Does hitting the road solve personal problems ?
 

I was pondering..... How many people end up on the road to run away from problems or go in search of a better life ?

Sure, most of us love to travel and love the experience of overlanding and all it brings with it but we usually end up where we started, as we were , with the exception of broader experiences and a fatter photo album.

Does loading up a bike and dissapering into the sunset change lifes or does it delay and bury problems which will resurface as soon as you run out of petrol money ??

I often sit here, stressed with unpaid bills and the thought of Monday morning monotony thinking would it be easier to sell up everything i own, load up the bike and see where I end up and what ill be doing.

Anyway, thought id share that with you all for no reason at all :blushing:

not the solution itself, but..
 

You have a point when you say that maybe being on the road is a way to escape. Escape from a situation, somebody or even the police(in case you just robbed a bank!)

Maybe being on the road is not the solution itself, but is a way( from several more) to know who you are, what are you capable of and what you don´t, ,like you say most of the time you will end where you start but some will be different in you.

Cheer Up
Joe

Ted,
I'll be honest with you. When I left on my last trip it was because I suddenly realised I'd not really been enjoying life that much. My business was barely breaking even, I was bored a lot of the time, my feild of work turned out to be very different to how I imagined it and I realised too late that girls don't like poor, independent guys. I remembered my life as a snowboard bum, caning my money without a thought for the future, doing irrepairable damage to my knees and back, and loving every minute of life.
I never expected my trip to change my life (and it hasn't) but I had a bloody fantastic several months for the first time in years. Now its back to work for a year or so, then back on the bike for more adventures!
Lifes too short to plan for the future. Do it all now before it's too late.
Matt

you can only find what you are looking for. start to travel without any expectations. whatever you find on the road, let be them your expectations. it was what i have done. and at the end of travel i've found my self.

Beautifuly put Ozanhu

I think for me it is about commitments, and dependents.

I don't own a house, don't have an exceptional job and only have family ties.

Once asked on a management training course "when would you like to die" I replied, "when no one is dependent on me", meaning anyone that I feel responsible for.

What stops me from travelling more at the moment are, two children, two dogs, a wife and my father (he lives with us).

When in a few years my father has gone, along with the dogs, (they're all geting old) and my kids have left home, providing me and the wife are still alive and able to, we shall travel.

I won't be running away, hiding, trying to find myself, etc. I shall be taking my experience of life, thus far , a little further.

I'll have no ties, no commitments, and no home.

Great.
Kevin

BTW 4WD traveller - I'll live from the back of my car.

Hitting the Road
 

I suppose everyone has reasons to "Hit the Road", and in my case, I am travelling to experience travel. Have the time off school and funds. Looked at three bikes so far(I wish the Honda XR650L was a little shorter for me) as I like to do a little off roading/exploring. cheers all, rio_perros <*)*)*)*)>{

:smartass:

Why did I hit the road?
 

I am not sure why I am now on the road. I do know that I am living the dream that I been having for the past 6 years, maybe even more.

I came out of a relationship last summer and wasnt ready to get involved with anyone else. I have learnt that long term travel and relationships on the whole dont seem to mix very well. Some people can make it work, others cant. So i guess I decided to live the dream while the chance was there and see if I am ready to settle down on my return having had the opportunity to live the dream.
I had in my mind the dates and places I wanted to go to so there was nothing left to hold me back, I guess when you run out of excuses and reasons to not go then the time might be good to hit the road.

If you dont have dreams then you have nothing at all.

Ride safe

Paul

There's an old quote that I have heard. I am not sure the exact wording, nor who stated it, but it goes something along the lines of "you never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrist's office.."

making a dream happen or runnig away?
 

Today my three riding pals are going on a 30 day trip to Turkey on 3 bikes. it is a trip I pland to do with them. but life has this strange way to make you decide each day what is the most important thing to you. so here i am taking care of a business that needs me, my partner is pushing me to go live my dream. but i know it is not right. (to kind of running away). i know inside that going on the ultimate bike trip is on my plan, (kind of runnig away from all this;)). but the time has to be right- and i know it will.
yoni

You have a dream partner.. My girlfriend snarls and ges upset if I mention going anywhere without her, and she doesnt like overlanding although she likes to ride.

She wont go anywhere unless she can take a hairdryer, straighteners, silly shoes and bags of makeup.. :(

"The only Buddha you can find on top of the mountain is the one you carry up there" (I think something like this was in Robert Maynard Pirsig's "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenence")

But it is the journey that really makes sense and you can enjoy it more than the things you are looking for or you are escaping from.

cozcan

yes and no......
 

I went on my recent trip (first but not the last) because I was bored shitless and running out of ideas, working a job I hated.

Coming back to the UK has been a mixed bag. On one hand it truly sucks not being on the bike every day in nice interesting countries with cheap and erm, interesting, food, but on the other hand I reckon I have a better sense of perspective. I am resuming my old post in August, but it isn't so bad: everybody speaks english; I am out of the weather; I still have to deal with petty bureaucrats but they aren't going to sting me for cash (but regretabbly aren't going to buy me lunch either....). Not to mention they will be giving me (indirectly) a new MOT for the bike, some piston rings and road tyres. Being UK based also means I get paid in the mighty Pound, which goes a hell of a long way if you think of it in Uzbek sum, a fact a never really considered before.

On the downside again I suppose I am in a lot more debt than when I left, and my (ex) girlfriend has started shagging my housemate, who promptly stopped paying rent when he started bumping uglies with my missus (big angry grrr) - but these things would doubtless be getting me a lot more pissed off if I hadn't just travelled over 20k!

I think if I had pushed it a bit harder and gone further into th eunknown then it would have had a more profound effect on me, but I am saving up for that 'life-changing trip' already, I'm sure that it's out there!

wife or girlfriend mental training
 

Tedmagnum- you need to know that my wife has gone through a very long "training program" I've conducted 20 years ago (well, a good idea for a new thread), teaching her that my scrach of riding a bike to the horizon, is a part in me she will have to live with. And bleave me it was hard. It started with "when will you giveup bikes" and now it is " i've seen a new bike, when will we go take a test ride" .
But you know, I know a guy that ran from all this including his girlfriend :)

Maa' salam

Yoni

Escaping
 

The trouble with any type of travel is that you always take lots of baggage with you.

Ah yes , but hopefully you can lose some of it along the way .

> The trouble with any type of travel is that you always
> take lots of baggage with you.
Get a GoldWing :-)

Serious:
Hitting the road does not solve problems but makes it easier to deal with problems.

When I feel things are growing over my head, I take a day of work, get on my bike and drive a few hundred km's and that helps.
Every year, I go away for a longer period. Sometimes a week, sometimes four weeks and always alone on my bike. last month I did a two weeks and +8000 km trip to the North Cape in Norway. Now my battery's are charged again for a few months :-)

Journey
 

In my opinion, travel does not sort anything, but it helps to put things into perspective. Realise that your problems back home are not insurmountable. For some people it may make them grow "stronger" and hopefully "better", if you see what I mean. And hence give them the ability to confront, overcome or deal with their problems.
I don't see the Journey as getting away from anything. More like a journey of discovery. Discovery of the world, but also of myself. I do expect it to be a big challenge, but what would be the attraction (and achievement) if it was easy?
It's also an opportunity for reflection, far away from the 9 to 5 hectic life, running around like a headless chicken. Suddenly, so much time in those long stretch of roads. What will come to mind, then? Memories, undealt issues, conflicts, hurts... maybe finding some sense to senseless events that life throws at us. Maybe finding strength that we didn't know we had.... In the end it's about growing up, and that's a never ending process.....

Escapism, fantasy and just a reminder of what real life is/should be
 

Any adventure that involves removing yourself from your current situation and depositing yourself somewhere else will include a fair amount of escapism, and probably a fair amount of fantasising about the green, green grass on the other side.

I usually find that escapism works for a little while whilst your senses are overwhelmed by exotic new environments, but when the sun sets and the earth quietens, often the mental chatter doesn't. I own my problems, and whether I like it or not, I am the one who has to sort them out... and unfortunately I can't outrun myself (would be funny to try though)
:)

The thing about travelling though is that it gives me an amazing new space and unrepeatable experiences that allow me a completely different perspective. If I am smart I am able to use these little lessons from life to change some of my own approaches and outlooks, and in so doing, come up with some solutions or at least recharge and be able to tackle things with new energy on my return (or hopefully before).

Thankfully, though, I don't find that I need to be running away from or escaping from too much (phew!) and prefer experiencing my time away from the big city and often insane western life as more of a back-to-basics time. I love travelling and being able to get back to what is really important - the human interactions: a wave or smile from a stranger with whom you don't share a common language, but don't need to; interacting with nature and being subject to the vast power of the earth: you can't deny it when you're stuck in the middle of a hail storm!
I love the simple things that I can completely absorb and be a part of - the things that are often forgotten or just squashed in the busy, very hectic rat race back in London.
I suppose it's a kind of purposeful escapism... and a reminder of what is important to me and who I want to be.
:)

Some times i liek the travel and the bike to get the simple view on the Want's and the Need's so upon return to the local world i can review from a more removed position.. see things maybe clearer or from a point being in less effect of the energy of the item or the question I have. There is always the pure joy of the ride, the magic i have in my helmet.. sometimes a few moments of clarity, many moments just admiring the tread on the back tyre from a new angle.. sometimes its when im lying in the mud looking up!!

Hitting the road
 

Hitting the road IS the problem...

:laugh:

unless you bounce.

I intend to get myself some personal problems before I leave and will let you know if they've all gone by the time I get back...

If you need a personal problem :
An irate father [of the girlfriend ] brandishing a shotgun will usually get a fellow on the road fast enough .

I imagine when he asked you what steps you were taking to solve the "problem" you answered "F#^&in" big ones!!!!!

the list
 

i had a motorcycle accident and while laid up i thought about my "have to do in life list" and realized that if i didn't start doing some of those things that i might never.. traveling to another country by bike for a long trip was on that list..so....

I've a load, but I reckon my drink problem is the most fun, I'd go with one of them... ;)
Matt

What a great subject!
 

Many friends keep asking why I was doing my upcoming trip to Central and South America on a motorcycle or my 2 year backpacking trips through Asia. Some think I am crazy, others think I am courageous. Maybe I'm abit of both?

This topic of "riding away from" or "riding in search for" has been part of many of my conversations. I can't speak for everyone, but I personally think that it's simply that "now" is the time to do it. Many people dream of doing something adventurous and wish they could do it, but think it impossible. I really believe that most of these people have fallen victim to what our society tells us to do. That is, that after we graduate from high school, we go to college. We find a wife, have kids, a "white picket" fence with a mortgage, etc. etc. Were suppose to work until we are 65-70 years old and then we retire. Only then is it time to play. Then again, the average male life span is 68-70 years. Who's to say that one will be physically able to do such things as ride a motorcycle round the world? Why take the chance? I want to do it now, while I am young and able.

As for the question, am I "escaping" or am I insearch of the better life? I would say that I am searching to enrich my life, expand my mind, to educate myself in the University of the World. Live life now, while I have the capability. Yet again, as I look back at what I have just written and maybe I am escaping as well. I am escaping the pressures of society that is telling me to reproduce, be "responsible" and all the other jibberish I stated above.

There is a quote that I apply to my "out of the ordinary" life. I can't remember exactly how to goes, but its goes something like -

"The water you touch in a stream is the last of that which has passed and the first of that which is to come; life well spent is long" - Leonardo Da Vinci

and another quote I like, but talks more of gaining perspective and find oneself a may contradict what I've already said, but I still like it -

"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen." - Leonardo da Vinci

In the end, this thread's subject has as many answers as there are bikers. I just think it is important that everyone does what makes them happy, not escaping so called "reality"! If you are happy riding round the world, great! Just make sure you are doing it for yourself and not escaping your problems.

Depends on the problem....
 

If your life is a mind-numbing routine of people dumping their problems on you and expecting you to solve them, then hitting the road is the perfect solution.

They have to learn to sort out their own problems (or find another dumbass to dump them on) & you get to have a lot of fun. Everyone wins or learns from the experience, unless you're the dumbass I suppose.

At least, thats how its worked out for me :-)

Definitely helps. Without an ipod or intercom you really have time to think.

Giving the country time to change
 

This may class as running away from things, but the way I see it there's no point in hanging around hoping this economy malarky is going to sort itself out.

Work is slow (I work freelance in corporate events - largely banks, oddly enough they don't want to be seen spending money, so they cancel their events at vast expense before any of the cash gets to me!), and I nearly lost all my savings in a Icelandic bank. :funmeteryes:

So the way I see it now, why should I hang around spending my savings on rent & bills in a cold, noisy little flat waiting for the phone to ring and hoping it doesn't all disappear into some other *anker's pocket, when I could be spending it on travelling? Then maybe when I get back there'll be some work around! Or people will want to buy my stories. Or world peace will have come about. Or something else equally nice and unlikely. :clover:

Besides, it's good for my ego - telling people you're leaving is a great way of getting them to say they can't run the few gigs they have got without you :thumbup1: Though possibly taking on a gritty, hard-hitting road safety conference 4 days before I leave because they asked nicely is not the best idea:oops2:

Laura

Sure it does, I left because back home sucks and everyone has a pole up their ass then I get over here and everyone is really nice, honestly I thought nice or outgoing or eccentric people were extinct!

Also it doesn't take long to forget what you left behind. Just do it, you won't regret it but once you hit the road make sure you do all that stuff you never did back home, like talking to a random chick for no reason or getting drunk and dancing on a table, whatever you feel like because the next day you can ride the hell out of there!

No problems as such before we left but we sold up, put the money in the bank and used the monthly interest to pay for the trip. Selling up was a sign that we weren't coming back to the same life - change for the sake of change.

After a year on the road we were looking to put down some roots again, we'd not really found our destiny in Africa so we came here to France.

In our case, when we reflect on the trip we realise it was the most stress free year of our lives. The budget wasn't much but was adequate and in some countries we could live very well indeed but living without any money pressure and just enjoying ourselves every single day helped set us up for a very positive approach to our new lives.

Hitting the road
 

I am planning to "hit the road" next fall. It has taken several years for me to get my life organized for this. My daughter will graduate from her nursing program next spring and move out of my house to enter the next phase of her life. I will sell my home next summer/fall. My remaining cattle will be sold in late fall 2009. After that I plan to head out on my 2007 KLR for some major touring. Probable spend a year or two on the road, See where life takes me.

Can hitting the road help solve problems...

Well yes... if they are your own problems.. it will not help with the bad debts and other problems of everyday life....
My story is thus,,, I have spent the greater proportion of my life (10+yrs post bachelors deg) to make a name for myself in the academic science world, and have not been happy the entire time. I kept saying to myself "once i get to stage X.. all will be good".. Well it turns out i was completely wrong. I am not suited for academia/science: reason why are not important here...

So I am working out the rest of my current contract (4m, 6d, 4h 32m 40s) and am hitting the road. The timming is right, I do not know what i will do for the rest of my life... and right now i dont care enough to worry about it.... I will spend the next (i dont know how many months)..riding around with my wife seeing the world.. I will be looking for only one thing.. and that is my smile. My mojo, I had it once and i know it is there.. i jsut have re connect with it...

I once upon a time woke up and looked forward to the day...Now I only wonder what BS i will have to deal with before i can go home...

When i travel I am myself, I know as soon as I am out there doing what i want to do. I will be myself. Then I can (maybe) decided what i would like to try next... So yeah for me.. who is trying to choose a new path the travel will help me solve it. (unless of course ALL it does is BIT ME HARDER with the TRAVEL BUG and I can thing of nothing else but to travel more and more)

The story of the Nomad
 

Some people just have seriously regressive nomadic Genes! Consequently, they are happy while travelling and equally unhappy while tied to a job or house or any other limiting factor.

I have wanted to travel and discover the world as long as I can remember. My earliest memory of this dates from when I was 10 years old, playing with my younger brother, pretending to be a sailor on the ocean, sailing the seas of the world! When I was 21, I graduated from the Naval Academy, as BSc of Naval Engineering:smartass:. Only was at sea for short while, economic crisis of mid eighties, no work. Got sucked in to a "normal life", but been travelling ever since anyway to far away places and extended periods.

So for many of us, yes it will solve the unhappy caged feeling as long you are travelling. Obviously not practical or financial problems or problems with women :)
One might briefly enjoy returning home after XX months on the road. But not for long and it starts itching again. Fact of life, for me. :helpsmilie:

cheers,
Noel
exploreafrica.web-log.nl

Visit Bikeclubfrance:cool4:

Travelin' Man?
 

I have always, (since a boy) have been drawn to things compact or 'portable'. I have ALWAYS been ready to 'go'. I couldn't figure it out ... I've been a cowboy most of my life but I could NEVER settle down in one place. Although money has always been scarce, I've managed to travel almost all of my life..whether on a bike or regular transport.

I walked into a store in a very small town one day and got into a chat with the old gal that owned it. As we got acquainted, she remarked, completely out of nowhere, "Yer' a 'travelin' man !" When I asked her what she meant, she just simply replied," You don't hafta' say nuthin', I can see it in ya'. My late husband was the same way."

I guess it may just be something you're born with. :palm: :mchappy: I'm past 50 and still ramblin'...you can't BUY a better life.

the only way i know
 

I was twenty when i hit the road first time, it all happened accidentaly. Now, its 11 years from that moment, something like 7 years of that i have been on a move. Been 3 times around South America, working abroad on many different field, building traditional wooden ships in Indonesia, get lost while sailing in Papua.
Just recently I retuned back home, Finland. I thought now would be the time to educate myself and get into normal life, since I never really had that. But I found out that I can not survive here. Only way I know my way around in this life is to be on a move, have my camera and a book with empty pages to fill, fill them with stories and photos. I made my plan to return here and stay, I put myself on purpose into a bad financial situation so I had to stay here and make my life here. Its a very difficult task I think. Now I cant find my way here in this strange society. I want to buy a new bike now and do what i do best, hit the road and gather stories. But this my (very bad) financial plan put me into this trap, I dont know what to do, eh.
Anyways, I hope returning to the life I know soon. Keep it simple, verything I own, I can fit into a one bag :)

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'Wow What a Ride' HST

J

For me riding has a way putting things in a differint light.

Some times.
Your a slide or slip away from putting the bike down killing your self. As a result you so in tune with bike the road and all that is important for the hear and now you let little things like bank accounts drop.
Other times there is so little to do your mind wanders a bit. Your miles from where you need to be road is dead boring no people lets you think about what is important to you.
Then there is the times when. Your inside your helmet and no can get you no phone no radio nothing. Its you and no one else. You are all that matters if your hungry the world is all about feeding you any thing that is not you ride pass not giving it more notice than rock off the road. If you dont like some place or dont like some role on the gas and your not there.

Works for me for a week then the grind of being near some $%@%^ at work that has some sick need bleed the life and dreams out of people gets me a bit down doing work that soul stealing boring.


Come to think of it anyone realy like the idea of staying in one spot. Your day dreams filled with work, list, doing the same thing the sameway day after day when to get the next cup of coffie? I dont rember a time where I dint think of ways to go somwere else see a mounten and think wonder whats on the other side, check to see if the grass is greener on the other side.


:palm::Beach:

When you are on the road (especially over the border) you get the chance to see different cultures, different way of living and different way of thinking. And that makes you consider yourselfs realities.

I didnt make any of my trips to improve myself.

Just liked traveling like said

But every trip effected me in its own way and in overall ; i learned to distinguish real problems with artificial ones and handle them much easier.

Also my wife tells me i am becoming merrier after each trip... :rolleyes2: