most of my life alone and did things I couldnt't have done in company. Now I travel with my partner in a 4x4 it is good too, but different you share the good things and the bad things but any decission is a compromise,- like in real life .... Put it that way if I go on a holiday trip, company is more than welcome. If I go on Expedition style journeys which are serious and the outcome unknown, I'll rather been alone and make my own decissions than discuss anything with a partner and the result is a compromise and not a 100% sound decission. Apart from that, alone I am meeting more people, developping a sharper mind, more open to discover the country I'm travel in, focus on my goals, expanding my life experience .... Security with 2 or more, NO thanks if you are really in the sh** you experience what kind of wood your "friends" are made of, I been there not again. cheers |
Travelling Solo
Plenty of differing opinions here and that is the issue. People have different ideas and wants so one needs to choose your companions carefully.
I've done a lot of solo motorbike touring so resourcefulness and flexibility is needed. I have had problems but I have usually found local help. Sometimes the kindness of strangers can be almost overwhelming. Bikers in eastern Europe helped me out in a couple of breakdowns this year even though communication was difficult at times. There is safety in more than one person and if 2 people are on a long remote adventure its best to have the same model bike and keep spare parts for both. I would prefer to travel with like minded people. As a photographer I like to stop along the way to shoot interesting things. I have been with riders who don't stop other than coffee or meal breaks. Thats frustrating so the best thing to do is to arrange a meeting point or destination in advance. So when riding with others; show flexibility and humility; be prepared to think of your companions not yourself; as personal friction in a trip is worse than almost anything else. If you are not prepared to compromise Travel Solo. keepcalm |
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