Hello! I'm excited I found this place!
 

My name is Lauren and my boyfriend Patrick and I made the decision 2 months ago to ride South America/Central America for a year. It won't be for 2 years (planning/finances/etc). I had been researching individual questions on the internet and stumbled upon this website and it has changed my life! Thank you for all the information and I'm excited to learn from all of you.
Happy Travels!
Lauren

Welcome and enjoy

Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk while having a cold beer

Hi Lauren and welcome, :welcome:
This is a good place to start, whatever you need to know someone will probably know it.

Hi Lauren

Welcome to the Hubb of all knowledge, well, at least in matters of Overland travel the joys of doing it yourself.

I am off to South America in October, so maybe able to answer a question or two then, but there are many on this site who have done it already and would be very happy to share.
Bryan

:welcome:

Humm ... 2 years away ... do go to a HU meeting! Face to face you learn so much .. and asking questions is much easier. And the little details will stand out to you ... things the traveller just does and does not think about. Just be observant .. arrive early and watch how they set things up. Leave late and watch how they pack. Ask questions as they do it. Much easier to do this by observation. The best ones to learn from are those that are 'on the road'. I found that after a month 'on the road' the set up and put down thing became much better - practice and adjusting how things get done made the difference. So look at them doing it .. the shiny ones are probably not 'on the road', ones with some dirt, scratches, dents (road awards) might be the better ones to watch.

:welcome:

Hi and welcome ! I felt the same when I found this site

good luck with your trip:thumbup1:

yeah got me some of that lol

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/570/2...a9334939_z.jpg

Welcome to HU. Don't know where you are located, but one of the best sources of information ( outside the HUBB website) is to go to one of HU's travellers meetings.( as suggested above). There has to be one reasonably close to where you are happening during the year. At these meetings you will meet all sorts of people who have ventured to the areas you are interested in. Some may be talking about their journey's in presentations with photos and videos, and you will get lots of hints and tips from seasoned travellers. It's a great place to start and no one will think you're nuts wanting to do what you are planning, we're all interested in and enthusiastic about the same thing.:thumbup1:

Thank you!
 

Thanks for the warm welcome! We are from Minnesota. Doesn't look like there are any meetings close by. We have seen a couple world travelers presentations and have contact with them and it only fuels the fire more to get on the road. Its nice to know that people are willing to lend their knowledge here on HU. Thanks again.

'Close by' is a relative term.

Put it this way .. A HU meeting in the US may well have people from Germany, Australia ... so 'close by' ? Take a trip to get to one. Consider it a practice run for your trip to try out stuff, get to know how things go on the road. The meetings are usually in nice areas too. Some of the topics can appear a little off beat.. Yoga for motorcyclists? Never considered it ... now I do!

I understand. I'd love to travel to one of these meetings. Its just we are so financially tight with saving for this big trip its hard to get away. If we get a chance though we'd love to ride out to a meeting.

Question: How are you approaching paperwork? I've read on here that the Americas do not need Carnets but have read other places/websites that some countries do. Researching about paperwork and documents has got me a little confused. Thanks for any advice in advance.

No carnet needed anywhere in the Americas. Period.

Trouble with internet research is that if you look long enough and hard enough, you'll find every possible answer to every possible question. Unfortunately, most are incorrect. So....stick to reliable sites like this one, on which there's an immediate feedback loop--if I post something erroneous, a dozen people will immediately post corrections. That's a much more reliable way to determine "truth" than relying on any single source, no matter how authoritative it sounds.

Another way to judge who's worth listening to is to identify people who've done exactly what you're planning. I know you don't need a carnet because I've taken my bike to all the countries in the Americas (Caribbean islands excluded). That's not something I learned by phoning an insurance agent or automobile club.

Of course, you'll do well to note that there are exceptions. That's what keeps things interesting.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

welcome to HU!