Australia to Portugal & beyond
 

I am planning to travel post covid in 2021 from Newcastle (Australia) to Portugal by motorcycle. I have no time limits as I will be recently retired. Looking for travel companion/s to share the adventure. Current route is from Newcastle to Darwin -Timor-Indonesia-Malaysia- Asia (counties?)- India- Iran ?- The Stans- Russia-Poland - Europe to Portugal. After that I'm not sure yet.
Trip will comprise of camping, hostels and hotels as required. My route is not set and can be amended as required. Yes I will be 60 years young but I have ridden motorcycles since I was 18. I currently ride a Honda VTX1800 cruiser but I am looking at a small to mid size adv bike to do the trip.
I would love to talk to others over a bourbon and discuss and plan.

You have my interest.
I am currently stuck in China and cannot return to my home country, South Africa. Planned to ride from China to Portugal earlier this year, but then the virus came. My Chinese visa is valid till May 2021, so timeframe for a possible link up could be late May or June in the Stans.
I did a bit of research already and planned route is through Kazakhstan, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal. Have a brother that lives in Portugal.
Like you time is not an issue, plan to retire upon leaving China, although I am a mere spring chicken at 58. Love camping and very experienced in it.
Will use my Chinese registered Benelli TRK502X adventure bike.
Welcome to share a few ideas.

If you are planning to leave post-covid Oz, I'd be planning to leave a decade from now, not 12 months from now.

Jonkers, great timing will probably work out. Quick question- can you ride around China freely as your bike is registered there and could you legally act as a guide for others. I'm aware that you can't just ride normally thru China. Also which border crossing would you use???

:funmeterno::rain:

Yes, I can ride around freely in China, as I have a Chinese bike licence. This is hard to come by, unless you are a resident, but my local bike shop in Suzhou city seems to be able to organise this for foreigners joining their tours.

The western part of China is pretty much off limits for foreigners on their own, as you are not allowed to purchase fuel and have to stay in exorbitantly priced hotels, but this can be sidestepped if you are accompanied by a local. My initial plan was to join a tour group organised by the bike shop from Suzhou to the Kazakh border and carry on alone from there, but due to the virus the tour was cancelled. At the moment the area is in lockdown again because of a recent outbreak. The bottom line is everything is possible in China and I have good connections in the biker community, or at least connections who have connections.

As for crossing the Chinese/Kazakh border one of the biggest challenges seem to be to take my bike out, as you need to put down quite a large deposit called an ATA, which is (maybe) returned when you re-enter. When I leave, I leave, so this is not an option, but I have heard it is possible to exit China at Alashankou, which is where the transcontinental freight trains cross, without an ATA. The most popular border crossing is at Khorgos, but I believe they are a bit anal with paperwork. However, I have been told that if you say you are returning to China, you don't need an ATA, but if you say you leave, you do need one. Chinese logic is sometimes a bit confusing.

Another option is to go south to Kashgar and cross from there into Kyrgyzstan, but it opens more challenges with visas. As a South African I need a visa for Kazakhstan, which I can get in Shanghai, so going straight into KZ is in my opinion the easiest way. I don't need a visa for Russia, so once I get out of China, it should be relatively easy visa wise untill I hit the EU.

There is also an option of heading north and crossing straight into Russia at Manzhouli, east of Mongolia, but that means an extra 3,000km and having to cross the entire breadth of Russia, which I am not keen to do on my own. Apart from obvious road challenges, my knowledge of Russian is limited to da and nyet. Staying as long as possible in China is by far the best option for me, as I can help myself reasonably well with the language and have a support system of sorts in case of breakdowns.

I would like to go back to South Africa as soon as it opens, hopefully around January 2021, to sort out a few personal things and escape the Chinese winter, but will then be able to come back on my current visa, which expires in the middle of May, meaning I will have to set out early April. This not cast in stone though, I can get a visitor's visa for a bit later, alternatively renew my current visa, but that means work permit and contract too, which is unlikely. I would actually prefer a bit later, as it is still bloody cold in the interior around April/May.

Yeah
 

Yeah, another old guy ridding around the world (I'm 61). I'm planning on doing a similar trip in 2022. I'm anxious to see how it all goes for you. I hope you detail it here or elsewhere, I'm sure there's lots of us that want to follow along. Bikes, gear, weather, shelter, that's all manageable. Getting in and out of the different countries seems like the big challenge.

Great plan to have. If you want any info re Indonesia, please get in touch. I have travelled extensively between by motorbike between Lombok and West Timor over the last ten years.

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