6Strings, sound to me like you've a lot of travel experience and a good plan!

I'm guessing you'll have no problem on the road ... and your R12GS should be fine for a Latin America trip.

Common situation I found was many other travelers much younger than myself. It's mostly kids out there traveling ... and good for them!

But they kind of bunch together ... don't always want "the old guy" hanging around. So for me, when I would come across someone over 40, it was a nice change.

I did the same as the kids when I was young and traveling (1970's) ... but the old guys always had the best stories!

I like your idea of living somewhere a while. I did this in a few places during my
7 years in Latin America. Settle in for a while, then move on when things felt right. Only thing that brought me home was a good job offer ... which involved travel.

Good luck, hope you can post up dates and ride reports when on the road!

Mollydog,

Thanks again for the great advice! Am really looking forward to this trip of a lifetime.

You're lucky to have spent 7 years in Latin America. That must've been quite an experience. Expect you got very familiar with the cultures, geography, and language during that time. No doubt made some good friends.

Landing a job with international travel must've been great. Combining two passions while getting paid. What's not to like? I've been lucky in that way as well.

I'll be going in with eyes wide open. It'll be my first time south of Mexico. Will probably take a Spanish class along the way (Guatemala?) so I'm not entirely dependent on Google Translate and body language.

No worries here about hanging with a crowd. I generally travel solo. Seems to make me more accessible to the locals. Have met a lot of folks that way, some of whom have become close friends.

Mostly I share travel photos (lots) with friends on Facebook. A couple sample albums below from this past year. Sorry if they're in the wrong forum. Will try to smarten up and post a ride report or two on HUBB during this upcoming trip.

Boston to Alaska
https://goo.gl/ssf1YF

Chiang Mai
https://goo.gl/eVyJU8

I've never done the infamous 'RTW' but I've done a few extended (over six month) bike trips.

The risk with any extended travel is that you can become immune to what you're actually doing.

The novelty can wear off. The things that you should be in awe of start to become a little bit 'meh'. You ride past things that would have blown your mind months earlier. You stop taking pictures and it all becomes a bit 'routine'

So the longer you travel, the more of a norm it becomes, and in the end you're just paying to maintain a lifestyle rather than making the most out of every day.

I can't see myself doing anything longer than 2-3 months at a time now. Because the facts of life don't change just because you're hiding from them in a Sub Saharan dive bar.

You will get tired.
You will get bored
You will get homesick

I also found the longer I spend away, the harder it is to re-adjust back into work and home life. And that leads to depression and anxiety.


Saying that. Everyday I still fantasise about selling everything I own, locking up the workshop and heading off for a RTW trip.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Couldn't agree more. 2-3 months away is good for all sorts of other very legitimate, pragmatic and logistical reasons too. Well, for my circumstances (and mind-set) anyway.

The longest I've been away from home 'on the road' was 4½ months way back at the end of 2006 / beginning of 2007. In New Zealand, during the southern hemisphere's summer - our (the UK's) mid-winter / very early springtime months.

After three months of riding around NZ, in often spectacular scenery; going through the daily routines of taken the obligatory photos, sorting-out lodgings, dealing with the laundry, the bike's maintenance and other daily obligations .. I suddenly thought, 'I'm bored with all this .. and I am ready to go home.'

The last six weeks were a bit of a chore if I'm honest. All finished-off, with just a few days remaining before I was due to return to England .. by crashing in the middle of no-where, South Island. I just lost concentration on gravel, which booked me an ambulance ride, plenty of free morphine , and a bed for the best part of a week (plus orthopaedic surgery!) in Southland Hospital, Invercargill.

I've never been away from home, on a m/c trip, for more than three months since .. and probably never will.

Hey! but we're all different.

__________________
Right Way Round ...

Keith1954,

Bummer about the travel novelty wearing off and especially about the accident. Glad you found a riding style/duration that's more to your liking.

Ed

TouringTed,

I admire anyone who does long-distance bicycle touring. You must take packing efficiency to a whole new level. Where cyclists find the stamina to ride up and down hills all day long is a mystery to me. All the power to you.

You bring a new perspective on travel. I hadn't really thought about chunking up the trip or having the novelty wear off. That said I did feel a bit homesick and returned after a couple multi-year stints working abroad. This time I've been away for a year and am anxious to keep moving. Wonder if it depends on the person and the time. Grant and Susan's RTW trip lasted 10 years, right? Same with Helge Pedersen and Emilio Scotto. Jeffrey Polnaja rode for 9 years. Vladimir Yarets, Lisa and Simon Thomas are still at it after 14+ years. Wow!!!

Bicycle !!!! No chance. I was on a Motorcycle

Grant and Susan's RTW wasn't 10 years on the road (As far as I know). They flew home to work in between to have a break from travelling.

Everyone's trip is different. It depends on so many things. And people are travelling for so many different reasons. You will meet so many people on the road with these stories.

Many of the extended RTW riders have left behind a grievance or bad relationship. They're looking for new lives.
Many have slaved behind a desk for 40 years, had a moment of clarity and decided to attack the bucket list before it's too late.
Some are taking the opportunity for travel before they settle down with a family etc etc etc.

Point is, you never know how long you will want to be away until you're away. If you're lucky enough to have the time and money then keep your options open but don't be so rigid with how long you go or where you go.

Get on the bike, point it to the sunshine, be prepared for all eventualities and just see how it goes.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Hi Folks,

An update to this thread. Just letting you know that I’ve ridden my R1200GS from Boston>Philly>Denver>Mexico>Central America>Lima, Peru. Will continue down to Ushuaia, Argentina and Valparaiso before shipping my bike and deciding where/how to do my next RTW segment.

The R1200GS has worked fine for the most part. There have been times, when it would’ve been easier to have a lighter bike. I’ve never needed the power of this bike. But I do like its comfort and refinement.

Might seem sacrilegious - especially on this forum - but I’m still wrestling with the question of best mode of travel for different parts of the world. Personally I feel a lot lighter once I’ve reached a town to ditch the bike and walk around on foot or take mass transit. It seems lighter and more flexible. The bike is used to get me between towns.

Here’s a link to my travel album on Facebook: https://goo.gl/XbmeX2

There is no perfect one form of travel. It's always a compromise.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

One thing I enjoy about riding around on my motorcycle is the folks I’ve met along the way. Recently I ran into a German guy on an Africa Twin in Cajamarca. We ended up hanging out in the city during Carneval and riding around the surrounding area.

I’d also been corresponding with an American guy who’s in the area and just picked up a 300cc Honda bike locally.

Today the three of us will get together at TouraTech Peru here in Lima. Idea is to ride together around southern Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

Funny how these things work out. Nice community.

Sweet! Can you tell us how you got across the Darien Gap and how much it ended up costing you?

That makes all the sense in the world. (The bike also lets you choose which town to go to, choose to go to places with bad accessibility on public transit, easily change your mind, etc.) Remember, you're on an adventure, not on a motorcycle rally - the bike is the tool, not the main purpose.

If it is mostly the travelling, I can't help thinking buying an expendible old diesel car or van might be a better solution than a bike.

Depends on where you're traveling. (And sometimes diesel is not an option. E.g. in Brazil, there are - or used to be, at least - no private cars with diesel engines, only trucks and buses. Something to do with promoting local biofuel use.)

I was on a Honda XR150 in the mountains of northern Vietnam over Christmas, and what struck me was that passenger cars - even pickups/SUVs - are an ostentatious luxury there. The quality of the roads and the traffic inside the cities is such that travel by car is really slow. Scooters are by far the faster, more convenient way to get around (and anything too big to go on a scooter, goes onto a five-ton truck). In a place like that, even if you could buy a cheap old car, your travel would be a lot slower and more infuriating in a car than on a bike.

But in other places, for sure.

EDIT: It's also worth considering one's ability to do long distances on a bike or in a car. Personally for me, I know that on a long-distance drive, I am likely to get bored and uncomfortable, even with audiobooks etc. Yes I have a heater, air conditioner, all that stuff, but I still get out of the car stiff and cranky. On a bike, you would think it is a much more physically demanding activity, and you're likely to be exposed to bad weather, but even after a cold or wet or too hot ride over an entire day, I somehow feel a lot more fresh and ready for action. Maybe it's the constant mental activity and having to pay attention, maybe it's different for other people, but I know that given otherwise equivalent circumstances - nice weather (or proper gear), decent road quality - I always much prefer doing long distances on a bike than behind the wheel of a car.

Another alternative;

Catch trains, buses, pushbike, hitchhike, jump in with a group, buy a beater MC, buy a beater old van etc. Or these;



You can sell the bike or van before you leave that country to fund the next one. If its winter a van is much better than a bike. Spring Autumn a bike is fantastic. As long as you can set your luggage up for all modes you are fine.

My partner and I have been planning our 'R-bit-TW' and though we both love travelling on our GS I really dont think the size/weight of it would be great for some of the more off the way places as I am not a spring chicken anymore.

So we will most probably head off and pick the most suitable mode for the place we are in.

I am in awe of the trips people do on this forum. If I could get 1/4 of that I would be happy.

depends on the situation
I am new to this sort of travel but have Back packed, hitchhiked ,chicken bused ,
traveled by train and canoed in south america in the early 80s
now i have a 650 decked out for travel and I live and work for a foreign contractor in Colombia and will be here for years because of the inefficiency of the political system to get the job done, wow! problems no hay!
Well i am ok with that and i don't care about the politics for job security
bottom line i am paid good and have lots of leisure time to explore
So getting back to RTW i don't know how a normal person with a normal income
can do this unless you have a shitload of money
I have turned down jobs in Africa Indonesia and Papua because the money was not so great for the conditions you had to put up with
example Juba South Sudan FTP
Now i have changed my mind it would be awesome to work in these places with a bike and see the continent or country
I work in the Airborne geophysics industry and see a lot of airports and terrain
Colombia is by far the most interesting place i have ever seen by air and motto
its fun Here