I've been planning another trip. 4-6 months to Magadan in 2015.

Since then. A few things have changed. I'm single again, in the position to start saving money, my bikes are back together and things are coming together nicely for a change or a new chapter in my life.

So, In work today whilst changing the tyre on a 1200GSA, I decided that I'm going to do a RTW trip in 2015. No deadlines, no girlfriend waiting back home, no credit cards. What am I holding back for !

It made me wonder..... What made YOU 'snap' and think "f**k it.. I'm doing it" ???? Go away from home travelling for however long it takes..

My longest trip is 7 months and I always felt like I was doing the wrong thing by coming back to the U.K to my old life.

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

As Ernest would say, the decision happened two ways. Gradually, and then suddenly.

The gradual part happened over quite a long period time. Falling in love with motorcycles, freedom, the open road, and travel to far off lands took place over many years. Over time, the reality of a trip of the magnitude of RTW became less of a distant dream and more of a potential reality.

The sudden part was, well, quite sudden. The external limiting factors, which were the usual suspects of time, money, relationships, etc., faded which allowed for the opportunity become more real.

The internal limiting factors were the hardest of all to turn the opportunity into reality though. We are not used to living our dreams, so the tougest part was to summon the courage to ignore the thousand reasons and many voices to not go and to listen to the one voice inside which said yes. The exact moment is lost, but once that last straw was placed, the scales were irrevocably tipped.

Haven't decided yet, I'm still just practising. FWIW, the north of Vietnam seems to be full of bloody French and Australians, might just as well have gone to London. Still the here is OK, cold and cheap, accommodation is nice and cheap, food is very digestible and cheap and the locals helpful and friendly so on reflection, it's not like London at all. Ride safe.

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Mike
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Mike is riding the twisty road in the sky

Already there is a "theme" running through this thread ! "No partner required"

I hope some one will post a "my wife/partner/husband and I did it...." If only to give hope to all the people out there with that "limiting factor"

For myself, like maja, I'm still working up-to the "snap" and doing my best to encourage my wife to "snap" with me. I can't think of anyone I would rather do it with. Do you have to go with some one else? Absolutely NO. I my view with any adventure in life, the biggest, toughest part is getting over the start line! I've crossed that just waiting for my wife to catch up..........she has her running shoes on...

My story of desire is rather boring: watched a telly series which went a LONGWAY towards it and then found the HUBB. One thing I have decided though is that I won't do a RTW more of a AOTW "all over the world" or is that what people mean ?

*Touring Ted* - If funds were plenty would you pack and go tomorrow?
( I'm not offering large cash sums )

Tomorrow ?? It would only take me a few hours to pack..........

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

When I was younger I used to think i wanted to be a soldier, so i became a soldier, when i was a soldier i realised that it was adventure i wanted, having had a life full of adventures,(up till now anyway) i realise that it was/is the journey that intralls me, not knowing where i'll be or how i'll get there.

I was laid in a hospital bed 3 years ago after heart surgery to fix a genetic valve issue... and it felt like a line in the sand... My heart had been metaphorically broken a few years before then and it felt like the physical fix also resolved the metaphorical one as well...

I decided initially to visit my brother as he's working as a teacher in Vietnam. I haven't seen him for about 5 years and a holiday would be good, but on the same day I thought, why not make it an adventure and travel instead of just flying there.

During my recovery 3 months off work I bought maps and started to look at a route. When I looked at a world map I thought well if I go how do I get back...
A bit pointless coming back the way I went.. why not complete the circle

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Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/

My partner and I are leaving for a "round the world" trip later this week.
Just after we started dating (4 years ago) he left on his own trip from Toronto to Buenos Aires, which he had started to plan before we started dating. He travelled quickly and didn't take much time to see much of the countries that he rode through. Meanwhile, I learned how to ride, got my motorcycle license, and subsequently started to dream about riding in Africa. So, one year ago we started to plan our joint trip, and are now mere days away from leaving (North of Toronto to Ushuaia, then South Africa north to Europe, then TBD).
The idea of exploring the world by motorcycle wasn't even a known concept in my mind before I met my boyfriend, so he is somewhat responsible for the inspiration, but also owe a great deal of inspiration to the other travellers who have documented their travels on film and in print, such as Vince Austin and gang, Charley Boorman & Ewan McGregor, and Lois Pryce. As an adventurer at heart, all I needed was a little inspiration.

a six month journey is a longer holiday, a three year around the world journey can change your life and the way you see the the world.

go for it Ted, try it yourself, but there is no guarantee that you fit back into society when you return

saludos de Bogota
mika

My 6 month trip's changed me... I loved how I felt and who I was when travelling. 2 years would be a dream.

I don't too well into society as it is so no loss there

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

Was that you Ted putting that Suzuki through its paces?
(sorry could not resist!)

Hahaha I love bears..... :/

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

Because I can.

Because when I look around me I see all the people, colleagues, friends and family complain for no reason at all. We/they have everything, a job, money, housing, car etc and still every single day every one of them would complain for something. And I have difficulties standing that mentality. More and more...

Anyway, I started riding my bike ten years ago, first in Belgium, gradually a bit further, Germany, France etc. For a day to a few days to 'wow' a whole week to the end of the world... the south of France. Then I met my (now) wife, started to take her on holidays to 'far and away' places. We got married at the other side of the world, literally, in Australia. That was our start for the traveling bug. She learned to ride a bike, got her license, we had 7 bikes at a time in the garage, living like the people mentioned above. We had it "all": big house, big garage, a lot of bikes... but something was missing. Anyway not to go too deep into it, we needed to travel again and more, but this was not possible with the huge mortgage on the big house, sold the big house and bought a smaller apartment with still a huge garage. Now (after the third multiple months trip) we are going to sell the apartment with big garage to go into a small studio (paid for cash then) so no costs anymore but a home, and we'll set off for ... we don't know yet for how long. We'll put a budget into it instead of a timeframe. When the planned budget is up, time to go "home".

So for us the click to go RTW or AOTW or whatever you want to call it came now, after having done several multiple months trip. And I can only encourage people to do the same, as you learn from every trip, especially the first one.

Anyway, it can be done with two, for us it's perfectly doable but it needs some engineering, believe me. We did all the previous trips 2 people 2 bikes and now for the RTW it will be 2 people 1 scooter (yes yes a 300cc scooter!). It will be a big change going from hardcore offroad DRZ to a scooter but for long trips we prefer to have a bit more riding comfort, we still don't know how long we'll be gone, but we reckon it might be two years and we'll start in august 2014...

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Find us on Facebook or have a look at our website on wanderingsouls.be.

saw this sketch which reminded me of this thread

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

As Janis Joplin said "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

In 1999, when I set off, JJ was my favourite musician.

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

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